Death of a lawnmower

Finally after 6 years, the petrol mower packed up.
Not bad going considering it was umpteen years old when I got it and
subsequently never had it serviced.

Couldn't really justify spending a load of money on a new petrol mower,
not for an allotment anyway - so decided to give a push mower a try.

Ordered one of the Brill range from Amazon, it should arrive before next weekend
so I'll post a brief review as an update in a week or so.

Amazon link

August update

A small set of pics from August,

not the most productive year as I was out of action for 3 months

in Mar/Apr/May....... so behind on most of the planting.

Still had a decent crop of chillies thanks to the growlights though.

Bishop's Crown Chilli plant

A neighbouring plot's Hollyhock

Assorted Chillies

Chilli flowers, pepper and melon

All the sweet pepper plants are doing really well in the
greenhouse, as are the chillies.
Also have the first melon fruit appearing.

Italian Sweet Pepper

Cayenne Pepper flower

First Melon fruit

Some more Hollyhock pics,
Despite the weather it seems to be a good year for them

Hollyhock - ( Alcea rosea )

I've been really slack at posting pics this year,
here's a quick shot of the Hollyhock that are doing really well.

Family: Malvaceae
Genus: Alcea
Species: rosea

Early flowering chilli plants

Quite a few plants have started to flower, far too early as a 

result of using growlights.

I'm tempted to leave the flowers on, but probably best to pick 

them off to give the plants chance to grow more before setting fruit.

Watermelon seedling

First time I've grown Watermelons, so will be interesting to
see how we get on.

The chilli plants are growing well

Starting them off under growlights, has resulted in
stronger plants

Tomato plants

gartenperle tomato plants

Transporting plants between EU member states

Interesting question from a colleague today,

they plan to take a few chilli plants to our office in Romania and wanted
to know if there were restrictions on transporting plants through customs.

According to the RHS,

" Within the European Union (EU) there are no border checks for plants and plant products travelling between member states and, it is possible, to import and export plants freely with very few exceptions. "
http://apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/Profile.aspx?pid=435

Good to know

Chilli seedlings recently germinated

Need to sow a lot more as everyone at work wants a plant

Broad Beans

Not many pics this time of year, so some science if anyone is interested : )

Capsicum Overview

Other common name(s): capsaicin, cayenne, chili pepper, hot pepper, red pepper, paprika, pimiento, long pepper, conoids

Scientific/medical name(s):
Capsicum annum, Capsicum frutescens
Description
Capsicum is the name of a group of annual plants in the nightshade (Solanaceae) family. They are native to Mexico and Central America but are cultivated for food in many warmer regions of the world. Capsicum varieties include the cayenne pepper, jalapeño pepper, other hot peppers, and paprika. Capsaicin is the most-studied active ingredient in the plant and has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use on the skin.
Overview
Although little research has been reported using the whole Capsicum annum or Capsicum frutescens plant for people with cancer, capsaicin (a major active ingredient) has been studied in oral and topical forms. Several studies have shown that capsaicin may be somewhat useful for managing pain related to surgery and mouth sores due to chemotherapy and radiation therapy. However, more research is needed on other uses of capsaicin and to find out whether the whole herb is helpful for treating or preventing illness.

Source(http://tiny.cc/wccwy)

Capsaicin used for pain relief
Medicinal chemistry of the vanilloid (Capsaicin) TRPV1 receptor: current knowledge and future perspectives
In peripheral sensory neurons, the vanilloid receptor TRPV1 (transient receptor potential vanilloid subfamily, member 1) functions as a molecular integrator of painful stimuli, including those mediated by capsaicin, acid, and heat. Antagonist blockade of TRPV1 activation is under investigation by several pharmaceutical companies in an effort to identify novel agents for pain management. TRPV1 is also expressed, albeit at lower levels, in the brain and in non-neuronal tissues, where its function(s) remains elusive.

The contribution of TRPV1 receptor activity to physiological reflexes and disease states is complex and is only beginning to be understood. Consequently, the resultant effects of TRPV1 antagonists on the body may be unforeseen. Indeed, clinical trials with a number of TRPV1 antagonists were recently terminated due to their marked hyperthermic activity. In this review article, the medicinal chemistry of TRPV1 antagonists is discussed inasmuch as it relates to the efficacy, safety, tolerability and potential side effects of these compounds.

In addition, the available information on the current status of the clinical trials with TRPV1 antagonists is summarized. Drug Dev Res 68:477–497, 2007. © 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Source (http://tiny.cc/c97av)

....Ok when I get some time I'll try and decode the above into something a bit less sciency, essentially the article is looking at how Capsaicin may block pain receptors in the body  : )

Pepper plants @ 15 days under grow lights

All growing well and none of the straggly plant
problems I used to have in the past.

