Learning at the Skip Garden

Firstly, camomile has sprouted - the lady in the video was right

Attended the Global Generation's Skip Garden's Twilight Session and got a few suggestions from Paul the head gardener

Being new to the garden it may be good to plant series of potatoes - they will take over from the weeds and provide crops well. He suggested that a choice of a few varieties should give us potatoes for longer periods.

Blackforest courgettes were options for the trellis as were runner beans which were nicer than beans and could be left over the holidays

Herbs 
Ought to check out the applemint - the smell was amazing

Mint and Rocket go nuts so are best contained as are nasturtiums

A tip for mint is to take the bottom off a bucket and then dig this in to the bed, then plant mint so it stays in this area.

Now is a good time to plant cornflowers


An amusing way to scare birds away
Take a CD (of bird-themed films) and then tie a piece of string through this - tie this on to a hoop of bamboo so that it knocks against the cane and encourages the birds away.

Weeks 4 and 5 - a fortnight of changes and drama

This past fortnight has had elements of joy, hope, loss and discovery.

look carefully and you shall find a violet.

Week three - observations

General observations
The mini-greenhouse is finally showing signs of sprouting - but only the marigolds. This is the week that we hope to see the first signs of the nastursiums and sweet peas in the mini-greenhouse.

Fungus set in on the chilli sticks - may need to start again - the spray seems to have killed it on the stick but still. Wondering whether to ditch these.

Week two

Diary : 

Day 1 (Fri)- Coriander shoots appear at last

Sowing - the first week

Week 1 - commencing 29 March 2013
External sowing

Where: Born free (south-facing)
What: Wildflower seeds
Conditions: Flung the  seeds on to the patch of ground after taking samples of the soil for testing (more on that later when results come out but more creepy crawlies inside so must remember to build bug hotels).
Decide to forget about these and either be pleasantly surprised or disappointed.

Watering: Spray mist sneakily daily

Result thus far: Not a sausage

Where: Mini-greenhouse (east-facing)
What:

• Nasturtiums
• Sweet peas
• Marigolds

Conditions: sheltered but getting sun in top two shelves to only sowed seeds on these in compost containing John Innes (some fertile person?). Sown  in seed trays and empty juice pots.

Watering:daily - may consider adding the frost fleece but weather has been quite warm till yesterday.

Results thus far

Gardening - kickoff (startup and running cost)

Had acquired some seeds for chillis in Wahaca. They sat in the drawers for probably a couple of years.

Cost: 0 (unless you count the cost of the meal)
Running total: 0
 
Having been inspired by a talk at Kew Gardens by James Wong about  his Homegrown revolution, the book and a couple of packets of Sutton Seeds  (Chinese lanterns and dahlias) were bought. As an aside, Sutton Seeds started out in Reading so I figure they are coming home.

Cost: 25 (you can get it cheaper)
Rough running total:25