Autumn has arrived

With a chill wind and darker nights autumn has certainly arrived. My first casualty of the frost are two potted Bolero's. The tomatoes have all been cut down and the remaining green fruits are ripening rapidly in the kitchen. Although the main crop of tomatoes were hit by blight I have still managed to get a good amount of fruit (I haven't bought tomatoes for a good number of weeks). An added bonus was the later sown tomatoes. I cut those plants down last weekend, before the frost got to them.

Peppers are starting to ripen too. There are 5 small peppers and 1 large pepper. I'm pleased to have got some fruit as least. They have certain not saved me any money though.

Sweet peas are in bloom still. I watched Gardeners World a few weeks back which said "cut down your sweet peas, they have now finished". As I move my secateurs closer I noticed new growth and though that I might wait for a few days to see what might happen. To my amazement the sweet peas have put on a brilliant display since.

I have noticed a few different birds visiting the garden during the last few weeks. 1 Coal tit and what I thought might be 4 long tailed tits. Chaffinch and blue and great tits. There is always food available for them, seeds, peanuts and water but I may try fat balls too.

The Cosmos plants have grown to a staggering 6 feet tall this year, twice as high as last year, with masses of flowers.

Peppers growing strong

There are now 4 peppers growing and are looking really strong. The largest is about 2 inch's long. It will be some time before they are close to being ready to eat though.

The tomatoes have improved since the dreaded lurgy hit them a few weeks ago. Ive kept a close watch over them, cutting of anything that looked bad. At various times there have been warm dry days which has helped them to recover. Over the last few days the other two varieties have started to ripen giving me more hope of a reasonable crop.

Tomatoes - Not a complete disaster

Just when I thougth all was lost a glimmer of hope has glistened on my tomatoes. Of the 3 varieties I have grown this year, the cherry tomatoes are starting to ripen. There has only been leaf damage on this plant so far and no fruit loss as yet. Lets hope they stay clear of it and are tasty once ready to eat.

Not to forget the carrots. They are doing really well. Getting bigger with loads left to pick. The second sowing are coming along brilliantly as well.

Tomato blight! Arghhhh

After days of rain and only to shortest of visits to the garden, Thursday was finally a nice enough day to inspect the vegetables. Sadly one of the larger pots is showing signs of the dreaded blight. So far I have found 3 fruits with softer, paler tops which if left would certainly go mouldy. The stalks had shiveled up too.

Im now wondering if some other tomatoes have it as well. These others have developed dark brown tops at the stalk. There is no sign of mould and the stalks look fine. Ive left them on the plant to see what happens.

All thats needed is a good dry spell. Maybe September may bring one.

On closer inspection later, there is far more mould infection than I first thought. Each day I look at the plants and each day there are shrivelled leaves, fruit with soft pale tops and Ive also found that some main stems are dying. Ive just removed one stem were the leaves were wilting. It wasnt due to lack of water to the plant but the stem had completely die half way down. Squeezing that part it was hollow inside. Photo 2 shows it eating away at the stems, creeping nearer to the tomatoes.

Photo 1 shows the soft pale tops to a couple of tomatoes. The stem has died showing a pale growth.

Photo 3 shows the dark brown top. Its hard and dry and only affecting the variety that was supposed to be blight resistant. It may have a different desease.

Photo 4 shows the shivelled leaves. This has occured on all three varieties and can appear overnight.

Beetroot harvest 2008

I dug up the beetroot crop this week. How disappointing it was. There were plenty of beetroots but, with the exception of two, they were all either tiny or long and thin. The two that looked a bit better were barely golf ball size and because they had been in the ground so long I thought it best not to chance eating them.

Since growing this crop of beetroot I have learnt a few things that I will do differently next year. Firstly that when you sow a beetroot seed you are actually sowing a pod containing 4 seeds. Therefore (and secondly) these 4 seeds must be thinned out once they have germinated. I had read about thinning out seeds, for beetroot, carrots etc, but I did not take any notice thinking everything would be fine. I now know how important thinning seedlings is. And thirdly because each pod contains a number of seeds, less seeds needs to be sown.

Peppers in flower

All six of the peper plants are now in flower. Dainty white flowers on short stalks. I imagine they will develop into fruits from these flowers in the same way that tomatoes do. However I have found that some of the stalks have fallen off though. Maybe I have under or over watered them or perhaps this is just a weak point. Going by how slow the tomatoes have grown it will be months before there might be any kind of pepper on theses plants.

We visited my parents at the weekend and came back with two new plants. Hebe cuttings and something else in a pot (cant remember the name). Bringing back cuttings has become a bit of a tradition now and is one of the pleasures of gardening. Sharing plants for free.

Collapsing tomatoes

On Tuesday I got home from work to find some of the larger tomato stems had collapsed. It was a combination of wind and not tying what have become very heavy stems to a supporting cane. Luckily they all still look healthy and are still growing strong now they have been secured properly.

