The Frantic Gardeners’ Blog

wow! this month we have had 1/3 of the annual rain. It has absolutely poured it down - which has been v good for the watering. Today, the weather has changed, just like a switch has been thrown. It is boiling/sweltering/hot hot hot!! And today was the day that I had set for completely weeding the veg plot, watering it if required and then mulching. hmmm!! I did have help from DD1 in the end and we took out a bottle of iced water to keep us going.

Planted out

spare alpine strawberries went in the gap just emptied by rocket

tomatoes grown from potting the side shoots - gone between the artichokes.

maintenance

weeded everything hoed, pulled and hopefully got the majority. then placed straw all over the top of the beds and plan to put membrane down on the ‘paths’ as we have a holiday soon v keen to minimise the jungle on our return!

sideshooted the toms.

DH put trellis on wall so can plant out clematis and honeysuckle that are desperate.

girls beds of flowers are really looking fabulous, and they are both v happy with them. DD2 not seen any strawbs yet - should come next year…

harvested

ooh, i like this time of year lots of our meals have been made with 3/4 of the ingredients direct from the garden.

broad beans - the first sown nearly all finished now, but second sowing of red epicure starting - funny to have pink beans!

rocket - all the last rocket had bolted, so we pulled it all out so can eat some leaves and the rest for compost. next year plant less!!

pak choi - all the first sowing now harvested, again some had bolted, but cut the flower stalk off and ate the rest - mmm i love pak choi

summer sprouting brocolli - harvested 4 large heads this week [2 meals for a family of 4] have other brassicas to come [despite the panic earlier in the year, it is def not club root]. this has been such a hit with the family, that next year should grow more.

tomatoes - the sungold has been first to be ready, and the most prolific. shame only 5 seeds to a packet. DH’s speriment as to whether ring pot in growbag or in big pot seems to be clear for healthy look as growbag option. however, nodifference in harvest as yet. or taste.

courgettes - the ones in the ground harvesting merrily. lots of courgettes in our lunch and tea menu currently as well. the 2 in pots are not as good, will see if they will crop longer as will put in greenhouse once weather starts to draw in.

potatoes - just about to start a harvest i think the girls in bags are ready [emerald and rocket].

peas and mangetout - tailing off in the mangetout, should have done a further successional sowing [remember for next year ]  however peas in between 2 crops as it were, so loads of pods to fill out.

french beans - pretty much between crops, v few left now on the pots in the greenhouse, tho will see if they flower and crop some more, some beans on the first of the climbing beans [cobra] v tiny yet, and the second dwarf beans are flowering. since we will shortly be having a holiday, happy for the break to be whilst we are away

strawberries - just a few as this is the first year, but loads of raspberries

Pests and Wildlife

we saw a hedgehog rootling around by the compost bins

less happy a sighting is some caterpillars on the brassicas. they have bee hidden under environmesh, the damage not huge, but obv at somepoint one has got in . we have had large and small before, think these might be from a small. good inspection by dd2 failed to find any. i prob should repeat the process…

I like the idea of square foot gardening, and liked the book, and our beds in leeds were 4 foot by 10 foot and often roughly square foot planted. But i can’t be doing with all the mixing and stuff of his special compost, and tend to use soil. I am not sure you can plant quite so close in soil and still get healthy strong plants, so i tend to plant a sort of hibrid square foot/ my own way

Anyway, DH was v keen to have a proper go at square foot planting and was grumpy some time ago because i planted ‘his’ bed with salads, chard and peas [oops!]. SO, being a most excellent wife , I made him another square bed to square foot in. However, this bed has been ignored for about 2 months, and i started to drop significant hints that this bed would be co-opted. So today, he planted it up with some mixed lettuces [i had sown] , some dwarf beans [i had sown] and some rainbow chard [admittedly he had sown, but i pricked out ]

I planted out the rest of the cucurbits, hoed, weeded and popped more straw mulch down, this time around the sweetcorn.

All of this was done in between massive downpours of torrential rain.

well, everything that is going in for now! Have again not been v successful at successional sowing. mostly because i get to taht stage of panic about putting in what i can see, and don’t really want to add more stuff to it. Lots of hoeing and weeding, and also watering gone on. Greenhouse also in near sorted position. SOme things have gone a bit by the wayside, and some may yet be caught up with.

