Gardenshare Stirling Update

July 4, 2011 · Filed under Uncategorized

My husband, Andrew, and I have just started helping Philippa to administer and promote the Gardenshare Stirling scheme and just thought we’d update the blog to introduce ourselves.

 We joined the Gardenshare Stirling scheme last September as we were looking for a garden. We were promptly matched and, in partnership with the garden owner, have set about clearing, digging and planting the garden. We are just beginning to harvest some salad leaves, cucumbers and strawberries with other things ripening fast in this lovely weather.

As we are new to gardening its been a steep learning curve, with lots of mistakes and lessons learnt along the way – with still lots more to learn!

 

This week our gardening jobs are as follows:

• Tying up the tomatoes which are beginning to break free of their restraints to ensure they are properly supported;
• Thinning the carrots, parsnips, beetroot and turnip seedlings, I’ve read that the best way to do this is to water the seedlings well the day before to make it easier to pull the seedlings from the ground, select the seedling you want to keep and put a finger and thumb either side of it to protect it, while pulling out the seedlings you don’t want to keep. It’s beneficial to water the seedlings straight after thinning as this should help prevent carrot root fly being attracted to them;
• Weeding round the brassicas to ensure they are not competing with weeds;
• Spraying the potatoes with Bordeaux solution which is supposed to protect from blight;
• Watering everything in the greenhouse regularly to encourage fruit growth and to stop tomatoes splitting.

 What are you up to in your garden this week?