Garden of Shaz

The last day of the day lily

2011-08-18T12:30:00.002+01:00

The eighteenth of August see's the last of the day lilies shrivelled and wilted. That means the day lilies flowered for over six weeks this summer. The demise of these flowers however brings with it the realisation that summer is nearing the end and autumn is slowing creeping closer. Its been a strange summer weather wise this year with the best of the sunshine in Easter and the summer being warm, but often wet but more often cloudy. Ive not had to water the garden as much this year and when I have its been because the wind has dried the potted plants rather than the sun.

So while the day lilies fade away the garden is still bright will pink and purple fuchsia, bright yellow Rudbeckia and and the small red blooms of the runner beans. Ive had a great crop so far from the runner beans and given the amount of flowers still displaying there is still loads to come. The hosta's have bloomed and have now set seed, their huge leaves showing the first signs of dying off. Ive also had a good crop of garlic this year with the bulbs now dried and hanging in the shed.

There is the first hint of the ice plants tiny flowers starting to bloom and I would expect a brilliant display in a week or two attracting the bees back into the garden.

Lastly the four apples on the apple tree are doing well. Three of the apples are really growing well and developing a lovely red glow but its still some time before they might be ready for harvest. One of the apples is on the disappointingly scrawny side. Its tucked low down beneath the nearby hosta's and has probably missed out on its share of sunshine. Its an odd shape and what amuses me most is the strange way it is attached to the very end of the branch as if its just been stuck on as an afterthought.

The day of the Daylily

2011-07-03T15:48:00.003+01:00

The third of July brings the delight of the magnificent Daylily. The buds began to open yesterday in the warm sunshine but it wasn't until this morning that the first buds opened fully. These large yellow trumpets tower over the Hosta's, Hebe and Heuchera. When I see these great flowers coming into bloom I know the summer has finally arrived.

Spring 2011 review - part 1

2011-05-04T18:22:00.007+01:00

There has been lots going on in the Garden of Shaz over the last six months. Here then is a review of spring 2011 to chart the changes over the last few months.

After such a harsh winter the eventual thaw was so welcome. But it brought with it a water-logged ground that took weeks to dry out. So once the water logged ground had dried enough, I could get to the brussels and harvest. I had imaginged that I would be enjoying home grown Brussels and parsnip for Christmas dinner, by sadly they didnt make it to the plate because of the frozen conditions in December. I was concerned with the brussels and parsnip still at the mercy of the elements and how the freezing conditions would damage the vegetables. Apart from a little damage from what I suspect was caused by insect kind, I was quite surprised how good a condition the sprouts were. Once picked there was enough for a couple of dinners and actually tasted pretty good to.

The parsnip leaves had been completely destroyed by the frosts and snow which made it difficult to know where the dig. I decided to leave them in the ground until drier conditions and in that time noticed new leaf growth forming. It wasnt until February until the parsnips were eventually dug up and what a huge surprise it was so see what had been growing under ground. The was a mixture of sizes from the minisule to the massive and the weirdest growth on most. Few were neat plump and long like the supermarket type. Instaed they were mostly odd shapes with finger like growths forming miniutre parsnips. I believe this might have been caused because they were left in the ground to long and had started the growing process again, as with the new leaves.

Oddly shaped or not, they were still edilble and so with much cleaning and peeling a good amount of parsnip chunks were eventually cut.

The green, green grass

2011-01-06T16:42:00.007Z

Its so green, the grass in my garden. Greener than its looked for a very long time. But how can it be after the harshest winter for a 100 years. I think its because the 8 inches of snow we have had has actually protected it from the sub zero temperatures.

During December the temperatures by day were as low -3 degrees if not lower. Before the snow, the ground was rock solid after days of the harshest frosts I have ever seen, that created the most beautiful effect on everything it touched. Then with a layer of snow that lay on the ground for perhaps as long as two weeks, the ground temperature could start to rise again. Once the snow cleared the grass was already springing back into life to reveal this lush carpet of green.

So while the garden was covered with this second helping of snow the priority again has been to keep the water in the bird bath de-iced and a supply of food for the birds.

This Christmas I was hoping to enjoy my own homegrown Brussels and parsnips. However, because of the big freeze it has been impossible to harvest anything. Hopefully they will survive this weather and be edible for a January meal instead.

