Manx Greenfingers

manxgreenfingers.blogspot.com - Update - Spuds we like!

2011-07-03T12:02:00.001-07:00

We harvested two bags of potatoes that Mia planted at the beginning of April. Here's a few pictures charting their journey from ground to plate.

First we had to get them out of the bag without making any mess.

It was such a great feeling to search through the soil looking for the potatoes, to be honest, we got more than I had expected.

The kids loved searching for them too.

Leo collected them all in his wheelbarrow. We got 58 in total from two bags.

All nicely washed and ready to be steamed.

It looks like we have loads in this picture.

After steaming Che added a sauce of melted butter, chopped basil and chives.

As Mia grew them, she got to try them first. The spuds were served with pan fried broccoli and salmon with a basil and chive crust.

I think this picture shows just how nice they were. They were creamy and tasted so much nicer than shop bought.

We've got more left over for tomorrow's dinner too.

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Location:Ballaquark,Douglas,United Kingdom

Manx Green Fingers - another allotment update

2011-06-13T15:35:00.001-07:00

Just a quickie. Been up to the allotment to spread chicken manure pellets. Apparently they help boost the veg.

They don't smell the best though!!!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Ballaquark,Douglas,United Kingdom

Manx Greenfingers - Allotment update

2011-06-12T12:43:00.001-07:00

Had a quick trip to the allotment today to see how things were getting on as we've not been up since last weekend.

Our French beans look like they are on their last legs, possibly due to the wind, which I am gutted about.

Having planted a good few seeds a couple of weeks ago, it was great to see the peas, sprouts and swede starting to show through, plus the main crop potatoes are also starting to grow.

We had a good weed around the onions and I watered everything, not realising that it was going to chuck it down this afternoon!!!

Still got loads of stuff to do but at least we have signs that we can grow food! Next job is to buy some chicken manure to sprinkle around and dig in, nice!!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Ballaquark,Douglas,United Kingdom

Bank holiday planting

2011-05-30T14:41:00.000-07:00

Spent a good few hours in the blazing sunshine today transferring stuff from the greenhouse and pots on the window ledge out into the garden.

I bought two tomato greenhouses, the cheap plastic covered ones, and put a grow bag in each, then transplanted 3 tomato plants into each grow bag.

I have a few different varieties on the go and I'm not sure which is which, ah well, it'll be a surprise to watch them grow.

I also planted out our courgettes. We have twice as many plants as we had last year, so fingers crossed we'll get a good crop.

I planted 3 lines of radish too, they come up so quick and are great with a salad, even the kids like them.

I've got a week off this week so if the weather is good, I'm off to the allotment. Updates to follow.

See ya!

Allotment update No 3

2011-05-22T13:33:00.000-07:00

Spent a few hours at the allotment today with Leo and Cheryl. Secured the chicken wire on one end, only one side to go now before it's all done.

I built a chicken wire cane frame for my beans using a design I saw on a website. It started off as being very flimsy but as it went up and I wired it all together and placed the stones at the base, it's actually very solid.

Che managed to plant 8 french bean plants which will hopefully climb up the frame. I've still got plants to go in so I'm going to build another.

Weeded the spuds and earthed over again. they're coming on just nicely.

Finally our sweetcorn is coming up in a propagator on the window ledge. I hope this isn't too late!!

Allotment update No 2

2011-05-15T13:36:00.000-07:00

My Dad came over this weekend armed with some work tools and a huge amount of elbow grease.

We've spent the last two days putting up a rabbit proof fence all around the allotment, using roofing batons as fence posts and for the top of the fence. We then stapled chicken wire on the top of the fence and buried the rest in the ground.

This means that we can now start to plant more stuff without our hard work being ruined by the cast of Watership Down.

Beans are going in next along with another good batch of main crop potatoes.

I feel knackered, battered and bruised but happy with a massive sense of achievement.

Allotment Update

2011-04-17T10:55:00.000-07:00

Spent the last two days up at the allotment with a cultivator, hired from HSS. This petrol driven digger has helped us get the whole of the allotment turned over, grass sods dug up and alot of the stones removed. It would have taken me months to do it by hand. Money well spent I think.

We've been hearing stories about problems with rabbits so the next job will be to put up a fence round the whole plot to keep those pesky blighters out. Don't want them spoiling the hard work.

Defo more to come!

"Potato!!!"

2011-04-03T05:16:00.000-07:00

Made a visit to the allotment today and planted 3 rows of first earlies spuds, about 10 tubers per row. The allotment area is quickly becoming adorned with sheds, greenhouses, fences, decking and raised beds, whereas ours looks like a barren wasteland with some mounds where we dug the trenches for the spuds!

Hopefully now that the weather is getting better we can spend more time up there to work on our wasteland.

On another note, the new Foo Fighters album was streamed online and is now on my iPod, ready for my trip to London. Nice!

2011 A new season

2011-03-19T10:34:00.000-07:00

The Isle of Man had some fantastic weather today so it was time to get into the garden and get things going for this year. Spuds are chitting, tomato seeds are in the propagator and my greenhouse has a new cover.

We're looking forward to getting stuck into the allotment too when we have stuff to plant.

I'll update when I can and put some pictures up too.

Red Hot Chilli Peppers/Cucumbers

2010-07-07T13:17:00.000-07:00

We have been growing peppers in the living room and then into the greenhouse for what seems like ages now. The trouble is I don't know what type of peppers they are. They could be chilli and they could be bell pepper types...I just don't know.

