The Frantic Gardeners’ Blog

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?

oh yes, we have been away for a holiday, but things are moving on!

planted out: runner beans; french beans; courgettes; squash; sweetcorn. actually the beans were planted out by M-I-L, who seems to have planted the squash up the poles too. oh well, i am sure i can transplant!

harvesting: strawberries [yummy]

Need to do: sow some more beans, weed [actually this might be a crisis!], final pot up toms [another crisis!] and sow some salady bits.

its still under black membrane wraps, but the peas [celebration not hopeless endeavour] neeeeed to go out, as do the caulis and brocolli [so that i can then do a second sowing! I desperately need some more cardboard boxes, and some timeto do a spot of weeding! it is MUCH easier to do sowing and potting on with children than sorting and weeding. even if the sowing is ‘unusual’ and somethings don’t recover from the potting on!

the greenhouse also needs a bit of a sorting out, as i have potted on some of the toms again, and the yard long beans need to think about climbing up some permanent sticks! only 4 peppers, ah well.

oh, and the propagatory totally backed up! the artichokes have been potted on, as have some of the sunflowers.

for germination - we have had 100% of all the squash family [including the butternut squash from supermarket!] and the runners and celebration [but a solitary endeavour - will try sowing direct]. runners will soon need to go out [protected] and the squashes potted up.

for sowing, today i sowed the first lot of climbing bean blauhilde and cobra in roottrainers, the runner bean sunsomethingorother - to look up! I also sowed the sweetcorn - butterscotch and a supersweet.

beautifully chitted!! we have planted charlotte and pink fir apple. we don’t need to do much in the potato line, as a farm on the edge of the village sells so many diff varieties. infact, we have that many farm shops that we are spoilt for local grown organic [though not yet able to be labelled as such] produce.

We have planted through cardboard again, as that seems to be reasonably successful, and we are hopeless at weeding!

I am looking at the caulis and brocolli and peas and thinking they are also ready to go out. hmm, they’ll have to wait a bit!

toms have been happy with the repotting, and getting a move on. the yard long beans at least haven’t sulked too much!

the first of the squashes are already germinating - butternut from the supermarket. the girls always like to sow some saved seeds.

have sown the toms - tigerella, gardeners delight and ilidi [a yellow cherry] with the girls. hopefully will get a good germination rate! Also sown the peppers - big banana, a black coloured one ?poblano - must check. they are late, so here’s hoping! also jalapeno. and also late, artichokes! the girls seed sowing technique means a very variable depth, but most things seem to survive.

Must now revitalise the propagator though. As the science experiments the girls have done show, warmth and water are the essentials.

chris has dug over the fruit bed, awaiting arrival of raspberries and of goosegogs. [the blueberries will go in the tubs]

we are late getting going on the sowing as going away, and worried will all die!

however, we have stripped the ivy off one of the house walls, and lots of undergrowth from around the veg patch [don’t worry, plenty of wildlife habitat over the rest of the garden! ] so had a big bonfire. we have invested in plastic mulch to put all over the place, as we really just don’t keep up with the weeding, and will lift it up only to plant through newspaper [not everything liked the cardboard]

from the kitchen garden magazine. It’s to stop cutting of the electric cables when mowing the lawn. unfortunately our mower is out of action at the moment. DH unfortunately cut the cable last time…

well, harvesting loads of strawberries, mangetout and broad beans - goody! peas get eaten by my 2 little birds!!

lovely bushy potato plants, but as late in, haven’t looked for a crop yet. The toms are happy in their final pots and being tied in as they grow. the odd flower. peppers and aubergines all looking healthy. I think I’ll pot the aubergines into a bigger pot.

Sweetcorn went out too late, and don’t seem to be taking off. the weather has been unsettled, so I won’t loose hope. the popcorn ones have germinated, and although late I’ll give thema try!

finally got all the squashes in. both daughters helped - surprised by the prickliness of the plants. fingers crossed for a good crop, even though late.

how wonderful is that! Unfortunately DD2 also ate several more greener ones. We have changed the envir0mesh to proper fruit netting raised up to give little fingers more trouble! Also had some more podded peas and mangetout - eaten raw in the garden.

I am pleased to announce most of the sweetcorn are in. I should have grown more - might try and pop in a few late ones! Some of the cucurbits also in, and the onions well weeded.

Chris potted up the last toms and they are now in final position so ready to romp! We also sprayed with organic stuff the buildup of blackfly on the cherries, and assorted aphids on the apples.

The roses round the veg bed are looking nice as well, and the elderberry in full flower.

In the children’s plot, noticed DD1’s round carrots are also up. we don’t seem to have a problem with carrot fly - famous last words!

So the french beans went in. I had some gaps so i put in some italian yard long beans from t and m as seeds, and hope they will germinate now the good weather here.

Also did some weeding - not quite as much as i needed too though!

Chris put cardboard down over the area we are going to put Courgettes and Cucurbits in, and will plant through.

Did harvest a few more asparagus spears, and can see some peas podding up - goody!