Finally Planted Seeds For This Years Veg.

After the success I had last year with tomatoes and the success over the last couple of years with Chilli's, I decided I wanted to try growing a few more things this year. It's been so cold however I have waited until now to plant my seeds, and I am still having to use a heated propagator, I hope the weather gets better by the time the plants are big enough to go out.
If you like me are using a heated propagator don't make the same mistake I did last night and use non permanent pen to write your labels. When I woke up this morning most of them had blurred beyond readability. I should be able to work out what they say and rewrite them with a biro later, other wise I will be in a terrible muddle when the seedlings start to sprout as many of the seedlings will look quite similar.

This year I am growing "Tumbling Tom" and Gardeners Delight" tomatoes again as I got so many tomatoes last year from these two plants. I have also planted "F1 Bella Spinach" and "Little Gem Lettuce", I'm going to try growing the lettuce in my window box with a "Tumbling Tom" plant just to see how they do together. I've also planted "Christmas Drumhead Cabbage" and "Nine Star Perennial Broccoli" which is supposed to come back year after year and produce lots of heads.

I've also got some interesting new Chilli's that I'm growing for the first time this year, their names are a link to a site with pictures of them so you can see the unusual colours some of them are. I'm growing "Purple Tiger" which are purple (obviously), and "Black Pearl" which actually grow black before turning red and have lovely looking foliage. There's also "Numex Twilight" which grow pink purple orange and white! (not a great picture of the plant showing all it's different colours). And finally the better known (and bloody hot) "Scotch Bonnets" and I got a mixed bag so I should get a few different shades (the variety I have look like the yellow ones nearer the top of that page) .

I'll publish more pictures throughout the year as the plants grow, hopefully the Chilli's will go well and I'll have some good photo's of them.

Chilli's Ripening Well

Sorry for the lack of activity on my blog I've been very busy as I am now doing piano lessons as well as singing lessons and my OU degree starts this month.

The chilli's are all ripening nicely and I have a load of new varieties to try next year, I really need a greenhouse to keep them all in but have nowhere to put one.

There's also two photo's of the freak tomato I found today in my window box, it was two tomatoes growing from the same stem with only one set of leaves. Very bizarre, I still cooked it in my spaghetti bolognaise though.

Cat Amongst The Chilli's

Took this picture of Gizmo peering out from between two chilli plants the other night, sadly there was only a mobile phone to hand so the quality isn't great but it's still a great picture.

Starting Winter Lettuce And Spinach

I've finally got a plot to grow vegetables in from the adopt a garden scheme they are running locally. It's a bit late in the season but I got a packet of winter lettuce with a gardening magazine I buy and am starting some spinach. The lettuce seeds are coming up (you can see three in the back row) but the spinach seeds haven't done anything yet, it's only been a 2 days though so something is bound to happen soon.

I sent off for some new chilli seeds today I've ordered a mixture of "Scotch Bonnet" seeds as the TV chefs seem to keep going on about them so I want to see what all the fuss is about. I also chose variety that gives multicoloured chilli's called "Numex Twilight" the chilli's grow yellow orange and red as well as purple according to the photo's. I'm getting a variety that grows purple chilli's called "Purple Tiger" as well, and variety that has dark leaves and the chilli's grow black before turning red called "Black Pearl".

I can't wait it's time to strat growing them again as I'm really getting into growing chilli's, I'm amazed by how many varieties there are and how ornamental the plants can be.

Good Results From Tumbling Tom Tomatoes.

  Plants looking very dry

I've grown 2 varieties of tomato this year one called Tumbling Tom and the other one I got free with a magazine called Gardeners Delight. Tumbling Tom Are dwarf plants designed to grow in containers and Gardeners delight are a normal sized variety.

I wish I had used larger containers for the Tumbling Toms now as the plants keep getting blown over and I don't tend to visit the garden they are in for a few days at a time so they've been laying on their sides quite a lot of the time. They also kept drying out but despite this I'm still getting loads of nice cherry sized tomatoes off them every time I go down to check on them and give them some water. So I highly recommend them if you are short of time for watering etc, I just fed them about once a week and they gave me lots of tomatoes even when left dry and on their sides.


This is just what I picked last Saturday along with one of the chilli's I've been growing outside this year. The two chilli plants that are there are ones that I grew last year that survived and are still growing chilli's now, some of them have started growing red too not grown green then ripened to red which seems unusual.

Different varieties Tumbling Tom Seeds available on Amazon now.

And Girls, check out "The Girl's Guide To Grow Your Own"

 

Windswept looking Chilli Plant 

 

Chilli's Going Well

I got a packet of chilli seeds free with a gardening magazine earlier this year and from the picture assumed they were normal chilli's. But now they have started growing I can see they aren't the normal size anyway they are massive! I think the variety is called capsicum I will definitely be growing them again next year. Sorry about the darkness of the photo's too I will have to use flash next time I photograph them in that room.



You can see one of my Satan's kiss chilli plants above two, some of these have ripened and they are very hot though small, hotter than the medium hot they are billed as on most other places on line in my opinion anyway. Apparently the Italians serve them baked stuffed with mozzarella and anchovies, can't wait till I have enough ripe at once to do that. I'm also getting a lot of tomatoes now too so I'm hoping to make a nice tomato and chilli sauce soon as we get through bottles of the shop bought stuff.

Two Satan's Kiss Chilli Fruits Now Big Enough To See.

My first two chilli fruits coming through on the Satan's kiss chilli's I'm growing this year that were too small to see last time I posted are getting bigger now. they are interesting as they grow a different way up to other chilli's I've grown, I'll have to see if they all grow in that direction.

