Archive for Greenhouse
August 17, 2008 at 11:10 pm
· Filed under Beans, Greenhouse, Progress, tomatoes
Sorry not to add anything for a while but we’ve had a holiday - always a dangerous thing being away from the garden for a few days at this time of the year of course. What happened - well perfect growing weather of course - showers and sun. So the weeds have gone berserk along with everything else. This is just a short status report - more later….
Status now - the broad beans are over and need pulling up, and the lettuce is coming to an end (and I still haven’t planted more lettuce seed). That’s the things that don’t need a lot of work - on the production side - the runner beans are still in full production (I picked and froze a couple of pounds just before going away) also the climbing french beans (lots frozen also). The mangetout peas are also still producing (again some in the freezer) and the turnips are ready, though we haven’t eaten any yet. The sweetcorn aren’t too far from being ready, the ’silks’ are going brown now. More courgettes (some still in the fridge from before the hols, though only a few on the plants now). The blackcurrants have almost all been picked (they are in the freezer).
However, the next big production crisis looms - the tomatoes. Thye have just started ripening seriously, we’ve eaten about a dozen since getting back. There are dozens threatening to ripen now, so it won’t take much to overwhelm our salad eating so the recipe books will be studied in the next few days I think for tomato rich recipes.
On top of that the brambles need picking…..
On a positive note the rain and my drip watering system (powered from rainwater butts) meant that the peppers and tomatoes both inside and outside the greenhouse didn’t dry out so a good result there.
Needless to say the grass also needs cutting and the hedges - well what do I need to say.
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July 15, 2008 at 12:02 am
· Filed under Beans, Greenhouse, Progress, tomatoes
Well yes - though I’m not really complaining - but of course everything is now ready to harvest at once. So I am harvesting broad beans, french beans and courgettes. However, these are still not overwhelming the cooking ability of my wife - though we currently have four courgettes in the fridge waiting for the next meal. An example of typical harvest shown below: Tonight we had fresh courgette, broad beans (with their shells removed - my son is now an expert at the task) and french beans all lightly fried up with garlic and served with pasta and pesto - yum!
- Beans and Courgettes
So what else - the tomatoes are coming on it’s just the ususal bsiness of keeping the side shoots in check. I’ve been feding them with tomato fertiiliser now they have fruit set. Which reminds me - why are tomato seeds always present in compost and survive? Wherever I use my compost in the garden tomatoes always come up later (I’ve pulled up 3 or 4 so far this year) and yet I swear hardly any go into the compost heap….
The lettuce are all doing really well, though lots more than we (and the guinea pigs) can deal with, but very nice. and the other salad seedlings are coming on, though I suspect need a bit of fertiliser to hurry them up a bit.
Runner beans are within days of having beans worth picking - though I did see one today that really was ready. Another crop to eat then….
Sweetcorn is ok - though some variation between the plants in height - I suspect they may need a bit of encouragement as well.
The only real disappointment is the remaining sweet pepper outside the greenhouse in a growbag - it’s looking very sick and hardly growing. Meanwhile the ones inside the greenhouse are ready to flower.
The blackcurrants are startig to ripen now and looks like a good crop - provided we get them before the birds do.
Speaking of birds, our blackbirds are nesting again in bushes close to the back door (I suspect they have worked out they are safer there) - they are well used to me in the garden so don’t pay much attention to me now.
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June 22, 2008 at 10:44 am
· Filed under Beans, Greenhouse, Progress, tomatoes
Yes, another variation on ’summer’ the weather - we have gale force winds today (a deep low pressure over the UK) but at least it isn’t raining - here (heavy rain in Scotland). I’ve already had a close look at the runner bean support which are looking a bit under threat. It’s a good job the runner beans aren’t more developed so at least at the moment the wind can blow through the support netting. The trees around the garden are waving like mad at the moment. We had rain yesterday, but light rain all day so good for the garden really. Heyup though - this the summer solstice and all that…..
