tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-78373537224824878292024-02-20T18:21:15.220-08:00The transparent shedA greenhouse diaryUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger27125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7837353722482487829.post-7000537102736282912018-09-29T02:31:00.000-07:002018-09-29T02:31:07.013-07:00Harvest festivalMy tomatoes are excelling themselves. I don't think I've ever had such a good crop - of anything.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7837353722482487829.post-63805316787154259272018-09-15T09:27:00.002-07:002018-09-29T02:33:39.483-07:00A fuchsia from the past<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuPpQm3FJX-vLkxqWqNRTY9_3329vreB5Q_H-6dpXUDlVQQN-yARJIcYnzLTdrj72i3_kZTnx1w1MJNYqi7KXzAM5oOtRXB4nz3dSCB3NLCflAsyc-lYow5s8t28scDvXKIdiNMk5kfeA/s1600/IMG_4854.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuPpQm3FJX-vLkxqWqNRTY9_3329vreB5Q_H-6dpXUDlVQQN-yARJIcYnzLTdrj72i3_kZTnx1w1MJNYqi7KXzAM5oOtRXB4nz3dSCB3NLCflAsyc-lYow5s8t28scDvXKIdiNMk5kfeA/s640/IMG_4854.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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My mum died in April 2015, more than three years ago, but I always think of her when I see these fuchsias. </div>
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I took a cutting from the fuchsias outside her<i> </i>front door after she'd died but I wasn't hopeful they'd come to anything. They meant a lot to my mum in her very old age. They were given to her by her kind cleaner, Ruth. My mum always liked to tell me that Ruth had said she had so many fuchsias in her garden that she could have as many cuttings as she liked.</div>
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Well, I took some cuttings and brought them back to London and planted them in a pot. To start with, they behaved just like cut flowers, soon wilting and leaving a few apparently dead twigs. I think this is them below, in March 2016. </div>
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I never got round to throwing them out. One day I spotted some minute green buds appearing lower down the stems. </div>
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There was no turning back. They thrived, I repotted them, and they've been growing happily outside our front door ever since. </div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7837353722482487829.post-4680054405567235242018-07-20T09:12:00.003-07:002018-09-29T02:36:57.197-07:00Expensive tomato seeds: I take it all backLast time <a href="http://greenhousetales.blogspot.com/2018/05/these-tomato-seeds-are-like-gold-dust.html">I was whinging</a> about the cost of the packet of tomato seeds I'd just bought. Well, I'm not whinging any more. I actually have twelve very decent-looking tomato plants from them, which must be a strike rate of close to 90 per cent.<br />
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Don't you love the smell of tomato plants - even before there are any tomatoes on them? It's a little sharp but somehow incredibly healthy.<br />
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So I take it all back, Thompson and Morgan, they are obviously quality seeds, if small in number.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5eGs7qyEdrjdlJzHwICzHMzBICCCttXg4OSn33pl5p3I9QTziFjq0xy6BO_52wkQDf0I9X9gfBpxAayd7feE1i00hbggOhwg87K4jOESoA40Rdd6G0RHTRteQYIkDw14mbs7kzX88xIk/s1600/IMG_4888.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5eGs7qyEdrjdlJzHwICzHMzBICCCttXg4OSn33pl5p3I9QTziFjq0xy6BO_52wkQDf0I9X9gfBpxAayd7feE1i00hbggOhwg87K4jOESoA40Rdd6G0RHTRteQYIkDw14mbs7kzX88xIk/s640/IMG_4888.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcp_a_HTOjnfCHAVhIzqqsS1JgO_3kaeiyxP9RWak_qlTOX_bp0DLMt889i6w4anfwGmqdS0nZQSiyB2VjNnLpPj5JGmc6g2ttNNvpam5OLmwUl6a1JsMofs0gK8pYftnYh16ryugppWU/s1600/IMG_4889.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcp_a_HTOjnfCHAVhIzqqsS1JgO_3kaeiyxP9RWak_qlTOX_bp0DLMt889i6w4anfwGmqdS0nZQSiyB2VjNnLpPj5JGmc6g2ttNNvpam5OLmwUl6a1JsMofs0gK8pYftnYh16ryugppWU/s640/IMG_4889.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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I am watering the plants conscientiously with a special tomato feed supplement every evening and it seems to be working. The only problem with the plant above, the biggest, is that if there's a storm, it's so big and heavy that it could easily break. </div>
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Still, the problems of success! </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7837353722482487829.post-59482988736923589312018-05-26T10:01:00.000-07:002018-07-20T09:20:33.260-07:00These tomato seeds are like gold dust<a href="http://greenhousetales.blogspot.com/2018/07/expensive-tomato-seeds-i-take-it-all.html">NEXT POST</a><span id="goog_897051496"></span><span id="goog_897051497"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a><br />
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I try to avoid spending money on anything to do with the greenhouse: the idea is to grow things that will produce seeds or compost for next year - like a tech startup that's profitable from day one and doesn't need to rely on venture capital.<br />
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However, I usually buy the odd packet of seeds and this year, went down to my local garden centre to pick up a packet of tomato seeds and one packet of radish seeds. It was only when I got to the till that I found that the tomato seeds cost £4.99, which seemed excessive.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNGfBod1bxjArO6NAA5n3DnGyJTBeIQFOYfE3HASYhBoJAYGWR_tXE6S7R7FMeVuVHb582DzSxVIE1KmsZChFxSkQAPyf-4hVLnPL5ld3nfHbNIIDf7YypQbxNaH910VI7UQ40V_QTCO4/s1600/IMG_4749.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNGfBod1bxjArO6NAA5n3DnGyJTBeIQFOYfE3HASYhBoJAYGWR_tXE6S7R7FMeVuVHb582DzSxVIE1KmsZChFxSkQAPyf-4hVLnPL5ld3nfHbNIIDf7YypQbxNaH910VI7UQ40V_QTCO4/s640/IMG_4749.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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I didn't realise the price was written on the back of the packet and asked the person serving me whether she'd got it right. She showed me she had. I said they were expensive. She agreed and had a look at the packet. </div>
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"Well, they're 'the exhibitor's favourite'," she read out. </div>
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"Yeah right," I said. </div>
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But I decided I'd give the exhibitor's favourite a go, and see whether they'd be my favourite too.</div>
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Back in the greenhouse, I opened the little white inner packet, which appeared to be empty. Oh no, there was a tiny little collection of about a dozen seeds in the bottom corner. There were so few that there was no question of trying to sprinkle them onto the soil: they'd all come out at once and land too close together. </div>
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Instead, I extracted them each by hand and put them into the soil. Afterwards I thought there must have been a mistake. Surely some machine in a factory had gone wrong and failed to put the right number of seeds into the packet. </div>
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I decided to email the manufacturers, Thompson and Morgan, point out their mistake and and ask for another packet. Back in the house, I had a proper look at the back of the packet and saw this:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2qtpo38vL8OnIc1smz0xPcypYsHprqwo1sCVoSg3SSD44Wd3uF0pECrReol8A9L3HSlCZ0-cqTksPGphPohK94msxGTLwdhUXy7WjT93B8NG-u9htmOF8h8Fa9xz40rWHF73A2OngZp4/s1600/fullsizeoutput_3f5.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2qtpo38vL8OnIc1smz0xPcypYsHprqwo1sCVoSg3SSD44Wd3uF0pECrReol8A9L3HSlCZ0-cqTksPGphPohK94msxGTLwdhUXy7WjT93B8NG-u9htmOF8h8Fa9xz40rWHF73A2OngZp4/s640/fullsizeoutput_3f5.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div>
