Garden2012 no 16

Feeling very proud right now, have done my first garden update in my garden blog at blogger.............I was going to re-post here, but its late so for now, its just a link.


http://trespasserswillbecomposted.blogspot.co.uk/

Garden 2012 no 15

I’ve spent the day alternating between sitting here and playing in the garden, and then sitting here, and then playing in the garden, etc etc etc…..
And considering I haven’t spent the WHOLE day out there, I think I achieved quiet a lot. I had a space in the veg garden where the first of the broad beans were. I’ve dug it over and removed a bucket full of stones. I’ve no idea where all these stones keep coming from because I keep removing them and they keep coming back. In my garden stones are more prolific than weeds. I dug in some pellets and fed the earth because I know the soil must be pretty tired by now but I want to try to get a little bit more done this season. I’ve sown a whole row of carrots. I know it’s a bit late but all the books and all the packets say you can sow up until the end of July and we are only a few days into August so I figured it would be OK. Also, my sister left her late carrots in over the winter and they were fine when she lifted them in the spring so maybe I’ll do the same.
I took the last of the radishes from this box, fed the soil and then sowed a few more beetroot. Again the books say you can sow up until the end of July so I figured it would be OK. These are the lettuce, radishes and rocket I sowed a couple of weeks ago. I’ve still got plenty of lettuce to last until they are ready but I’ve run out of radish until these grow. And I decided to use up the last of the carrot seed in the potato barrels. The potatoes came up a couple of weeks ago and the compost has been fed so I’m hoping it will be OK. Even if I get nothing from the seeds I’ve put in today I’ve not really lost any thing because I didn’t want to keep the seeds for next year anyway. All the books say you shouldn’t keep seeds from one season to the next because they are not as good if used the year after purchase. That could just be a ploy to get us all to buy more seeds but it could be true, so I like to get fresh seeds every season.  And this is today’s harvest. From left to right, tonight’s harvest is; a little lettuce, nasturtium leaves, spring onion and radish for tonight’s salad, the first of the beetroot, the first garlic and the first clump of shallots, more broad beans and dill for the freezer. Looks like I’m off to buy pickling spices tomorrow. I’ve left the rest of the shallots, garlic and beetroot in the ground because I think they will benefit from a little more time. I had to take these few, they were pushing their way out of the ground.
Oh and also………..a little more fruit that’s heading straight for the freezer ready for my jam making weekend sometime soon.
This rather out of focus picture is lavender and tansy. I’ve picked about half of what is there to make these years sachets for the draws. The smell is so very, very good. Decided to leave the out of focus photo, I quite like the effect.And…………..did you know that Buddleia blooms smell like hyacinths,  well even if that’s not normal, mine do.

Garden 2012 no 14

A brief look around the garden.
After my weekend away the first thing I did was to admire the garden. Every time I leave my house the first thing I do when I return is to check the pond. I’m not sure why I’ve developed this habit, or what I expect to see, but it’s always the first thing I do. This time I checked the pond and found far fewer tadpoles than I expected. Before I left for the weekend lots of them had legs, now I’m thinking a whole bunch of them grew more legs and felt brave enough to hop out of the pond and explore. Guess I won’t be seeing a lot of them until next year when they should return to spawn.
Having stood over the pond, I then took a good look around the garden. Suddenly every thing is in bloom. My garden has been blooming for a while, but not like this. Despite the weather, summer is now officially in residence in my garden. In fact the rain seems to have encouraged every thing to grow more. And that includes the food. My latest batch of radishes and lettuce are now ready to eat and there were more strawberries waiting for me.

Garden 2012 no 13

Garden 2012 no 13

This is what my garden looks like from the street. I can’t imagine why my daughters tell me it’s a mess……….I quite like it looking a little wild. The only bad thing in the garden today was the ant infestation in the compost bin, but that was sorted and I think its going to be OK.

A quick update, I’m tired and heading for bed soon. I’ve been out digging and playing in the garden all day and its worn me out. I’m sure you remember me saying I was planning on digging up the wild area behind the pond once all the bluebells had finished.

(before the big dig)

Well, they finished a while ago, and today was warm, dry, sunny and an ideal gardening day, so off I went. It took me all day but I did it. I dug up a bucket full of bluebell bulbs which have all been replanted. I also dug up a whole heap of periwinkle which is trimmed, cleaned and sitting in the bag waiting for my daughter to collect. Digging up established periwinkle is no easy task, I’m so glad it was only a small area, not sure I would have managed any thing bigger. I’ll need to give it another dig over and then dig in some of the chicken pellet manure before I can plant there, but I feel it was a day well spent.

