The Frantic Gardeners’ Blog

i can’t believe how long ago it was that i last blogged!

fruit

well,  we harvested a glut of strawberries, and they have finally finished. we also harvested some blueberries. we are now harvesting loads of raspberries, and some blackberries. i can see lots of figs and apples to come.

veg

we harvested all the peas. i never got round to successional sowing - always a failure of mine. something to improve on next year. we had a moderate harvest of broad beans. i think it was a bit too shady where they were really. we have started on a goodly crop of potatoes, courgettes and french beans. runners yet to come, but starting off. i can see some huge pumpkins growing, and the sweetcorn are looking good. underneath the environmesh the cauliflowers look like they might be getting a flower, and the early purples are getting tall. we also have a row on very tall and very beautiful sunflowers.

undercover

the toms have gone a bit wild. they’ve been watered, but i have been a bit remiss on pinching out. nevertheless there are lots of toms coming along. there are also a few peppers on the timy number of pepper plants i got.

maintenance

actually, the black mulch has been great, because the non cultivated areas aren’t weed infested. the cardboard around the pots and broad beans now broken own, but has done a reasonable job. the amazing revelation has been the fabulous straw by the sweetcorn. we have to have more straw next year. i have tried to do regular hoeing. not perfect, but every little counts!!

well, not exactly, but i was v pleased with todays harvest that we ate for dinner. DD1 also loves harvesting the peas, and can easily fit under the mesh, protecting both peas and brassicas.

Sadly the birds have stripped all the ripening cherries - we didn’t net in time. grrr!!!

this is the time i love best i think. when most things are in, and you think - oh i should have done x or y, but a bit late so never mind. i am still in control of the weeds, rather than the other way round, and the harvests are beginning.

we are now harvesting strawbs, broad beans and peas. the potatoes are in flower, so soon i shall peep beneath! and we have a courgette getting bigger and bigger. the fruit trees and bushes all have fruitlets, and the things in the veg patch looking v healthy.

i loved seeing my older girl climb under the environmesh to pod peas. this is why i do it

yes, this is our major harvest/glut. we are freezing some so that at some point i can pull out and make jam or smoothies! yes - the 4 of us can’t keep up. the peas are plumping up, by the end of next week we will be harvesting those! i spy baby courgettes as well.

i think this is the most organised this garden has been since we moved here. i must add some piccies into this blog. certainly the investment in mulch and clearing has worked, and i am trying to regularly hoe. i have also been pruning the bay and yews - well, starting anyway.

it is clear that we need to put bed structure in though, so that we don’t compact growing areas.

sadly, a plum minarette appears to be dying. it is dying back from the top and growing brown. no idea why?

DH made the framework to properly support netting for the strawbs this year, and my 2 gannety girls made sure that they ate as many ripe ones as possible! Actually, that isn’t quite fair, as they did share them with us adults - woohoo! lovely warm strawbs fresh from the plant!

i weeded the beans and the brocolli areas - which desp needed them, and planted out some more squashes. now just got a few left to get out. It is quite clear that those cucurbits potted on into big pots are far bigger and healthier than those in smaller pots - must remember this for next year!

a bit of watering and roostering!

urgent jobs: final pot toms and peppers, sow final beans and peas , trim yews

other jobs: sow salads, summer prune minarettes