After the freeze

2010-12-14T21:25:00.003Z

Since the last post the only activity in the garden, until this weekend, has been to defrost the bird bath and put feed out for the birds. With temperatures falling to -5 degrees C it must have been very challenging for the wildlife, so its been a priority to keep them fed and watered. Its been interesting watching 5 or 6 blackbirds sitting together in the same tree, then later chasing each other around to defend food and territory.

The robin is a regular visitor and is often sitting on the fence before I go out with feed. It even starts to feed while I am only a few feet away. A long tail tit and thrush have also been spotted.

This weekend brought warmer weather and so I could get into the garden to tidy up. The Cosmos and Rudbeckia had been totally destroyed by the heavy frosts. The late flowering had been a great show but the remains after this cold snap had left them in a terrible mess. Other plants look to have survived although the parsnip leaves have seen better days.

Oh no, snow!

2010-11-28T20:44:00.002Z

The snow has arrived. Friday lunchtime time the snow started to fall in Cardiff and within a few hours a good few inches had settled. So begins the big freeze.

Earlier in the week the days had been getting chillier with morning frosts damaging the still flowering Cosmos and Rudbeckia. The weight of the snow finally crushed the life from them and all that remains of the Cosmos is withered and broken stems. Surprisingly some of the Rudbeckia might still survive.

Since the snow arrived its been more important to feed and water the birds. The bird bath must now be defrosted each morning with hot water replacing the thick layer of ice. This morning I filled the bird bath with freshly boiled water. With the temperature at -2 the water had started to freeze again by the afternoon. Within minutes of going back into the house the Robin had arrived at the bird bath for a drink. It would have found the water too warm and drank from the cooler spillage on the floor.

Peanuts and seed is already hanging in the garden. Muesli, dried fruit, mixed nuts, meal worms and biscuits are put out each morning. Today these foods attracted the robin, magpies, a group of 8 starlings, a pair of collared dove and 5 or 6 blackbird. Interesting, and worryingly no sparrows have been seen in the garden for some days. Hopefully they have found a better food source.

There is very little to do in the garden for the next few months apart from harvest the Brussels and parsnip later in the year and plan for next year. Ive not really thought too much about the year to come apart from controlling the spread of the hostas and day lilies. These two plants have been most successful but do cover a lot of space when fully grown that other plants struggle to compete. The evergreen shrubs that should be providing winter colour and interest are disappointing as a result.

The last blooms of 2010

2010-11-17T18:37:00.004Z

November has been an interesting month and its only half way through. The weather has brought the challenges of frost, strong winds and heavy rain. The perennials including hostas, marigolds and fern have completely died away leaving large and muddy gaps in the border.

The winners this month are the Cosmos and Rudbeckia. These were sown late in the year and then planted late into the borders and pots. I didn't expect them to do much this year because they were grown so late. However I have been very surprised as both have bloomed beautifully with the Rudbeckia giving a very strong display.

The apples have been removed from the tree to allow it to concentrate its energy on itself during the winter and spring months.

Autumn takes over

2010-11-04T18:27:00.002Z

Its November and autumn has definitely arrived, first with warmth and wonderful colours in the trees and bushes, and now with strong winds and rain. Once these winds die down there wont be many leaves on the trees and the arrival of autumn and darkness with the clocks going back makes it all seem to happen so much more abruptly. Never mind, its still a great time of year and so much is changing so quickly.

Way back in august the day lilies were finishing. Since then they have completely died away and their spiky leaves have dried and been cut back. Schizostylis fenland daybreak then took over the boarder. Now even their vibrant but delicate pink flowers have lost a bit of their punch.

Hosta's have all but gone but still strong are the Brussels. Ive had a difficult time controlling the caterpillar populations on these plants. As there are mixed in with the flowers and shrubs of the border I have not been able to net them, hence a variety of caterpillars have enjoyed a feast. Between the thick stalked leaves are small round Brussels that should provide a good accompaniment to Christmas dinner.

The parsnips have also been doing well and it will be interesting to see how large they become when harvested. The leeks are looking good and seem to have survived the attentions of what might have been leek moth. At one stage the drooping and damaged leaves looked terminal. However in recent weeks they have all bulked up.

The apple tree is starting to shed its leaves. The apples are still on the tree and have grown to about 3cm's in diameter, not big enough to eat. I shall leave them on the tree for a while but I cant see them growing much more now. I expect that a leafless tree will be putting its energies into surviving the winter, not growing more fruit.

Lastly the runner beans have been the biggest success of the year, with much eaten and still more in the freezer. I have kept some back to dry out and provide seed for next year. Only a handful of carrots made it through the season which was disappointing. However the size of some of them has been incredible. It certainly helped growing them direct into the border and not into pots as in previous years.

