When animals attack!

Having been laid low with a cold, I've been grateful that there hasn't really been an awful lot to do in the garden besides watering and placing the odd plant in its final position.

 

I have been keeping an obsessively close eye on the jostaberry plant. Last year it was ravaged by sawflies that stripped it bear so when I found a leaf completely stripped, early last week,  and 6 caterpillars happily chomping away I was immediately on red alert.

I have been checking twice daily (at least), checking from all angles, moving the plant round.... You get the picture! There has been nibbling but I haven't found any more caterpillars. Maybe the birds are keeping them at bay.

 

 

Then it looks like the squirrels have been at the apples.

At first I thought it had some horrible disease then I realised there were bite marks.

We've now moved the pot away from the fence and this seems to have confused the squirrels for the time being.

 

 

So it looks like they've moved on to the radishes.

 

 

So, if it's not the wildlife nibbling, then it's the cat sabotaging my attempts.

 

 Immy found the perfect spot to sleep in the sun, unfortunately it was on one of my strawberry plants.

I shook a fist at her and she gave me a look of pure disdain.

 

Just when you think you have things under control, the forces of nature prove to you otherwise.

It is never boring.

 

x

 

 

 

Gardening and cake post.

 Prompted by Flighty's post (which in turn was prompted by Veg Plotting's post, and so on and so forth).

http://flightplot.wordpress.com/2013/05/30/rain-trees-and-cake/

 

I came to baking cakes only recently, the few attempts I made usually resulted in something unspeakable. I had resigned myself to the fact that making cakes just wasn't something I would master. The earth would keep turning and life would go on.

 

Sparing you the tedious details, about 2 or so years ago, I tried making cupcakes, they went down well. It took me months to graduate to proper cakes, to my utter amazement, people can't seem to get enough of the cakes I make. I don't do anything amazing, just follow the recipe (some I tweak).

I think what people appreciate is home baking, something that you can tell was made that day or the day before. It tastes real.

 

Our friend was celebrating his 40th today and was having an open house. I'd offered to help provide some of the food, this also happened to be the couple whose garden I've been helping do. Nice to spend time in the garden and not have to do anything but relax.

 

This was my contribution.

 

Cardamon loaf and vanilla and choc chip loaf

Gingerbread


One of the by-products of baking is the egg shells which I now keep. I give them a good rinse under a scalding hot tap then let them dry out in a bowl on the window sill.

When I need them I just give them a good bash in the pestle and mortar and sprinkle them where needed in the garden.

 



 

The cucamelon I planted out the other day all completely vanished. I'm assuming slugs or snails are the culprits hence the eggshells. Not as reliable as slug pellets but better for the wildlife.

This is my very last batch of cucamelon, if I lose these then that is it. I looked at ordering plug plants but I missed out there, so I've decided if they don't work out then I will sow more peas.

 

I do love my alliums, they are now fully open and stunning.
As so little else is in flower, they are helping the bees out too.

 

I packed away the large grow house, and now the garden is less cluttered with debris, becoming ever more green. My little, overlooked and less than perfect patch. I love it all them same.

When insomnia struck, this is where I could be found at 5.30 this morning, chopping back branches, pulling up the odd weed and generally mooching around.

 

x

Seat of the pants gardening.

Having planted out 10 tomato plants before the weekend, I was away at the weekend and unsure what I was going to come back to. I hoped I had hardened everything off enough for them to survive whatever the weather was going to throw at them.

Thankfully the weather was great and everything was as it should be when I came back Sunday night.

The weather is so up and down, it really is hard to know whether the decision you make are the right ones.

 

Tomatoes in final position

Half of the tomatoes had flowers forming of opening so they needed to go out, these were from an early January sowing.
I was really surprised to find I had my first tomatoes,  ferline, which I'm not sure will work in my favour.

 

The broad beans and peas are all coming along.

I've used canes and shelves from the grow houses to help support the stems.

I've planted out the cucamelon with barely a whisper of optimism, they do look quite pathetic.

First strawberries

Future raspberries

Dave had shown a lot of interest in us growing red strawberry popcorn as shown in James Wong's book, I had wanted to grow regular corn but it's not recommended that you grow different variety close together.
So in the interest of matrimonial harmony I got the seeds.

The general advice on growing corn is to germinate in toilet roll tubes as they don't like root disturbance. I tried this but after two weeks nothing had happened so I tried again in a regular window sill propagator and they started to germinate after a week.