Germination

A single solitary runner bean planted direct has germinated. I am just not keen on sowing direct! some of the direct sown peas did germinate, and the directly sown spring onion and carrots, so I shouldn’t be completely negative i suppose. Loads of weeds manage to germinate…

Potting on

actually, none done as yet, but this eve might pot on a last few of the peppers in smaller pots than i would like as DH making a compost run.

Planting out

You will never guess, but the artichokes finally have a home! It isn’t in the most convenient place for covering over the winter, or for next year - oops, but did for now. I think i will convince DH that putting overwintering garlic where broad beans are, and overwinter broad beans where the potatoes are will mean it is a plan . The final climbing beans sown have filled up some of the gaps. However, the lack of runner bean germination means that there are still 15 empty canes. oh well. think too late to bother sowing some more now.

maintenance

the greenhouse has been adjusted to final staging arrangements. the tomatoes are all in position, there are 3 tomatoes and 2 melons in growbags. never grown melons or watermelons before, need to get aquainted with how to do it properly! Eek! I think we need another greenhouse… or maybe some coldframes! [never any coldframes on freecycle!]

hoeing, weeding, watering… tho we have just had rain - for max of 5 mins!! not enough to damp the patio

getting the climbing beans to climb. they keep insisting on trailing through the gournd - that isn’t any good!!

Harvesting

still salad things, broad beans, peas, mangetout, dwarf french beans [from greenhouse] , raspberries, gooeseberries and strawberries [ok, only just started with a few of each, but still! ]

so not so much time to even garden frantically. a quick water is really all managing, but most do a weeding shortly! today spent a couple of hours on essential maintenance, tho could get called into work at a moment’s notice, so can’t do anything too big or get too messy!

Sown

the rest of the twinkle peas in situ. think none germinated before due to parched soil. so soil where sown is as mud, and will try and keep topped up with water!

Germinated

the second emergency sowing of pumpkins are germinating too. should have a lot in the veg bed then! The climbing bean blauhilde have germinated. when a bit bigger will plant out

awaiting the climbing bean cobra and the direct sown runnerbean…

Planted out

the rainbow chard, into bed 4. look v nice there. there are a few that didnt fit, so maybe DH will place in his square foot bed.

Harvesting

the rocket and a few salad leaves. the peapods on the first twinkle sown looking big, so hopefully not long, we have some green tomatoes and some green strawberries. i think the goosegogs nearly worth a try. the broad beans are some way off tho.

Maintenance

Need to keep those pesky rabbits off the veg! so have gone round the outside with chicken wire with 2 ad hoc ‘doors’. Wouldnt keep anything really determined out, but hoping that it will work for our domestic rabbits, as they have loads of other interesting places in the garden they can go [and lots of dandelions to nibble!]

Problems

1/2 our pak choi look really brilliant, 1/4 have died and the other 1/4 look pathetic. on uprooting one, there were hardly any roots. is this a pest? or just unfortunate??

something has been nibbling our pea leaves again, and it isn’t rabbits.

To Do:

1. plant out sweetcorn and the single pumpkin that is big

2. pot on all the new little pumpkins and squashes

3. get tomatoes supported.

Hmm, we have still been v much lacking in the rain department. however, have spent a little while frantically watering, plus a bit of good news about the germination of squashes and not so good re bean numbers!

Sowing

T and M had a half price seed sale, so I bought and sowed some runner beans moonlight, direct into the ground [eek!]

Germination

All the brassicas sown have germination. 1 pumpkin of those sown with old seed has germinated, and 2 of the new butternut squash. waiting for the winter squash and any others. so tiny and so far behind . the carrot sugarsnx [or something similar] has germinated well, but the purple variant hasn’t [both sown direct in rows] so wondering whether to resow or not.

Potted on

not quite potting on, but the side shoots of the toms had rooted, so potted on 4 for my mum to take home with her she has no greenhouse, so the perfect size for her to have on windowsill a bit longer and then go out.