The August report

2010-08-19T17:37:00.004+01:00

Its been almost a month since my last post and a lot has happened during that time. The day lilies have given a brilliant display and are just coming to the end. I have let a few flowers develop into seed pods and will try to cultivate any seeds I collect next spring.

The apple tree produced a small amount of blossom a few weeks ago. While the blossom last for only a few days it has developed into seed heads which should go on to become apples. I am surprised by the timing of the blossom and expect the weather will become too cold for the apples to grow.

I harvested the potatoes this weekend. The plants were all suffering from blight so I didnt expect to find much. However I did manage to find enough to fill a bowl or two dinners worth. That evening I boiled some of them but after just a short time they had all split and gone to water. Disaster, and straight into the bin.

The big sucess has been the pea and bean crops. The dwarf beans produce a good amount of pods. I have also been shelling peas and picking runner beans and there is a lot more to come.

Snails reproducing on the doorstep

2010-07-21T18:01:00.005+01:00

This morning I was surprised to see two snails locked together as they reproduced. The photo clearly shows the tube of each snail entwined. They stayed in the position for a number of hours before moving slowly away in different directions.

This reminds me of the time I found two slugs reproducing. That photo is not on this blog so I will search my files and add it at a later date.

Meanwhile, the garden is blooming with huge amounts of day lilies, Hostas, Hebe and fuchsia's attaching lots of bees into the garden.

Vegetable-wise the dwarf beans have been producing a handful of beans every other day. The peas and runner beans are just starting to flower and so a harvest should not be far away.

The two leeks that have been growing since last year bolted a few months ago. I left them to see what would develop and as the photo shows they have bloomed into beautiful circular flowerheads.

The flowering leeks have also been great at attracting bees. I am trying to grow leeks again this year and so far four are growing well. I am also trying spring onions growing them all together in a large deep container.

The garlic is look good too. I had a sneaky peek at a couple of the bulbs today. They still need some time to develop fully but so far so good.

A Blackfly horror story

2010-07-12T21:37:00.003+01:00

The last few months have seen the horrid beasts, the blackfly and on a smaller scale greenfly, attempt to take over the garden. The apple tree has been the worst affected. The tips of the branches have become a haven for blackfly, curly over the leaves and laying masses of eggs. Ants then march up the branches and seem to be feeding on the flies. I'm not sure what the ants are actually doing but they are not reducing the numbers as I first hoped.

My method for clearance is to put on the garden gloves and systematically squash and wipe them all away. As the tree is about 5 feet tall it is possible to do this by hand. While the tree is small like this I think it is important to take this much care of it. Once it is taller the apple tree will have to fend for its self but by then it should be much stronger. I have now cleared the flies three or four times over the last few months but it doesn't take long for the critters to re-establish themselves again.

The photo shows a mass of greenfly on the underside of the leaves, while ants crawl around them. More recently they have been blackfly.

I have also found blackfly on the runner beans and Rose of Sharon. Greenfly are in the lettuce but that is to be expected.

Birds in the garden

2010-06-30T19:20:00.003+01:00

A few weeks ago I set up a Kodak Zi6 in the garden and left it to record the birds feeding and drinking. Its taken a while to edit but here is 90 seconds of sparrows and a couple of magpies.

Caterpillar visitor

2010-06-03T21:48:00.005+01:00

Over the last few days I have noticed a number of large brightly coloured caterpillars wandering around the garden. I photographed one as it sheltered under a potato leaf. I was going to remove it thinking the leaves were about to be munched. Instead I left the caterpillar were it was but kept an eye out for any damage.

Later that day the caterpillar was still there with no damage to the leaf. The next day the caterpillar was replaced by a silky ball holding two potato leaves together. The caterpillar had formed a cacoon. It is now changing slowly into a moth or butterfly.

I have since found out the caterpillar is in fact a species called Lackey Moth Caterpillar. Although the caterpillar is brightly coloured the moth that it becomes is a very dull brown.

Blooming lovely

2010-06-01T18:56:00.003+01:00

The warm bank holiday weekend weather has really brought the garden to life. For the first time in 4 years the clematis has flowered displaying a wonderful purple bloom. Each autumn I have pruned the branches of the clematis, as instructed in the books and each year I have been disappointed by the amount of growth and lack of flowers.

Last autumn I decided not to prune to see what happens and if it still did not flower it would be removed. Without pruning the leaves grew back much quicker this spring and there are a number of flower buds ready to burst open.