Heres the most recent view of the garden. Its so relaxing sitting in the garden just looking around the plants. The first thoughts of "what can be done next year" are starting to bubble away in my head. Number one on the list is to grow more sweet peas all along the fence. As you can see in the photo, this years sweet peas cover less than a metre. I have been really suprised at how easy they have been to grow and the amount of flowers produced has been incredible.

After the sunshine ...

After a glorious weekend of hot summer weather (at last) inevitably comes the rain. Not that I am grumbling about the rain, in fact as a gardener I enjoy the rain knowing the good its doing for the plants (and frogs).

Yesterday evening brought some really heavy downpours, thunder and then sunshine again. While sitting in the kitchen with the patio doors wide open it was lovely just sitting and watching the rain. I liked it so much I filmed it. The sound is relaxing too.

Later that evening, once the rain had stopped I went to collect some lettuce from the veg patch. While cutting some leaves I saw something move out of the corner of my eye. I could'nt see what it was at first, but then once it moved again realised it was a frog. It then hopped around the veg troughs, climbed through the chicken wire and into the carrot patch. There are lots of insects in that area so I expect inadvertantly Ive created a food source for it.

By the way, the lettuce is so big and there is so much of it that for the first time I have not bought a lettuce in the weekly shop. The carrots are growing slowly and for the last 3 weekends I have been able to pick some carrots for our tea. My carrots are really small still so I do still buy a few each week. This photo is of the largest one so far. From root to top it was a whole 5 inchs. The edible length a massive 3 inchs. I can also confirm it was very tasty too. Last week Ive also sown a small patch of carrots which may possibly be edible in late autumn.

Tomatoes, tomatoes everywhere

Since my last post, just 12 days ago, tomatoes have been popping up from everywhere. Its great to see these tiny green blobs slowly grow larger and larger, and each day there seems to be a few more. The photo shows the largest so far, which are easily 3cm radius. Each pot, containing 4 or 5 plants, is covered in flowers, which hopefully should all become fruits.

The most important things to consider now are regular watering, weekly feeding and cutting the top stems off. Having read a few magazine articles and now through my own experience of growing these plants, if you dont stop them growing (take bits off) they will just keep on growing. My older tomato plants are now about 4ft tall. By taking the top growing stems off the plant is allowed to concentrate its energy into producing the fruits.

I also have 5 younger plants growning in individual pots, 2 outside and 3 in the green house. They are also developing flowers but not so many. The foliage is much less than the older plants.

First signs of tomatoes

After careful examination the first tomato has been spotted. Since then and a couple of days later a few more have emerged giving me great optimism for a good harvest.

I have two sets of tomatoes growing now, the first sowing have been growing in large containers outside on the patio. My big concern is that they are becoming so big and bushy the supports are not adequate to hold them up. I didn't realise how important positioning for the support would be and originally placed the canes some distance from each plant. Since then I have had to re-position the canes with some success, although I fear some plants may suffer.

The second and younger batch are in smaller individual pots and have been supported with much more thought and care. Although younger and much smaller flowers are appearing and should start to fruit in a few weeks time. These are housing in the green house of which the shelves have been removed to make way for the rapidly growing plants.

The green house is also home to the peppers which are also showing signs of fruit. They are doing much better in larger pots and im watering them more often too.

Day lily blooms

The first of what looks like many day lily flowers bloomed a few days ago. Its not been the best weather for such a large flower to cope with and the strong wind has already taken its toll. Thankfully I managed to take this photo before the worst of the gusts and heavy rain started. The others are close to blooming so hopfully the weather will improve for them.

The foliage has become so thick in just a year. Its incredible when you look at the photos from last year (see the header image).

A week in the garden

I've just had a week off work and at last I've been able to spend some quality time in the garden. Main duties for the week was to repot the peppers and late sown tomatoes. Then I planted a number of young potted plants into the bed to fill some gaps. The most rewarding part of it all though was simply sitting back and enjoying the view in the summer sun. Unfortunately the latter part of the week the weather was not so good but I was still able to do a bit of weeding and plant a lavander in the front garden.

The front garden is a real puzzle to me at the moment. Its just a plain patch of grass which on windy days must house the wheelie bins. Ive got two small shrubs that were cuttings from my mums garden this Easter. Once they have grown larger, and they are looking really strong, they will be planted in the front garden against the house. Not the most interesting plan.

One of the Hosta's has flowered this year. Bought and planted last summer both Hosta's have doubled in size. Only one has flowered and here is a photo of it.

Ive added another three Hostas to the boarder in the last week. All grown from bulb this spring. Of the eight in the pack six have grown successfully. The other two rotted in the soil.

Carrots Hoorah

Almost 3 weeks since digging up some carrots to find very little under the surface, I dug a few more up yesterday and this is what I found. The biggest is about 4cm, still too small to eat but its proof that there is growth. Slowbut real growth. I will leave the plot for another 2 weeks before I try again. Hopfully by then there might be carrots big enough to eat.