 

 

I was very gentle at lifting the seedlings and planted them out and now, nearly a week on, they are definitely getting bigger.

 

Indoor jalapeno, sown on the 5th Jan.

I am grateful that I have plants that are doing what they should be doing somewhat early but now is not the time to get cocky, very few things are a certainty.
I'll just keep doing what I'm doing and see where it gets us.

x

  

Keeping my dirt stained fingers crossed.

So very much is going on the garden.

 

It was great to see a bee busy visiting every single blossom on the apple tree about a week or so ago.

And thanks to him and others we have the first bulges of potential apples.

Very exciting!

 

 

 Sowings of coriander, fenugreek, lettuce and radish.

.

 

A second sowing of cucamelon.

I want so much for these to work but the first batch look insipid and this second batch look like they are heading in the same direction.

I've tried everything I can think of, now it is just a case of fingers crossed.

 

This year I'm going to try growing chillies, peppers and aubergine in the tomato grow house.

I've put a potted marigold on each shelf to help with bugs and despite the temperatures being so erratic, they seem to be thriving.

 

Now according to James Wong (Home grown revolution), asparagus pea will trail nicely in a hanging basket. That is, I suppose if they survive the weather which has been decidedly nippy today

 

 

All the strawberry plants are flowering. 

 

Cavolo de nero  and romanesco seedlings.

 



These lilies are thriving against all odds.

They had spent last year growing in the old tyre and I most unceremoniously yanked them out and stuffed them in these pots and they seem to be loving it.

 

My yearly attempt at a hanging basket.

I shall reserve judgement.

 



 

On what was already a pretty busy day, the Rocket Garden pack I won last year arrived after lunch.

It was like Christmas, opening it up and pealing back layer after layer of straw to reveal different young plants.

I have potted up a lot and found a home for quite a lot.

Hoping to pass some more to others who haven't confirmed with me yet.

I have kept a bit more than I had intended. couldn't help myself.

 

We shall have no shortage of lettuce.

I've kept some of the straw and put it around the strawberries.

 

I kept some of the borlotti beans and runner beans.

It is going to be a tad cramped but I suppose it will really be proof of how much we can squeeze in and get out of these beds.

 



 

Leah helped me build the wigwams, plant the beans and took the photo.

 

It is noticeably chilly tonight, just really hoping everything survives.

Fingers and toes crossed.

 

Happy gardening.

 

x

 





In and out, the ups and downs of hardening off!

I'm a fairly patient person, I like to think, but  taking the plants out in the morning and then bringing them back in at night has lost its allure. Hardening plants off is necessary, so the plants can be acclimatised to the temperatures and not die of shock when they are planted out, the exposure to wind also strengthens the stems, so I will suck it up and get on with it.

 

The massive grow house is proving useful now and once I dare to leave the plants overnight, they shall be tucked up in there.

 

 

The beds are on their way to being ready for planting up.

The peas and broad beans that had been undercover, are now exposed to the elements.

Proof that hardening off is so important in the scheme of things, though they had the grow house over them, I would leave it open over night and the seedlings are growing on beautifully despite the weird weather and unpredictable temperatures we've been experiencing these past couple of weeks..

 





These peas are a little further on, such a useful and compact little growing system.

 



I'm starting to feel like I'm getting somewhere.

There's still some of last season's debris to get rid of but things are coming together.

Beds are ready for when the plants are ready. All we need now is some good weather, that I can't do anything about.

 

 

Yesterday morning, I said to Dave that I was going into the garden to do an hour before getting on with house work. That hour turned out to be more like two.

 Lots of potting on of tomatoes and peppers, putting canes in to support plants and some successional sowings of lettuce and radish.

 Next time, I don't think I'll specify a time and just say I'm going into the garden and leave it at that.

 

 

This stunning poppy has sprung up, no idea how it got to nestling just behind the rhubarb but it's lovely so he's welcome to stay.

 

Have a great weekend.

 

x

Not enough hours in the day.

There really aren't!

Such a lot going on!

 

I've been working on the latest bed (made from remnants of the kid's beds so I call it the bed bed (original, eh?)).

There are rosemary and thyme plants and Chinese chives and parsley I have grown from seed.

I don't remember planting that many but I do seem to have a lot of bulbs coming through, along side garlic, strawberries, teasel, a dianthus plants and a perennial daisy type plant I've long forgotten the name of. It really is a busy bed.