Elsewhere, in the garden things are moving on. Tomatoes are flowering in the greenhouse, and close to flowering outside. The coourgettes are producing - we had three yesterday - one curious point though, the courgette in the greenhouse is only producing ‘male’ flowers - I’m sure there must be a reason for this….
Courgette Row in full flower
The french beans in the greenhouse have some baby beans already, and the ones outside can’t be far behind as they are flowering like mad.
I think there are enough broad beans ready now to harvest - they should be small and sweet as well, they do tend to be at their best when young. The blackfly menace hasn’t spread too much, I’ve had to cut off some badly affected stems but most plants are relatively unaffected. I haven’t had to resort to blasting them off with the hosepipe yet - pity that’s quite enjoyable…
Young Broad Bean Pods
The lettuce I planted in a pot in the greenhouse are finished now and I have resown the pot with more lettuce seed, so we are harvesting the lettuce outside now.
One disaster has struck though, I was watering section B the other night where the peas are planted (coming on nicely) and I planted other salad seed a few days ago - I thought ‘I will make sure I give the spinach-beet row (the only survivor of the first salad planting session and growing nicely) a good watering’ - and the more I looked the more they weren’t there! Except on close inspection the base of the leaves could be seen - they had been zapped by pigeons I suspect despite the protection. Very annoying - security has now been tightened over that section, especially as new salad crops are coming through just now. My annoyance was slightly reduced that day when I heard that Yorkshire had beaten Lancashire in the 20-20 cricket. Such victories are always worth savouring…..
I’ve also planted some other salad cops in pots to grow int he greenhouse - from salad ’seed collection’. Some Mizuna, which I don’t think I’ve grown before and some ‘land cress’, also new to me.
As for wildlife, a week ago or so I noticed the female blackbird was collecting nesting material again, but flying off to the other side of the garden from the ‘cat’ side - very wise I think. There always seems to be at least one house sparrow collecting for a nest as well. The great tits have suddenly started feeding on the peanuts again as well after ignoring them for a while. Toads have taken up residence in growing bags in the greenhouse and outside as usual - they get very upset every time I water. Oh - and I caught and evicted the squirrel so we are squirrel free for the moment.
Elsewhere in the garden, the apples and pears are coming on and it looks like a good blackcurrant crop this year. I’ve managed to tackle more of the hedges, though there is still more to do of course - bit like the Forth Bridge painting really. Preparing for a shed to go up (in the garden near the house) has meant removing the roots of a large forsythia bush and a mahonia - I’ve got most of it out but it has been a fair struggle but the ground is almost ready to be levelled off now.
Baby Apples (Lord Lambourn)
We have got some flowers growing in the garden as well, mostly perennials but some annuals this year as my son planted a pack of ‘flower seeds for kids’ a while ago and he has kept the patch watered well - and now the mixture has started flowering - I even managed to cut the hedge above the plants without damaging them - so they brighten up he garden.
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June 9, 2008 at 11:36 pm
· Filed under Beans, Greenhouse, tomatoes
Yes it’s amazing what 3 days of fine weather, the last two with full sunshine and temperatures up to 25degC today, can do to change things compared with last week. We even had lunch ‘al fresco’ in the garden yesterday. Now I’m having to water the garden and some of the tomatoes have looked a bit stressed. It was so sunny that working in the garden was very hot and sweaty today - fortunately I didn’t need to be out in the full sun for too long.
Inside the greenhouse the tomatoes, french beans and peppers are coming along fine. The lettuce is ready for harvesting and the radishes have had some harvested - though not many were actually useful. The courgette seems to have settled in fine. I’ve just got 3 tomato and 3 pepper seedlings to find a place for now. There are also a few pea seedlings waiting to fill in gaps outside.
Outside, the broad beans are already producing proto-beans and only a few signs of blackfly attack so far. It is just about time to start nipping the tops out - some of them are quite tall. The runner beans are well up the netting with one of them already above the top. The climbing french beans are not quite as developed. The other french beans are simply growing, no sign of flowers yet.
