A Little Progress

What’s been happening over the last few weeks you ask? Well not a lot really in the garden – mostly because I’ve had plenty of other things to do.

I can’t even use the weather as an excuse, it’s been mostly much milder and dryer than it should be – which has meant that in the flower beds plant have been flowering when really they should have been ready for composting.

However, gradually I have cleared all the raise beds bar one with some turnips left in it and the one with strawberries of course. All the potatoes have been dug up (well I’m sure there are some small ones left that will produce annoying shoots next year). Indeed all the potatoes – for there weren’t that many – have been consumed and they were pretty good.

So today I finally removed the tomato plants and growbags from inside the greenhouse – I’d been hoping some remaining green tomatoes would ripen but no luck. So that’s cleared some space in the greenhouse now. The chilli pepper plants are just about hanging on – some chillies are ripe but I suspect not many more will ripen fully. We have one plant on the kitchen window, on which most of the peppers are ripe, and they have been used in our cooking already. I removed the last sweet pepper plant today, it was only there as I hadn’t got round too it since I had harvested the last pepper a couple of weeks ago. I also moved a couple of lemon grass plants (growing in small pots) into the kitchen before they could be zapped by frost (one plant was already in the kitchen).

The big news though is that some planting happened today! Yes one of the raised beds is now planted with garlic (White Casablanca) – in fact in the ex-potato bed. Plus three cloves in a large pot (I’ve grown garlic successfully in it previously.

The only other work was to plant the last of the pack of 50 daffodils at the bottom of the garden. There are a fair number of daffodil bulbs there already, but most are ‘blind’ so a few more flowers will look good in the spring.

No pics this time. but I may add later.

Wildlife

The trail cam revealed hedgehogs still active into October and greenfinches have been active on the feeders.

Only one squirrel has been seen round the feeders in the mast coupe of months – and that one has been evicted!

Update With Pictures

A big update with pictures to bring things more or less up to date.

All things in no particular order :

Tomatoes – the ones near the kitchen are doing ok – there are four in the container, but the two I grew from seed (tumbling tom) are well behind the two I bought (sweet ‘n neat – bush type & ‘orange zinger’ a cherry tomato type) – the latter being a main step type see below:

Tomatoes outside the kitchen – the tall one if the ‘orange zinger’ with fruit already set

Outside the greenhouse two growbags have the later germinators (marmande and 2 x pomororo) and they are still relatively small but the RH bag (2 x pomodoro & giulietta) are now big with well developed fruit (see below)

Well developed plants outside the greenhouse

Inside the greenhouse, all the plants bar one have been ‘stopped’ as they have got enough trusses or have reached the roof and several have fruit but not ripening yet (see below). They are at the point where watering with tomorite is now a regular job. There is more of a mixture of types – ailsa craig, marmande, pomodoro and giulietta. The odd mixture is a result of the rather peculiar germination record this year (lots of pomodoro for instance).

Full size omatoes in the greenhouse

Greenhouse tomatoes developing well

The pepper plants in the greenhouse again were late germinators and only one – a sweet pepper (gourmet) is growing well but still yet to produce flowers. All the others, mostly chilli type (prairie fire), are still rather small and only a couple have been repotted into big pots yet.

Not much else in the greenhouse apart form some house flower cuttings and a set of helianthemums waiting to go out into the garden.

Elsewhere the garlic plants have all collapsed (weather) though they don’t actually look to be ready yet:

Garlic bed – but are they ready?

The mangetout on the other hand are ready and producing plenty of pods – I added two new rows in the last week or so to keep production going.

Mangetout – now producing

The dwarf beans are growing ok (?) after initial attacks by pigeons, but are yet to produce flowers.

Dwarf beans

Climbing beans

The climbing beans are flowering and I can see there are at least two types but I don’t know what types they are. I just hope they produce well unlike the ones I grew last year.

I have one cucumber plant growing well under the glass – a ‘mini’ I bought as germination of the cucumber seeds was poor – the one plant that I did grow from seed is now in ‘special care’ as it was attacked by slugs. Two courgettes did germinate (‘atena’, the yellow one) though and both plants are under the glass and we have had one small courgette already with more to come soon.

‘Mini’ cucumber with courgette flowers beyond

The broad beans however are a bit of a disaster area. Poor germination from the ones planted in the ground in the first place but even the ones produced in the greenhouse are not producing pods. They are tried and tested varieties I’ve grown before as well (the sutton and aguadulce) we haven’t had a meal from them yet. Some sutton plants don’t have a single bean pod or flower on them for instance.

Broad bean plants

One bed I’ve planted up with salad crops only a couple of weeks ago has seedlings through, but it is netted to keep away the pigeons. It’s a mixture of salad leaves, lettuce, turnip and radish.

Salad crops

The carrots have been a problem. The first sowing was all eaten by slugs?, the second by slugs & pigeons and the third only a few have survived!

The fruit is doing well despite the weather though. The redcurrants are ready and protected by netting so a picking session is in prospect (we had enough for jam last year) and the gooseberries can’t be far behind.

Gooseberries – ready?

Ripe redcurrants

The raspberries have started to ripen so a few have been ready enough to eat already. There are lots on the canes ready to ripen as well

Ripe raspberries

The strawberries which were supposed to produce fruit in succession according to the variety instead seem to have produced some fruit at least all at once! Most eaten now though…

Strawberry plants – with straw!

That’s all on the growing

Wildlife

The trail camera out for a couple of months showed two hedgehogs together and a different fox but no return of the badger.

No squirrels for a few weeks then one appeared this morning.

A Day of Action

After watching the partial eclipse on Friday morning, the weather stayed pretty warm so I managed to get quite a lot done in the greenhouse and garden.

First of all a session in the greenhouse – where the tomato seedlings are doing fine (9 each of pomodoro and ailsa craig), and the cucumber seedlings are happy again in the propagator. More disturbing is the fact that none of the other pepper and tomato seeds are through yet. I’ve moved the marigold seedlings from the kitchen into the greenhouse, and they seem to be doing fine.

Tomato and cucumber seedlings

So what did I sow? Well, for a change it was flower seeds – antirrhinums,  lobelia and mesembrynthemums in some trays. Also, sweet peas in pots, annuals and perennials.

Outside, I planted a row of turnip seed (purple top) and radish (rats tail), though the radish is oldish seed so I’m not too confident, but we’ll see.

Near the kitchen I sowed some rocket (new seed) and coriander (old seed) since it’s the warmest place in the garden so they should have the best chance.

The last couple of years I’ve successfully grown carrots in a tall soft plastic container, but it has become too fragile. I have an old plastic water tank which has been stashed by the side of the greenhouse for a long time – so I finally cleaned it up and filled it with compost ready for carrots this year – the height like the container, makes it much less liable to get carrot root fly attacking the carrots..

As if all  that wasn’t enough I then tackled the holly hedge alongside the greenhouse and beyond – about 12 metres. It’s the worst bit of hedge cutting – lots of scratched arms from cutting the top, then there is the awful job of collecting up all the cuttings – holly leaves will keep turning up though and giving me pain. Of course the robin was taking a great interest and happily hopping round my feet to gather up grubs and worms disturbed by me raking up the cuttings form the hedge.

I then went on the put grease bands round the apples and plum trees. This is a very messy job of course and that finished me foo for the day!

The flower part of the garden near the house though does look pretty at the moment as there are plenty of daffodils out so it’s looking very spring like.