Planted out

4 courgette plants [2 parador and 2 parthenon] , DD2’s 2 gourd plants [poor germination] and all the climbing bean cobra and blauhilde. There should have been 30 of each, but 5 destroyed detangling and a further 5 looking v sorry so a quick bit of resowing to plant in gaps if they appear, and the above runner beans, as our bean hedge has space for 70 plants. The early purple sprouting and normal brocolli has also gone out.Next year i need to sow the blauhilde 2 weeks later than i did, and cobra prob 1 week later than i did, and remember to sow so I have 25 of each of cobra, blauhilde and the runnerbean.

Pests

the rabbits have managed to decimate the leaves of the strawberries, so are confined to their pen currently, pending some fencing.

Maintenance

the pots have been emptied of dead stuff, yew and bay trimmed and we are ready to plant up the flowers again.

Jobs

1. tomatoes pole and strings

2. plant out sweetcorn [have to dig over the bed first]

3. pot up flowers into patio pots

I love May. I love the smell of mayblossom and cow parsley, and then elderflowers to come. The rape flowers are fading now so the fields less fluorescently yellow! I love may. It reminds me of my youth, of infant school [surrounded by hawthorns] and my best beloved Nanny, who died 2 years ago, and whose birthday was May 1st.

Also, in May, if we have been organised, I can start to see the veg patch coming together, and the greenhouse starts to be in emptying phase ready for the final position of toms etc. We have been fairly organised this year.

Sowing

I am still sowing things! today it was some mixed lettuce and rocket into modules, to be planted out when big enough between brassicas for a catch crop.

Potting on

i have potted on all the tomatoes into their final pots - woohoo!! Also all the aubergines and half the peppers. Actually not all the tomatoes, as 3 will be going into a growbag and pot system [a DH trial to see which works best] . SO we have 15 tomato plants, 5 each of gardeners delight, sungold and golden sunrise. I have 6 aubergines [from a mixed pack, so will be looking forwad to seeing what they are!] currently 5 potted on and 1 spare, 5 pepper jalapeno, 5 pepper inferno and 6 pepper mixed grill. This is less tomato plants than normal, but we usually have had too many. More pepper plants than before tho. DD1 loves red peppers, so planted loads for her

Planting out

The second sowing of brassicas went out - some purple pak choi, white cauliflower and brocolli romanescu.  They went into my DH’s bed, and he grumbled a bit as he had planned to properly square foot things in it. sigh . a) he should have told me, b) what is he going to put in it? since i have done most of the sowing etc it would be helpful to know and c) with the girls 2 beds of flowers and his bed of square foot, by veg patch has had a quarter knocked out of it . Anyway, I apologised and next yea, with a bit of planning, he can have his to square foot [the brassicas are all at square foot distances tho…] and will try and persuade girls to be ‘in charge of some of the veg - eg carrots perhaps.

Maintenance

DH has dug over the area for the climbing bean fence, and so next weekend plan to plant out the beans - eek!

Jobs to do

1. put up bean fence

2. clean out pots and put in herbs/flowers for patio and in front of kitchen

3. order a couple of climbers and a chaenomeles for infront of the kitchen

4. rabbit proof our veg patch. they are our rabs, and i am soft hearted letting them run around the garden, but they are nibblers, and this cannot continue!

we are on a water meter here, and i think the garden is getting more than we are! it does really need to rain. SO v british that weather thoughts are at the top of my head! it also needs to not go below 0 again! last night it was -0.5 , and although there are no tender veg in the garden, the girls have all their flowers out, and actually i don’t want any checks to growth. so there you are, i would like warm sunny days and showery/rainy nights please The gooseberries are really starting to swell now - and no sign of sawfly, there are fruitlets starting on the raspberries, and the strawberry plants have flowers. Excellent.

Sowing

I have sown the last 3 butternut squash and 3 experimental pumpkin seeds. Only 1 butternut squash out of 6 had germinated, and 1 pumpkin out of 3, so thought i would hope for them all to germinate this time, and if not have chance to buy another packet of seeds.

