Shallots in a bin

I decided to grow some Shallots in the greenhouse planted in our old kitchen bin this year as well as some outside in the veggie patch. They're coming on great - loving deep composted soil. At the time time of writing they're currently 2-3 times bigger then the ones planted outside in the ground.

I've just read though that you're supposed to plant them about a foot apart. It's going to be interesting then to see how these turn out.

Hanging baskets are go

Since we're currently enjoying this bout of unseasonly warm weather I was out in the sun again this weekend planting out my hanging baskets. We have a fantastic nursery up the road that sells plants at really great prices compared to the more traditional Garden Centres and the quality is also so much better. All being well these will spread out nicely for summer.

The first ever Lavendon Garden Cucumber

I don't know if it's my batch of seeds or just the way I'm trying to grow them but until now I have never been able to get my Cucumber seeds to germinate. So without any further ado I present the first ever Lavendon Garden Cucumber!

Something's afoot in the garden

Something keeps digging up my shallots and it's not our dogs. Everytime I go out into the garden one or two of them are sitting on the surface. They're not being eaten, just dug up. Very strange and the inventor in me is picking up the challenge - I'm thinking pointy sticks.

Wartime Advice

While browsing the web the other day I came across this excellent bit of wartime allotment promotion. It's a board dating back to 1944 by the government promoting growing your own veg to aid the war.

Bind weed - first sighting of 2007

I found and destroyed the first new growths of bind weed in the garden today - let the battle commence!!!

If anyone has some good tips about keeping this stuff under control please let me know. It destroyed the garden last year and I'm determined not to let it happen again this year.

Shed makeover

We gave the old girl (the shed - not Jules) a new coat of paint today. She needs another coat but we ran out of Mallard before we could finish so she'll have to wait a couple of days. Then if the weather holds we'll tackle the inside.

LGIS Phase one

This week saw the first phase of the Lavendon Garden Irrigation System (LGIS™) swing into action. Phase 1 was the replacement of our old water butt with a shiny new one. Our old water butt was basically an old plastic barrel that we found at the end of the garden when we moved in. I drilled a hole in the bottom, attached a tap and stuck it under the drainpipe coming off the shed. Given how crude it is, it's done us proud but it does have a habit of falling over, overflowing and getting gunged up with leaves from the trees (I never made a lid for it). Our new one is shop bought, with a lid and I also bought a rainwater diverter to ensure that it never overflows again. All this sits on top of a custom brick built water butt stand just the right height for our watering can. Perfect.

In addition to the water butt I have also fitted an outside tap should it be required in the event of butt outage. I'm hoping that this should ensure that we have enough water to see us through the fabulous summer we're promised and the inevitable hose-pipe bans.

I should probably also say that all this came about due to a recent trip to my parents-in-law's house and the ensuing water butt envy I came home with. My father-in-law has a enviable setup of four large water butts set up in a cascading configuration with a butt pump (I can't help giggling at that) so he can use the water with his hose and sprinkler. It all made my old barrel look very inadequate.