Also in flower now are Iris, Thyme, Purple Broccoli (was left to flower) and the Violet Heuchera.

7 day germination

2010-05-29T19:15:00.002+01:00

Last weekend I sowed a few more seeds in the garden. Probably a bit late in the year but I should get some reward before the autumn. Most surprising was the seed at which the dwarf beans germinated - 7 days. Perhaps I shouldn't be so surprised, the weather has been very warm.

Yet again I have not done very well with the tomato seedlings. The first seedlings germinated in early April. However they are still only about two inches tall. This could be caused by a combination of errors on my part. Poor soil - I have used a mixture of general purpose compost, garden clay soil and perhaps other unsuitable matter. Greenhouse - Once germinated I left the seedlings in the greenhouse. This sounds ok, but I think it may have been too dark for proper growth to start. The greenhouse cover is clear plastic with a green mesh, which from the outside seems ok but from the inside might be just a bit too shaded.

So next year I shall used proper seed compost and put them outside sooner (depending on the frosts).

Daffodil flowering time lapse

2010-05-26T11:31:00.002+01:00

Over nine days during March this year I photographed a daffodil as it developed and eventually flowered. I was interested to see how the plant changed before flowering. I had noticed on other daffodils that although the petals looked ready to open it was some time before the flowerhead would reveal itself.

The time lapse movie reveals that the flowerhead moves from pointing skywards, through approximately 100 degrees to point towards the ground, before flowering.

The time lapse has been done very roughly as the camera was not set up on a tripod but I would simply hold the camera in the same place as best I could. As a result the background moves around but the overall effect is still good.

Purple broccoli

2010-04-26T18:34:00.002+01:00

This Sunday we enjoyed the first purple broccoli with a roast beef dinner. I wasn't overly impressed but it was nice to see my first broccoli harvest on the plate.

The apple tree is beginning to show a fine display of leaves. I'm sure within a few more weeks the once twiggy look will be replaced with a fine bushy growth.

Carrots and lettuce have started to show in the borders and pots. I have had to put slug pellets down in these area in the hope that the young seedlings will survive.

The only other activity in the garden over the last week has been to transplant the 11 tomato seedlings and 2 leeks. 3 cabbage seeds have germinated but they can wait for another week before they are re-potted or moved to a position in the garden.

The radish and Brussels that were re-potted a few weeks ago are still in their pots. As they are still small I cant be sure which is which (should have labelled them!). I will have a better idea in few days as everything is changing so rapidly now the warmth has arrived.

The warm weather has meant that the garden has needed a watering with large cracks appearing in the soil.

First signs of life

2010-04-13T18:50:00.001+01:00

This weekend brought the first signs of life in a number of places. The first potato broke through the surface at the weekend. Now, two days later, two others have emerged. The potatoes with planted about a week before the main seeds in the greenhouse. Therefore they have taken about 3 or 4 weeks to germinate.

The broccoli, planted last year, has started to develop into more recognisable small purle/green fluffy sprouts. However the cabbage is still just a mass of leaves.

The seeds in the greenhouse are emerging slowly. Broccoli and radish have already been repotted with tomotoes looking like the next contender. They are too small to transplant yet, but hopefully they will be much bigger by the weekend.

The garlic is still doing well. I am experimenting with carrots and parsnips sown directly into the borders as the carrots sown into pots over last two years have been disappointingly small.

The sunny weather also meant the grass could be cut for the first time this year.

The warmth of spring

2010-04-06T11:09:00.000+01:00

There is certainly a warmth in the air with spring making it's subtle presence felt. Although the wind has been generally cold and the rain (sleet and snow!) heavy and persistant, when there is a chance to feel the sun, it is warm. The plants are lapping it up too.

Daffodils are almost all in bloom and blossom is starting to appear on trees. Since I sowed the seeds a couple of weeks ago, the brussels and radish have germinated first. There are signs of the tomatoes germinating next but everything else is at a slower pace.

A couple of days after sowing all those seeds I planted garlic into the right side border. That too has germinated quickly with each clove at least 2 inch's high. Last year I grew garlic in pots. They germinated fine, but a combination of overwatering and a dull area of the garden meant that they all rotted. This year they are in the ground and on a sunny side.

This weekend the rain and bog-like conditions prevented me from doing much until Monday. However I did eventually get to repot the brussels and radish, sow onion, leek and cabbage seed for the greenhouse, and start off some salad, both indoor and out.

