Harvesting already

It's been a funny year for weather so far - very dry early on and now quite wet, it's hardly a surprise that a lot of things haven't done very well so far or are just growing too slow. There are, despite this, lots of successes too. My flower garden is growing very well (although somewhat munched by slugs and snails) and I've managed to start harvesting. There's been lots of chores to do in the garden, which have kept me busy and I'm happy that things are moving on.

Edible wall

This year I decided to use some old pallets that I got from local builders to make a wall where my pergola once stood. Severe weather took down my neighbour's fence and did a bit of damage to our garden, the cherry tree getting the worst of it, so I wanted to upgrade that side to include an edible wall as I have a grape vine and the not so very well cherry tree. 

It was an easy construction - a bit of paint and some liner and with my husband's help to create feet so that it would stand, I planted nasturtiums, strawberries and cucamelons to create a colourful, trailing mix. 

Coming along quite nicely. I originally chose a blue paint, which I hated so immediately swapped to this cool, green, which I think fits better.

Filling out: The nasturtiums have filled out the best, with the strawberries ripening up. The cucamelons have just started to grow on a bit more but it'll be a few weeks before we see any fruit on those.

Harvest

I was kept busy by harvesting rhubarb, garlic and broad beans today. My rhubarb normally does very well, but it didn't seem to like this year and I've not managed to pick much there. The broad beans were a different story - I've only just started picking them today. There's already 400g in the freezer and there's still plenty more to be picked over the next 2-3 weeks. This year the garlic has done well too. We seem to have enough for about 9 months of the year, so I should really take note and grow more as we love using garlic in our home cooking!

Garlic drying out in the sun before I tie them up and store them.

The broad beans take a long time removing from their pods but well worth it when you eat them!

Just some of the broad beans and rhubarb I harvested today.

Moving on

Now that my broad beans are coming to an end and the garlic bed is clear, I will need to find something to fill those gaps. A couple of months ago I sowed French beans and out of about 30 seeds, I only got one plant! The reason behind the poor germination is unknown but I can guess that maybe it could be because the packets I used (I tried 2 varieties) were getting old. So, I purchased 2 more varieties: Ferrari and Polka, which are dwarf French beans. Fingers crossed these will germinate this time as my family love French beans.

I've also been looking at making the garden more self sufficient in itself, examining the science behind soil, invertebrates and plant nutrition and I'll share my ideas and work in my next blog. Until then, keep enjoying you outdoor space!

Happy New Year!

 Hello and happy new year to everyone! It's still cold and dark, and set to get colder but I've made a start with sowing seeds in my polytunnel already.

Some plants benefit from being started early however, it's worth noting that you need to make sure that you're growing the right things for this time of year or that you are helping your seedlings by adding heating and lighting, or growing on your windowsill at home. If you don't you could end up with weak, leggy seedlings that won't survive for long.

The plants I've chosen to grow early this year are tomatoes, chillies, peppers and aubergines. To help them I'm using my heated propagators with the new addition of lighting this year. I've never used lighting before so this will be interesting to observe whether it'll make a difference or not. 

Not a disco but my new grow lights!

Far too many seeds! I've limited it to three of each variety to make sure I have space for everything.

Reusing old plastic - I never throw out my old plastic trays or inserts unless they're totally useless.

The very small tomato seed.

Admittedly, last year I got carried away with sowing seeds and got far too many plants so this time I'm sowing three of each variety. Last year I found myself running out of room for everything and overcrowding can lead to diseases and pests spreading easily.

Before I got started with sowing, I made sure that everything was clean. Everything was removed from the polytunnel and then I added two garlic candles. I really wasn't sure whether or not this actually helped. The poly did smell of garlic for a month or so but I also then disinfected the place, including the shelves to rid the place of any plant diseases. Last year our garden resident hedgehog actually gave birth and kept her two hoglets in my poly so I made sure that no one was hibernating in there before any form of disinfecting took place, to prevent any harm to any wildlife. 

I also washed the trays and inserts that I use - I rarely throw these away unless they are completely worn out and damaged. Where I can I use toilet rolls and other recycled equipment. 

Once everything was ready it was just a case of adding compost and a light watering. With the lighting I'm going to extend the daylight by just a couple of hours a day and see if that makes a difference.