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"Average 15 seeds". How mean can you get? Surely the actual cost of the seeds is the least expensive part of their business? Still, if I'd looked, I'd have been warned. That's an average cost of 33 pence per seed. They must be literally worth their weight in gold.</div>
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So far, only the radish seeds are sprouting. I hope those precious tomato seeds aren't just going to disappear forever. </div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7837353722482487829.post-39368852652121112202018-04-20T11:42:00.000-07:002018-04-20T12:24:43.635-07:00The start of the greenhouse yearGosh! I haven't written this blog for more than eight months. To everyone who's been checking hopefully every day to see whether it had sprung back to life, I can only apologise.<br />
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But we're back, and I'm officially pronouncing this the first day of the new greenhouse year.<br />
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Why? Well, because I've emptied it out, hosed it down, wiped the windows and replaced the wooden benches. I know you're going to be impressed:<br />
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OK, there's nothing much to see yet, but it's like a blank canvas waiting for the artist to create.<br />
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This is the third year I've had the greenhouse and I have to admit that I'm a little less greenhouse-proud each year. My cleanup operation wasn't as thorough as last year. But I think that if I can start growing all sorts of exciting stuff in it, my attitude will improve.<br />
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I would say 'watch this space' but this isn't a space. But through this blog, watch the space in the greenhouse, which will become less space and more green as the summer progresses.<br />
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Au revoir. <br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7837353722482487829.post-29299844109306702982017-07-31T03:13:00.002-07:002018-04-20T11:44:56.538-07:00A crumble in the making<a href="https://greenhousetales.blogspot.co.uk/2018/04/the-start-of-greenhouse-year.html">NEXT POST</a><br />
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It's been a good year for blackberries in London. They're a couple of months early I think (as are the few mushrooms I've seen), but that's part of another debate.<br />
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Because they're early, I don't think people are expecting to be out picking, and I've only seen a couple of other people with their plastic containers in the woods and on the sides of paths.<br />
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But here's what I got from about 15 minutes of picking down at the end of my road.<br />
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And here's what they looked like when mixed with apples, some from our garden (again, early) and some garden rhubarb (the right time of year, I think). </div>
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Now, stew with some sugar and a little water. </div>
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Mix up flour with some margarine and more sugar and bake for 20 minutes or so. </div>
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It was bigger than it looks there (the lumps of crumble are bigger than you think) and in fact I was able to make two decent-sized crumbles that were well-received. </div>
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Living off the land! For the extras, once in a while. </div>
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NEXT POST<a href="https://greenhousetales.blogspot.co.uk/2018/04/the-start-of-greenhouse-year.html">https://greenhousetales.blogspot.co.uk/2018/04/the-start-of-greenhouse-year.html</a></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7837353722482487829.post-80664603687791539512017-03-10T08:50:00.000-08:002017-07-31T03:19:35.273-07:00The start of the 2017 season<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8n7e2wYU63z7dDcjrzVITzpGcZW6RFRoNHmip_X3PXguuajfStVU7B34Qctg__glSEX6Vt4IYDwK3etxrMkhmNDe3L3siLhac_U3tpHGWcnIUomBCVaBBEnXZOd5M623whvcChJ5ewco/s1600/SAM_5022.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8n7e2wYU63z7dDcjrzVITzpGcZW6RFRoNHmip_X3PXguuajfStVU7B34Qctg__glSEX6Vt4IYDwK3etxrMkhmNDe3L3siLhac_U3tpHGWcnIUomBCVaBBEnXZOd5M623whvcChJ5ewco/s1600/SAM_5022.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8n7e2wYU63z7dDcjrzVITzpGcZW6RFRoNHmip_X3PXguuajfStVU7B34Qctg__glSEX6Vt4IYDwK3etxrMkhmNDe3L3siLhac_U3tpHGWcnIUomBCVaBBEnXZOd5M623whvcChJ5ewco/s640/SAM_5022.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<a href="https://greenhousetales.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/a-crumble-in-making_31.html">NEXT POST</a><br />
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It's the <a href="http://earthsky.org/human-world/beware-the-ides-of-march">Ides of March</a> next week. The Ides of any month is really just half way through the month. So, for March, all that means is that we're 2.5 months out of 12 through the year, or a little over a fifth, but not a round number.<br />
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Of course, the Ides of March acquired its own significance through the murder of Julius Caesar in 44BC, but that's got very little to do with greenhouses, unless there's some connection with it being time to plant lettuce and other ingredients of a future Caesar salad. But that's not what I'm saying.<br />
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What I am celebrating - well, marking at least - is that today I did a kind of pre-Spring clean of the greenhouse, and I'm afraid there have been some sad losses over the Winter. How are you supposed to keep geraniums alive over the winter in a greenhouse? I was told not to water them too much, but frankly, during the cold days of November, December and January, I didn't feel like going outside, never mind watering anything in the greenhouse.<br />
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So I suppose I've only got myself to blame for the fact that about half the geraniums and a few other things seem to have died.<br />
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Today felt like the start of things because I reconnected the outside tap, confident that they'll be no more frost - or at least not enough to burst the outside pipe. That meant I could easily pull the hose into the greenhouse and give the survivors a well-earned drink of water.<br />
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A lot of the dead geraniums had become brown and dusty, so I have sorted them out, creating these pots where there was nothing left to save:<br />
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And these which look like they'll make it:<br />
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In some cases, the promise of great things this summer rests on the tiniest leaf:<br />
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But, hey, the more compact the plant at this stage, the healthier it'll be as it grows, I think.<br />
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Now I need to russell up some seeds and get ahead of the season - because that's what a greenhouse is for.<br />
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<a href="https://greenhousetales.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/a-crumble-in-making_31.html" style="text-align: start;"></a><a href="https://greenhousetales.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/a-crumble-in-making_31.html" style="text-align: start;">NEXT POST</a></div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7837353722482487829.post-53078901983406201272016-10-29T11:10:00.000-07:002017-03-10T08:54:46.272-08:00The last tomato of summer<a href="http://greenhousetales.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/the-start-of-2017-season.html">NEXT POST</a><br />