I finally got the right length canes for my pea's so they are a lot happier now it won't be long before we can eat some of them, I'll take pictures next time I'm down there.

My Progress With The Vegetables So Far.

I've been so busy with other things I haven't had time to photograph the progress my vegetables are making for my blog until today, and they all look a bit wind swept so it probably wasn't the best one for it. Above you can see my marrow fat peas which are growing very fast now I keep having to add new sticks every couple of days.


And here are two of my Tumbling Tom plants which are starting to flower now so I will hopefully see some tomatoes soon.



This quite forlorn looking patch is where my cauliflowers will go, and you can see the "Gardeners Delight" Tomatoes along the wall at the back, they still seem very small though, I've just started feeding them so hopefully they will get bigger. At the front of the bed there are some more of the tumbling tom plants and a chilli plant in containers, the chilli survived from last year where I kept indoors and is now flowering up again so hopefully will produce some more chilli's.

I'm very busy with the arrangements for the renaissance festival this week, I'm going to be doing tarot readings in the enchanted realm so I need to get some practice in as I haven't done it for a while. My costume isn't ready so I may end up making what was meant to be a dress into a skirt and wearing a blouse with it.

Been Busy

I've been busy with all the plants I'm growing this week, I've put two of the Tumbling Tom Plants in a window box on my kitchen windowsill pictured above. Two more are in containers down the road in Vinny's Garden, along with the gardeners delight Tomato plants I have still waiting to go in the ground when we decide where to put them.

I've also planted some dwarf marrow fat peas straight into the ground in Vinny's Garden and they are coming up quite well without too much slug and snail damage.



The Satan's kiss chilli's have done really well and need re potting already, I also now have some Basil coming up and some marigolds to plant near the tomatoes to help keep pests away.

Plants Doing Well

The Tomatoes are doing well and I have now have a good few "Satan's Kiss" chilli plants too, the picture of above is of a few of them n the left are the Tomatoes and on the right are the Chilli's.

I've used Cut down 2 pint milk containers mainly as pots for the plants as they get bigger as I've found they are an ideal size, and of course they are free and it's recycling.

I'm keeping the tops of the milk containers too to use as frost protectors for some pea's I've sown outside I'll post about how well that works when it happens.

Today I found my first seedling had sprouted, it is a chilli plant of an Italian variety called "Satan's Kiss", which despite the name apparently produces chilli's that are only medium hot. I was relieved actually I was worried I had planted the seeds too deep and they were just rotting, but if this ones sprouted hopefully the others will follow over the next couple of days.

Today I also sowed some tomato seeds as we have some grow bags to fill, I've sown 2 varieties "Tumbling Tom" a dwarf variety you can grow in containers or hanging baskets or even indoors, and an outdoor one called "Gardeners Delight." hopefully they will start sprouting after about 7 days.

I'm Back!

Sorry to have neglected the Blog for so long, here are a couple of lol's I created Featuring Journey's Steve Perry to cheer you up.




And it's about time I posted this picture of my chilli's, they've done really well I have loads now and have already started preserving them in Olive Oil to make chilli oil.
This is just the best looking plant all the others were successful too, so doesn't look like I'll need to be buying chilli's for a while.
Thanks to everyone who's kept visiting I have plans to write more on this blog so keep visiting.

Too Many Chilli's!

I planted a load of chilli seeds earlier this year and I now have 19 chilli plants in my kitchen! I've just re potted them all and they are taking up a whole kitchen surface and the windowsill so I'm going to have to give some away I think.

The catnip I planted is doing well too Audra Sonato over at the talk whatever forums gave me some great info on uses for it too:

"Tea made from catnip is more calming than even chamomile tea, but you will definitely want to sweeten it with honey, as it's not quite as pleasant tasting. It's a great sleep aid if you've got insomnia. It's great for respiratory ailments and allergies as it acts as a decongestant (I do not recommend exceeding 2-3 cups per day for adults/ 5ml of tincture 3 times per day for children).

Because if it's markedly antiflatulent qualities, some people give use it for this purpose. Some even give it to their infants and small children for colic or digestive problems, though I would strongly recommend caution with this practice. NEVER GIVE ANYTHING TO A CHILD WITHOUT THOROUGHLY RESEARCHING IT ON YOUR OWN. I've heard of it's use for hyperactive children, but I haven't seen anything solid backing that one up, so I'm not sure it's one I'd recommend.

It is unsafe for use in pregnancy due to it's effects on the uterus, but is quite useful for helping to regulate menstruation in women with painful or irregular menstrual cycles.

It can be made as an infusion and added to the bath or humidifyer as a relaxing antiseptic inhalant. It is useful in this manner for sore throats, colds, flu and coughs, sinus problems, asthma and croup. It can also be used as an eyewash if your eyes are irritated and swollen due ot colds or flu, or the used teabags can be wrung out and put on puffy eyes for releaf. It's very useful as a poultice for sprains and strains, to bring relief to the discomfort and help reduce the swelling by using them in a similar manner as you would the used teabags or as a soak. I've heard of using it simlarly for rheumatoid arthritis, but that's another one I haven't found any real research to back up, and I don't know anyone personally whose garnered relief of that particular ailment using this herb.

Finally, it's great for sore gums and aching teeth. If you use it for oral discomfort, the dried leaves tend to work faster than powdered ones do. Both work, but the powder tends to take a little longer to take effect.

Remember not to dry it in direct sun as it will lose it's potency for either cats or humans if you do. Instead, dry it completely in a dark, cool, dry place."