Elsewhere in the garden I've been keeping tender plants indoors and have a geranium (pelargonium not wild geranium) that has been flowering non stop for me. It's now residing in my conservatory where walking past its bright red flowers puts a smile on my face every time!

Bright and cheerful geranium.

At Christmas I was lucky enough to get a bird box camera as a present, so I've build that in to my top bird box, where blue tits normally nest each year. Birds can start prospecting for nest sites now and the camera has already caught a blue tit peeking in a few times. My daughter is very excited by the idea of being able to watch any young birds being raised and I think that this is a great way of getting children involved in learning about nature. In order to help make things a little easier for our feathered friends, I've also made use of some old wire and have made a couple of holders for nesting material. I'll put out these out in February. Closer to the time I'll show you how I made these and what I've used to fill them.

But for now, plan your plots and start preparing. I'm hoping that this will be a better year than 2020!

The nights are getting longer

 As the nights are getting longer and we are now in lockdown 2, I've been continuing in the garden with a few jobs during mild, dry autumn days.

One of the key things I wanted to do was to clean up the green house and polytunnel as best as I could. This year I wanted to try fumigation candles. The reason for this is that I don't want either place to become a home for pests that could do some significant damage. Having said that, I didn't want anything that could be a risk for all the plants I do currently keep under glass and in the poly (sulphur candles would be a no in this case). So, after a bit of research I came across garlic fumigation candles. These can be used with plants inside your greenhouse and while there have been mixed reviews online, I thought I've give them a go, so I purchased three - two for the poly and one for my greenhouse. Here's my thoughts on them so far:

Firstly, I called several local garden centres to see if they stocked them. It was a no from everyone (apart from the ones who didn't even answer the phone) so I had to buy them online. They were priced at £8.99 each - a bit pricey but not over expensive, but let's wait and see if they prove to work when it comes to getting rid of pests. They came by post very quickly so I put them to use this weekend, waiting for the late afternoon before lighting them. Caution: I opened the packaging they came in indoors, which left a strong garlic smell in the house for hours, so if you do try these, open the outer packaging in the garden!

To prep the areas I was going to use these candles in, I cleaned and made sure that I followed the manufacturer's instructions of watering my plants that were dry, being careful not to get water on the leaves. I then made sure windows etc were closed and place the candles on the floor on bricks as they would need a heat proof surface (I have a wooden slatted floor in my poly). Lighting them was easy and I've now left them to do their thing overnight. These candles can be used anytime of the year so if they are successful and I find that pests have made their way back in, I may use these again.

Could this candle be a great help in my green house and poly tunnel? It was very pungent and fingers crossed it'll do the job, whilst keeping my plants safe.

Sticking to the garlic theme, I've finally sown my garlic - a bit later than I wanted to but at least they're all in now. We're still using the garlic I grew this year, so it's been a success story. I'm hoping that there will be enough left until the new garlic is harvested next year. This time, I didn't use pots, I simply prepared a small patch of ground where I grow herbs and popped them in, spacing them out so each has room to grow. To prep the bed, I removed all the weeds and the red veined sorrel that's been spreading itself in the herb patch. Garlic doesn't compete very well against anything else that grows around it, so it's important to keep on top of weeding. I'll be keeping any eye on it over the months, hand weeding anything that grows near them. 

The garlic is starting to grow. You can get up to 15-20 cloves on each bulb, which is what I'd like to get following this year's success with garlic.

Over the month of November I'll be sowing certain flower varieties for next year and in December I'll be making a start with tomato and other vegetable seeds, all under glass and I'll be testing my new LED lighting to see if that will benefit me starting seeds off earlier than normal. 

Following the recent second lockdown, Jim has started visiting the garden again, so I'm pleased to see him back. I wonder if the rest of his flock will follow. The hedgehog box had a big refill of straw to see if we would have a garden hibernator - I won't be checking the box as I don't want to disturb anything that may want to use it over winter. Finally, I'll be cleaning one last birdbox for preparation in the new year. I'm hoping that we'll continue having blue tits but I'd also like to see other bird species use the nest boxes we've provided. 