Sown directly were peas [twinkle] in DH’s bed and a row of carrots there too.

pricking out/potting on

have pricked out DH’s rainbow chard. i had thought he had sowed that number close in modules because they were going to be cut and come again or salad leaves. Apparently not, so now each has its own module, and will eventually get planted out . Also pricked out were the last sowing of alpine strawberries. [mmm] . The chickpeas now have a new home having been potted on. They are very beautiful plantlets at the moment and having sown them in a moment of whimsy from dried chickpeas from the pantry, i have now looked up their cultivation. A couple of aubergines and peppers got potted on, but most are waiting their final potting. planned for this weekend.I collected the spare night scented stocks of DD1 and put 4 in a pot for many pots, and also at the weekend am planning to put them on the library stand [we gave the library just over £8 for spare plants sold to date]

Planting out

the lettuce little gem and the rocket have gone into DH’s bed, and been surrounded by  bit of wire fencing to deter the rabbits DD2s pansies were planted out as well.

Maintenance.

the modules and pots etc were sorted, as wild sowing into modules coming to an end. Everything was watered [lots] due to lack of rain. We uncovered the area that will hopefully be hosting the bean hedge, and covered over a weedy bit.

To Do

[1. find home for artichokes]

2. make the bean fencing

3. clear out the greenhouse of all that can go out

4. pot on all tomatoes and the melons.

The weather is changing though. the wind is blowing more, and although not rained, the forecast is for cooler. As long as no frosts [perlease!] an just milder [fingers crossed tho for gentle rain]

Potting on

The remaining mangetout have been planted up into a bucket for the patio pots. Still currently living in the greenhouse though. Greenhouse looking much emptier though

Germinating

All the chickpeas and all the brassicas bar the white cauli, and all the cucurbits bar the butternut squash.

Planting out

this is the scary bit really. due to the weather [gorgeous] and early sowing [taking advantage of the children’s interest] we have ended up with things that just have to go out, potentially too soon if the weather turns too dramatically. Just keeping fingers crossed really.

DD1’s bed is all planted up. She has made a cane wigwam and the sweet peas are out, and then done her initial in zinnias to one side of it, surrounded by autumn aster, and a fish the other side in night scented stock, with brompton stock around. All her own plan, with scant reference to heights, flower colour, season etc etc. Fingers very very crossed!

Potatoes are a go! The are all in. The kids have some earlies in sacks, and the rest are in the main veg bed. DH has decided to do a bit of an experiment. Half are going to be earthed up, and the others are thickly covered with straw. Let the science begin

Maintenance

The girls and I made some cane toppers out of fimo [bakeable modelling clay] Perhaps they will work! perhaps they are as perilous as the canes

To do:

1. globe artichoke - find a home!

2. DH beds to fill - quite urgent - salads currently

3. empty all weedy pots around patio and pop in spare flowers etc

4. buy climbers and plant infront of kitchen, and populate herb pots there

5. pot up tomatoes to final pots

6. sort out the beanfence.

7. make nettle infusion

our bees are happily buzzing around the garden. we have wild honey bees on a chimney [for the last 5 years] and  loads of different bumble bees, hairy legged bees and mason bees. All good for the garden . The drones must be out, cos there are quite a lot of confused honey bees on the floor of the patio and conservatory. The brilliant weather has continued [sunhat, suncream and shorts!!] And my DH has finished all the beds we will make this year [though hoping to make perhaps 4 more in the autumn as part of the bedding down…] .The church behind is flying the english flag, as we approach st georges day. Fantastic! [oh, and i am not at work tho have migraine it is nearly better ]

Also today, we had some of the spare plants potted up on the drive with a home made sign and honesty box. The proceeds are going to the local library. We did well, as there was 4.80 in the pot - we just asked for donations.we sold 3 tomatoes [sungold], 2 peppers [jalapeno] , 2 pots of 2 cauliflowers [violet queen]. We are in a relatively good spot, where ppl often park to go to the local shops, and the library is volunteer run, so ppl do like to help it out.We are pretty happy with that

My DD’s also painted lots of the tomato pots with acrylics, in a variety of ‘designs’ so they should look pretty jolly once out. I enjoyed doing a couple as well.