So, there are still usable spaces where plants have yet to fill so I thought rather than wait for them to grow, I would make the most of it.

I sowed something in this bed in a little space and I can't for the life of me remember what it was. And, no I didn't write a label. I just assumed I would remember.

 

 

Bottom left hand corner of the photo, the seeds have germinated. I'm thinking they could be radish.

Lesson learnt, use labels from now on.

 

 

This uninspiring patch is out the front, our driveway.

I've had lavender here for a year or two and it was only happy in patches.

I was going to pull it all up but then changed my mind at the last minute a gave it a severe hacking.

The alliums I planted are in their second season and I've planted a mixture of foxglove, poppies, verbena and aquilega, they were left over from our friend's garden. My plan is to just see which ones work. I also did a light sowing of love in the mist seeds (pack of 750 seeds, 39p from Aldi) in the gaps.

It's not going to be stylish but hopefully it will be colourful.

Whatever happens, I'm sure to learn something from the whole experience.

 

These are just next to our plot, in our neighbours garden.

They looked stunning and I had to get a photo to share.

 

Hope you are all not too busy.

 

x

 

 



Rain!

Gardening is off the menu today. Time to catch up on some blogging and ironing.

My two water butts are empty so I'm hoping for plenty of rain to fill them up.

 

It was a busy weekend, working on two gardens. I got the kids to help with our friend's garden, Chris dug over the veg plot and earned himself a couple of blisters and Leah dug a large hole and managed to help uproot a bramble bush, both worked really hard and I was dead proud. We returned home to a roast dinner with huge appetites.

 

I'd spent a few hours working on our garden, removing the last of the broccoli and kale.

Both beds have now been given a good dose of fish blood and bone dug in and they are ready to go when it's time to start planting out.

 

 

I've set up this makeshift cage for strawberry corn and the pots in front are ready for tomatoes.

I am raring to go but making every effort to be cautious. It is not easy. 

 

 
 
 
 

 

I have an abundance of plants that are now a very viable size for outdoor life.

I am putting many of them, mainly toms and peppers outside to harden off during the day.

My plan is to soon have them out at night but under the large cloche that is currently over the other bed. This will be great as it can get frustrating carrying the plants to and fro.

With one eye on the weather, I'm thinking maybe another week and I might see about leaving out at night.

  

 
 
 

 

I'm now hardening off this bed by leaving the cloche open at night but I'm pretty sure everything is hardy enough.

In the far left we have peas and then broad beans.

The rest of the bed is filled with a half hearted attempt at sowing some radish, beetroot and carrot just to alleviate the need to sow. Having said that, we've had a good few radish that have been welcome.

And of course, there are some garlic.

 

 

This area at the bottom of the garden has turned into a bit of a fruit corner.

We have the 3 variety apple tree, blueberry and jostaberry all in their second year and the new addition of the pinkberry. The other side of the step is a bargain redcurrant bush from Aldi which I'm not holding out much hope for as it's taken a few batterings from Chris's football.

 

 

 Apple blossom is such a beautiful thing!

 

 

This grow house, I love. Not to pour scorn of plastic grow houses (they have served me well and I respect them for that) but this feels a bit more proper. We'll never fit a greenhouse in our garden so this is really as good as it's going to get.

 

It is gradually being emptied of perennials as I find homes for them and they are being replaced with gradually more edibles which is exciting.

I have a mixed sprinkling of lettuces for microgreens (the kids have taken to them this year and Leah likes to cut them) and a tray of peas just for the shoots.

 

Here was a plant that caught our eye at the garden centre. Could be interesting.

 

I have to confess, I have been pushing boundaries a bit.

I sowed a lot of seeds early.

A couple of tomatoes went very leggy and failed.

I sowed some squashes and courgettes far too soon and then planted them out, having said that they did lure out the slugs which was helpful.

But, on the bright side, I have a good number of very viable tomatoes from the first and second sowings I made. The chili and pepper plants are all good.

 

 

This jalapeno in the kitchen is doing amazingly well and already has flowers forming. I have one a similar size so I've pinched that one out and I'm leaving this one as is at the moment to compare how they fare.

 

 

I also did an early sowing and placing out of asparagus pea and I've found that by covering it with an old glass worktop protector and a bit of horticultural fleece at night they have survived.

 

Well, I think that's a very thorough update for now.

Can't put it off any longer, the ironing awaits.

 

x