Sylviawh.co.uk Blog

Well after quite an interval I am back, but its not good news on the organic gardening front. It all fell flat and this is due to taking a weeks holiday back in May

My son who was asked to water and tend the little pots of growing vegetables forgot all about them once we left, resulting in just a lot of dead and dried up plants.

I managed to rescue a few tomato plants and they are coming on fine but I gave up on the rest.

My weeks holiday wasn’t much better, we went to the island of Madiera, the island of flowers and sunshine. It was my third visit to Madiera but it turned out a great disapointment.  My days of sitting on the balcony in the sunshine with a good book relaxing to my hearts content proved a failure due to the weather.

The mornings were’nt bad but around 12 pm the clouds came down and a cold wind struck up, we also had a few days of rain.  I still braved the balcony but wearing my jacket, and as my daily wear was mainly shorts I sat with a towel covering my legs to keep the chill away.

I am off to Colwyn Bay for a few days in July, I am hoping the weather will prove better than Madiera. I was born and brought up in Rhos on Sea and lived half my life there also my brother and his family still live there so its just a return to old surroundings.  My daughter and three grand children are accompanying me and we are hoping for nice weather so they can spend some time on the beach and in Eirys Park.

At the end of August my daughter and I are going to Toronto in Canada for twelve days, I am looking forward to this as it is one place I have not visited yet. We intend to see the Niagra Falls and do some more sight seeing. 

Well the weather has been so bad lately that nothing much has been done in the garden. We have got rid of the rubbish and done a bit of burning so as the weather is supposed to be improving tomorrow it could be a good time to get started on the digging.

It is lawn at the moment so it might take a bit of time as we’ll have to get all the grass roots out, then the soil might need some feeding before it is right for planting.

We are not experienced gardeners,  in fact this is the first time and a new venture for us so our organic vegetables might not be a complete success this year but we will do our best and it will be experience for the following years.

Up to now the only thing I have grown which I do every year is tomatos and I usually get a good crop of those. Lets hope the sun is shining tomorrow. If the weather men are to be believed we are going to have nice weather for a few days, so heres hoping!

Well today the garden had a good clean up, it was looking pretty grotty after the winter season. We got rid of all the rubbish that had collected via the scrapman.

My old gas stove, a washing machine that finally gave up the ghost last week and an iron garden seat that had seen better days.

We had a good burn up of all the rubbish and the garden is now looking quite respectable, it just needs a few dry days now so we cut the lawn and decide how much to dig up and use for our organic garden.

I hope the sun decides to shine very soon as I don’t fancy working outside in the cold weather. 

Tomorrow we are going out to buy a greenhouse, it won’t be an expensive glass house as we need to know our project will be successful before we spend out too much money.

It will be a walk in greenhouse at least 6ft x 4ft to give us room to move about and plenty of room for the seedlings and vegetables that need a warmer environment.

We have checked around and Homebase seems the best place, they have one for around the £60.00 mark so thats fine.

Our total estimated spends at present, including the greenhouse will be around £100.00,  that is £60.00 for the greenhouse, around £20.00 for seeds, £10.00 for a compost bin, one bag of seed compost and the small pots that can be planted straight into the ground.

There is lots of work in the offing and more money to be spent on canes and other things that come up but many of these items will be reusable for other years and like any new venture the main cost comes at the start.

We intend to learn about collecting the seeds for the following year and keep costs down for the future.

I have not done much today I am waiting for the weather to improve. The seeds are coming along great but some seem to be coming on too fast and look quite frail as the stems are growing long and need a bit of help with staking.  I am wondering if it is worth trying cocktail sticks or simply just sowing new seeds.

At the moment they are in the spare bedroom and it may be too warm for them so it is speeding up the growth, still I will learn by my mistakes so I am not worried.

We must get a green house soon to see better results I think.  Most of them are ok and some look quite sturdy so it is not time to cry yet.

Another month almost over, don’t forget April fools day on March 1st, think up some good joke now to get them going. The suns shining today but some clouds are coming over, it almost feels like spring is here.

My daughter and I are starting an organic vegetable plot as soon as the weather picks up, flowers are being dug up and we intend to have our own fresh organic Vegetables this year,

The seeds are planted in small disposable pots that will go straight into the ground, we have been potting them at regular two week intervals so we don’t have gluts all at once.

At the moment they are on a large decorating table in the bedroom but hopefully we will be able to buy a greenhouse soon and really get down to business.

While the sun is shining I intend to start the manure bin, we bought it from the council a bargain at £10.00 as it is a big one, It means the garden will also get tidied at the same time as there lots of cuttings to get rid of.

I will get my son digging soon as the weather improves, it won’t be a huge patch but big enough for what we need. We have carrots, cabbage, lettuce, abergines, leeks, onions, sprouts, Runner beans and a few other different types of veg and of course a new organic gardening book.

As it is our first go at vegetables we will be learning  all we can especially at how to keeps the slugs and other pests at bay, hopefully it will prove successful.