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As I suggested just over a month ago, <a href="http://greenhousetales.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/the-race-between-autumn-and-tomatoes.html">it's been a race</a> between the advance of autumn and the reddening of my tomatoes.<br />
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Well, with Halloween just two days away, I've admitted defeat and collected my last tomatoes this afternoon. I have started pulling up their plants, partly to make room for the tulip bulbs I want to plant.<br />
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So here it is, the last tomato of summer.<br />
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And if you wonder why I've given up on the rest, this is why: they are looking seasonally spooky.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOxjt-onTzJvIhb6dth_lp1-iIC7BcEHxWlEuddZ9SgtFIXdWpQJzrxyYQ1JaAqyGg1dX_UgCLoQ8xB_1K7pVw-pZb34f3DzHbaFe2anSpCs0JDK9ENr5c_z8XiL-lTygDlkuCm3q4Cc0/s1600/Dying+toms.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOxjt-onTzJvIhb6dth_lp1-iIC7BcEHxWlEuddZ9SgtFIXdWpQJzrxyYQ1JaAqyGg1dX_UgCLoQ8xB_1K7pVw-pZb34f3DzHbaFe2anSpCs0JDK9ENr5c_z8XiL-lTygDlkuCm3q4Cc0/s640/Dying+toms.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
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They are going to go brown before they go red. Sad that my most promising-looking green tomatoes have gone this way. Oh well, maybe next year...<br />
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<a href="http://greenhousetales.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/the-start-of-2017-season.html">NEXT POST</a><br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7837353722482487829.post-22703203189159214362016-09-25T11:25:00.002-07:002016-10-29T11:19:41.253-07:00The race between Autumn and tomatoes<a href="http://greenhousetales.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/the-last-tomato-of-summer.html">NEXT POST</a><br />
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No matter how early in the year you start growing tomatoes, around now you always seem to be waiting to see whether they're going to have enough sun and warmth to ripen before the chill, dark days of Autumn.<br />
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Or whether they'll stay green until their plant dries out and then gets soggy and you just have to watch them rot. It's not good if dew and rain start appearing and the tomatoes are still looking like this:<br />
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In fact, with the changeable weather recently, there's been good news on the tomato front in my garden. This is what they've started to look like:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_-dGKSfoGGN0xH9bh2rmiSdv6Ro1AhOhKK1hosJh9xrzZOIW2dGKfMa4kefI09rmgNmS1hRg06Nus_Qs9kN8Lv5ZUyVPtmqXS6Qs6pL9vrzeJSkkxGOMnJWVqegSh5UWbfhbrjE5v230/s1600/Ripening+tomsIMG_0396.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_-dGKSfoGGN0xH9bh2rmiSdv6Ro1AhOhKK1hosJh9xrzZOIW2dGKfMa4kefI09rmgNmS1hRg06Nus_Qs9kN8Lv5ZUyVPtmqXS6Qs6pL9vrzeJSkkxGOMnJWVqegSh5UWbfhbrjE5v230/s640/Ripening+tomsIMG_0396.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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And several times, I've gone out into the garden and returned with quite a decent crop: </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZs3RfazwgjRnljSicYnL2BiAee8qr90Yxz0K_JqhAwug97zqpzTeWSNUJacSlqIlZaIrqZ1R0apQY_x357EfGpKIrL_vgwGsa7ODvbjlDjU3ySdmAkxPgfFoPMfaRZHzw7_NnGzzITeA/s1600/Ripe+toms+IMG_0424.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZs3RfazwgjRnljSicYnL2BiAee8qr90Yxz0K_JqhAwug97zqpzTeWSNUJacSlqIlZaIrqZ1R0apQY_x357EfGpKIrL_vgwGsa7ODvbjlDjU3ySdmAkxPgfFoPMfaRZHzw7_NnGzzITeA/s640/Ripe+toms+IMG_0424.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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But there's still plenty to play for. Some of the best plants are still looking like this: </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1lWmObIrIshXU0wonfAtM3Qo3ozwpzDUf5OkZLAWW9lrN9Ct1vUGRLdd8OkRSs54JwvX3JQWVwGSrCkwAJvQLEHov5CUfz8qX1KTwiVNr6JPHt1PEvTk_J5CdQp4XOzoaHJuxpKx-ews/s1600/IMG_0397.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1lWmObIrIshXU0wonfAtM3Qo3ozwpzDUf5OkZLAWW9lrN9Ct1vUGRLdd8OkRSs54JwvX3JQWVwGSrCkwAJvQLEHov5CUfz8qX1KTwiVNr6JPHt1PEvTk_J5CdQp4XOzoaHJuxpKx-ews/s640/IMG_0397.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Please, just another few warm days, and it could be a bumper crop. </div>
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<a href="http://greenhousetales.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/the-last-tomato-of-summer.html">NEXT POST</a></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7837353722482487829.post-21655210131968469962016-08-07T03:08:00.003-07:002016-09-25T11:30:03.776-07:00From greenhouse to gut?<a href="http://greenhousetales.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/the-race-between-autumn-and-tomatoes.html">NEXT POST</a><br />
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I hate that phrase you hear on food programmes on the radio: 'from farm to fork'. But what would the greenhouse equivalent be: 'from greenhouse to gut'? 'From greenhouse to gustatory experience'? 'From greenhouse to getting supper'?<br />
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Well anyway, if we had a suitable phrase, we could have used it yesterday, because we went from this:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHCki1wEEc97faTA7w2TJ0967aPXlx1b6tUF8PNbd-M_TJmKUB1x6NYssBq_orELZTvuOcwWL4kg_402gcPCmvXtL6mpidWDrkotoMwtjypRpGQYrHBt_d5WyB6JvqVBSDSEuT8HyimPY/s1600/SAM_4831.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHCki1wEEc97faTA7w2TJ0967aPXlx1b6tUF8PNbd-M_TJmKUB1x6NYssBq_orELZTvuOcwWL4kg_402gcPCmvXtL6mpidWDrkotoMwtjypRpGQYrHBt_d5WyB6JvqVBSDSEuT8HyimPY/s640/SAM_4831.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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And this:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi5hyur9DNoSiAz_QUdHIiBzkg1Up7cAZzicNSuYYCXa1qqxq66der8PA7q_1t6WnbwAjbpqYRqINT5Xve8YS-JWow-IfRwXiZkP2a9urZnSyyl7Kv78cm46icnMjktOsx-X6EgHYSItM/s1600/SAM_4832.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi5hyur9DNoSiAz_QUdHIiBzkg1Up7cAZzicNSuYYCXa1qqxq66der8PA7q_1t6WnbwAjbpqYRqINT5Xve8YS-JWow-IfRwXiZkP2a9urZnSyyl7Kv78cm46icnMjktOsx-X6EgHYSItM/s640/SAM_4832.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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To this:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggmUMSLBDBOUC1vNVcZh0p7K7Jw-iNGsvJZBRivj2IEMmIPcugUyM34vq_zldR7YQV7RxerEkYLSKHW99zQjxp2Nao5A8BbW55dfNxMuIi3R81pN1F1PgR0tXGC9ESLL_k9oS71hvqMwg/s1600/SAM_4834.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggmUMSLBDBOUC1vNVcZh0p7K7Jw-iNGsvJZBRivj2IEMmIPcugUyM34vq_zldR7YQV7RxerEkYLSKHW99zQjxp2Nao5A8BbW55dfNxMuIi3R81pN1F1PgR0tXGC9ESLL_k9oS71hvqMwg/s640/SAM_4834.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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And this:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggboe87uS6mVsMlJWh9t2-ROwJltQDfuzLjqEgCZmWkGT-LYJQLkQvZiUv9nF3y8k6rPrmrGuZ6lpah5qLJsyWMbhw_-LmOq1l61pTby89Q8THqswhCFVi4f36ldD-UZ0XMkdOHs2Gj9A/s1600/Courgettes+SAM_4837.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggboe87uS6mVsMlJWh9t2-ROwJltQDfuzLjqEgCZmWkGT-LYJQLkQvZiUv9nF3y8k6rPrmrGuZ6lpah5qLJsyWMbhw_-LmOq1l61pTby89Q8THqswhCFVi4f36ldD-UZ0XMkdOHs2Gj9A/s640/Courgettes+SAM_4837.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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And jolly good they were, though I say so myself.</div>
