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.

After The Rains.

The rain hasn’t really been terribly inspiring to get out onto the roof this week, but when the clouds broke on Tuesday I went out and got to work.

I potted up my ‘Roma’ tomatoes; the ‘Yellow Pears’ still aren’t showing much sign of life yet. 

It was also time to pull out some of my spring bulbs that had gone over, to make way for the summer plants.

I just stick all the spring bulbs into pots with some soil and leave them till it’s time to replant them. I have to be be quite economical with space and do quite a lot of moving around through the spring and summer.

Also I had good reason to shift things about as my mum and I went to the garden centre on Monday, to kit ourselves up for summer. I have to say I was the definition of abstemious – I actually counted what pots I had free-ish and stuck to it. What I’m going to do with all the seedlings I have coming was a factor I didn’t really think about till now actually, but I’m sure we’ll find room, otherwise there will be a lot of sunflower gifts being given.

I did stick to plants that I could put in small pots like this Centadenia, ‘Cascade’.

I also bought, Brachycombe, ‘Strawberry Pink’ which look like little pink daisies,

Diascia, ‘Blush White’ which are little white flowers with pink and yellow centres. My favourite is Dahlia Tricoloure, for which I had to break my rules and get another slightly larger pot for.

I also bought some Lobelia and a  Barcopa for my hanging basket. When coming to plant it up I found that the liner was pretty shredded, so I took some of the rather sodden newspaper from the bottom of the wormery to add to the lining, the idea being that all the worm goodness will go into the soil. I’m holding my breath for spectacular results.

Every day now when I go out with my tea to survey the estate as we call it, something new is emerging and changing. Watching My Parrot tulips evolve is a growing hobby, especially as I’m studying flower structure on my course at the moment. Rich thinks they look rather gross, but I love monitoring their changes in colour each morning.

My other joy on the roof at the moment is seeing my Eucalyptus perriniana (or Spinning Gum) coming back to life. What is out of shot in the photo above is the 5ft stick that once was the tree. The plan was to leave it one last summer to grow peas up, It must have sensed me and my lethal secateurs arguing with Rich that he can’t want to keep a bare stick, but he did, luckily. It sounds like this should have a fable ending but I can’t quite think of one.

Happy gardening.

Eyes Down Look In.

I’ve been spending most of my spare time since my last blog with my face firmly fixed in all my seedling pots, waiting with bated breath for the first signs of life. And with a little help from the lovely sunshine, life has arrived.

These are some of my ‘Roma’ tomatoes, which are a really good variety for cooking with. I’m also growing (hopefully if they come up) ‘Yellow Pear’ which are a good salad tomato. Every year they never fail to make me smile as they do look just like little pears – it is truly the simple things in life... .

I’ve also  been busy replanting and swapping round all my plants from last year. My lupins that I sowed last year look like they are going to burst in to life this summer. 

I decided to start again with my strawberry plants that I had been growing in the old wine boxes, they did produce loads of fruit last year but the boxes were full of grass that was sprouting out of every gap. I’ve replanted the boxes with my lavender cuttings and some new little geraniums. I do always line these with newspaper along with my metal pots to help with moisture and insulation, especially as it gets so hot up here.

My pea wall is taking shape, although a slug has found his way up to the roof and into the planters. I think the times of a pest-free roof are gone, and the greenfly on my roses are going to be the first to go. 

To add to my ever growing pea collection, I went and bought a bag of dried Marrowfat Peas from the newsagents. 

These are brilliant for growing just for the pea shoots, to have in salads and soups.

I’ve packed quite a lot into one of the pot holders – as they will be eaten really young, they don’t need a lot of room.

Just in case you’re wondering if my love of peas is overshadowing my love of carrots, it’s not – all the carrots are in, in a lovely new container that I actually bought. 

Happy Gardening. 

A weakness for carrots.

Yesterday I had a brilliantly busy day out on the roof. I got down to some serious seed sowing.

I had to give myself a little pat on the back as I managed to resist sowing the usual million lettuce seeds and stuck to a modest 20 or so. I also finally pulled up last year’s rocket, but I did cut the flowers as they are so beautiful.

I bought the lettuce, rocket and the stunning ‘Bonita Fiesta’ marigolds that I also sowed yesterday, from a supermarket in France last year and they are brilliant. You get loads of seeds in a packet, and the lettuces are huge. 

I think I have hinted before at my weakness for growing carrots. I’ll just say it now; I love it.

I did give in this week and bought yet more varieties on line. 

I’ve always grown carrots in pots, even when I had real earth. It’s so much easier, and you don’t lose any to pests.This year I’m sticking to four types: ‘Amsterdam Forcing’, ‘Rainbow’ carrots (which I love – they are purple, yellow, white and orange). These two I’ll put in tall pots like what you get roses in. The other two are ‘Atlas’ and ‘Parmex’ which are smaller, round varieties. 