Bright orange pyracantha berries - I've spotted pigeons eating these. They add such a beautiful colour to the garden this time of year. The flowers you can see are from a weigela - a plant that doesn't normally flower this time of year.  

One last job in the garden that you would definitely need to to: remember to protect any tender outdoor plants from frosts. We've had two mild frosts so far, so I've placed anything tender under glass, but you can also use protective fleece to wrap any potted plants that are too heavy to move or have nowhere else to go.

Till next time, enjoy the colours of autumn!

What to do now

 Now that the clocks have gone back the days will get shorter - something I don't like but only because it shortens my time in the garden. So, what have I been up to lately? Now is a good time to start tidying the polytunnel and greenhouse (not my favourite type of gardening), cutting back some perennials and planting bulbs. 

One of the frogs in the garden - not looking too impressed with the new water butts.

I haven't done much in the vegetable garden. Most things are now either sown for winter or harvested. In the coming weeks I'll be planting garlic bulbs and adding some raspberries to the vegetable patch. So, I've been preparing the garden for spring colour and saving rain water. There are now two new water butts in addition to the five I already have. This time I purchased two slim water butts, with a capacity of 100 ltrs each, to go on my patio. That way I can water the containers on the patio without having to use tap water all the time, or walk down to the bottom of the garden to the other butts to fill my watering cans. 

Staying on the patio, I tended to my ornamental pots, removing dying annuals and cutting back perennials. Where there was space, I added some ornamental bulbs, including a mix of different daffodils and some fritillaries including Fritillaria meleagris and Fritillaria uva vulpis as I love the colours of their flowers. I also used the time to collect some seeds. There were a few nigellas in one pot and the seed heads were full, so I took advantage of collecting those to grow even more next year. As a child I was fascinated by nigella, or Love in a Mist, in my mother's garden. I find it a pretty addition to any garden with its delicate foliage and its equally beautiful seed heads. They attract insects too, so this little flower is a winner in my opinion. 

Fritillary bulbs

 The Fritillary bulbs layered on top of Daffodils. The depth depends on the size of the bulb, typically you plant them at a depth of three times the bulb's length.

Propagation continues with checking on my rose cuttings that I took about four weeks ago. These I placed in a pot, using Rootgrow to aid the production of roots and get these cutting firmly established. The rose in particular is a yellow variety called Absolutely Fabulous and I wanted to propagate this one because its a very fragrant rose. Members of my family always stop to smell the flowers so I thought it would be nice to add a few more in the garden and give a couple to my mother. Anyway, the cuttings look like they are rooting and are now producing new leaves so I think I've done ok there. I've never really been very good at reproducing plants from cuttings in the past, having only been successful with Weigila and one other rose. I'm also going to try propagating cuttings of the Chilean guava that I have. Currently I have three plants in pots and I'd like to double that number as the children really love eating the little berries. Fingers crossed I can manage that one too!

One of my rose cuttings

As for the veg patch, I'll be picking the last cabbage next week and making some sorrel soup. The Christmas crop of potatoes are growing quite nicely, along with the beetroots and onions that I put in back in early September. The polytunnel now only has physallis, or Inca berry, but these have been slow in producing fruit so I don't see much promise from them. The raised beds are all empty apart from one section, which contains a few parsnips for Christmas. Over the next few weeks I'll be cleaning the polytunnel to try and prevent any pests from overwintering in there and I'll be adding electricity again to fire up the heated propagators and my new lighting to start some seeds off in November and December.

The Onions are growing on very nicely so far.

The last marrow that I picked - roasted for Sunday lunch.

Finally, I've been making sure that wildlife doesn't miss out. The birds now have even more feeders and I've seen a few new visitors - including a greater spotted woodpecker and a ring necked parakeet. The birds that visit the most at the moment are the smaller species such as blue tits, great tits, dunnocks, house sparrows, starlings and a robin. Once (and only once for now), I saw a different bird, which I think could have been a wood warbler as it was the right colour but sadly I couldn't get my camera in time to take a photo! The smaller birds will start prospecting for nesting places in January so I've been cleaning and fixing the old nest boxes to get those ready in time. Any that are up now are useful sleeping places for adult birds, keeping out of any adverse weather. Feeders and water stations are cleaned weekly as always to prevent any diseases from spreading, in particular canker in birds, which is very painful and birds will die from this. 