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I planted both courgette and marrow seeds in the greenhouse a few months ago, but I can't remember which were where. I suspect the darker one here was a marrow and could have carried on growing more and the lighter one was a courgette. They seemed to taste the same though, and probably both better than a big marrow would do in a month or so. </div>
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When you use a kitchen knife outside to cut a vegetable, you're turning something from the world of the garden into something for the world of the kitchen. Where previously, a bit of mud and the odd insect were perfectly acceptable, now tiny blemishes are examined forensically and removed before cooking and consumption. Imagine having to clean the greenhouse to the standard of the kitchen. </div>
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<a href="http://greenhousetales.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/the-race-between-autumn-and-tomatoes.html">NEXT POST</a></div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7837353722482487829.post-80210646586816851572016-07-30T10:37:00.001-07:002016-07-30T10:44:59.976-07:00What a difference two weeks makesWe just got back from a fortnight away, and the place looks like a jungle:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo7Pcnc6SZalHbQPrzT6WiS6NcFIK13KhgRRAPWHTg_wVe2Y_cVI_7Ll6J1h-wsWaIwGAm1UlSe-fvYHXeXA8npBLOYCwHwUygdfbzNKc2yZf43sTSTX44-eVe7CNXBbubjMfV95BvTt4/s1600/SAM_4817.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo7Pcnc6SZalHbQPrzT6WiS6NcFIK13KhgRRAPWHTg_wVe2Y_cVI_7Ll6J1h-wsWaIwGAm1UlSe-fvYHXeXA8npBLOYCwHwUygdfbzNKc2yZf43sTSTX44-eVe7CNXBbubjMfV95BvTt4/s640/SAM_4817.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="text-align: left;">The </span><a href="http://greenhousetales.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/courgettes-v-marrows.html" style="text-align: left;">marrows and courgettes</a><span style="text-align: left;"> have taken over, filling up the passage through the middle of the greenhouse and pretty much excluding other plants from the light. I don't particularly mind about the nasturtiums, which self-seeded anyway, but there are also tomato plants in there which are looking unhealthily tall and thin. </span></div>
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That may be partly because the greenhouse itself doesn't get as much light as it should, being in the shadow of the house in the morning and that of some large trees at the bottom of the garden in the afternoon. But obviously the big marrow leaves don't help. </div>
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Someone kindly watered the greenhouse while we were away, but I forgot to ask her to leave the door open if it was hot, which I think it was. So there are signs of decay, of living in a hot, damp atmosphere:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAAesKjhu5U6tkOs3QD2iWZQleFfGjQbrjlZoMHusYXia9HfznsFj7gACe_aSJrSukKIPDTbMf8f5mCb4Jlwn_qRRH_pJ-7Z1mDtuv0j3FltJEwIYY-LclrL3Ft1wJwSYhIel_ekEoNkE/s1600/SAM_4818.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAAesKjhu5U6tkOs3QD2iWZQleFfGjQbrjlZoMHusYXia9HfznsFj7gACe_aSJrSukKIPDTbMf8f5mCb4Jlwn_qRRH_pJ-7Z1mDtuv0j3FltJEwIYY-LclrL3Ft1wJwSYhIel_ekEoNkE/s320/SAM_4818.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqVSC29Q1K_lqUdKgnufpr-8Cx_Gz9OKSr7TQxTnuwxYwrYRzTIVgxtpj_yB3R-n0alQ6R2hj8fICkx_qCYbAgjQ3Nvqk0avYMUOsd98Vh2Ih0YvuEkyrCCT69U1SAl3HniruTKv5LcW0/s1600/SAM_4819.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqVSC29Q1K_lqUdKgnufpr-8Cx_Gz9OKSr7TQxTnuwxYwrYRzTIVgxtpj_yB3R-n0alQ6R2hj8fICkx_qCYbAgjQ3Nvqk0avYMUOsd98Vh2Ih0YvuEkyrCCT69U1SAl3HniruTKv5LcW0/s320/SAM_4819.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Now I've left the door open, hoping the plants will get used to more normal conditions for England. </div>
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Plants that I'd already transferred outside did best while I was away, and I'm pleased to see that there are some quite healthy looking marrows and courgettes on the way: </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ7vzQwBjOWGmmObfI5iF94OPGhyphenhyphenzmIHxwN4QXI07_SO0VuUKOP93u9Cc20OOEVxaRyWHkCcunfHGvM_7CSKI8xV0dGEkJf_Dbhk9rKQ6WAWsqLV_F_JTdShpm6J4PpZYlbBm37T1kCnA/s1600/SAM_4815.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ7vzQwBjOWGmmObfI5iF94OPGhyphenhyphenzmIHxwN4QXI07_SO0VuUKOP93u9Cc20OOEVxaRyWHkCcunfHGvM_7CSKI8xV0dGEkJf_Dbhk9rKQ6WAWsqLV_F_JTdShpm6J4PpZYlbBm37T1kCnA/s640/SAM_4815.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkgL2eoe4j-HsxnxxegXVK2x1_Cmu_jj8wHHJReKYYtgPeO0_A1Ss8bHpa_GJJQAnQ7HuMPaQO-epZVRtJOHDQKqDYHUYw5Pi7S0DVRYornGGeMf3pOzZraVt3ITPJ3wmQjm1FXz9rl5A/s1600/SAM_4816.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkgL2eoe4j-HsxnxxegXVK2x1_Cmu_jj8wHHJReKYYtgPeO0_A1Ss8bHpa_GJJQAnQ7HuMPaQO-epZVRtJOHDQKqDYHUYw5Pi7S0DVRYornGGeMf3pOzZraVt3ITPJ3wmQjm1FXz9rl5A/s640/SAM_4816.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpaga9D_pAp_EbjiXAnyPko8M87QnFeiwrA76iF7u9seHaa3OOnSxD8roRUX9JU8x7fRwJzPzTUM2dkYGJw3HryKRlVCppZSf_3Z9NEH3Nj3HaW6melZbXOtFe0WZubyRC15Ys3MObOfM/s1600/SAM_4821.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpaga9D_pAp_EbjiXAnyPko8M87QnFeiwrA76iF7u9seHaa3OOnSxD8roRUX9JU8x7fRwJzPzTUM2dkYGJw3HryKRlVCppZSf_3Z9NEH3Nj3HaW6melZbXOtFe0WZubyRC15Ys3MObOfM/s640/SAM_4821.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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I have now rescued some of the lanky tomato plants from death by marrow leaf, hoping a new life in the real world will restore them to health. </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7837353722482487829.post-69076583476301747002016-07-02T03:59:00.002-07:002016-07-30T10:49:24.013-07:00Parsnip surprise<a href="http://greenhousetales.blogspot.co.uk/2016/07/what-difference-two-weeks-makes.html">NEXT POST</a><br />
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This is the first time I've grown parsnips. They seem to be doing well, although I probably haven't given them enough space, letting them squeeze together in a couple of pots.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUpvYezZLg-PEweHOPluPb68lIsoQoS8iFD9VHOUPiL8MMaKNS_xYLDpSWfufH8DlUDTir7Bw8dFkzFNo7RMMkqFdUQrQLmWwFZapSziV6n4uxx-v3H5ib9i91W87gDVrd7WUYgyzJJEI/s1600/DSC_0309.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUpvYezZLg-PEweHOPluPb68lIsoQoS8iFD9VHOUPiL8MMaKNS_xYLDpSWfufH8DlUDTir7Bw8dFkzFNo7RMMkqFdUQrQLmWwFZapSziV6n4uxx-v3H5ib9i91W87gDVrd7WUYgyzJJEI/s640/DSC_0309.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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But when will they be ready for picking? I read one book that said it's when they're about two foot high. Well, some of mine had reached that, so I thought I'd pull one out. I wanted to avoid leaving it for so long that the roots had become tough and woody.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik8AFKgspiBDcJoNSpoFLA3138I81yigVrhfcA5POsjpHZCVilqw12lV3ZHntLh9n6fwuCU53YCtEXcr9LQZHWBd8Ckiz1zpfSnpJCUeGJZojwukziUTldEXhxI3di-CPytb75p-AoBHk/s1600/DSC_0307.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik8AFKgspiBDcJoNSpoFLA3138I81yigVrhfcA5POsjpHZCVilqw12lV3ZHntLh9n6fwuCU53YCtEXcr9LQZHWBd8Ckiz1zpfSnpJCUeGJZojwukziUTldEXhxI3di-CPytb75p-AoBHk/s640/DSC_0307.jpg" width="360" /></a></div>
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What I found was a relatively large bulb immediately below the surface and a lot of little parsnips growing out of it.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVLD1bU6I5dwE_bW0WlE3OCQKtcUT4tom-8FaRAHEOleiLZfioRpup4jnaIrcqUv_qYjwK3EBDQxNyiNV2SdXca9th-NAjAcVYV4hwkPS8JsFw7I4uBEripTAgoo2iAlQWSw2hleh0VhI/s1600/DSC_0306.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVLD1bU6I5dwE_bW0WlE3OCQKtcUT4tom-8FaRAHEOleiLZfioRpup4jnaIrcqUv_qYjwK3EBDQxNyiNV2SdXca9th-NAjAcVYV4hwkPS8JsFw7I4uBEripTAgoo2iAlQWSw2hleh0VhI/s640/DSC_0306.jpg" width="360" /></a></div>