The tomatoes outside the greenhouse are looking fine (see below), though one of these has been damaged since the photo was taken and may need to be replaced. The empty growbag now has two sweet peppersand a tomato in.
Tomatoes outside the greenhouse
The sweetcorn is coming on, thoguh a couple of plants are still lagging behind and don’t look too healthy. The courgettes have started to flower, and it looks as though they are producing courgettes (see below).
Courgette in flower
The peas I planted direct into the garden have started to come through (see bwlow) though it looks as though there will only be a 50% germination rate (this seems to be about standard in this garden and I’ve never been able to determine why). The ones planted in the greenhouse pretty much all came through ok, and I’ve planted them out in section B parallel to the other row.
Peas just coming through
Some of the carrots sowed in section C, have come through but no sign of the rocket at all. The row of what I thought was mixed salad turns out to be turnip…. So looks like I’ll have to try some other salad seed - at least there is room in section B where the other seeds failed to come through.
I must do something about getting some plants for the hanging baskets this week I think the chance of frosts is past now.
With the blackbirds gone I’ve been able to cut that section of hedge, there is still about 10 metres to go though and of course the grass is growing…..
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June 2, 2008 at 12:13 am
· Filed under Beans, Greenhouse, tomatoes
Yes Saturday was dry, which was a change for the last week or so. Also a bit of spare time to get into the garden after a week of taking my son swimming, more swimming, and what else.. oh yes - swimming, but ending today with climbing (in the rain - yes raining again). So yesterday (Sat) I managed to catch up a bit in the garden, even cutting some hedge and mowing the lawn!
I’ve planted out three more tomatoes into a growbag outside the greenhouse - that still leaves several more rather large seedlings which I’m loth just to throw away, so they will probably go into the garden somewhere. One of the two leftover courgettes is now planted in between two of the others already in. That leaves one more which I may try to find room in the greenhouse for it to grow there.
The beans are all coming on well (apart from the sick climbing French bean, which looks pretty terminal now) - see below for runners:
Runner beans and climbing French beans beyond ( the gap is where the sick one is)
Most of the lettuce planted recently seem to be surviving, and I noticed this afternoon that some seedlings are through in one of the short rows recently planted (may be lettuce - I didn’t check).
In the greenhouse, the tomatoes are doing well and the peppers also. The dwarf french beans in a pot are quite tall now and may need staking, so some canes are in already. I’ve still got (apart from the tomatoes) some chilli and sweet peppers to plant somewhere (there are still a couple of growbags not used yet) but will have to do some clearing up in the greenhouse if I’m to fit them in there. Meanwhile, the lettuce growing in a pot are at the point where I can harvest elaves from them, and the radishes are big enough I think. I think the peas I planted in pots are sarting to some through now. The grapevine in the greenhouse is now in full flower and the branches now starting to threaten to take over - but they leaves do produce shade when it is needed at the height of summer, I’ve just got to keep trimming the branhes back before they really get in the way.
Plot B, where the original salad rows were planted, now has several potato shoots showing, and I’ve already removed several potatos. Whenever I grow potatoes despite all my efforts when harvesting there always seem to be several left behind to come up next year - in this case it looks like a decent meal of them!
Elsewhere the headges need a real going over, though a section near the house has to be left as the blackbirds have moved ther after their original nest was destroyed. This has caused a problem as they are almost permamnently in an ‘alarmed’ state whenever next door’s cat is out, or indeed there is any movement in the garden near the house - and the alarm calls start from about 5am (right outside our bedroom) …. Unfortunatley the cat seems to be making a real effort to get them again, I caught it inside the hedge the other night trying to get to the nest. It’s a real pity, after the blackbirds have already had one set of chicks almost certainly taken by the cat.
On the wildlife front, we have collared doves paying regular visit to the bird table - rather too many visits as they seem to be living entirely from the seed feeders - see pic below.