The woodpecker tucking into sunflower hearts.

I managed to capture this image outside near my front garden of a sparrowhawk.

The ring necked parakeet that I haven't seen since but I'm sure is around.

I'm also excited to tell you that I am now writing about gardening for a local free magazine, Harpendia! It'll feature gardening advice, suggestions and jobs in the garden. On top of this I'll be starting up my own small business to sell bulbs, plants and gardening sundries. There'll be lots of planning and hard work involved but it won't take my time away from the garden. 

Till next time x

No slowing down for autumn

Autumn is very nearly upon us and a lot of people have been asking me whether there are still jobs to do in the garden. My answer is that there are always jobs to do in the garden! 

So far I've been harvesting - which I must admit is my favourite job! I've collected all the potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers and courgettes. There's still plenty of chillies to pick and to store them I have been pickling, freezing and drying them. The tomatoes were starting to show signs of blight so I picked as much as I could. To avoid waste I made several jars of passata out of the ripe tomatoes and chutney out of the green ones. 

There's still more to come as there's grapes, runner beans, marrows and beetroots to be picked. However, I hate it when there's a lull in the harvest so I've been sowing more to get as much as possible all year round. 

I've bought garlic as well as a winter cropping potato, harvested plenty of cucumbers and there's sorrel there for soup, while a friend has donated some young leeks that I will plant in the garden.

One thing that I'm trying out this year that's new for me is potatoes that should be ready for Christmas. These are Maris Peer and I sowed them in the garden in the first week of September. So far they have grown really quickly and I'm earthing them up already. I purchased these from a local garden centre along with Japanese onions. Meanwhile over at Wilkos, I bought a bag of mixed onions and garlic, which should overwinter and be ready for harvesting next year.   

With the potatoes, I prepared the beds in the same way I did for my early and maincrop, adding a little fresh compost for nutrients. I used the same area as the previous potatoes were grown in. When these will be harvested, I'll plan to grow potatoes somewhere else. As it's been warm and dry, I've made sure that I've been watering. The onion sets have gone out next to the potatoes. 

I've been lucky enough to have been given some young leeks as someone I know needed to thin them out and offered me some. I haven't popped them in the soil yet but I'm hoping to get some time during the week. 

From seed potatoes with a few shoots to strong, quick growing plants in just a couple of weeks!

Meanwhile, my husband enjoys making wine, beer and sloe gin so now's been a good time to pick sloes. I grow sloes in the back garden so we don't have to go far to find these. It's been a good crop this year but we only pick enough for a litre or two of homemade sloe gin. The remainder of the berries are left for the birds to pick.

Sloes make the best gin flavour!

The harder work has been cleaning out the greenhouse and polytunnel. There's been diseases and pests, so I'm having to be careful with what I do with all the garden waste. It's better to burn anything that has disease. If it were to go on the compost heap then I would only be helping the diseases spread easily next year. Pests and diseases don't rot down and disappear. They'll hide out until nest year. Other than that I'll be washing the greenhouse, along with washing all the pots so that they'll be pest and disease free too. 

Other than that I've been cooking like mad in the kitchen, storing away as much as possible. I've been writing down recipes and taking plenty of photos so that I can share some of my dishes with you. Watch this space for some food ideas very soon!

In the meantime, keep safe, keep busy and remember there's still a lot to do outdoors!

  

July in the Garden

Well, it's July now but where's the sun? It's been very windy and overcast lately, not that I'm complaining (too much). I was rather hoping to start picking far more from the garden such as strawberries and tomatoes, but it's not been the ideal condition recently. Having said that, I am harvesting some crops. 

What's doing well so far:

Tomatoes

All my varieties are growing at lightning speed, whether they were planted under glass or outdoors. There is fruit forming but so far all I've managed to pick is one handful of Black Opal, which were very tasty! To keep them in tip top condition I'm feeding the plants on a regular basis, watering everyday and pinching out any shoots forming on indeterminate varieties. That's not to say that I haven't has any issues. One variety - Roma - has produced fruit with blossom end rot. This is usually due to a lack of calcium, which could be brought on due to not enough water. I've removed the affected tomatoes and given extra feed and water in this case. So far there aren't any signs of more blossom end rot.