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I'd been expecting to find just one parsnip. So do parsnips grow in bunches, as these ones look like they would if I'd left them? Or is this some kind of anomaly caused by transplanting or a time when it was short of water or something?<br />
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Anyway, my conclusion is that I should leave the rest to keep on growing for quite a few more weeks. Any thoughts would be welcome. <br />
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<a href="http://greenhousetales.blogspot.co.uk/2016/07/what-difference-two-weeks-makes.html">NEXT POST</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7837353722482487829.post-51933930832949953222016-05-16T00:27:00.003-07:002016-09-28T13:49:10.818-07:00Courgettes v marrows<a href="http://greenhousetales.blogspot.co.uk/2016/07/parsnip-surprise.html">NEXT POST</a><br />
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Only a week ago, I planted several lots of seeds from the bumper pack <a href="http://greenhousetales.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/ten-vegetables-for-2016.html">I bought back in January</a>: courgettes, marrows and onions. I hope I'm not too late to be starting now (like Willy Loman in <i>Death of a Salesman</i>).<br />
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I am hugely impressed with the courgettes:<br />
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Especially when the marrows look like this:<br />
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I haven't grown onions before, so I don't know what to expect from them. I've planted some outside and some in the greenhouse. There are signs of life from the ones in the greenhouse, but I can't really believe I'm ever going to end up with real onions:<br />
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Finally, although it's nothing to do with the greenhouses, I couldn't ignore the colour of our new rhododendron, recently acquired from a garden centre and therefore, in my mind, cheating. Its colours are so bright that they practically broke my camera. Is there a colour equivalent of over-exposure - because that's what I was getting? The only way I could try to stop this picture burning out (or, as I say, the colour equivalent) was to under-expose and then brighten in Photoshop - and even that didn't completely work. Still, I'm not complaining: they look great:<br />
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<a href="http://greenhousetales.blogspot.co.uk/2016/07/parsnip-surprise.html">NEXT POST</a><br />
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<span id="goog_444084082"></span><span id="goog_444084083"></span><br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7837353722482487829.post-63622992539370633252016-05-07T09:07:00.001-07:002016-05-16T03:04:37.947-07:00Getting out in the sun<a href="http://greenhousetales.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/courgettes-v-marrows.html">NEXT POST</a><br />
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It's May 7th, the sun is out, and it's hot too.<br />
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Last weekend, I did a bit of 'landscaping' around my greenhouse. Well, I built a little path to the door and turned a small square around it that wasn't quite lawn or flowerbed, into flowerbed. This was thanks to some planks I'd got off the back of the truck belonging to the man who'd come to cut our trees a few weeks ago. They were heading for the skip and so he was happy for me to take them.<br />
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And this morning, confident that spring has finally sprung, I transplanted some of my parsnips and cauliflowers out of pots in the greenhouse into the new bed, and moved a pot of leek seedlings out there too.<br />
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Behind them are wild raspberries and some mint that my aunt gave me a few years ago. Above it all is a cherry tree, whose white blossom has been blowing around today.<br />
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The cauliflowers have been rather horribly chewed by something in the greenhouse, but I hope they will have escaped whatever it is by being outside. Could it be snails? I have been systematically removing them from the greenhouse - well, systematically on random occasions - but they never seem to be fully eradicated. It's not like <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/bill-gates/11694884/We-could-wipe-out-polio-by-2019-says-Bill-Gates.html">Bill Gates and polio</a>.<br />
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And I moved out all the repotted geraniums too. None have died, amazingly, but they don't seem to have grown either. I expect a bit of warm weather will bring them on.<br />
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So now the greenhouse is looking rather empty. Tomorrow I hope to change that by planting some more seeds - tomatoes especially, and I'll see what else I've got.<br />
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A final word of praise to rhubarb. I don't know where this lot came from, but it's doing very well with no help from me, even if it is hogging the light that some more of the parsnips and cauliflowers that I transferred into the same tub really need. And what's the plant on the right - please, anyone know? It never seems to do anything much. Is it some kind of iris maybe?<br />
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<a href="http://greenhousetales.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/courgettes-v-marrows.html">NEXT POST</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7837353722482487829.post-18371247533314989652016-01-31T03:22:00.001-08:002016-05-07T09:26:52.637-07:00The caulis are coming<a href="http://greenhousetales.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/getting-out-into-sun.html">NEXT POST</a><br />
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Yesterday my eye was drawn to the window by a sudden bright light in the garden. The sun had come out on January 30th.<br />
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I went into the greenhouse and found it was warm enough to produce those delicious soily, leafy smells that are as much a part of the pleasure of having a greenhouse as what you see in it. </div>
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Could it really be 29 degrees, or do I have a thermometer programmed to tell people what they want to hear? </div>
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Well, maybe it's right. The cauliflower seeds I <a href="http://greenhousetales.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/ten-vegetables-for-2016.html">planted three weeks ago</a> have already burst into life. </div>
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Maybe Homebase's promise of "Cauliflower All The Year Round" will be fulfilled. Or at least, I could have a glut of cauliflower all at once, in about April or May.</div>
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And there's more. Last weekend I managed to sprinkle a big pot with Parsnip Student seeds ("very good long-rooted narrow cored heritage variety"). They're not due to be harvested until October at the earliest, but there's no harm in giving them a good run at it. </div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7837353722482487829.post-22884044253758458362016-01-09T09:03:00.000-08:002016-07-30T11:18:59.559-07:00Ten vegetables for 2016<a href="http://greenhousetales.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/the-caulis-are-coming.html">NEXT POST</a><br />
