October 2023 – Notes From The Garden

Wednesday 4th – At the beginning of every month I receive a bundle of seeds from the Veg Growers Podcast Supporters Club. Included this month was Broccoli De Ciccio seeds, which is a robust variety perfect for Autumn planting. In the notes it states the plant likes well drained fertile soil, sow 1.5cm deep, 45-60cm apart directly outside. I opted to start 6 pots of one seed on the windowsill inside.

In preparation for planting Broccoli I watched the below video by Ben from the GrowVeg channel for tips and guidance.

Ben suggests starting the seeds off indoors.

Monday 9th – The first shoots of the Broccoli De Ciccio seeds I planted on 4th October have started to show.

Never again will I think I don’t have sufficient room to grow produce after watching a Gaz Oakley video with fellow YouTuber Alessandro from the SpicyMoustache channel. In his small London backyard, Alessandro grows plentiful supplies of vegetables.

In the video, Alessandro shares his space-saving creations and introduces an interesting cucumber called Crystal Lemon, for which I promptly ordered some seeds. He also demonstrates his simple wormery system. Additionally, Alessandro shares a great tip: planting flowers such as Marigolds in a large tub just by the greenhouse entrance to prevent pests.

In another short video farmer Lee Jones shows why he loves the Nasturtium flower.

Tuesday 10th – After two weeks in the fridge, today, I planted the Oyster Leaf Plant seed. Fingers crossed for successful germination.

Thursday 12th – The first shoots of the recently planted garlic have emerged in the raised bed.

Sunday 15th – An afternoon of collecting chestnuts from the parents-in-law garden.  Looking forward to cooking up ‘The World’s Best Roasted Chestnuts” (below video), or chestnut soup or even chestnut rice.

Monday 16th – After watching Ben from GrowVeg’s Ginger masterclass video I’m inspired to start growing some of my own.

Ben shared some interesting tips:

• When selecting ginger look for pieces with lots of little nodules (at least two), and nice firm roots.
• Soak them overnight in tepid water.
• Plant in well drained soil with well composted wood chippings.
• Use wider pots as ginger likes to spread out.  Plant just below the surface.
• Try to keep in a humid area to mimic the rainforest floor.

Sunday 22nd – I soaked a piece of ginger in tepid water overnight as per the instruction in the video shared on 16th October.

Monday 23rd – I potted up the piece of ginger as in the video shared on the 16th October an placed it by the window in the kitchen.