The Frantic Gardeners’ Blog

Always makes a difference! my dad gave the topiary a number 1. if we ever move, think i wouldn’t buy a house with topiary, as unless you are really keen or have a gardener, it is just too much work teetering on a ladder! Chris helped with that.

I hoed and weeded, and elder daughter watered. Mum weeded and watered as well. The fruit bed is looking quite respectable. the brassicas and onions in it are doing well, the srawberries are coming along nicely. rather typically my dear husband trod on some newly planted brassicas as he didn’t expect them there - what is worng with eyes? Its bad enough having an 18 monther doing that!

we went and bought a trachelspernum asiaticum to grow ovver the arch by the door [south facing and sheltered]. I think the jasminoides have better flowers, but a x3 price tag.

the veg bed is OK - not as good as i would have liked. aphids and blackfly and all that type of horror seem to be reaching epidemic proportions. we never had to pinch the top off broad beans in leeds, but we do here!

A question - i would like to rmove some of the ivy on the house wall. is there a special way of doing this to not destroy the brickwork?

photos to follow, as finally taken a few more.

Have been doing both really. the thoughts of being made redundant seem to have frozen me in many ways at the moment, so thought a bit of gardening therapy might be in order.

So, whilst i drink my medicinal glass of red wine, I’ll blog.

My elder girl and I planted out the remaining brassicas and florence fennel - at 5 she is getting the hang of planting out, though I usually say a brief prayer to Demeter that the plants aren’t too gentle minded. We also planted out 2 extremely tall sunflowers.

We took this opportunity to do a fair bit of weeding and hoeing - another prayer to Demeter that the onions will have some roots left!

finally we came in and gave all the aubergines and most of the peppers their last potting on. No prayers needed here as she is most skillful. they both have flowers, so will hopefully fruit at sometime. chris can do the final tomatoes.
Our cucurbits still all have male fowers only - sigh. Hopefully they will catch up soon. Some peas have germinated in the trench of doom - so will hopefully do better than their dessicated predecessors, and we may have a late pea harvest after all. The broad beans continue to be harvestable.
When we’ve weeded the other onion/garlic bed enough so they are visible, I am hoping that the garlic will nearly be ready to harvest.

This weekend we will try and do some more weeding etc. If time, I will look at packets to see if anything apart from salads worth sowing at this time - ? leeks??

well, the peas did bite the dust while we were away - pretty much all of them - sigh! Weeds rampant [hmm, could be a heraldic badge for us] anyway, a stab at weeding and tidying up a bit. the apple trees are also all totally infested with a number of different aphid varieties - hosed them all off. They each have a couple of fruitlets. Also, the minarettes have had a good soaking, as this years trees and been a bit dry. One strawberry plant has died, the rest going strong and fruitlets appearing.

We are harvesting broadbeans and some wok brok at the mo [though not much of that] and made my husband laugh with my excitement at one asparagus pea! I am amazed at how well the lettuces are doing, as in leeds the slugs decimated them overnight.

It seems to me that our biggest problem here is weeds. They really are hugely rampant. you hoe and every millimeter sprouts again. instantly. never seen anything quite like it. not helped by us being frantic rather than leisurely gardeners.

I think over the winter we may bed down as it were, with manure and cardboard on top, only removing to plant. If we have the finances, i will plant through that gardening brown paper and mulch with whatever on top, to try and minimize things. if not, will just go for spaced row planting, as opposed to my equidistant, as will be FAR easier to hoe!

well, I guess not really since we are camping, but aaargh, must get everything planted.

found some very sad a leggy mangetout languishing in coldframe - so have buried them deep and watered well, and with fingers crossed! Also was the leeks I had lost, so have done that. The two sisters are finally three!

I have sown some more peas and planted french beans, as well as sowing some of those direct. will go out now and try and plant final brassicas although getting dark.
I have some sweet peas and asparagus peas I’d like to plant out, and the globe artichokes [but I haven’t decided where to put those!] - but they will now have to wait until I get back, and hopefully not too leggy.
then I guess a mad sowing of salads and last things when we come back.

oh, and weeding at some point!

in the fruit bed, the apple minarettes have fruitlets and the strawberries flowers. There are 2 fruitlets only on the nectarine though. The minarettes are covered in aphids, although we have loads of predators in the garden being organic. I will get some soap solution and spray them - again when we get back. It might be because the are close to an ivy wall, and this seems to be the perfect pest habitat. Hmmm - I think that might be another job to do on our return!

i have mostly weeded and watered. I really must plant all the rest of the stuff though! As usual, successional sowing has taken a nosedive due to overly busy life. Here are some photos though, of where things are now.

French beans waiting to go out, and some lovely iris in the pond

The 2 sisters at present! and runner bean wigwams

Coming along nicely [though should cover with fleece now settled in to avoid too much caterpillar squishing

And the bit that desperately needs a good weeding - oops!

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RIP Florence fennel???? never germinated ??<
RIP Oregon sugar pod pea total of 9 out of WHOLE packet germinated! ??<
RIP salsify???? 3 out of 3/4 packet have germinated :?(
RIP Butternut squash??? sudden wilting on transplanting :?(
RIP outdoor melon?????? sudden wilting on transplanting :?(
RIP okra??????????????? too much moisture :?(
RIP lettuce, dill, radish?????? too many slugs! ??<
RIP cauliflower???????? lots of leaves, no head :?(

When we get a crop of anything, I will put in a good outcome! -does look
like toms, peppers and broad beans are doing very well, and some
aubergine flowers now seen. Tops of potatoes look healthy, but who knows
what is underneath!

our first posting to uk rec gardening? 17 June 1998 20:42:18 !

So me and both daughters planted the runners up the wigwams, and also sowed a few more for luck!

We watered everything in well [so its been raining all evening!]

Chris potted up some of the toms.

we’re getting there! [OK, we are way behind! but it was a lovely day, and we were having fun together]

why is it that weeds grow so well and so fast???

well, yes, I know, its cos they are best adapted to our particular soil and microclimate, whereas our crops aren’t, and need some care and attention. And yes, i know that nettles are techniaclly edible, but TBH, I think I’ll wait until I have a food crisis to eat them, and instead use them to make feeds for the plants.

chris has done sterling work, and re-cleared half the veg patch [photos tomorrow] aidded by the fact that alot of it was under cardboard for most of this year, so nothing had too good a toehold. even so, it was a hard and long task - he deserves a beer!

into part of this I have nearly finished planting out the sweetcorn. All the pumpkins are out, most of the festival squash are out. Remeber the billion butternut squashes my daughter sowed? well they got left out at our party when I gave over half away, and ibetween floods and cold, are all dead - sigh! however, a few seem to have sprung up with the peppers, so i will tease some of those out and see if they catch up nicely. just the courgettes then. oh, these are being planted 3-sisters style - though will have to quickly sow some french beans to go with them
Well, all the peas and beans tomorrow and potatoes! Then, we will be planted out, and just the sowing of lots more peas and beans [particularly beans], whatever we have time for a second of and salad crops to do. Oh and the potting up.

Oh why oh why did I let us get so far behind???

All the plantings could do with a drench of foliar feed, but its dark now, so will do that first thing.