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I have too many half used packets of vegetable seeds. I don't want to waste them, but nor do I want to waste my time preparing the soil and planting them if they're too old ever to germinate. I'm abandoning them for the moment.<br />
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Instead, as kind of new year resolution, I went crazy and spent £3.99 on a Homebase bumper pack of ten kinds of vegetable seeds. They're not particularly exotic - just things like marrow, parsnip, spinach and onion. But they come with easy to use directions about when and how to plant, and so I'm thinking that if I can just get them out of the packet and into the soil at the right time, it could be an easy way to produce something useful from the greenhouse this year.<br />
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I started today with the 'all-the-year-round cauliflower'. I can't be bothered to plant seeds with measured spaces between them, so I just scatter them into a pot, cover them with a bit more soil, and will transplant the best ones when they pop up.<br />
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If I keep it up, by February, I should have leeks, onions and parsnips under way too.<br />
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The instructions don't say anything about a greenhouse, but I'm assuming it will be frost-free, and that they should have a better chance in there than outside. Of course I'll have to water them, although the greenhouse seems permanently damp at this time of year, so that shouldn't be too much work.<br />
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<a href="http://greenhousetales.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/the-caulis-are-coming.html">NEXT POST</a><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7837353722482487829.post-53232141252899123872015-09-11T13:49:00.005-07:002016-01-09T09:09:19.661-08:00Ripening tomatoes are like life<a href="http://greenhousetales.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/ten-vegetables-for-2016.html">NEXT POST</a><br />
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...a race between maturity and decay.<br />
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I'm hoping that in my greenhouse and in my life the maturing process will edge ahead temporarily. </div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7837353722482487829.post-17246062677274616052015-07-12T02:48:00.000-07:002016-01-09T09:07:49.423-08:00Doing the bees' work on cucumbers<a href="http://greenhousetales.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/ripening-tomatoes-are-like-life-race.html">NEXT POST</a><br />
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Bees are in short supply round the gardens of West London, as my neighbour was remarking yesterday. 'Do you think I need to pollinate my marrows?' she asked. <br />
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I really didn't know, but it made me scurry off to the internet to see whether I should be pollinating my cucumbers. Even if we had swarms of bees, the cucumbers are in the greenhouse, so they'd be out of reach.<br />
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The cucumbers have been doing well - indeed I pride myself in <a href="http://greenhousetales.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/wheres-that-greenhouse-effect.html">spotting their early promise</a>. Now they're almost taking over the greenhouse, especially since I gave them a piece of string along the roof to climb along.<br />
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But amid the profusion of leaves and flowers, there's not much sign of a cucumber.<br />
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So I was grateful to someone called Gary Pilarchik for his helpful YouTube video on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hq_KNAAG7j0">how to 'hand-pollinate' cucumbers</a>.<br />
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According to Gary, you just swivel a paint brush inside the male flowers, collecting pollen, and then do the same inside the females.<br />
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I had a go, and found the same problem Gary had in his video - a lack of females. You're supposed to identify females by their being single flowers, while males grow in clusters. And females will have cucumbers growing between them and the stem. (Although doesn't that mean there's no point in trying to pollinate them any more?)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9dE3tCUwPDJOsjQdzLy4Mj2c8abIurWcEvJMan4NPjxszG_xSRV3eayYTibh9W_wekrf2xMySSxws9_SPj8FLz6AfhOiPcrUODkS3oShog1YM_3BSvHS1t_c-piSTnatLpZyEbl8XrYs/s1600/SAM_2383.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9dE3tCUwPDJOsjQdzLy4Mj2c8abIurWcEvJMan4NPjxszG_xSRV3eayYTibh9W_wekrf2xMySSxws9_SPj8FLz6AfhOiPcrUODkS3oShog1YM_3BSvHS1t_c-piSTnatLpZyEbl8XrYs/s640/SAM_2383.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Male cluster</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Female flower with growing cucumber</td></tr>
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In the end, I just swivelled willy-nilly - thinking it didn't matter if I couldn't tell whether I was collecting or distributing pollen.<br />
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Some of the advice talks about it being a messy job. I found it unusually clinical for something in the garden, but it's true that I've been left with a stubborn stickiness on my wrists and arms from the pollen.<br />
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Oh well, I've done what I can.<br />
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<a href="http://greenhousetales.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/ripening-tomatoes-are-like-life-race.html">NEXT POST</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7837353722482487829.post-51804727224894128902015-06-14T03:43:00.000-07:002015-07-12T02:50:30.280-07:00Cutting those geraniums down to size<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="http://greenhousetales.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/doing-bees-work-on-cucumbers.html">NEXT POST</a><br />
Many of the plants that I <a href="http://greenhousetales.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/the-comfort-of-plants.html">inherited from my mother</a> are geraniums. But they were lanky - with long featureless stems leading to the odd flower or leaf at the top. They looked like creatures from a planet with low gravity.<br />
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Fortunately, my mother-in-law knows about this kind of thing, and so when she came to lunch I persuaded her to get to work with the secateurs while I filled some spare pots with <a href="http://greenhousetales.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/constructive-decomposition-never-buy.html">my nutritious compost</a>.<br />
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We soon had a collection of new pots with the cut stems she had designated as new plants, and a much more respectable collection of the original plants with their dead leaves and flowers removed.<br />
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My mother-in-law told me to water the pots thoroughly but then to leave them, rather than constantly rewatering them while the new plants get established. I don't know why, but perhaps it encourages the new roots to grow because they have to dig deeper in search of water?<br />
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Good work - except I now have twice as many geraniums to look after.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7837353722482487829.post-34824719293816118232015-05-30T09:49:00.000-07:002015-06-14T03:45:58.106-07:00The mysterious allure of gardening<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="http://greenhousetales.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/cutting-those-geraniums-down-to-size.html">NEXT POST</a><br />