The tangy fruit of the Black Opal tomato.

The ugly side of gardening - this is what blossom end rot looks like. I've caught this early so hopefully I can stop more tomatoes getting this.

Cucumbers:

There's nothing to pick yet but the cucumber plants I have in the polytunnel are growing as well as the tomatoes are. There's plenty of growth recorded each day and every plant has flowers. I've been pinching out side shoots of these to let the plants put more energy into forming fruit. What I will do later as cucumbers start to form on the plants is remove one or two where there are too many growing on the plants. This is done to get a better crop of good sized cucumbers rather than so many (that I couldn't probably even give away). 

The very beautiful cucumber flower.

Chillies:

Both Apache and Jalapeno haven't stopped fruiting, so I'm storing these in the freezer or drying them for future use. These plants are also being fed and watered regularly, as they are very thirsty and hungry plants, even more so being potted, as they can't spread their roots to find more nutrients. There's no pests or diseases on these plants. 

Getting crowded in here! Apache have been producing smaller chillies than jalapeno but more of them.

Carrots:

I've been growing carrots in raised beds this year, where there's good, crumbly soil and no stones. Up until now, they have been crowded but I've started to thin them out to allow the carrots to grow bigger. No wanting to waste the baby carrots, these have been used in family meals. My husband was only too happy to take a big handful to chop up for his homemade cottage pie! They were a lovely, sweet and soft addition to the meal. With carrots, I try to grow them in different areas, or if I can't then to cover them with fine netting as carrot fly can be a problem. The larvae of the carrot fly will feed on the roots, leaving you with maggots in the carrots, making them inedible.  To avoid this you can sow carrots after mid May, or grow varieties that are less susceptible to carrot fly, such as Maestro. Netting is the other option, which I really try to avoid as I've found birds trapped under nets in gardens and allotment plots in the past. I once took a juvenile blackbird home that was trapped under netting. It had injuries to its wings but after a good night's sleep, plenty of food and water, I was able to release it back to where it came from. It's parents came to it with food straight away so this was a happy ending but if you are using netting, please, please, please be vigilant and free any birds you see trapped. 

 

These went in to the pot but my kids would happily pull some up to wash and eat fresh. 

Everything else:

The peas are still delighting the family. There is now enough to add to dishes but everyone would rather eat these fresh. I'm good with that. There's watermelon plants growing in the polytunnel, which are now starting to flower. I failed in growing these last year so I'm trying again! The onions and beetroots are growing, albeit slowly but I've not lost any more crops yet. The celery and celeriac have had a hard time. Slugs and snails have been eating these. I don't put out slug pellets because I have hedgehogs that come in to the garden, plus I don't really want to use any chemicals so this has been hard to keep on top of. Still, you win some, you lose some. 

Trying not to get too excited just yet - maybe I will get some melons this year!

Not forgetting nature:

I felt awful at the start of the week as I found feathers that looked like Jim's below one of my bird feeders. Checking the camera trap, there was a recording of a cat trying to catch him. I was heartbroken as I've taught Jim to trust me and take food from my hand. Luckily, I spotted him later that day. He's been nervous but I'm so happy that he survived. I've opened out areas where cats could hide and moved the feeders so that the birds could be a bit safer. 

Spines, the hedgehog, hasn't been around much but there is another hedgehog feeding in the garden. I put out cat food and hedgehog biscuits into a hedgehog house that my husband built for me. This stops cats getting the food. Lately the camera trap has spotted a fox sniffing around but it hasn't tried to break into the hedgehog house to get the food. 

The polytunnel now has a few harvestmen on some of the plants and outside I've seen more butterflies. I've found butterfly eggs (probably Cabbage White) on my nasturtiums but none on the nettles I've left to grow for Red Admirals and Peacocks. 

A close look a cluster of butterfly eggs.

I'm not as scared of these as I am big house spiders! The harvestman is a predator so is most welcome to catch any pest for me.

And finally, not forgetting our pollinators. Here's a bumble bee on a lavender flower in my garden.

Well, I'm hoping that next time I write the sun will be out more and I will have more work by means of harvesting! Keep gardening. Till next time. 

