The Frantic Gardeners’ Blog

lots of things going on in our frantic garden - about time! It is a struggle trying to fit all these things in, I have to say!

So in the fruit bed, weeded, mulched and now the strawberry plantlets have gone in

In the greenhouse, the tomatoes have been potted up, the butternut squash and courgettes potted up, and the tall sunflowers. Was tempted to plant these out but it has been terribly windy and waily.

Because the veg bed isn’t ready, i have put my fennel and beetroot into containers to carry on in the greenhouse as an early crop.

BB and SB’s sowings are keen to get outside, and the radishes are edible. SO with DH we cleared the girls 2 beds so ready to go. BB planted out her beetroot and her coriander.

hoping to get things going this week, and perhaps sow some peas and bits and pieces direct on clearing some more beds.

the sweetcorn have germinated really quickly, and I also sowed a second set as thought not enough. the courgettes and squash have also germinated. just waiting on the pumpkin

these trays need to be planted out or potted on. The weather has been execrable, so they have to wait until a bit better!

luckilly the french and runner beans sown outside are still ok, if not actually growing much

, a photo by Scrumbledelicious on Flickr.

looking good

I sowed our sweetcorn and cucurbits - butternut squash, pumpkin mars, green and yellow courgettes.


DH cleared out the pond as the lilies in it had otgrown the space and far too many iris. SOme will make there way back, repotted, but currently the goldfish are bewildered by all that space.

The beans have germinated this is excellent news a very quick catch up now the good weather is here.

the toms are growing well, and are coming out of the propagator

and the fruit trees are all in blossom.

we have a lovely long beanwam as we all love eating french beans and also runners as long as stringless, so have sown some climbing green and purple french beans and some stringless runners - approx 30 of each. all in propagator in greenhouse

the propagator in greenhouse working well, and some things already out. one advantage of the late start is that things only need a boost and out rather than loads of sheltering. so here are the sturdier things already moved out

our apple and plum trees also now in flower as is our japanese quince

and here is a pic of the vine desperate for the supports!

very happy such a high germination rate so quickly on operation catchup! BB’s tortoise food all up and the sunflowers and toms too

also our vine is springing back to life, so we really must get those supports up, and the spring cherry is in full flower

it has been a terribly long winter! still snowing last week intermittantly, and may still snow again. However, the sun has been out on the weekend when I haven’t been at work. This means that I have finally sown some seeds. Due to the enormous cost that heating the greenhouse thus far would have been, and the lack of light in the house, I have abandoned peppers and aubergines for this year, tho we had a good harvest last year.

Today, I have sown:
tomatoes - gardeners delight and golden sunrise
beetroot
florence fennel
sunflowers: sunspot and russian giant

an eclectic mix i will own! the propagator in the greenhouse isn;t yet connected to heat and hoping that will happen tomorrow. Planning to also sow then some peas, carrots mangetout and pak choi. all in modules as don’t trust the weather!

My daughters also been sowing.

DD1 an array of flowers and herbs

DD2 mostly salad leaves, edible flowers and things her tortoise Alfie will want to eat.

as the twilight of this year darkens, it is the perfect time to think of the dawn of the next. so we thought of planting our spring bulbs. this involved a trip to a garden centre an a nice saunter around to see what we could put in the garden in the future.

we picked a good selection of bulbs - mostly dafodils and tulips, chosen by the girls for their pretty packets and then got planting in front of the conservatory in an area freshly weeded. we are hoping for a really good spring display

other signs of autumn in our garden

, a photo by Scrumbledelicious on Flickr.

and a sweetcorn that managed to escape! some were a bit on the stringier side, but i think harvesting until mid october is rather good