The apparent reluctance of the weather to decide what it is doing has not hampered my raised bed growing efforts so far this year. Although, I may be sorry by the end of the week as I have done quite a bit of planting and we have had some very cold evenings this week!

So, I have eased off on the seed sowing this year because in years past excitement has got the better of me and resulted in a windowsill which you could barely see out of because of the greenery.

Edible Garden Show and Sowing

My experiment with the polystyrene box has paid off nicely and I now have quite a few healthy Winter Gem lettuces. Also, my other seeds have not only survived my lack of watering but also a trip to-and –from the Edible Garden Show in Coventry. Those seeds sat proudly on the shelving on the Potty Innovations stand for three days – and it was cold in there in the evenings!

Raised Bed Kit and Hardy Herbs

The raised garden bed has been growing nicely, the insulation properties of the Cultivation Station raised bed never fail to amaze me when I keep seeing plants come back year after year. My thyme and rosemary are both in full swing and my parsley is on its way back already. Also the onion sets I planted last winter are coming through so I should have some delicious red onions in the near future.

A Bit of Planting

After a good round of weeding and trying to adhere to crop rotation I finally got around to planting some Early Nantes Carrots, Gladiator Parsnips, Spring Onions and some Bright Lights Chard and carrots from the seed trays I had planted up. I also have great plans for courgettes, peppers and green beans when it warms up – which will hopefully be very soon.

Whilst it may still be a bit cold and windy in places, the weather certainly seems to be improving. So in the last couple of weeks I have started to sow seeds using a couple of polystyrene seed trays – the insulating properties of which mean you can usually start them off a little earlier.

As an experiment I have also used a polystyrene box as a seed tray for some little gem lettuces and am pleased to report that I already have numerous shoots coming through! 

Planted so far – chard, little gem and cut and come again lettuce, red basil, early nantes carrots, chives, tomatoes and rocket! 

All the trays fit quite neatly on the windowsill (for a change) and I have shoots for nearly all coming through except for the basil. However I remember last year it took a little while to shoot through. 

Need some polystyrene seed trays? Grab them from our website, we do small quantities of 5 for the home gardener or larger quantities if required. 

Have you started planting yet?

My home growing adventures of 2011 continued to teach me more and more useful things about growing your own vegetables in the garden, but here a few bits of useful growing advice to help you grow your own in 2012.

1.    Grow only what works best for you – a couple of years growing teaches you this. Sure a few experiments are good to have here and there, but if you want to ensure an abundance of tasty veg is always available for your plate, then bear this one in mind!
2.    Make sure you remember to regularly  feed plants – ensure your crops are happy, healthy and above all big and juicy – feeding should not be ignored.
3.    Make sure you regularly water plants – sounds silly and a bit obvious but this job is easily overlooked after a busy day at work. Make sure watering is regular otherwise you’ll end up with issues like bolting.
4.    Buy a large water butt – something like a 220 litre and you won’t regret it once you have a thirsty garden. You don’t realise how much water you use in the garden until your water bills go up or the small waterbutt you purchased is always empty (my mistake). With hosepipe bans a regular occurrence consider harvesting the rain whilst it’s falling!
5.    Grow lots of what you need and do successive sowings – to keep you in delicious home grown produce, ensure you keep doing successive sowings. This means planting carrots every couple of weeks for example, to ensure you always have a plentiful supply.

Ready to start growing your own? Check out these raised beds which are asembled in minutes!

Many other tips to follow!

Happy Growing

Just a quick update regarding some eps seed trays which I had dutifully planted up this year with some sweetcorn.

I was very pleased with how well the seeds had been growing until I lifted them up to have a closer look and noted a small accident. The sweetcorn either ‘grew the wrong way’ or someone may have planted the seed the wrong way up, although in truth I was only aware of that for onion sets.

Ooops.

Last year I set about growing some herbs, and decided that the herbs that would be grown would be those I liked the most, so thyme, rosemary, coriander, sage (because I wanted to make stuffing) and in the end I also opted for dill as we wanted to pickle some cucumbers.

So How Did They Do?

Well I was glad to see that the freezing temperatures had not killed all of my herbs over the winter, although I admit I have had to buy a few plants as extras or replacements.

The thyme has lasted really well, but also surprisingly the sage and parsley. I did not expect the last two to survive as they seem like delicate plants, in contrast to the thyme which seems a little more ‘hardy’ – but there you have it. I think the insulation properties of the Cultivation Station really helped!

Raised Bed Kits don’t have to be expensive. Potty Innovations offer affordable raised bed kits from just £50 including delivery without sacrificing on quality.
  

