Friday 23 April 2010

Growth Spurt

Being my first year of properly attempting to grow things (previous flats with no balcony and no garden equaled a distinct lack of green-fingered action), I decided to really go for it with supersized propagators and a bulk buy of flowerpots. The results? Nine tomato plants, six cucumbers, five runner bean plants, seven corn-on-the-cobs and one courgette plant.

Baring in mind that I only have a balcony which already houses lavender, salad leaves, geraniums and busy lizzies, I'm at a bit of a loss as to where they're all going to go! I know I'm going to have to choose the strongest looking ones and thin out my crops, but I'll still have a rather abundant amount of plants to find homes for! I'm looking forward to all the flowers coming into bloom so I can finally post pictures of the balcony - it's starting to look just how I wanted it. Even though, if I'm honest, I'd much rather have a lovely Alys Fowler style terrace garden!

In other news, I work around the corner from Whittard, and tend to pop in every week, just to have a little look around and to see what lovely bits and pieces they have on sale. This week, I was in luck - a stripey milk jug, extra large heart-print mug, gorgeous teapot and beautiful ceramic coasters, all for a teeny tiny £16! The milk jug is already earning it's place in our home by being a wonderfully useful place to display my beloved carnations....

2 comments:

  1. Firstly, lovely blog! You are a woman after my own heart! I grew some things in window boxes on my window sills last year and they were quite successful but mainly in the realms of salad leaves, herbs, garlic and tomatoes. I'm keen to see how you get on with the corn, that will look brilliant growing on a balcony! You'll do the wonderful Alys Fowler proud!! How are you growing your cucumbers? I never even thought that you could grow them in the UK! I saved some green pepper seeds from a fancy organic British one so I'll try my hand at propagating those and growing them indoors so would cucumbers need the same attention? x

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  2. Oh, thank you, thank you! I'm really keen to see how your vegetable beds and craft area (from your other blog that I happily stumbled across!) are getting on!

    Oh dear, oh dear, the cucumbers have gone to the big propagator in the sky! I think I may have over-watered them - I'm guilty of a little too much TLC, I think. I've planted the beans out already, and the corn and courgettes are growing steadily - I read in my little gardeners book that 'three sisters planting' works very well, so we'll see if they really do help each other out! I've got some photos for my next post, so (toddler permitting!) I'll get that up soon! x

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