If Bob say's it's ok!

I had forgotten what the sun felt like. I walked out on to the roof with bare feet yesterday, and had to do a kind of hop, skip and jump back inside as my feet melted to the slabs. It’s very exciting.

The Roof has been a hive of activity since my last post. We’ve had sparrows, wagtails and some very noisy duck guests that left a few beak-shaped holes in some pots. I think they were after the vermiculite.

I finally got my tomatoes in. When I uncovered the plastic sheeting I found that my worm compost was obviously full of tomato seeds. You can see them all around the lettuce in the picture below. And I was trying to be so restrained on lettuce this year.

It’s all starting to get quite colourful now. The Antirrhinum is putting on the best show so far.

But also we have some rather confused daffodils, which I can only imagine were as disappointed with the spring as we were.

I was listening to Gardeners’ Question Time the other day and they were talking about growing watercress in containers. So, inspired by all the rain, I thought I give it a go.

It seems pretty straightforward. These seedling containers float so I’ve put a tiny amount of soil in and the seed. So, instead of the water moving, the tray does. If this works (and Bob Flowerdew says it does) it’s going to be amazing. I may even try and get my hands on a tray with 4 sides.

The good thing about being completely surrounded by neighbours is it shames me into be a bit neater – and my pea sticks were in a terrible mess. 

I’m not really known for being neat and tidy so I had to share this. I was very pleased with myself.

The little Swedish peas have started to flower, and are white but with beautiful green veins.

The brilliant new strawberries are also cracking along; I think they sensed that we are shortly due to go on holiday, as that seems to be when they always ripen.

Happy Gardening.

A Rooftop Greenhouse.

It’s been a while since my last blog, the main reason being that my gardening has consisted of staring out the window wondering if the rain will stop. And if it has been sunny I have been at work, staring out the window wondering if it will last till I get home.

But despite that, it’s all looking pretty great up here and the rain has certainly done it good.

I’m just starting to bring things outside to harden off in my miniature greenhouse. This was another little gem I picked up at the tip shop – in a former life it was a scientific weighing device, but I think it looks better like this.

My four tomato plants are all that will fit in as they have got rather too big and are desperate to be planted out. My cold frame has lost a pane of glass but despite this I still keep using it. I don’t know if the missing pane makes any difference, but it’s a lot easier to get pots in and out of now. 

My most exciting construction up on the roof is my second makeshift greenhouse. 

I’ve put ties on so that the plastic sheet can roll up to the top of the rail in the summer (I can’t show pictures of this as the big boulder is a lot heavier than it may look, and I can’t move it). As well as keeping my 3 lettuce plants warm, the sheet also keeps the majority of the rain off, which is needed, as the planter underneath is an old shelving unit that doesn’t have a lot of drainage, and I lined it with plastic. I have made a few holes in it but not enough for the amount of rain that we’ve had.

I stuck loads of chicken manure in ready for the tomato plants and of course some of the finest rooftop worm compost, which looks like it is full of tomato seedlings.

I’ve put some more lettuce seeds in as it was only these three that came up. The big hole in the cold frame didn’t keep out the small amount of unseasonal snow we had, which rudely put a stop to any decent germination. I’ve also had to put in some more marigolds, as the ones that did come up got attacked by slugs.

But it’s not all doom and gloom. Lots of things have battled through and are looking amazing.

My little aubergines are doing fantastically well since I moved them into the bathroom.

And the pea shoots will be picked tonight along with the first wild rocket.

I’ve been on potting-up duty today – dealing with my one yellow pear tomato seedling, that I’m very pleased with. I’m not too disappointed that only one came up as space is really tight.

The big leafy seedlings at the back are from some seeds my dad gave me. I’ve got 2 pumpkins and 1 climbing courgette. I thought my little Hooligan pumpkins we’re never going to appear but this week there are signs of life so I’ve popped them back into the cold frame to see what happens.

But most excitingly, I repotted the white viola (you may remember I collected the seed from it off the ground at a National Trust house last summer). It was a long wait for this one but I’m thrilled that one of the two seeds came up.

The most time consuming of jobs up on the roof this year is ‘getting rid’ of unwanted visitors, that find the roof a haven on their way through town. (I actually had a terrible nightmare about carrot root fly the other night.) But this little cricket I found trying not very successfully to jump off the cold frame, is very welcome.  

Happy Gardening.