It's seed weekend

2010-03-22T09:52:00.004Z

A glorious sunny Sunday followed heavy rain on Friday and light rain on Saturday. All that rain left the garden water logged and so I was unable to go near the borders. Instead I used the time to sow the veg and flower seeds for the coming year. All have been put into the green house as its too cold and too early to be left outdoors. I have not got a great deal of space so for the larger plants I have restricted the amounts of veg seeds in each row to 5 for each variety, in the hope that at least 1 will germinate.

Tray 1

Tomato - Harbinger

Tomato - Money maker

Tomato - Gardeners delight

Tomato - F1 Fantasia (x2) Harbinger (x3)

Pepper - California wonder

Pepper - Mini mix

Pepper - Yolo wonder

Sweet basil

Tray 2

Mint

Radish

Radish

Leek

Leek

Brussels

Brussels

Marigold

Tray 3

Salpiglossis

Coleus

Nigella

Morning Glory

Nasturtium

Antirrhinum

Cosmos

Stock

Tray 4

1- 5 Marigold

6-8 Sweet Pea

To round off the day, I also created a new herb garden with a pot of mint that I bought at Morrison's on Saturday and a pot of Thyme and Parsley that I have been growing for a few seasons. The herbs are contained in a trough that sits next to the back door, so that I don't have to go far to pick a few bits of anything. As mint is a bit of an aggressive plant containing it within the trough should be perfect.

Now I have planted up this herb garden next the back door I have realised that I should do the same for the salad area. For the past few years I have grown the salad at the top of the garden, but that means I have to walk to the top of the garden to pick a couple of leaves. So the next job for the week will be to move the salad containers down to the back door. This should also be an improvement for the plants as there is more light and warmth at the house end of the garden.

Apple tree joins the Garden of Shaz

2010-03-14T17:47:00.003Z

Welcome to the newest member of the Garden of Shaz. The Cox's apple tree, a Christmas present from Rob and family, was planted into the garden today. It takes pride of place at the top of the right side border.

Over the last few weeks I have been improving the soil, digging in new compost and sand. This weekend brought glorious sunshine and so I could not hold back any longer.

The tree was in a plastic pot and so I treated the planting as such. However, once I tried getting the tree out of the pot I faced a problem removing it with the rootball intact. As I prised the tree out it became a bit messy. In the end the tree came away from the soil and so became a bare root planting. With a stake to keep the tree in place, it should be protected from the wind that will blow towards it.

At 4 ft tall I can not wait to see how well it grows over the next few years. I do hope might attempt at planting it was satisfactory.

Homemade compost

2010-03-08T18:39:00.004Z

The first weekend of March brings glorious sunshine. Perfect weather for gardening.

The weekend jobs were to carry on improving the area where the apple tree will go and some general tidying before spring really hits.

The apple tree will go near the top of the garden in the left side border. The soil in that area is horrid and needs lots of improvement before the tree goes in. For the last few weekends I have removed the grass, added good soil and dug it over but with any heavy rain it still gets too boggy.

This weekend I started adding sand to improve the drainage.

But how about the compost heap? Since starting work on the garden I have composted as much as I could, with any extra going into the wheelie bin. But for those few years I had not looked to see what was happening below the top level.

After removing the newest material from the top it wasn't long before I found really good decomposed compost, as you can see from the photo. And there was loads of it. Three buckets of this free compost then went in to the border to help improve it.

I hope to be able to have the soil ready for next weekend and get the tree planted before the growing season starts again.

I also dug up the carrots that have been growing since last spring time. I was hoping these would have grown bigger than the previous year but no such luck. As you can see from the photo the average length is only 2-3 inch's and perhaps two meals worth.

The lack of growth may be due to the depth of the container. This year I will plant some carrots direct into one of the borders to see how they do.

New resident in the Garden of Shaz

2010-02-08T14:13:00.002Z

This Saturday saw my first proper exploration of the garden this year. It was a lovely sunny day, although cold, and the ground was very soggy. So the plan was simply to tidy the garden and make some preparations for the planting of the new apple tree.

As the ground was so wet I abandoned the trainers as normal garden wear and went for the heavy duty work boots kept in the shed. Before putting them on I thought I had better do a quick spider check in case of expected visitors. However, instead of finding spiders I had a bit more of a surprise. Inside both were bits of material, laces and plastic making what looked like a cosy little spot for something slightly bigger. The boots had become winter homes for some mice.