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May 26, 2008 at 8:38 pm
· Filed under Beans, Greenhouse, tomatoes
We didn’t have rain today (yet), but we have had gale force winds so not worth going anywhere - and it’s meant emergency extra support for the broad beans, but almost all seem to have survived ok. also I added some support for the tomatoes outside the greenhouse - the one affected by wind yesterday seems to be surviving.
I did manage to get out into the garden this morning and apart from helping the broad beans cope, was able to get the other two pepper plants into a growbag in the greenhouse. I spent a bit of time planting peas (’kelvedon wonder’ and a mangetout variety) into pots to get them going a bit quicker (while listening to the test match cricket of course). The climbing French Bean that looked sick yesterday still looks bad but isn’t actually dead yet.
Outside short rows of carrotts, rocket and turnips have been added in the SE corner of plot C so we’ll see whether they germinate any better than those in section B. Also, my neighbour ’swapped’ some leek and celery seedlings for a couple of runner bean plants (thanks Barbara) - and I’ve never grown them before so I planted them out in plot B and I’ll watch how they go - should be interesting anyway.
Another sighting of that squirrel again - so we’ll see if it is tempted by peanuts….. Speaking of which I had to reload the peanut holder on my bird-table today as well as all the seed feeders - the ’sparrow gang’ really goes through the seed fairly quickly but the panuts had hardly been touched (there is another feeder that seemds to be more favoured now) so they had become pretty old and sour hence the refilling.
While I’m on about wildlife, the usual toad population has reappeared in the grenhouse (one had been hibernating in the bag with the polystyren bits), and the rain the other day brought all the frogs out all over the garden - though I’m convinced not as many as previous years.
As promised yesterday here are some progress pictures:
Lettuce (front), French Beans and Broad Beans
Broad Beans in full flower
Toamtoes and Peppers in the Greenhouse
Tomatoes outside Greenhouse
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May 25, 2008 at 4:01 pm
· Filed under Beans, Greenhouse, Progress, tomatoes
Yes, as is traditional in the UK - a bank holiday weekend (tomorrow, Monday is a public holiday) and we have rain - and wind. Put paid to our tentative plans to go camping anyway, so just a family day out at Rutland Water yesterday cycling (see http://www.rutnet.co.uk/pp/gold/viewgold.asp?id=3491) while it was still dry (but windy, which didn’t make the cycling very easy).
However, I did manage to do a little bit in the garden this morning before the rain really set in, and one or two jobs the other day. A couple of sweet peppers are now in a growbag in the greenhouse and another is ready for a couple more. Outside I have planted out the rest of the lettuce growing in a tray, scattered between all three sections. I had to hastily tie up the third (triple) row of broad beans to save them from wind damage - and I added a higher level of string to the other rows. Also, I managed to sow a double row of mangetout peas (yes I know it is a bit late but better late than…) - as a backup I’ll try and plant some in pots in the greenhouse as soon as I get chance as past history indicates that the germination rate outside will be low - but hopefully I’ll be suprised this year.
One of the climbing french beans is looking very sick but I can’t see why - something at root level I suspect, otherwise the other and the runners look fine. The sweetcorn and courgettes are aslo growing well. The wind has got to one of the tomatoes outside the greenhouse - it may survive but there are more seedling in the greenhouse than I can use so I will be able to replace it if necessary.
The salad crops sown in section B are still very disappointing, with only a few seedlings through, hopefully I should be able to sow some more in the next couple of days. The lettuce and radish in the greenhouse are coming along fine though, and should be harvestable soon.
Still - on the bright side I am prevented from mowing the lawn or cutting more hedge….
Pictures will be added later (it’s a bit dull and wet right now!)
Update - See post above for progress photos
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May 21, 2008 at 11:24 pm
· Filed under Beans, Greenhouse, Progress, tomatoes
Just a small update - the weather has continued with colder nights and cloudy days plus intermittent sunshine. Quite chilly in the mornings. Other work around the house has kept me from doing a lot in the garden as well.
