Clucky Carol wrote: Hi Bill, thanks ..... I know what I'm going to do this afternoon now .... Lovely - hope a few of those early outdoor seeds come up, early veg is so lovely - have a great Sunday x

Morning Carol ,don't forget your bucket and shovel .Having the ageing mums over today mine 96 Wendys 94 ,though she only lives next door so Wendys not so far to go.Will be like the old folks home for a few hours ,bless.

Wednesday 18th march 2015
Usually after a morning swimming i come home knackered ,but today was different .must have been something they put in the coffee i had before i came home. .
Well its a really nice afternoon so thought spud time and why not ,got to go in sometime .
One fertiliser i use a lot of is organic chicken pellets from Aldi ,mix 20 lts compost with 8 big handfuls of pellets enough to line 4 3.5 meter rows gives the potatoes a bit of a boost .
About 1 hour later all done and dusted.Had 8 left so found some room in the polly tunnel for them ,i have planted Casablanca apparently very nice as earlys and if left a reliable late potato ,we will see.

First things to appear in tunnel are the good old radish ,no sign of anything else yet ,over wintered Lettuces are finally getting a heart.
In the greenhouse Cauliflowers doing ok and Leeks starting to show ,a tip if you have access to a bale of straw leave it in the greenhouse ,through the day it will absorb heat and through the night release it ,not saying it will combat sever frost but stand trays on it and shouldn't be affected to much by cooler nights

Friday 20th March 2015
After a cold dull start turned into rather a nice day ,got my Onion sets in today 7 rows 14 per row ,got them under a net as the pigeons enjoy pulling them out once the green shoots show .

Once your Tomatoes get there second leaves or true tomato looking leaves they can be re potted ,try to handle by the leaves not the stems ,i usually use a plastic plant marker to ease them out and repot to just below bottom leaves

Hi Bill,
As always some fabulous tips, love the straw idea ... Must try that ...
We had a really poor crop of potatoes last year, can't decide whether to go for them this year or not ... I suspect we will!
Hope all is well with you, and hope you maintain the swimming and gardening on one day ... It is so good for the soul.
Kind regards, Clucky xxx
PS. Thank you again for the inspiration xx

Iknow what you mean about growing potatoes ,sometimes it just doesn't seem worth the effort ,i enjoy growing them ,bit like metal detecting never know what you are going to find ,its the following year when you get them growing again through all your other crops , no matter how you try you just can't get rid of them. .Dont rely on the straw for greenhouse heating but ideal for keeping frost away from plants placed on it . Yes enjoy my swimming meet some nice people there but soon garden will take a lot of my time ,will turn some inspiration to perspiration then

Tuesday 24th March 2015
Managed to get Tomatoes all repotted yesterday ,i have put a video on that i did for hear a couple of years back ,most will have seen it but maybe some that haven't give you an idea as to how i go about it.
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Have moved the repotted ones back into the house but on a slightly cooler window sill ,i also make a reflective back out of cardboard and foil it helps to fool the plants into all around light so they then don't lean towards it .
Will stay hear for a week or so until big enough to go into greenhouse ,once acclimatised they will then go into there final pots .

Nice work Bill, looking good.
I don't think my toms are going to be catching you up anytime soon!

Thomassio wrote: Nice work Bill, looking good.
I don't think my toms are going to be catching you up anytime soon!

Thanks Thomassio, mine will slow up now been transplanted ,give you a chance to catch up .It turns very cold at night still ,mine indoors so not getting to cold

Wednesday 8th April 2015
Absolutely glorious day hear in Norfolk , managed to sow some cabbage and more cauliflowers in one of my small beds .Carrots through and red beet through in polly tunnel ,should be able to nick a radish or two very soon [url=http://s743.photobucket.com/user/billnorfolk/media/DSCF1862_z
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Brought the Tomato plants into the greenhouse let them get used to the chilly nights as will be putting into final pots in about 2 weeks.
Couple of watering tips for the greenhouse ,leave water in there to get to same temp as greenhouse ,cold water can shock your plants ,don't water seeds to much in the evening as cold nights and damp compost can lead to seed rot ,just dampen in the morning .
The plants in the second picture have been left in the greenhouse as spares in case i lost any they have been sat on the bale of straw ,2 frosts and very cold nights don't seem to have had any effect on them ,look quite healthy will be a shame to chuck them but no room outside .

Thursday 16th April 2015
Been quite busy this week , sown 30 runner beans in cardboard tubes , keep under glass until germinated in greenhouse , sown 10 rows of carrots ,most will go for freezing , 5 rows of Parsnips ,10 rows of red beet ,and a few lettuce in pots for transferring into the garden.
Tomatos will be ready to go into there final pots next week ,and sometime in week will be chitting my sweet corn (still my favourite crop ). Cucumbers and courgettes will probably get sown next week in pots in the greenhouse. Apart from a few more Radish and lettuce later on seed sowing should be complete

Saturday 18th April 2015
Beautiful sunny morning 13 degrees cold wind off the sea . Managed to get Tomatoes into there final pots and Cucumber and courgette sown ,i have put them on a warm win dow sill and won't move to greenhouse until through .

Wednesday 6th May 2015

With the weather and especially the nights warming things are really taking off now ,rhubarb
is taking over the garden ,better buy some custard on Thursday
Onions doing ok although a bit wind battered at the moment.

Spuds are all through in this bed and last years bed which is the usual pain.
Caulis and cabbage are quietly growing away ,not being any trouble ,hopefully will be harvested before caterpillars get about.

Tomatoes doing ok have been side shooting ,seem to grow faster than the plants , 2 cucumber plants Market more, and 3 Courgettes ,they would have been outside today but a tad to windy as only transplanted yesterday.
Sweetcorn all through 60 plants you can see its my favourite ,yum can't wait.
Some runner beans ready to go out ,but will hang fire another few days yet .

billnorfolk wrote: Spuds are all through in this bed and last years bed which is the usual pain.

ha ha, I know the feeling - it never ceases to amaze me just how many do get missed and then come up in the middle of a bed already planted out
Looking good I noticed you had debris netting over the onions - is this to keep the onion fly/pests out? I was thinking of doing that this year to see if it helps.

Morning Barbara
Every year i say no potatoes this year ,but every year i try a different variety ,i got half a bucket out before i sowed any seeds on there but still they come ,just keep hoeing and hoping .
Maybe the mesh is to big to keep fly out but worth a try ,mainly to keep neighbours cats off , i need to protect everything one way or another from being dug up

Thursday 14th May 2015

Tomatoes just starting to come into flower ,what i do ,once flowers have set i.e. see little tomatoes i start feeding ,just once a week to start with and once 2 trusses set increase to twice a week .I mixed some seaweed fertiliser in with the compost this year its rich in magnesium something that pot grown Tomatoes can lack resulting in yellow leaves and sickly plants ,the results look fairly good at the moment ,plants are nice and dark green and seem to be growing well.
Got me chair in there in case i need to hide
Sweetcorn is ready to go out will harden off before putting into garden ,would be out now but 2 or 3 cold nights forecast so holding fire for a day or two.