Mushrooms in the Rain

I went back to check on the mushrooms today. I picked some of the Fairy Ring's making sure that they were the right ones and not the Cream Clots or Cracked Caps that they could be confused with. The big white Horse buttons still haven't broken their veil yet.

I should probably say at this point that I spent about 3 years studing wild mushrooms with field guides and online resources before I ate any, and I still stick to those that are easy to identify and hard to confuse. If you ever plan on picking mushrooms, it is adviseable to learn all the posible poisinous look-a-likes and find examples of both them, and the ones you are lookin for, in different stages of development so that you can familiarise yourself with their different features. It is also worth taking spore samples and important to note the habitat in which you find them.

Rasberries in the rain

Its been another wet weekend. Went out mushroom hunting with Rosie on Kingsley Common yesterday morning. Found a few baby field mushroom buttons which we might go back for, and lots of Fairy Ring which we didn't bother picking, although they are supposed to be good for stews so maybe we should have! What really made the trip worthwhile though, was finding a wild rasberry bush. Only a few ripe fruits but they were a taste explosion in our mouths. Mmmmm...

Wet wet wet

What a wet weekend it's been. Started off by picking some of the first rocket for salad on Friday night (as modelled by Rosie). Did most of the work on Sunday. It didn't stop raining all day so I got quite wet and muddy. The first job was to secure my tomatoes. For each growbag, I tied a small stick across the three bamboo poles and then used 4 bricks to weigh it down. They've survived the winds so far so they seem quite sturdy.

Next up I took advantage of the soft soil to push in two stakes and attach the plastic netting for my peas to climb up. I also used small sticks to prop them up in the meantime and keep them away from slugs.

Before lunch we nipped down the garden centre where I got some natural sand slug barrier. I put this round my courgettes after I planted them out in pockets of compost. I also used some round my lettuces and peas. It seems to be working so far - although I did catch one fat slug munching on a leaf that had fallen over it in the rain. I've stepped up the patrols recently and after finding quite a few of the pests on Saturday, numbers seem to be down a bit.

Meanwhile my first runner beans have emerged and my potatoes are beggining to flower. I earthed up around them a bit more.

Finally, if anyone remembers the grub I found in my first post (here) - I found the end product while digging around the spuds. Its a bit worrying though because apparently they eat through things and I thought I'd got rid of them all as I dug the patch over.

Rain, grow bags and bean frames

On Sunday I swung by the garden centre on the way home from Rosie's, to get grow bags for tomatoes, along with canes to prop them up and make a frame for my runner beans. Before getting to work though, Mum, Dad and I tucked into some more tasty radishes with our lunch. Mmmm....
The first thing I did after lunch was some weeding. There's all kinds of things trying to seed themselves in my patch at the moment, so I got quite a handful of seedlings! Then I sowed another row of carrots and thinned out my lettuces and onions. That means picking some seedlings out so that the others have got space to grow. I replanted the thinnings around the edges of where I'm going to put the purple sprouting broccoli, which is beggining to sprout on the window sill.
I then turned my attention to my tomatoes. I watered the grow bags before transplating the three biggest ones in from their pots and putting in canes to hold them up. I then set up the portable greenhouse that Rosie's parents gave me for my birthday, which should protect them from the high winds this weekend. I had wanted to plant some more tomatoes out, but seeing as I only have one greenhouse I don't want to risk it! Instead I re-potted the others, along with the dying brussels sprouts. The bathroom window sill is now jam packed with plants.


After a busy day gardening, I met up with my some mates from uni for a drink in Victoria - although I turned down the offer of Infected Mushroom afterwards so that I could use my Bank Holiday Monday to do some more vegginess.

As it was, it rained for quite a bit on Monday, with the wind gusting quite hard. Good for the thristy veggies. In one of the sunny spells I managed to make a frame for my runner beans, using 7ft canes crossed over and tied together with one across the top. I then planted a row of beans, the rest of the peas and some courgette seeds in little pots. The patch is really starting to take shape now. Once the broccoli and courgettes are in, and everything's grown a bit, it'll be looking pretty full!

(Photos this week mostly courtesy of Mum)