The crops planted seem to be growing ok - one of the runner beans is over a metre up the support already. The only worrying things are the seeds I planted - the ‘mixed salad’ is showing a poor germination rate, and also the carrotts. I think I need to plant some more elsewhere now. Also the olive tomatoes planted in growbags outside have looked distinctly unwell but seem to be picking up now.
Meanwhile I have put a couple more tomatoes into a growbag in the greenhouse (’gardeners delight’) so that makes five now. The sweet peppers are just about ready to go into growwbags now - one is ready in the greenhouse to take them.
The main work has been on the front garden today - cutting the hedges and planting ‘busy lizzies’ and geraniums in amongst the bulbs that are gradually dying away. More hedges to do at the back though and the lawn is almost ready for a cut again…..
A ‘family’ of starlings - the parents and fledglings have been eating a large ‘fat ball’ laced with insects and demolished it completely during the last week and have also been spending a lot of time on the bird table.
Starling enjoying ‘fat ball’
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May 15, 2008 at 11:18 pm
· Filed under Greenhouse, Progress
The weather is no longer so summer-like. Temperatures have dropped to below 20, and south of here it has been raining but not in this area yet. I’ve been busy on other house maintenance jobs the last couple of days so not much progress in the garden. I did manage to plant a couple of tomato plants (gardeners delight) in a growbag outside the greenhouse this evening and also prepare another growbag inside the greenhouse ready for a couple more.
Everything in the garden seems to be growing fine now and with the change in weather today I didn’t need to water everything this evening. Of course this also means the hedges are growing as is the lawn.
On the wildlife front, I spotted a grey squirrel again yesterday - so that will have to be evicted - we haven’t seen one for about three months since the last one was relocated, which is good, but this isn’t a good time to have one back as they are quite capable of raiding bird nests and of course now is a peak time for nesting. A baby house sparrow managed to get itself trapped in our outside ‘utility room’ all last night and gave my wife a real shock as she was loading the washing machine this morning! It flew off seemingly ok. Toads have appeared in the greenhouse again - they seem to know when the growbags are available and like to sit in the holes where the plants go - sometimes one in each hole - and get quite upset when they get ‘watered’.
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May 12, 2008 at 11:50 pm
· Filed under Beans, Greenhouse, Progress
Yes, we still have ’summer’ here so no excuse for not getting on with the garden. I managed to find enough time from a packed weekend (swimming, theatre, swimming…. just don’t ask) to plant the courgettes yesterday and get started with planting the sweetcorn. Today, I planted the rest of the sweetcorn - so there are five rows now forming a block (see photo below) - note the bird scaring CDs…
Courgettes & Sweetcorn
I also found time in the greenhouse to transfer the tomato and sweet pepper seedlings into their own pots to grow on. I made a start on preparing for the plants inside the greenhouse and one growbag is in place and watered ready for plants (tomatoes probably). One of the ‘gardeners delight’ tomatoes was now big enough to be plated into the growbag by the greenhouse so that has its full complement now. I’ve also prepared another grow bag for use outside the greenhouse.
Some of the seedlings from the recently planted rows of salad plants in section C are now appearing and hopefully immune from bird attack.
The beans are all doing ok - some of the runners are already climbing the mesh.
The hedge at the front is getting close to really needing a cut….
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May 8, 2008 at 11:48 pm
· Filed under Beans, Greenhouse, Progress
Another fine and sunny day (up to 26 degC) - with lots to do - and I got some of them done! I also had quite a productive day yesterday, which was fine and sunny as well. I got the canes and mesh support for the runner and climbing French beans in place and also the anti-bird CD scarers and mesh surround for section C which had been suffering from pigeon damage to the salad rows. The runner beans in the greenhouse were clearly big enough for plntig out so I put them outside the greenhosue ready. I also managed to mow the lawn - amazing!.