Raised Bed Kit Benefits

Raised beds offer many benefits including;

• Ease of access to crops
• Control over soil to suit your needs
• Easy crop rotation (if sectioned)
• Less digging is required
• Better drainage
• Longer growing period
• Added protection against slugs and snails
• If sectioned – easy crop rotation

Raised Bed Kit Types

There are many different types of raised bed on the market offering different advantages and disadvantages.

Some timber raised beds for example have a natural ‘look’ about them, but are often heavy to move around and require DIY knowledge for assembly. In addition timber will be susceptible to rot usually requiring treatment to preserve the wood.

Potty Innovations manufacture a 100% recyclable raised bed system (Cultivation Station) which is assembled in minutes by simply sliding the planters together.
   

Cultivation Station: Set-Up in Minutes

Manufactured in the UK, the Cultivation Station is available in four different raised bed kits and helps you get planting as quickly as possible by;

• Raised bed kit slides together in minutes.
• Set Up – No Tools. No Glue. No Digging. DIY Knowledge Not Needed.
• Decide where you want to put it, assemble it, and if you change your mind it is so lightweight it can be easily moved to another spot.
• No treatment/preservative or required.

Warmer Soil: Grow For Longer

• Manufactured from 100% recyclable EPS providing unbeatable insulation properties.
• Unbeatable insulation for roots.
• Soil warms up earlier in the year and stays warmer longer in the year so you can keep growing for longer.
• Will not rot or crack during temperature extremes.

Durable and Functional Raised Bed Kits

• Sectioned planter areas offer easy crop rotation.
• Central area can be used for planting deeper rooted vegetables.
• Strong walls to maintain insulation and shape.
• Material is not brittle, but strong enough to hold a fully grown man.
• 30 cms (12 inches) off the ground – easier to reach crops.
• Non-toxic material.
• Can be used for vegetables, fruit, flowers and herbs.
• Available in black or green.

Cultivation Station: Raised Bed Starter Kits

Potty Innovations is a UK manufacturer based in Northampton. We offer the following raised bed starter kits to help you get started with your growing quickly.

Our raised bed starter kits are available to buy online.
   

If you are a little unsure on how to grow onions, then you have come to the right place. A quick update on my onion growing antics will be followed by a quick beginners guide on ‘how to grow onions’.

A Quick Update

So far this year I have been focused on planting onions and garlic. I had hoped to have some purple sprouting broccoli, but alas it got eaten last year.

Anyway I have started with a few different onions so far, some white ‘radar’ variety, ‘Senshyu’ variety and also some red onions. Iam planting plenty in the hope they will last me quite a while, thats if I don’t make the same mistake as last year and instead allow them to dry properly!

How to Grow Onions in 5 Steps

1. For those of you not yet versed in the ways of growing onions, its best to use small bulbs (immature onions) called ‘sets’. These are usually more expensive than seeds, but are however far more reliable to grow.
2. To plant simply create a hole in which to place your bulb, I usually just use my finger but if you have a dibber you may want to use that instead.
3. Ensuring the roots are facing into the ground, place the bulb in the hole and cover over with soil ensuring the tip (pointy end) is just poking out above of the soil level. Be careful not to press the bulb hard into place as you may damage the root base.
4. Refer to the packet instructions for advice on spacing recommendations for the sets.
5. You may wish to protect your newly planted onion crop from birds using netting. Birds can be tempted to swoop down and start lifting them earlier than you wish!

Lifting

Depending on the onion variety onions are generally ready to lift in July/August.
A tell tale sign that they are ready will be when the green foliage starts to flop over and die back.

Drying

The onions will then need to be lifted and left to dry. If the weather is warm the onions can be left to dry on top of the soil, if not they need to be left somewhere else to dry where there is no damp.

Drying is very important, I made the mistake last year of lifting the onions and not letting them dry for long enough and then placing them in a hessian bag. The result was 60-70% of the crop went mouldy or started to rot after a period of time. It was a real shame as the onions we did manage to eat were really quite nice and did taste different to shop bought ones.

So in summary growing onions really is quite easy.

Order a Cultivation Station raised bed and give it a go!

I thought I would share my five top do’s and don’ts for the beginner gardener. Well, I was going to do my top 10 do’s and don’ts, but I think I need another full year in gardening practice first!