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I wouldn't say I'm obsessed with my greenhouse - although others might. But I have to admit that in the week of the Chelsea Flower Show, a review of its TV coverage did ring a bell:<br />
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<i>Like many newly keen gardeners, I thought gardening was stupid until I got a garden of my own. This happened to coincide with me growing old and boring, or older and more boring, as my wife will tell you. It may be that piddling about in the garden has replaced participatory sport, parties and indeed speaking to other human beings because it's the only leisure activity that allows you to hide. </i><br />
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That was Benji Wilson writing in the <i>Telegraph. </i><br />
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I've actually enjoyed gardening for a long time - beginning at my prep school. Several times a day, we were thrown out into the school grounds, whatever the weather. If, like me, you weren't sporty, there wasn't much to do except wander round and wait for time to pass. But you were allowed to join the Gardening Club. This centred on some small allotments in an old walled kitchen garden. The chief attraction was not the gardening, but access to an old shed where the gardening implements were kept. It was a vital few degrees warmer than the fresh air in winter.<br />
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In fact, I found the gardening itself quite absorbing. When I joined, I remember being shown my little plot by Eddie Hayward, the head of the Club. "But what is there to do all the time?" I asked him. "Oh, there's always something that needs tidying up, or the soil needs digging, even in winter," he assured me.<br />
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And he was right. From the outside gardening looks like a series of tasks to be completed - seeds to germinate, flowers or vegetables to grow - but it's actually a process. It's the doing that counts, not the results.<br />
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Supposing you had all the time in the world and all the help you needed to make the best garden you could. How long would it take? And how would you know you had finished? You wouldn't, because perfection leads to decline. Even on a single plant there are leaves, fruits and flowers at different stages of development: there's no perfect moment when it's finished.<br />
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So, to me, it's not just "piddling about" as Benji Wilson puts it. It's a kind of physical metaphor for our lives. Just as drama resonates because it evokes feelings and relationships we recognise, so gardening makes sense to us because it contains patterns we know, perhaps unconsciously, are worth tuning in to.<br />
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The older I get, the more those elusive patterns mean to me. Like the mysterious attraction of a particular shape to the Richard Dreyfuss character in <i><a href="http://empire500.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/108-close-encounters-of-third-kind-1977.html">Close Encounters</a></i>, so older people are drawn to gardening without having to understand why.<br />
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Every evening when I get back from work, I feel compelled go out and have a look at my greenhouse, to make a few adjustments and see how things are getting on. Some plants are flourishing; others are in decline. I can guide and encourage, but in the end, as in life, the forces of nature are more powerful than anything I can do. I'm really just there to witness what's happening - for my own sake, not really for the plants.<br />
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<a href="http://greenhousetales.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/cutting-those-geraniums-down-to-size.html">NEXT POST</a><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7837353722482487829.post-31806300207802489082015-05-25T13:20:00.001-07:002015-05-30T09:50:53.077-07:00At last - this is what a greenhouse should be doing<a href="http://greenhousetales.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/the-search-for-meaning-and-mysterious.html">NEXT POST</a><br />
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I can't help feeling my greenhouse has been underperforming during its first few weeks. So I was delighted to visit it today and see the sun was pouring in through its toughened glass and that its automatic window (<a href="http://www.greenhousepeople.co.uk/products/51/classic_auto_opener_for_vent/">£27 from the Greenhouse People</a>) had decided to ease itself open to cool things down inside.<br />
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Further inspection revealed that conditions were positively tropical.<br />
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The plants looked contented, and I could actually hear them growing - a subtle background buzz of gentle organic stretching.<br />
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Being in the greenhouse was like being part of one of those natural history time-lapse sequences, in real time. But can it last?<br />
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<a href="http://greenhousetales.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/the-search-for-meaning-and-mysterious.html">NEXT POST</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7837353722482487829.post-40307294139079738902015-05-16T04:16:00.000-07:002015-05-25T13:23:31.390-07:00Where's that greenhouse effect? <a href="http://greenhousetales.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/at-last-this-is-what-greenhouse-should.html">NEXT POST</a><br />
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I know that conditions in a greenhouse in South West London in early May aren't exactly like the tropical rainforest. But I thought my new greenhouse might at least grow things as well as they grow on the window-sill in the kitchen. Not so far.<br />
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Here is my first crop, started on the window-sill and about to graduate to the greenhouse.<br />
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They're a collection of seeds that came in a gift pack, called - a little too cutely - "Psychedelic Salad": unusual coloured beetroot, cucumbers etc.<br />
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And here they are in the greenhouse, ten days later:<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAWiDU1OKsnIQXgMNsmPCErQZ7DqsHrjadVIHq5NeiKw0fGsib5KGhKPHNULfiDua0T2maD0oY2I5okqINskKs306VYIhk4L9b4jGAyKdB5_64qi3dxE0nVyGELReFMAtv8YTLGSW60qw/s1600/SAM_2136.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAWiDU1OKsnIQXgMNsmPCErQZ7DqsHrjadVIHq5NeiKw0fGsib5KGhKPHNULfiDua0T2maD0oY2I5okqINskKs306VYIhk4L9b4jGAyKdB5_64qi3dxE0nVyGELReFMAtv8YTLGSW60qw/s640/SAM_2136.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Radishes</td></tr>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgsH4Bwp33C6gpu_lJ89TUV16XXq1_JJ6ehO2p63jsCBaykGOCogsjpYKZJGTQElmdbVggveOi3PTp3JCtOSgylGhfqdpkp00km5Ufq4WQz9FJJv18eIMORBbf65HL8Dk0En1JjoYXCis/s1600/SAM_2135.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgsH4Bwp33C6gpu_lJ89TUV16XXq1_JJ6ehO2p63jsCBaykGOCogsjpYKZJGTQElmdbVggveOi3PTp3JCtOSgylGhfqdpkp00km5Ufq4WQz9FJJv18eIMORBbf65HL8Dk0En1JjoYXCis/s640/SAM_2135.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Spring onions</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf2g1rP1qwvdRtufxj_ebN__NGmMXOgBodBXXfityM26kyS9QsNySUgmmHD6H2LnesTZWkdXC1gr_zRs2o2FDLFriA-tAPAou5Wo7jJcGC0Q7OW-FaBjq3dPJ3SK7s8B4MnQSfpkbuiQM/s1600/SAM_2138.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf2g1rP1qwvdRtufxj_ebN__NGmMXOgBodBXXfityM26kyS9QsNySUgmmHD6H2LnesTZWkdXC1gr_zRs2o2FDLFriA-tAPAou5Wo7jJcGC0Q7OW-FaBjq3dPJ3SK7s8B4MnQSfpkbuiQM/s640/SAM_2138.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Beetroot</td></tr>