CD bird scarers and netting (to stop pigeons walking in….)
Today, first of all I planted the runner beans (Scarlet Emperor) I put outside the greenhouse yesterday - 6 altogether, and I have a couple of small ones left over just in case. I’ve put the French beans (standard and climbing) outside the greenhouse ready for planting as well.
I had been given a couple of strwaberry plants by my neighbour a while ago and I finally managed to plant them alongside the hedge to the side of section A - there were lots of ‘alpine’ style strawberries there before but they had lost out to weeds gradually, so I cleared it all out a week or so ago ready.
I also planted some more salad crops in section B - where I notice a potato plant had appeared. Somehow if potatoes are gronw in part of the garden you never manage to find all of them - had found half a dozen when I dug the plot over but clearly I had still managed to miss one. Anyway, there are now short rows of rocket, carotts, mixed salad leaves and spinach beet planted in that section. The original rows still have the odd seedling left so we’ll see if any of them grow into anything.
I put some ‘growmore’ fertiliser into he area that will take the French beans in the next couple of days as well. Also, I prepared two growbags ready for the tomatoes - one at the side of the greenhosue and one under the kichen window.
On top of all that I managed to do a bit more painting of preservative onto the greenhouse so about a quarter is now done.
One row of broad beans are now flowering (see proof below), but the weather now means all the rows need watering each evening and the prediction is that the dry spell will carry on into the weekend.
On the wildlife front - the summery weather has brought the butterflies out - I’ve seen orange tip, snmall blue, cabbage wite and brown ones that didn’t hang around long enough for me to identify them. There are loads of ‘bee-flies’ hovering around the garden as well, plus I disturbed a few frogs while I’ve been gardening. The blackbirds are still busy - they come down to the bird-table and under fairly frequently so they may be feeding young. I can hear the sound of what I suspect are blue or great tit chicks somewhwer around the bottom of the garden as well.
Meanwhile - rather ominously the hedge at the front is getting close to requiring a trim -still I bought a new pair of shears the other day, which I tried out on bits of the lawn today, so cutting the hedge might be sligthly easier….
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May 6, 2008 at 11:53 pm
· Filed under Beans, Greenhouse
Well possibly not summer, but the weather at the moment certainly feels like it - sunny all day and temperatures in the 20’s degC. All happening just when we have been away for a few days, so I was worried about the seedlings in the greenhouse - I’d watered them plenty before going away and put all the critical pots into trays with water. Fortunately, they survived ok. You can see below - the courgettes looking well advanced at the back, tomatoes to the right of them and some french beans at the far right. In the front are some of the sweetcorn and to the right of them the lettuce seedlings.
Greenhouse Seedlings
Today, I managed to plant all the remaining Broad Beans (variety Meteor - I’d left them outside the greenhouse to harden off) making the last double row into a triple row and filling in a couple of gaps (I think I have pigeon problems). I also put in canes along the row that had grown the most and string to support the beans (see below). The white bits on top of the canes are bits of polystyrene to hopefully prevent me poking my eye out on one of them (a well known gardening accident).
Broad Bean Rows
It looks as though pigeons have also been at the salad rows I planted so I’ll have to add my ‘CD Scarers’ as soon as I can.
The hedges will soon need cutting and the grass already does….
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April 29, 2008 at 11:50 pm
· Filed under Beans, Greenhouse
Well it looks as though spring is more or less sprung, we still have showers almost every day but it is warm. Temperatures over 10degC and up to the high teens when the sun gets out. So, I’ve put the auto window openers back into the grenhouse roof windows now.
Inside the greenhouse seedlings are sprouting all over the place - the broad beans are almost big enough to plant out - I’ll try and do some tomorrow if the weather lets me (rain is predicted). French beans are through, and some of the climbing French beans and runner beans also. The extra courgettes, at least some of them, are up now as well (the first set have their second leaves already).