Germination

The sweetcorn has pretty much all germinated, and all the courgettes and pak choi. The latest twinkle peas in modules have, and 1 of the watermelons have. some of the climbing beans just started. it is darned warm now in the greenhouse, and they are in propagator [for the bottom heat] tho once they have germinated it will be switched off.

Planted Out

We did DD2’s bed. She decided where things would go, planted out 3 sunflowers, declared herself too hot and retired to the paddling pool, leaving me in charge! SO 8 russian giant sunflowers, 6 dwarf sunflowers [already flowering] 12 calendula, 7 foxglove [to flower next year] and 25 alpine strawberries went in. All of these sown from seed. Taking a chance with the weather as the sunflowers really did need to go in, will fleece if we have to.

Maintenance

As I said, DH finished making all the beds for this year - yippee!! We have the items to fill them We also painted the tom pots - as also prev stated

Pests

Seeing lots of butterflies now - glad we have the enviromesh

To Do

1. Potatoes - desperately!!

2. globe artichoke - nearly as desperate!

3. 4. DD1 and DH beds to fill - quite urgent

5. empty all weedy pots around patio and pop in spare flowers etc

6. buy climbers and plant infront of kitchen, and populate herb pots there

7. pot up tomatoes to final pots

8. sort out the beanfence.

Our greenhouse is looking like a jungle and things are bursting out! The ornamental cherry is beautiful, and myself and the girls had a go at watercolour paintings of the flowers. We also got time for some gardening. Am getting a bit worried that there are lots of things in the greenhouse - particularly flowers! - and I am not sure where they are going to fit. The girls got ‘ a bit’ carried away.

Sowing

I still did some sowing tho as I realised I hadn’t sown any ‘normal’  brocolli [calabrese], nor had I sown any early purple sprouting. So I remedied this by sowing in modules. I also, for a bit of fun sowed some dried chickpeas. They do sprout, I have no idea if they crop, and didn’t want to pay a lot until i worked out how well they did for us - so these are a real trial. Also sown into modules and into the propagator to join the sweetcorn, french beans and watermelon currently in there.

Sown direct [eek, something i am still not comfortable with doing after all those years in Leeds] are 2 rows of carrots, a purple variety and a supersweet variety. the broad beans sown way back when have all germinated and are growing strongly.

Can’t locate any runner beans - odd that! so we won’t be growing any this year.

Potting Up

the dwarf gold french beans have been potted up, there are 8 in each of the girls painted buckets [with drainage holes] and with limanthes in the middle. i thought they might complain, as they have so many flowers to find a home for, but I don’t think they realise they have a problem yet!

In the same root trainers were the mangetout, so in the end i popped 8 of them in another bucket with a cane wigwam and if we hadn’t run out of compost, would have done that for all of them. I think I will do that for them all when we have some more compost.

Planting out

DH has got all the strawberries in the ground - woohoo . Unfortunately he has taken all the area which i had earmarked for artichokes! I will have to rething there

I did plant out the brassicas. I was going to plant 3 across a 4 foot bed, but having updated myself on some of the square foot plantings, I have done 4. they do look v close together! If they look crowded, the successional ones will be planted 3 spaced. I only planted out 4 of each - white cauli, violet queen cauli and broc romanescu. They had all germinated, and I had 12 of each, but am trying to be a bit more sensible with growing to see what we actually eat, and sowing successionally a bit. The spare modules where each given a pot so that they can go in DD1s honesty box drive sale in aid of the local library.

Also into this bed went the purple pak choi [at approx 4 per square foot] and I sowed the 2 carrot rows as above. At the end of the bed went out the twinkle peas. I love the guttering thingies! made the peas a doddle to slide across. Should have done them far earlier tho, as the roots had made a bit of a mat at the bottom. hmmm. These weren’t quite the square foot spacings, as had been in the guttering. next time will try and do them, asI think i have planted too closely.

The whole of this bed was then covered with enviromesh. Our peas have been decimated before, and i saw one white butterfly! SO thought would start off v covered and will obv release peas from this when they start to flower. it also will protect them from our rabbits until we sort out how to stop them getting into the veg patch.