Anyway, they are starting to flower and grow tendrils but I've not yet seen any signs of a fruit. Probably early days. I took some pictures because the leaves, flowers and tendrils look very different to other pepper plants we've grown.

If anyone knows what type we have please send me a message.

Cheers

Simon

UPDATE: Thanks to Jason, one of my old friends from primary school, it would appear that we are growing cucumbers instead of peppers. I really must start labelling my pots!!

Blueberry Hill

2010-06-29T15:08:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post today about our blueberries.

We've got two bushes about 2 metres apart. Both started in the same way, spindly branches without foliage but as the year has gone on they have grown leafy and green but with one difference......one has loads of berries forming and the other only has a few. I'm not sure if we've done anything wrong or if this is usual given that they're fairly new. If anyone has any tips on blueberries, feel free to drop me a line. Can't wait to try them though.

The First Fruits of Our Labour

2010-06-27T13:51:00.000-07:00

It's Sunday again and by now England are out of the World Cup.....again. As a consolation Cheryl made us a fantastic dinner. Only one ingredient didn't come from our garden... the chicken escalopes.

We dug up our first potato bag and got about 30. A couple of the tubers seemed to have rotted so we didn't get as many as we'd hoped. However, to take full advantage of our produce, we decided to steam the spuds and eat them unadulterated.

We harvested about 5 good sized courgettes, sliced them length ways and griddled them with a bit of olive oil.
The final addition to the dinner was a mixed salad of rocket, lettuce and chives.

Mia doesn't normally like courgettes but since we've been growing our own she has decided that she is going to try all of our own veg. I'm dead proud of her for taking this approach.

Anyway tonight's dinner was lovely, the potatoes tasted great, waxy and creamy. Cheryl and I felt a huge sense of satisfaction that we had put platefuls of food on our families table that we had grown ourselves.

We have now changed our names to Tom and Barbara from The Good Life.

Spuds U Like

2010-06-20T14:27:00.000-07:00

It's Fathers Day today, spent a lot of time in the garden chilling with my children. Nice!!

I've got spuds on the go at the moment, 3 bags to be precise. I'm reading some gardening books at the moment and they say that when they flower it means the spuds have reached a good size. My folks say that the potatoes are ready when the flowers die.

So, based on the fact the we have flowers in bloom, we have decided to see what they are like next weekend. Here are some pictures of them taken last week, and I'll update the blog with pictures of the spuds, if any, after the kids have dug them out.

Chemical Peas

2010-06-16T14:07:00.000-07:00

Today's post is about music and peas.

Peas first, we have more and more peas coming through everyday now. Again we have two planters of peas. The one we started first has about 8 pea plants in it but they are only about a foot and a half in height, but they seem to be doing well.

The white flowers are out and some pea pods are starting to come out, one of them is about 2 inches long!!

In the other planter we have three plants taken from the other one to make space. I then made a wigwam style frame of three canes and "trained" the peas to climb the frame. These plant are very leafy and bushy and the flowers took longer to come out but I think they are looking really healthy.

Now the music.

Yesterday my pre-ordered CD of the new Chemical Brothers album arrived in the post. Having already been listening to it in the car for the last week, I knew what to expect. "Further" is the best Chemical Brothers album in a while, a return to form. It's only 8 tracks long but they manage to take you on a big beat, dance wig out with each one. My favourite tracks are Dissolve, Horse Power and Escape Velocity.

If you like The Chemical Brothers, you will like Further.

P.S. Did you see what I did with the title of this post?

Things are starting to appear!!!

2010-06-15T13:13:00.000-07:00

I currently have 6 tomato plants on the go. Each one is about 3 feet tall and all have been grown from seed. They have all been grown in the greenhouse and I transferred them into grow bags gradually.

Last weekend I planted 2 more into a grow bag and being short of room in the greenhouse, I planted them outside up against the shed. I noticed today that I have 2 tomatoes growing, 1 in the greenhouse and 1 outside.

The race is on!! Which one will I eat first?

Pictures were taken on 15th June 2010.

First time gardener, first time blogger.

2010-06-14T12:38:00.000-07:00

Introductions first; my name is Simon Jones and I live in the Isle of Man. I am married to my beautiful wife Cheryl and have two wonderful children, Mia is 8 and Leo is 15 months.

Last year we decided to deck most of our back garden, which I am really glad that we did because it has given us a great new space to use. This year we decided to sort out the rockery behind the decking because, to be honest, it was an eyesore.

In March 2010 my parent's came over from Birkenhead for a week and worked really hard to clear about 95% of the rockery. While they were here my Dad mentioned we could build a raised vegetable patch virtually the full width of the garden. We thought this was a fantastic idea and my Dad went ahead and built most of it.

After my Mum and Dad went home knackered, we asked my Brother-in-Law, James, to finish it off by digging out the soil and creating a level raised and enclosed bed. He then added a ton and a half of top soil and we were finished.

Since March we have been growing vegetables from seeds in a propagator on the window ledge in the living room. I bought a cheapo greenhouse online and have been gradually transferring things from window ledge to greenhouse to veg patch. We thought this would be a great activity to do with the kids.

I'm going to use this blog for family and friends to see the progress we are making and to get some valuable tips from fellow growers.

I hope you enjoy it.