Well lets try and keep this up, I cant promise it will last but hey I will give it a great try, blogging can take up alot of time when you are a dyslexic! tip for any Dyslexics that stumble on my blog, just keep at it and write and read about stuff you love, sod what teachers tell you to read unless you are getting marked on it! There is nothing worse than reading / writing when you dont like the subject!

This little lot of pictures from my garden where taken today after what was my last mega mission in the garden for 2010. From now on its a little planting here, a little weeding there and just alot of minor stuff from week to week. The morning started early with me cutting back the weeds behind the fence, hoeing the weeds on the various plots and more weeding, got to love the weeding. Its really nice to see clear soil but  I just cant stand doing it. After weeding I planted some of my shallots, lettuce, monge tout, radishes, (red, white, lisbon) onions and cucumbers. I think there was more but its been a long day and I cant be bothered to think any more. I know there is no need for poly tunnels in June but due to the cats pooping on my plot I have had to do this so that they dont dig up my lovely little seedlings / seeds when covering it up.

Well this is all the trees, bushes and plants in there green wonderfully state for you viewing pleasure:

I can only hang my head in shame, lots of stuff has happened with the garden for months and I have not tweeted, written posts or even displayed pictures I toke a few weeks ago. So whats been happening?

1. weeding.
2. planting of tomatoes, cucumbers, courgettes, leeks, salsify, potatoes, chilli’s, pepers,berry bushes, beans, lettuce, radish and a few other seeds and herbs.
3. supports and netting erected to protect strawberries and to grow my bean and monge tout.
4. compost attacked and eaten by ratty, which has now been batted, I hope.
5. Irrigation system in place.

So quite alot going on, I am planning some pics and a new way of showing some of the classic fruit and veg and how they are looking throughput the growing season to help others see what they should look like & when, I hope this will help you if its your first time growing your own so you know your going in the right direction!

Next year I will be starting a little gardening advice application that will be online via this blog or it will be via a new site with a nice little iPad / iPhone app, depends on time really.

Nothing goes 100% perfect all of the time. Its only my first year and yes I still have a few issues going on. Some of the seedlings have died due to the plants falling over and loosing their base in the soil. Still got plenty growing so when thining out I will try to use all my little seedlings to make sure we get a good lot of crops. I am also going to use my pound store 4 for a pound seeds to try out a few different growing times and techniques this year but that s for another day and another post.

So enough of the chit chat, remember to water them all really well but not over the top! plus the pots are not featured in these images as there is no growth yet but week two images might just have a few little gems to show!

1 Week and this is what we have got to show for it.

** Use picture lense to view photos as its better than clicking on them! its a nice little slide-show / viewer

[View with PicLens]

After thinking about the poor broadband speed, the s!@£^y equipment and the poor customer service Sky provided me when the equipment with known issues and faults being used 24hrs a day decided to break. I have to give them credit, the energy monitor and discounted plan helped me get over initial anger but inside I was hurting

I always change, monitor, upgrade, service my own IT equipment as I can do that, if the router breaks, I pick up the spare one, plug it in and then get a new one to replace the backup! not with sky, they use their own routers with their own software leaving me with sod all I can do to get back on line. I waited only a day luckily but could have been up to 5 days without internet at home they reckoned. So the fact that I can not get myself back on track means, me and my business have to go else where! Its unfortunate as the nicely lady on the phone when I was leaving started offering me a good deal and was talking about having all my issues sorted, new router, high priority support team support and basically helping me out in order to stay!

50 MEG BROADBAND!!!!!!!!

Thats the reason I am leaving, well that and the other features. I have gone for it, almost the top package but not quite, top package is so expensive and I dont love watching sport enough any more to be able to dedicate my time to it and get my moneys worth. So what did I get then?

1. 50 Meg unlimited broadband.
2. 100 free prints per month via snap-fish
3. Free wireless N router and dongle
4. V-Stuff unlimited online storage
5. HD V+ box
6. Virgins XL tv package
7. Virgins phone package

So all of this is being sorted for me this weekend, ah boy this weekend the inner geek will be going mad, will be back online with another post reviewing my install and telling you just why you should be jealous or if you have Virgin TV, phone and broadband just stating the obvious! oh and my posts will be written just as slow but  when submitting them they will be about 6 times faster.

I love gardening now, its a fact. But when me and Gemma went to do this, I had grass, weeds and Gemma thinking it would not work to contend with. But its easy to do, in the climate we face, once you have the kit, home grown is cheaper, healthier and better for you.

I know I sound like a hippie but its true, the first thing is that once you grow it, you eat it. I hate tomatoes and I now eat them! dont like them much, they taste ok from backgarden but to be honest, if we had not grown them, I would not eat them. The biggest cost is pots, properagators, plastic greenhouses and cains. Once you have them, the cost per yeild will be lower and lower till you break even and even make profit, it will happen. Seeds are cheap if you pick the right places to buy them. I would suggest B and Q for the packets of everything that means you pay 33 pence a packet. That or the pound shop. This year I got plant food for 99pence and wish I got loads more as it works, cheap and most of all every penny counts, these cost alot less than the big chain versions and miricle grow.

Pick the plot, make sure that you give the plot good time to grow weeds, de-weed then carry on till it gets the normal amount if its a really grassy or weedy part of the garden. Then plant away, feed and away you go. There is loads more to it but I am just trying to say, I can do it, it was poor ground and it still works. Just give it love, care and attention. If you dont enjoy it then dont do it again, try it with herbs and potted tomateos first. A little tip, grow the tomatoes in small pots in doors first. Once about 24 inches tall, transfer to a bigger pot, 7 or 8 inches and put outside. Once they grow some more, transfer the plant and pot to the lawn or soil. Use canes to prop up the plant and support with ties as it grows. Dont tie it too tight but enough to hold it up. The roots should go via the pots holes in the bottom, into the ground and blossom without planting them at all. Its what we did with the cherry tomatoes thise year. I did my ones late and they did not grow like the money makers but they are really going some now. Its the mistakes that I do now that will help me and the reader of this blog get better results.

So with all that I thought that some pics from my garden. well more artistic ones in this post will go nicely. I do have loads of other pictures of the crops in my other posts but to be honest these ones are testing out my new camera to see what it can do, plus develop my picture taking skills.

Enjoy:

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