Tomato seedlings

Every year I grow Tomatoes and every year I end up with a bunch of green fruit that just never ripens, I assume the growing season here in the Highlands just isn't long enough because usually it's around the end of March beginning of April before  I can even sow them.
I always sow in a propagator (unheated) and even though I have a polytunnel and greenhouse it takes a long time for seedlings to appear. I guess I could buy Tomato plants from the garden centre but tbh I'd rather not grow them at all than go to the expense of buying plug plants cos it kind of defeats the purpose for me.
So anyway you can imagine how pleased I was to check up on the seeds I planted in my new heated propagator 7 days ago and saw these peeping through

Black Russian Tomato seedlings @ 7 days.

Just 7 days and the Black Russian Tomato seedlings are already eager to get going. Hopefully this means I'll have a longer growing season this year and maybe, fingers crossed, some ripe fruit.

My excitement about the seedlings was kind of short lived though, basically I had to face up to the mess that is my greenhouse.
This greenhouse is basically made of recycled materials, it comprises of a wooden bottom half that is slats to the outside, polythene middle and boarding inside. The top half is made up of recycled double glazed windows and the roof is clear corrugated roofing, it may not be the prettiest (or largest) of structures but it does the business.
Originally it was full to the brim with plants and veg but then Mr TG bought me a polytunnel so the greenhouse became redundant, until I decided to turn it into my workshop. You see I love building things for the house and garden, I'm lucky enough that Mr TG is a builder so we have every tool known to man and plenty of scrap wood for working with.
This workshop has enabled me to create quite a lot of stuff but inevitably it's gathered some of those 'useless' items that Mr TG wanted to landfill but which I hoarded and now I need to re-use the greenhouse for some crops but it's looking like this


ready for this........






it's a tad embarrassing..............

Recycled greenhouse mess.

This is looking in from the door. It's horrendous isn't it! I'm ashamed to say that this place has not been cleaned or cleared since my last project last year.
It's not a huge space so it's important it's kept tidy to be even remotely functional and as I now want to use it as a workshop and to grow on Tomato plants I really need to sort it.

Here's looking from the back to the door

More recycled greenhouse mess.

Just look at the door! It apparently suffered that damage during some winds while I was on holiday but it shouldn't have because it was shut before I left - me thinks the kids went in and forgot to close it behind them!
And what I think I'm going to do with that red trunk is beyond me but I'm loathe to throw it or let MR TG fill it with building tools.
Bad isn't it!

So guess what my next job is (again it's not even one on my list of 42 jobs that I haven't even dented yet), yep, I've got to somehow bring myself to be ruthless and realistic with what I need to keep. Either that or I start hanging stuff from the ceilings.........hmmmmmm, now there's a thought!

It's always nice to get a surprise in the post isn't it!
Well look what came for me yesterday

OK It shouldn't really have come as a surprise but I ordered these bulbs months ago knowing (at the time) that the dispatch date wouldn't be until March but as time has gone by I completely forgot about them, until yesterday......surprise!
The best bit about these bulbs is that they were FREE via a 'Gardeners world' magazine offer (I often go for those offers as they're good value and quality plants), I just had to pay £5.60 for p&p.
So what are the bulbs..................................



Paeonia 'Karl Rosenfield'

http://www.vivaipriola.it/paeonia-lactiflora-karl-rosenfield.html

Paeonia 'Shirley Temple'

http://www.nemesia.co.uk/paeonia-shirley-temple-127-p.asp

Paeonia 'Sarah Bernhardt'

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Paeonia_lactiflora_%27Sarah_Bernhardt.jpg

Gorgeous huh!
I already have a Sarah bernhardt that grows in a pot and flowered for the first time last year - absolutely beautiful.
I've never dared to plant it outside though in case the winter kills it off as they like to be planted fairly shallow (I'm not one for sticking to winter protection methods) so I'm thinking if I plant these into large enough pots I could then sink the pot into the soil and lift them out for winter.
Paeonia hate to be disturbed and can take a few years to settle and flower so lifting the corms every year is just going to really pee it off.
I'm not the most patient of gardeners though and I dislike anything that doesn't produce worthy flowers in the first year so this is going to be quite testing for me - as are the Hollyhocks I recently sowed as I get no flowers until next year!

Oh, it's a good day for singing a song.......

"A garden is a grand teacher. It teaches patience and careful watchfulness; it teaches industry and thrift; above all it teaches entire trust" :- Gertrude Jekyll. 


The weather here in the Highlands continues to be bloomin marvellous  (happy faces all round).
Yesterday I managed to get quite a lot of my garden plants divided and/or moved and I have to say working outside in full sunshine lifted the spirits immensely, I still have a lot of bare areas that need planting but until I get my 'garden plant map' out I'm not sure what's under the soil just waiting to pop through in certain areas.
I've also managed to get some seed sowing going. It honestly felt like seed sowing time was never going to come around, although it is still a tad too early with our climate.

I bought a heated propagator off Ebay last month. It's not brilliant as it doesn't have a temperature control but it's a decent size and has meant that I can start off certain veggies much much sooner than I ever have.
So far I've sown (in the heated propagator)
Tomatoes: - Black Russian, Roma, Gardeners Delight & Yellow stuffer.
Pepper:- California Wonder,
Herbs:- Tarragon, Chives, Garlic Chives

(In unheated propagators in the greenhouse)
Sweetcorn:-
Cabbage:- Greyhound.
Broccoli:- Calabrese
Cucumber:- Marketmore 76
Celeriac:- Invitation
Courgette:-
Onion:- Bedfordshire Champion
Swede:- Invitation

Flowers:- Lupins, Hollyhocks, SweetPea & Bouganvilla (bought back from Jamaica)

Next I'll get started with the Turnips, Leeks, Carrots, more Cabbage, Parsnips

It's a good job I've been feeling upbeat of late because I am getting quite sick of this eyesore every time I head to the polytunnel

There was rhyme and reason to making that bloomin awful flower bed at the time - honest! (though the actual reasoning does allude me at this point in time).
I have no idea why (probably because I didn't know Willow back then) but I thought it would be great to plant Willow as specimen trees in there - I know! please don't judge me!
There's also a Mock orange, Olearia, 2 Escallonia, Leycesteria, Montbretia and Hosta all crammed into that area. Yes, it looks hideous! And if you could see the rest of the surrounding area and how out of place the whole thing looks you would piddle yourself laughing.
Guess it's going to be one of the many jobs I have to do this year and I suppose I better add it to the other 42 jobs I listed the other day!
In hindsight that area would have been a better place to site the 2 new raised veggie areas instead of here..................

You'd hope I'd live and learn but I'm going to make loads more of these stupid mistakes as the year goes on.
Guess I better start planning what to do!