Week 7 2024
This week in the kitchen garden has seen some growth and an exciting new addition to help get things going and increase the growing space a bit. It’s still slow going as we don’t have any vegetables grown from last year for winter harvest but it is possible to see growth and spring is most definitely on the horizon here in Suffolk.
Vintage Cold Frame
My parents visited this week and brought with them an exciting addition to the garden, their old cold frame, solid metal and glass and double the size of the wood and plastic one I currently have. It’s been in their garden for over 40 years so I guess it can be considered vintage right?
It needs a bit of a clean up but as over next week which is half term I will be doing that with the green house I’ll give that a good clean as well.
I’ll be moving around some things and placing it in the general area where the current cold frame is. Then this cold frame I’ll be using as a cloche or hot bed area to allow me to speed up and start seeds off earlier in the raised beds.
Early Spring Flowers and the Flower Border
One area of the kitchen garden is dedicated to flower – it’s at the side of the garage and last winter I planted it up with spring bulbs and this autumn added in wall flowers, cyclamen, primulas and pansies to the mix. Everything is now starting to grow and the first of the spring bulbs have bloomed.
Crocuses are now mixing with the fading cyclamen and the bright colourful primulas and pansies. It’s also possible to see the other bulbs starting to emerge and the wallflowers are looking really green in the beds as well.
Broad Beans
Back at the end of October I planted some broad beans to grow over the winter and provide an early harvest. Well due to the especially warm and I guess wet winter we’ve had here in Suffolk the broad beans are flowering.
I’m keeping my fingers crossed that we don’t now have a really cold snap and instead I’ll get a really early harvest of homegrown broad beans to use in the kitchen.
Garlic and Onions
The raised bed I planted up with garlic and onions sets back in the autumn is doing really well. They are coming along nicely and I’ve started to give them a weekly feed with some organic seaweed liquid fertiliser.
Forcing the Rhubarb
The two crowns of rhubarb have emerged and the first of them I am starting to force. It seems to be going well, although I’ve been picking off slugs and snails from inside the bucket as they seem to have found a nice safe place from the birds under there.
Kitchen Windowsill Growing
The kitchen windowsill is getting cleared and ready to become a growing space, it’s currently the home for the luffa seedlings which excitingly have got their first true leaves appearing. I started them off about 2 or 3 weeks ago and they have been growing well in the sunshine of this south facing window since then.
In the Greenhouse
The green house has a little problem with a rodent – it’s half term her next week and with everyone at home I’m hoping to get it all cleared out and the hole the rodent has been digging filled in and seeing if I can get them out of there!
Apart from that everything is looking great in there. The autumn sown flowers are doing well, sweet peas could possibly go out and start to acclimatise ready for planting. But, I really believe we are in fools spring and we could have a cold snap again before the winter is out.
Last weekend though I pot on some lupins and hollyhocks that I had sewn as a second set and after finding out I had a lot of Hollyhocks I did plant some out in the back of the flower border to see how they would do.
I’ve noticed this week that some of the calendula are starting to get buds and even one that is looking a little sorry for itself flowering! So they either need to be potted on again or put out in the beds. I’m keeping an eye on the long term forecast to see what is happening before I make a decision.
The potatoes that I started chitting a couple of weeks ago also have now got good shoots forming that will help to speed up the growing process once they are in the potato bags – that’s on the job list for the first weekend in March, so not long to go now.
Gardening Plans
As I mentioned next week is half term and fingers crossed if it stays reasonably dry we’ll be spending a lot of time in the garden as have got some plans.
- Get the summer house (she shed) constructed
- Start off sowing the peppers and chilli plants
- Plant some Jerusalem Artichokes (sunchokes) in the transition point between flower bed and fruit bed
- Move the vintage cold frame into the location
In the Kitchen
This week we’ve used up some more of 2023’s Rhubarb harvest from the freezer in a rhubarb crumble. Just 2 bags left to use which means I’m likely to finish them just as I can pick the first harvest from this year’s forced rhubarb.
I’ve also been using up some more of the homemade butter with some cooking apples in a delicious apple and cinnamon muffin recipe that I will share soon. Unfortunately due to the poor harvest of ours and our neighbours apple trees last year these are store bought apples.
The last bits of my frozen basil oil have been used in a delicious pasta sauce. Next time I go to the supermarket I’ll be getting a basil plant and using it to propagate many plants for the kitchen, greenhouse and garden. I can’t wait to share that with you as it was really successful the last 2 years that I have done it.
But that’s all from the homegrown kitchen garden that I’ve made.
Read Week 8’s Garden Journal to see what we are up to next.
