About Me

Hi I'm JAMES 60 and married with three daughters all left home now, daughters that is not the wife.I enjoy Gardening /Football and working on my Farm.The picture above in the header slot is where i live and work.

Sunday 26 July 2009

Lifting Potatoes , First show

Having lifted some potatoes last weekend for the first show of the season this Saturday I was well pleased with the Kestrel, soon being able to make up what turned out to be a winning set the Winston's were a bit of a disappointment though being very rough skinned and looking as if they had been over watered, making it impossible to get any sort of sample to take, so as it was a nice dry day on Saturday when I got back I decided to lift all the rest and take them inside to keep them out of the rain. I only grow 10 buckets of each variety and as I only emptied one bucket of Winston I am hoping that the remaining 9 will be a lot better. I did mean to lift 2 buckets of each variety but you know how it is I didn't book down where each variety was when I planted them, thinking I would remember, I think next year I must start to keep a diary of dates when things get planted and where it is.



Ambleside show proved a good day out winning five first places a couple of seconds and a couple of thirds and as a bonus I even won a cup with a rose that I entered I have never bothered with showing flowers before, but it just look too good to leave at home, I have planted some dahlias with the intention of showing this year but they still need 3 weeks before they will be ready. And just to finish the day off in style we have had the Red Arrows flying overhead giving a superb demonstration over the Lake for the air show being held in Bowness.

Saturday 18 July 2009

It's nearly showtime

Next weekend is the first show of the season so i took a look round to see what looks like been ready before i fill in my entries. It is just a bit early for me and i am very doubtful that i will have any tomatoes ready in time which is a pity as i made an real effort starting them of in mid March, but i think i should be all right with Potatoes, Leeks, shallots, beetroot, under 8oz onions though they will be borderline as generally they seem to be struggling to make close to the weight, peas and hopefully broad beans plus i think i might pull some parsnips as i have plenty that seem to be doing well and i can spare a couple even though they might seem a bit on the small size with it being early season, though it is the same for everyone else and I'm happy to make up the numbers in the class. Plus one or two entries like one specimen Flower plus one specimen Vegetable and i might even have a some Dahlia ready if the weather is nice and sunny in the next few days to bring them on a bit. With the show being next weekend i have cut of all the top growth of 5 buckets of Potatoes covered them over to keep any rain of and set them to one side to give the skins a bit of time to set, i just hope that when i have a proper look they are OK. All in all it,s been an enjoyable day quietly mowing my lawns and pottering round the garden and now when i come back inside I see that we have the Aussies on the run in the Cricket and Tom Watson who is even older than me is leading in the Open golf so things just keep getting better.

Sunday 5 July 2009

Shallots drying off

Early last week I lifted all my Shallots and set the best of them up on the garden seat to dry, they are in quite a cool shady spot under a large Oak tree which also keeps 90% of the rain off hopefully they will dry nice and slowly for a few more days and then i will sort through and see if i can get some matching sets before putting them away in a cool dark corner of the garage, the size of them is fairly decent so hopefully i can get a sniff of a ticket this year, it is usually quite a popular class to show in so winning any ticket is not easy.

Where they were lifted from I have now planted some Peas that i started in pots quite a while back and if i can keep them clear of mildew i might get a crop for September.

Marrows progress


Managed to get a picture taken of my marrow plant just to show the growth in 7 days at this rate it going to take over the entire garden in about a month, it's maybe just as well only a couple germinated or i'd be soon running out of room.

Saturday 4 July 2009

A Hot And Humid Week

The heat and humidity of the last week has really made a difference to everything, it made me wilt but everything in the garden seems to have lapped it up, our Gunnera has put on a spurt of extra growth and is pushing on for about 7'6" in height and even wider, most books say plant by water to help them grow but ours is just on the edge of the back lawn and seems to manage no problem, it makes a good screen for the blue barrels that I use to grow my parsnips and long carrots in, they have really started to put on a lot of strong healthy top growth lately so lets hope that things are growing just as well below ground. The beetroot needed earthing up as they had started to push up on to the surface and as I don't want them to get rough skins I just dragged some soil over, the beetroot have been a nightmare to grow this year as I have had them attacked by everything from jackdaws, slugs, rabbits and deer so every row has plants of different stages of growth where I have had to resow to fill in gaps plus the brussel sprouts are now getting a lot bigger and are just starting to compete with them for space, it's the same old story of thinking that there is room to spare when you sow things and just try to squeeze in that extra row. My marrow plant is now starting to grow some marrows I should have really taken a picture to show the difference of one week, if I get the chance I will post a shot of it tomorrow, I thought that they (marrows) were semi climbers and it was my plan to grow them up and over stakes but it seems to be producing from the centre at near ground level, all will come clear eventually I hope.