As I don’t need the ‘Parmex’ carrots to be very big – I mainly use them in salads – I’ve sown them into this plastic pot tray that they give away in places like Homebase. I did cut a couple of holes in the bottom and mixed in some vermiculite into the compost. These trays are also great for growing lettuce in.

Getting slightly over-excited going through my seeds, I decided to sow some pumpkins. I’m not sure this was a good Idea for the roof, especially as they are called ‘Hooligan’, but they do say they are mini ones, I’m not even sure where this packet came from, so I’ll take it as  sign that they found me. I think that I’m going to try trailing some along the tops of the railings. 

This week , my good friend Lucy came up bearing amazing pea gifts (above) from the National Trust garden that she works at in Devon. I have a sweet pea ‘Matucana’ which is one of the original sweet pea variety, grown by Sicilian monks (very exciting), two edible peas; ‘Carouby De Maussane’ from 19th century France and ‘Magart’ which originates from Uppsala in Sweden. These, along with my own, will all become part of my pea fence that I’m going to have along one length of the roof. Before I start, I would like to replace the soil in the pallet planters to ensure that they have the best conditions to start their life here. However the look of confusion and horror on Rich’s face as he felt the weight of all compost he lugged up the steps last year, has made me think that I may just buy a small box of blood, fish and bone fertilizer instead.

Happy gardening.

Who doesn’t love free seeds?

Seeing a seedling emerging from the soil has to be one of the most enjoyable and addictive pastimes there is. I can sit for hours looking at on-line seed catalogues, happily adding vast varieties of carrots to the basket, ending with a huge bill. However, this week I’ve noticed that the majority of seeds I’ve sown haven’t cost me a thing.

My sweet peas that I sowed last week are shooting up, especially my reclaimed Miss Wilmot variety from last year’s blooms – they are charging ahead of the others.

So, heartened by their success, I dug out some seed-heads that I picked up off the ground at a National Trust garden that Rich and I visited late last summer; there wasn’t an abundance of them but enough to give them a shot. I got some really lovely white violas, with long perfectly-shaped white petals and then some of these flowers (below) that I have no idea what they are (any suggestions welcome).

Nothing has happened yet but I’m ever hopeful.

I’ve also sown some Aubergines – ‘Black Enorma’  that I got free with Grow it magazine. I had no luck last year with these (they didn’t even flower ) so I’m giving them another shot. I think being an incurable optimist goes hand in hand with being a gardener.

These beautiful paper-like seed-heads (above) are from last summer’s Eucomis Bicolor, or ‘Pineapple Lily’.  I had two of them and they look amazing, at every stage of their growth. I don’t know what I’m doing with the seeds but I do have enough seed saved to experiment so I’ve put some in up in the potting shed to see if they take.

These are my house plants that grew last year. The Avocado  (on the Left) I found bursting into action after I’d thrown it in the wormery to compost, along with 150 tomato plants, that seeded themselves.

The lemon tree (on the right) is my favorite. I simply stuck a pip in a pot in spring and with a lot of verbal encouragement and willing, it grew. I’ve been told there is no hope to one day be making roof-top lemonade, but that gardening optimism keeps me ever hopeful for ‘maybe just one gin and tonic’.

Happy gardening.

Spring has sprung, and it’s time to get sowing.

So spring is here and it’s really time to get going up here. The spring bulbs are nearly all out now, looking beautiful and as I’m writing this, I’m watching the pigeons that are back, getting all romantic and looking for seedlings to pull up.

Last week we went out and started the big clean up. There is something so exciting about empty pots. You can start planning what you want to grow this year, and go seed shopping!

However, due to such a mild winter and I guess because we are quite sheltered, not that much died off.  My wild rocket that I should have pulled up in August is still flowering. I just can’t bring myself to get rid of it; it’s battled through so much. I’m sure I will get a grip when I have something to replace it.

Yesterday I set about organizing my potting shed, better known as the upstairs toilet. This is where I spend most of my evenings in spring. It’s also a resting place for my house plants to take their chances if they aren’t looking good enough for public display.

I’m starting this year with sweet peas, easily one of my favourites (but you will find that I say that about most plants). Sweet peas are perfect up on the roof, as they give height and amazing colour to block out the vast brick walls that surround us.

I’m sowing four different peas, three of which are seed that I bought last year from the Pound Shop, and I have to say were brilliant: they’re called ‘Royal family’. I’ve got red, white, and pink, (I used all the blue last year). The other pea that I’m sowing is an heirloom variety called ‘MIss Wilmot’. I saved loads of seeds from last year's blooms, so fingers crossed they will germinate.

Looking at my garden diary from last year I saw that I was doing a sweet pea experiment to see if soaking or sowing the seed direct made a difference. Not being a disciplined scientist, I never wrote down the result. So I’m soaking the seed for 24 hours again. I can only imagine that it must speed up germination as they are already splitting this morning.

I’m off now to study leaf structure which is much more exciting than it sounds, well if you like that kind of thing.

Happy Gardening!