A Couple More tasks Done!!

Another windy day greeted me on waking but things needed to be planted so I took the plunge, at least the sun was shining warmly.

The sweet corn I put to chit a few days ago were ready so after I removed the plastic and marked out the planting spaces I planted the chitted seeds (see the dark spots in the photo - I got thirty five in the 5ft x 6ft bed), watered and recovered the bed to keep the warmth in and any night chills out.

The other job done involved the tomato bed. I finished the digging and filling the last two holes with rotted rabbit droppings and bedding, erected the last two poles then started to plant out the twelve tomato plants all different varieties.

The varieties I'm growing this year are:

Vintage wine,

Gardeners delight,

Golden Sunrise,

Black Triffid,

Ailsa Craig,

Oh dear I can't remember the rest off hand I'll update the list later......

The french marigolds were already planted on the perimeter about ten days ago, so I added some sweet basil as well but I covered them with 2L bottles to keep them snug against the cold wind especially since they weren't hardened off and came straight from the warm conservatory.

Then I had to stop and cook dinner, so I cut two large bunches of mizuna (the first to be harvested) to contribute to the vege side of the meal. I have never grown these before and will definitely be growing them again, YUM!!

After I ate dinner I went back outside in the fading light to erect the cover that I used last year over my tomatoes. The plan is to keep the worst of the summer rains off the tomatoes, which should then make them less likely to get blight or at least slow down the disease.

Last year it was an experiment based on something I had seen a couple years ago on Gardener's World (in the last two months while rereading my old kitchen garden magazines I came across an article of an Italian gentleman who grows all his outdoor tomatoes in this way on his allotment, with great success, so it has been done before). Well the experiment in a very wet summer of last year was a resounding success, my tomatoes got blight a whole ten days later than my neighbours outdoor crop and when they did get it, it was easy to control with the early removal of the lower leaves IE stopping them from drooping and staying in contact with any wet/ damp soil and following regimented inspections twice to three times a day (yep I'm a stay home mom), I promptly removed any infected foliage and or fruit of which I only lost no more than ten might of been even less tomatoes. And where as my neighbour's crop succumbed to the blight in less than two weeks, I was still harvesting in the last week of October.

So with a successful experiment under my belt I proceeded to attach the anchors to the cover then rope my mum and OH into helping me place it on top the 1"+ thick bamboo poles (thankfully the wind has died down, so it was a quick operation). The anchors made of basic garden twine was then tied to some horse shoe nails which I hammered into the side of the raised bed, done and dusted by 21:37. The flash in the picture make it look completely dark but I assure you there was just a little hint of light left :)

I didn't really have time to admire the flowers etc, but did notice the water aven plants had one flower in particular that was quite exquisite, so please enjoy.