I spent ages the other day potting up the sweetcorn, almost 40 of them (and some petunias I’d bought when I bought the gooseberries) - I know they should be in ‘tall’ pots so their main root can develop properly, but I don’t have any so they are in standard square plastic pots. I seem to remember they grew ok before from hese pots.
Some of the peppers are through as well, and the tomatoes on the kitchen window ledge are coming on fine. The first batch of ‘olive’ tomatoes are repotted into separate pots now as well.
The rocket I planted into some pots in the greenhouse is well through now, and the row outside is showing quite well. The carotts planted at the same time are not making any appearance so far though - but some turnips look as if they are coming up.
The two rows of broad beans are coming on fine, next week I think I will have to start putting in the canes and string.
I’ll add photos to this tomorrow if poss.
On the wildlife front, the blackbirds are busy, not sure if any eggs have hatched yet and we seem to have a shortage of frogs and toads at the moment (usually lots are evident in the garden esp. in wet weather) - and no frog spawn in local canal when I would have expected to see it by now but maybe I missed it. The surest sign of spring arrived a few days ago though - swifts - I could hear their ’screaming’ and see them flying high over the houses.
Oh and the grass almost wants cutting again…..
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April 24, 2008 at 11:53 pm
· Filed under Beans, Greenhouse, Progress
Well the better weather (briefly - it’s back to showers again now) has encouraged seeds to grow at last. In the greenhouse the broad beans are coming on, lettuce seedlings are up and the sweetcorn is coming on (photos below). Also, one or two French beans look to be coming up.
Even more exciting, the row of Rocket sown in sec B outside has produced some shoots, so things are really looking up. ALthough we are back to showers today it is still quite warm (up to about 18degC today) so more seedlings should appear hopefully.
And - some of the tomatoes and peppers on the kitchen windowledge are though as well…
Courgette and Lettuce Seedlings
Sweetcorn Seedlings
Also, I’ve picked up a couple of gooseberry bushed to plant in the ‘wild’ area - there is one sort of growing in one oof the hedges but it would be nice to have some more. I got a ‘late’ raspberry bush as well to plant next to the hedge near the greenhouse - all I need is the time to do it now….
Almost time to put in the supports for the broad beans as well
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April 21, 2008 at 9:14 pm
· Filed under Beans, Greenhouse, Progress
Well the weather felt more like spring today - even some sunshine! Some real progress made as well - section C is now dug over, plus I added the contents of 3 growbags and a barrowload of compost and dug them in as well. So it will still need raking level and possibly some fertiliser added but see picture below for the current state:
The section was infested with creeping buttercup and what seemed to be clover, though I’ve never seen it before - it had long stringy root systems fairly thin - but I don’t remember seeing it ever before.
Meanwhile, in the greenhouse there are signs of action. The sweetcorn is definitely sprouting and the broad beans are appearing. A couple of french beans look as if they are coming up as well so there is hope yet. I managed to plant a few more seeds in the greenhouse as well - it was actually uncomfortably hot in there for a while. Some more tomatoes, chilli peppers more courgettes and as an experiment, some old curly kale seeds (into a tray). The tomatos and peppers are on the kitchen windowledge for germination (though the other peppers sown previously are not not showing any signs of appearing).
Outside, I took the tunnel cloche off the broad bean row planted direct (see below:
Also, I planted some parsley and oregano I bought during my visit to ‘B&Q’ in the small plot bekow the kitchen window. Also, the ‘wild’ part of the garden ahs been enhanced with some primroses I acquired at the weekend.
On top of all that I managed to mow the lawn! - which will please the house-sparrows and dunnocks who will now not have to hop quite so high.
On the wildlife front, our blackbirds nesting in the hedge on the western side (which I thought had chicks) seem to have been attacked - the nest is partly destroyed and clearly abandoned - probably a cat, although I did see a magpie on that hedge recntly. The blackbirds started another nest in the same hedge nearer the house but then seem to have switched to a bush on the East side of the garden.
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