Pepper seedling growlight progress

It looks like the lighting is producing good results,
in 7 days the plants have grown much faster than normal.
The lights are on for around 8 hours a day.

The cotyledons have grown well and we're seeing the first
true leaves.

Growlight

The maxibright 220 watt cfl lights arrived,
I quickly knocked up a frame to hang them from and
got the sweet pepper seedlings underneath.

For I think, the first time ever - all beds are dug before mid January

View to Cliveden

Visitors

Just looking through the past few months Blog stats and was surprised to see such a diverse range of visitors in the top 10 United States      1,034

United Kingdom    612

Russia     76

France    69

Netherlands    69

Germany   57

Australia    40

Canada   28

Philippines    28

Italy     24

Seeds have arrived

 - (may 2012 edit)
    No idea why, but this post has by far the most views on the entire blog.

More activity,
A huge parcel of seeds from Premier Seeds Direct has arrived.

Time to start propagating!

 

BEETROOT - DETROIT DARK RED       
BROAD BEAN - AQUADULCE CLAUDIA       
BROCCOLI - WALTHAM 29       
BRUSSEL SPROUT - EVESHAM SPECIAL       
CABBAGE - BRUNSWICK - HEIRLOOM       
CABBAGE - DANISH BALLHEAD       
CABBAGE - PAK CHOI RED - CHOI F1       
CABBAGE - SAVOY PERFECTION       
CARROT - CHANTENAY RED CORE 2       
CARROT - MAIN CROP - BERLICUM 2       
CELERY - VERDE A COSTA PIENA GIGANTE       
CHIVE - CIPOLLINA       
COURGETTE - BLACK BEAUTY       
CUCUMBER - GHERKIN - PICCOLO DI PARIGI       
CUCUMBER - MARKETMORE 76       
CUCUMBER - SPACEMASTER 80       
HERB - BASIL - GENOVESE       
HERB - CHERVIL CURLED       
HERB - DILL - BOUQUET - ANETHUM GRAVEOLENS       
HERB- FENNEL - FLORENCE - FOENICULUM VULGARE       
HERB PEPPERMINT - MENTHA PIPERATA       
HOT CHILLI PEPPER - CAYENNE LONG SLIM       
HOT CHILLI PEPPER - DE ARBOL       
HOT CHILLI PEPPER - HABANERO RED       
HOT CHILLI PEPPER - JALAPENO PURPLE       
HOT CHILLI PEPPER - JAMAICAN RED       
HOT CHILLI PEPPER - NUMEX TWILIGHT       
HOT CHILLI PEPPER - ONZA       
ITALIAN CHERRY TOMATO - CERISE       
ITALIAN TOMATO - SAN MARZANO 2       
LEEK - BULGARIAN GIANT       
LETTUCE - GREAT LAKES 118       
LETTUCE - LOLLA BIONDA       
LETTUCE - ROMAINE - PARIS ISLAND COS       
LETTUCE - TOM THUMB       
ONION - AILSA CRAIG       
ONION - DI SAVONA       
ONION - RED BRUNSWICK       
ONION BUNCHING (SPRING) - TOKYO LONG WHITE       
PARSLEY ITALIAN GIANT FLAT       
PEA - MANGE TOUTS - CAROUBY DE MUASANNE       
PEA - PETITE POIS - WAVEREX       
PEA - PROGRESS NO 9       
RADISH - CHINA WHITE WINTER       
RADISH - MIXED COLOURED - EASTER EGG       
ROCKET - SALAD - CULTIVATED       
RUNNER BEAN - POLESTAR - STRINGLESS VARIETY       
SPINACH - MATADOR       
SWEDE - MARIAN       
SWEET CORN - SWEETCORN - EARLIBIRD F1       
SWEET PEA - MAMMOTH MIX       
TOMATO - GARTENPERLE       
TOMATO - LEMON PLUM       
WATER MELON - SUGAR BABE       

Growlights

Every year I've tried to start chilli and pepper plants off nice and early in January.

Each year the heated propagator does the trick and the seeds germinate

fairly quickly - but a couple of weeks in I end up with a load of straggly 

seedlings due to lack of natural daylight.

I've bitten the bullet this year and shelled out £100 for a grow light kit -

after a load of research comparing CFL / Sodium kits I've gone for

a budget fluorescent setup that should keep the chilli seedlings going until

the weather warms up sufficiently to transplant them to the greenhouse.

In the end I bought the system below from Greens Horticulture (http://www.greenshorticulture.co.uk)

- although still waiting for them to deliver it....... hurry up!!!!!

Once I have it up and running I'll post the results