In no particular order…

Top 5 Don’ts

1. Don’t start planting too early, you’ll only be depressed when everything dies or nothing happens.
2. Don’t underestimate watering – be regular and don’t let plants dry out. I had many plants bolt because of irregular watering.
3. Don’t underestimate the pure destruction that bugs can do to your crops. Butterflies can and will cause havoc to your cabbages and broccoli, create a frame with old gardening canes and use some mesh to keep them out.
4. Don’t cover the whole raised bed in mesh to protect it from bugs as you’ll end up excluding the bugs that will pollinate your plants.
5. Don’t fill the window ledges in your house with seedlings, you’ll only forget what daylight looks like!

Top 5 Do’s

1. Do remember that you need insects for pollination, so be mindful of bug spray usage and perhaps read up on companion planting. Spraying the whole garden might make you feel better, but will probably kill everything in the process.
2. Do use EPS seed trays, they provide better insulation for roots and last longer than flimsy plastic ones.
3. Do use a torch to locate slugs at night! Once located, choose your trowel of preference and fling them over the fence (but not into a neighbouring garden).
4. Do get a nice tin to keep all of your seed packets in otherwise you will end up with packets all over the place.
5. Do get a reasonable sized water butt, we skimped on a small one and now need another! They are pretty easy to install and you won’t regret it when you have lots of thirsty plants.

Hope they are helpful!
VG

Growing my own vegetables with the raised bed Cultivation Station

2010 saw the Virgin Gardener’s first full year of ‘carefully planned’ growing with the Cultivation station raised bed.

Ok, so not so much as carefully planned but more like semi-planned… anyway that aside the whole effort wasn’t without enthusiasm I can assure you! We are talking about the kind of enthusiasm that leaves you without windowsills and no sunlight in the house because of the sheer amount of foliage.

So what worked?

• Carrots – Aside from the first few deformed ones I lifted out of the raised bed.
• Parsnips – Left it late to plant but the few that we got looked and tasted good.
• Courgettes – So many! This was the biggest plant in the raised bed and it worked out to be extremely cost effective to grow them.
• Salad and herbs – easy to grow but needed more space to grow much more!

What had potential?

• Sweetcorn – Pollinated perfectly thanks to a helping hand despite recommendations to grow in a block. Unfortunately I left it too late to pick the corn and all I got when I peeled back the foliage was a handful of earwigs! Nice.

• Broccoli and cabbage – Failed because they were not adequately protected from insects. By the time I had covered them with some mesh, the insects had long been and gone and the result was the adoption of a raised bed caterpillar farm.

• Onions – I had a good bunch of onions and some of them were monster huge. However I didn’t leave most of them to dry properly so I lost quite a few too.

What didn’t work?

• Peppers – I can’t seem to grow peppers. My first plant in 2009 produced just two, each with a nice slug soft centre. In 2010 I had one huge pepper which never ripened and lots of mini ones that never got any larger as the plant soon died of cold.
Third time lucky?

• Tomatoes – Got blight in 2009 and never really ripened in 2010. I had grown so many (over 15 plants) that I even had to give some of them away.

So what now?

Well, with the cold weather still upon us there still seems to be very little to do gardening wise but I shall be getting the seed trays ready for this year in preparation and will be doing a bit of planning.

I am sure all gardeners will agree that the first job will be to do some tidying up, I know I have plenty of weeding and tidying up to do with my raised bed Cultivation Station.

Are you confused about your courgette flowers? If so, read on!

It’s certainly been a learning curve this year, no more so than about courgette flowers. Earlier on in the season when the courgette plants were beginning to grow and there was an abundance of courgette flowers on the plants, I started to question why there was no fruit.

That’s when I discovered that one flower is male and the other female, and that the fruits only grow off the female flowers. It sounds obvious now, but at the time it was very confusing I spent ages looking at the courgette flowers that had appeared and conducted no end of searches trying to find a suitable article that would answer my question. After all, I was going to give eating the flowers a shot, but not knowing which was which I daren’t!

Anyway for those of you interested to know, or who are having the exact problems I did, here are some answers.

The Courgette Flowers – Meet The Boys

The Courgette Flowers – Meet The Girls

Courgette Flowers – Differences

• Face on, the female flower is more ‘orange-yellow’ than just yellow.
• Male flower has just one central ‘stalk’ – I’m sure there is a technical term, and the female has a cluster of them.
• Male flower contains the pollen (hence the hoverfly), to pollinate the female flower. If a lot of your small courgettes are rotting, its a sign that the flowers are not getting pollinated by insects, so the pollination may need to be done manually.
• Side on the male flower has a long thin stalk which then turns into a huge flower (these can be fried and eaten).
• Female flower has a ‘bulge’ behind it which is the baby fruit which should mature into a courgette if its pollinated. In the photo above, you can see one with a partially opened flower and another in front of it unopened.

I hope this information helps. Good luck with your courgette growing.