The beetroot are still really small. Maybe they will be worth another look in 3 to 4 weeks time.

The lettuce is coming on strong. The 3rd section is just starting to appear and the 1st lot is really growing well.

I think the main thing that is going to effect all my planting is the amount of room the vegetables have to grow. Once sown I didnt thin out any of the seedlings and now they are growing each container is starting to look very overcrowded. Hopefully once I pick some veggies that will act as enough thinning out.

Next year I will think more about thinning earlier. As its my first year I didnt think I would have so much success so soon.

Wind stricken tomatoes

The poor tomatoes got battered by the strong wind last night. The containers in the less sheltered area had a bad time of it and this morning it was a real struggled to tie them up better.

I didnt realise how much support they would need and had put canes around the edge of the container to be tied to if needed. What I should have done was place a cane next to each plant when first potting them into the larger pot. With a cnae each and close by the tieing in would be easier and Im sure they would grow taller and better too.

The more exposed pots have been moved to a more sheltered spot now so I hope they feel better.

Sunflower blooms

My first sunflower has bloomed this week. The seeds came from the bird seed I put out. Some either fell or were buried in a pot with mixed plants. I noticed the shots in early spring and replanted them into separate containers to see what would grow. This is the result. 3 sunflowers. Only the other two dont look like they will develop a flower. Not sure why.

No crop yet

I lifted a beetroot and carrot on Wednesday evening to see how large they were. They have been growing for two months so I was starting to get curious.

However both were extremely small. So disappointing. The beetroot was about 2cm and the carrot, well I didn't even see anything carrot like. Just lots of roots.

So the wait continues. Maybe in another months time I will have another look.

By the way, I replanted them both in the hope they will carry on growing. Hopefully I haven't damaged the roots by digging them out.

Salad garden Part2

The second section of the salad garden has been sown, leaving one more section in another two weeks.

The first section is coming along nicely, although a few slug carcasses have appeared thanks to the heavy duty slug pellets. As you can see the trough has been covered by chick wire. This is the stop the cats using it as a poo place, like they did with the beetroot (middle trough).

The largere beetroot are probably ready for harvest now. I will have a look later today.

The furthest trough contains carrots. Again I will dig one up today to see how well it has grown.

The mystery of what is hidden beneath the soil is about the be revealed.

First garden photo - May 2007

This post has got out of sync with the others because the blog website had major difficulties earlier and lost what I was editing.

Anyway this is the garden not long after we moved in. As you can see the is not much to talk about but it certainly is a blank canvas.

Third garden photo Jun 2008

The lastest photo of the garden. Unfortunately I have left it too late to capture the magnificent Iris's. As you can see they have started to fade. However the Sweet Peas are coming along nicely and I have Gladioli bulbs just starting to poke through. Cant wait to see what their height and colours will bring to the garden.

Tomatos re-potted

At last this years tomato plants have been re-potted from small pots in the greenhouse to large pots in the garden. You could almost hear the little plants cheering as they were released from their enclosure. They have been ready for re-potting for a week or so but the weather turned cold and wet. Either I couldnt get out in garden because it was pouring with rain or the cold nights would have been a shock to the system.

I am growing 3 varieties of tomatoes, with either 4 or 5 individual plants to a very large pot. Having never grown tomatoes before I do not know if the pot will be big enough for all of these plants but as I keep on saying to myself, vegetable growing and gardening in general is all a learning process.
The peppers will be the next to re-pot but they are still a little small at the moment.

Second garden photo - August 2007

By August 2007 the garden has now started to take shape. A border has been dug on the left side with sand and manure mixed to break down the clay soil.

First garden photo - May 2007

This is the garden 8 months after I moved in. As you can see there really is nothing the talk about apart from how empty it is. This is what you would generally call a "blank canvas".
It took me some time before I started working on the garden. When I moved in I was recovering from an operation. The ground is very clayish so during the winter it gets very soggy.

Salad garden Part1

Only 7 days after sowing the first batch of lettuce, tiny shots have appeared. They are growing in a large trough which has been divided into 3 sections. Each section will grow the same lettuce varieties with 2 weeks intervals. Thus providing a longer abundance of salad leaves. The next sowing will be done on 3rd and 17th June.

Now all Ive got to do is keep the slugs away. Im sprinkling slug pellets once the last lot have dissolved. Im slightly worried that I may be creating a pollutant in the soil. The Hostas in their second year seem to have escaped slug damage, whether that is because they are not so tasty or the slugs were not around when the Hostas started to grow, im not sure.

Spring bank holiday 2008

Just had the spring bank holiday. Was hoping it would be a time of garden activity. However all it did for the last 3 days was rain. With strong wind and generally cold it was not a time to get out in the garden and do anything. Perhaps im a bit feeble?