Busy in June

Well, it's now June and I'm certainly keeping very busy with my gardening. To recap: I've been planting out veg that's been accustomed to the outdoors and I'm now able to harvest more as the gardening year progresses.

Broad beans: 

These are now producing lots of pods and as the family prefers smaller, more tender broad beans (older, bigger beans can get tough), I've now started collecting and freezing the beans. They store exceptionally well in the freezer and I prefer this to drying them. So far I've collected a total weight of 400g and there's still plenty to pick. As for any pests - there's been a few aphids but not many and I think that may be due to a couple of factors. The first is that I have planted companion plants near them. I chose borage, which the aphids have flocked to and seem to not bother with the beans. Secondly, I recently took the tops off the broad beans. Aphids prefer tender young stems so by removing these I've deterred them further. The tops can be cooked and eaten so that's extra food for the table!

Healthy looking bean pods.

Beans and tops for food.

Courgettes and peas: 

I have three courgette plants that were in pots but seeing as there's plenty of room in the garden still, they were planted out. So far each plant is producing flowers and there are at least two very young courgettes on each plant. These plants aren't keen on wind so if you want to plant out these in your garden, bear in mind the position: somewhere sheltered from the wind will be great. 

Like the beans, the peas are producing pods but I don't use these for the dinner table. They are a treat for everyone who likes to take a trip down to the veg patch and pick a few for themselves. Fresh peas are sweet and full of flavour but the quality of the flavour will start to deteriorate fairly quickly after picking. When harvesting peas, don't leave them too late as they will become starchy when the peas are big. If it's your first time growing peas and you're not sure when the right picking time is, just pick one and try the peas. Look at the size and taste them. Experimenting by eating is the best way of finding the best picking time!

This one's not quite ready for picking just yet!

Don't be fooled by the appearance in this photo - the courgette shown here is only three inches long!

Tomatoes: 

Perhaps my favourite to grow, the tomato takes top spot in the gardening year. My tomato plants have been spread around, some in the green house, some in the polytunnel, some in a temporary green house and the remainder outside. All the plants I'm growing are now in their permanent homes. Those outside are supported by canes/hazel sticks, while the rest are supported with string (to make it easier as they grow). There are trusses appearing on most now so it's just a matter of waiting for tomatoes to ripen. Remember to keep feeding tomatoes and with indeterminate varieties, keep pinching out any side shoots so that the plant's energy goes into producing fruit. 

Garlic:

The garlic I grew in pots and outdoors were starting to get yellow leaves so I decided now was the time to harvest them. If left too late the bulbs would start to open up and at that point they won't store very well. I lifted the bulbs and am now drying them under the sun. If you're doing the same, check for mould routinely and when the leaves are dry, you can move your garlic into storage elsewhere. Expect drying to take about 2-4 weeks. 

Drying whilst being hung up in the polytunnel until temperatures get too hot.

And everything else:

Marrows, pumpkins and butternut squashes have gone outdoors now and are doing well. Runner, climbing French and Berlotti beans have been planted outside and are currently growing with the support of bamboo canes (the canes kindly donated by my neighbour). I've stopped earthing up the potatoes and am now waiting for the right time to harvest them. It's the first time for me growing Rooster potatoes and I'm hoping for a good crop. Roosters are a maincrop and they should be ready when the leaves start turning yellow, which I reckon should be about early August. The onions that were grown from seed are growing, although a few did die after being transplanted. The chillies are now in the polytunnel after being grown in the house and both varieties are producing non stop now. The Jalapeno is very hot and so is the Apache, but I find that the heat from the Apache does die down sooner! 

An apache chilli waiting to be picked.

Time for the wildlife:

The good news is that Spines McCoy the hedgehog has come back to the garden and is eating a mix of mealworms, hedgehog biscuits and cat food each night, along with helping eliminate slugs. This week's breakthrough was on Wednesday, when Jim (the feral pigeon) started feeding from my hand. It's been delightful feeding him but the rest of the flock are still a little nervous. The garden hosts several fledglings each day including starlings, robins, dunnocks, great tits and blue tits. On top of growing my own I find that encouraging wildlife has been great for my mental health and I've never felt better.