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The lettuces have all been eaten by something, the spring onions look anorexic, and the beetroot and radishes are all over the place.<br />
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I have high hopes for the cucumber, which actually look quite healthy:<br />
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But going back to the window-sill question, more recently I planted some tomato and sweetcorn seeds on both the window-sill and in the greenhouse. So far, only the window-sill ones are doing well:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdxxZDWst5DLlTWCQzbV7nUsmW1ZxS45wHavoD_prddUHc4RYYqUZsgccLCxf3fCucEz_gYNxyxlFquHCtUc6mFB2MIrRNUDyTbcyg5GG1beqrZheO9v1_W4B751ujwQyg5FvE-S7hjr4/s1600/SAM_2131.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdxxZDWst5DLlTWCQzbV7nUsmW1ZxS45wHavoD_prddUHc4RYYqUZsgccLCxf3fCucEz_gYNxyxlFquHCtUc6mFB2MIrRNUDyTbcyg5GG1beqrZheO9v1_W4B751ujwQyg5FvE-S7hjr4/s640/SAM_2131.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sweetcorn</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhudBRWM909vNPXkr8XjzhETHkGve6xqZlAFwO6ygmdOufjbhBVNzu0D1-exKb8obeFXqsvyWtfdjSA34XQbskpVVhfoXkuPBn6Y8wnV3OJtYiXTd7gEH8iM4Hv0L9EMSt1by3CvTkPtd4/s1600/SAM_2132.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhudBRWM909vNPXkr8XjzhETHkGve6xqZlAFwO6ygmdOufjbhBVNzu0D1-exKb8obeFXqsvyWtfdjSA34XQbskpVVhfoXkuPBn6Y8wnV3OJtYiXTd7gEH8iM4Hv0L9EMSt1by3CvTkPtd4/s640/SAM_2132.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tomatoes</td></tr>
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There's no sign of the rest of these packets, which I planted in the greenhouse. I've always believed in the greenhouse effect, but in my garden, it seems a bit of a myth. <br />
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<a href="http://greenhousetales.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/at-last-this-is-what-greenhouse-should.html">NEXT POST</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7837353722482487829.post-41899711409088289632015-05-09T06:15:00.000-07:002015-05-25T00:29:16.278-07:00Constructive decomposition: never buy fertiliser again<a href="http://greenhousetales.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/wheres-that-greenhouse-effect.html">NEXT POST</a><br />
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In line with my <a href="http://greenhousetales.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/a-quest-for-shelf-improvement.html">make-do-and-mend policy</a>, I was hoping to make use of the compost heap I've been accumulating at the end of the garden over the past few years. Wouldn't it be satisfactory if that could provide new plants in my greenhouse with all they needed to grow in?<br />
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But when I looked the compost heap, it didn't look promising. I probably hadn't left it long enough to decompose and I'd been too optimistic about the process - adding too many small branches that might disintegrate before the next ice age, eventually turning into coal I suppose, but wouldn't be compost for several centuries after I myself had returned to my constituent elements.<br />
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At least, that's how it looked.<br />
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But when I started digging, I found a layer of damp, dark, crumbly stuff underneath. In fact, it bore a striking resemblance to real compost.<br />
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And when it has been sieved, it looked even better:<br />
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What's more, there was an awful lot of it. A bit like the miracle of the loaves and the fishes, I found I was able to fill up all my pots, and still had a whole wheelbarrow of unsieved stuff left over. I had enough compost to feed five thousand seedlings - well, almost. </div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7837353722482487829.post-62525100460121448242015-05-03T11:01:00.000-07:002015-05-25T00:28:37.815-07:00A quest for shelf-improvement<a href="http://greenhousetales.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/constructive-decomposition-never-buy.html">NEXT POST</a><br />
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So far, buying the greenhouse has been a bit of an extravagance. As well as <a href="http://greenhousetales.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/and-here-it-is.html">the greenhouse itself</a>, there was the cost of <a href="http://greenhousetales.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/a-greenhouse-in-making.html">building a concrete base</a>, and paying someone to assemble it. <br />
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But from now on it's going to be re-use and recycle - in other words, a return to my usual cheapskate style.<br />
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So instead of buying shelves from <a href="http://www.greenhousepeople.co.uk/">the Greenhouse People</a>, from whom I bought the greenhouse (although I must admit they <a href="http://www.greenhousepeople.co.uk/products/24/caverswall_three_tier_1ft_wide_x_4ft_long/">look rather good</a>), I made some myself from leftovers.<br />
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They may be a little narrower than you might wish, limited by the width of the plank I sliced up to make them, but I reckoned there wasn't going to a lot of jostling and horseplay in the greenhouse, and not much wind either, so that if they were sturdy enough, they'd probably do the job.<br />
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Now I'm starting to get an idea of how much I'm going to be able to fit into the greenhouse. My son says he wants to see every cubic centimetre filled with biomass. I'd rather aim for a kind of scenic grotto with enough room for a human being to visit comfortably, or maybe even to sit and read in pleasant surroundings.<br />
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<a href="http://greenhousetales.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/constructive-decomposition-never-buy.html">NEXT POST</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7837353722482487829.post-2694227229301073242015-04-26T11:13:00.000-07:002015-05-25T00:28:17.787-07:00The comfort of plants<a href="http://greenhousetales.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/a-quest-for-shelf-improvement.html">NEXT POST</a><br />
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My greenhouse is now populated, or what's the right word - herborated?<br />
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There is a sad story behind the sudden arrival of these plants. They came from my mother's conservatory, and they came because she died two weeks ago.<br />
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I'd ordered the greenhouse many weeks earlier, when my dear mum was in reasonable health. As we narrowed down the date for the base to be built, the greenhouse to be delivered and the man to come and build it, it turned out that the job would be completed last Friday.<br />
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And that was the first day I had a chance to go to my mother's house and rescue the now almost terminally dehydrated plants. When I got home, the greenhouse had been finished for about an hour, ready to receive plants that meant a lot to my mother.<br />
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To me, it seems more than a coincidence. I am so pleased to have a home for the plants. They will always have a strong and poignant association, but a happy one.<br />
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