(After the big big)

More fruit was ready today. I’m getting enough strawberries to have a couple either on my cereal or with ice cream most days.

The white currant bush was heavy with fruit and I noticed some of the currents had already been eaten by the birds. I knew I had to get them  in today because, I know from experience,  once the birds start eating currents, they don’t stop until they are all gone. I think I’ve got enough to mix with some apple and make white jam.

Garden 2012 no 12

Garden 2012 no 12

Yesterday I said I intended to spend the day in the garden. It didn’t quite work out that way. The weather wasn’t good and I still had a bit of clearing away to do after the decorating.
When I did eventually get out there, every thing looked so overgrown I didn’t know quite where to start, and so instead of getting stuck in weeding, digging, tidying etc………..I decided it was time to have a bit of a harvest.

I’ve emptied out all three potato barrels, harvested the potatoes, mixed the compost with chicken manure pellets and then refilled the potato barrels ready for the next seed potatoes. I now have three trays of new potatoes drying out on my windowsill over night ready to be packed in paper bags and stored.

I harvested as many broad beans as I could see, what I didn’t eat tonight are packed away in the freezer. I also took some salad and spinach for use over the next day or so.

There is still one rhubarb pie left in the fridge made from the rhubarb I harvested last week. Todays rhubarb was cleaned, cut and packed away in the freezer.

And this is what I will be harvesting tomorrow, white currants………delicious and it looks as if I have a bit of a bumper crop this year.

A Question;
Does any one know if I can use some of the very tiny potatoes that I dug up today as seed potatoes for next time??

Garden 2012 no 11

GARDEN 2012 N0 11

It’s Saturday 23 June, and still raining. Woke up this morning and the news said; ‘serious flooding throughout the country’, guess I’m lucky to be free from the floods but we have had serious rain over the last three days. The news went on to say, ‘this could be the worse summer on record’,  ‘COULD BE’?? I feel that’s a little optimistic, as far as I’m concerned it already IS the worse summer on record.

ABOVE, PRIMROSES MID MAY

But it’s not all bad, we have had the odd day or two, even the occasional week, where the weather has been lovely and I’ve been out in the garden.

The first photos were taken mid may, we had some bright sunny days, the skies were blue, the garden was warm and the flowers were in bloom.
The primroses and bluebells covered more ground and flowered for longer than usual, the pond looked especially good last month; I had more blooms in the pond than I have ever had before and the London pride was better brighter and more prolific than last year.

And then a bit of a setback, some local kids were playing in the street and jumping over fences. What ever game it was they were playing involved jumping over fences, climbing on shed roofs and running in and out of gardens. They trampled a corner of my garden and some of my plants were ruined.

I was really upset but when I went out to see what I could salvage, the damage wasn’t as bad as I thought.  We had weeks of rain and I thought I would never get out in the garden again, but when I did eventually get there, I found the rain had stimulated growth and the garden looked like a jungle. I lost a lot of seedlings and small plants, they were washed away but those that were strong enough to withstand the wind and the rain actually benefited and had a growth spurt.
I’m now picking a couple of strawberries every day to eat with my cereal in the mornings,
the beans and onions are looking great and  I’m eating fresh lettuce, radish, nasturtium leaf and assorted herbs every evening.
I’m also getting a regular supply of rhubarb every couple of days.
The spinach took a long time to establish, I thought I had lost it several times but now its looking good.
The potatoes will be ready to pull soon; I hope to get these ‘earlies’ up in time to put another lot of ‘lates’ in.
I’ve replaced quite a few of my herbs this year, I bought new ones but I also cut back the old ones and took fresh cuttings.
I have an established patch of Tansy and Curry Plant; they are doing very well this year, they look quite similar but are very different.

And I have flowers, in no particular order and not highly cultivated but flowers they are.

School finishes next week and (weather allowing) I’ll be out there more often and hopefully get the last little bit dug over ready for another small veg plot next year. I’ve already salvaged a whole load of bulbs from the last tiny area I dug over and I expect to get at least as many again.
Oh...........and I decided I liked this so much, I bought another

But for today……………the weather is awful and even if it wasn’t I’m booked for babysitting. I’ve packed my bag, packed my paints and I’m going to try to get some serious painting done over the weekend. My granddaughter is 11 now and I'm hoping she will amuse herself while I get on with the serious business of painting.