Snowy garden

2010-01-14T13:32:00.004Z

The garden has been covered in snow and ice for the past week, but yesterday brought a proper covering of snow. I measured 4 inches in my back garden. Thankfully its thawing quickly which should mean that I can get into the the garden and start getting things sorted.

The carrots are still frozen and under snow but if the weather stay warm I may be able to dig them up at the weekend.

Here are a selection of photos. The Robin you can see in one of the photos is a regular visitor. It has very little fear of me and will often sit on the fence watching me breaking up and throwing bread in the garden. Any other bird would fly off as soon as the back door opens. This robin stays and watches.

I have also spotted and Redwing in the garden over the last few days. The first time I saw it I knew it was different but didn't get a good enough look. The next day I saw it again and noticed the red parts under the wings and the white flashes around the eye. If you look closely at the photo of the branches you can see the backside of a bird. That is the redwing. That was the best shot I got before it noticed me and flew away.

The first bird in the garden looks to be the blackbird as the footprints have been captured in the snow. When I first looked out of the window these were the only footprints to disturb the new covering of snow.

I have been putting a lot more food out for the birds these past few weeks. Bread, biscuits, rice and grated cheese. The favourite traditional food seems to be the nuts. With starlings, sparrows, blue tit, coal tit and magpies all having a munch. The seed feeder is less in favour though with very few birds going to it. It may be that the position is not great but during the summer last year it was so popular with the sparrows I was filling it almost every other day.

New year freeze

2010-01-04T11:34:00.002Z

Its 2010 and the garden is frozen solid. There was a little snow before Christmas but that turned into ice by the next morning and lasted about 3 days. Since then there has been warmer weather and now another cold snap to start the new year.

The carrots in the photo where dug up on the 12th December. Since then the ground has been frozen solid so I am unable to get to the others. I hope the ice is not destroying them but I will not know until it warms up again.

The car thermometer said it was -5 at 08:00 this morning. That's chilly. I have been removing the ice from the bird bath each morning and replacing with hot water. The birds do use it, mostly for drinking but sometimes even to splash about in.

Autumn really has arrived

2009-11-04T13:49:00.003Z

Its November already, I can't believe how quickly this year has gone. And how long its been since I last reported back on my exploits in the Garden of Shaz.

The last few months has seen a new border in the garden. Just a small area in the right hand corner but it should balance the garden a bit better. I have approached the planting of this border differently that the main one. This time I have concentrated on evergreen shrubs instead of perennials. Once the shrubs are established then perennials will be added. This is to provide colour all year round.

The main border has also been planted with a few shrubs to give a bit more interest. What is more important and something I will tackle next year is height. There are no high plants. I may put an apple tree in the main border.

I had a little tidy up in the garden this weekend and came across two creatures. Firstly a butterfly which landed on the windowsill. The last few weeks have been quite mild and so probably good weather for them. This week is wet, windy and chilly so I hope the butterfly is hibernating happily.

I also came across a frog while digging in a shrub. It hopped along the fence towards the house and then disappeared under the fence and into next doors garden. They have decking which the frog may like. There is a garden two doors away with a pond, so perhaps that is its ultimate destination.

September brings an autumnal chill

2009-09-03T16:14:00.002+01:00

There is definitely an autumnal feel to the air now. Time to start planning for the winter and following spring. But before that, what's been going on over the past two months.

Day lilies - The day lilies have done brilliantly in their second summer. A mass of buds and flowers which bloomed for almost two solid months. That is amazing considering each flower is only in full bloom for a day or so.

Tomatoes - I have four plants tied securely to poles to avoid wind damage similar to last year. There are a small number of flowers which are developing into fruits, but I will not overwhelmed this year. Must germinate and look after the seedlings better next time.

Caterpillars - The pest of the summer has been the caterpillar, (with the spring being taken over by greenfly). First to fall foul of these monsters was the carrots. I had noticed the leaves looking a bit dried and put it down to lack of water. On closer inspection though I found lots of horrid green caterpillars (or grub type things) munching away. I cleared them all off (swashing is the best way to deal with them) and every other day check again for other. Thankfully the carrots have been clear for a few weeks now and are looking a lot healthier.

Cabbage attack

2009-07-10T16:13:00.003+01:00

The latest addition to the garden is a tub of one cabbage, 2 broccoli and 2 leeks. These few veggies are all I could manage to grow this year. Not too bad for a first attempt. I have added marigolds between each plant to stop greenfly attacking. However, this morning I found a neatly deposited bunch of cabbage white eggs on a cabbage left. I scrapped them off with my finger and saved the cabbage from caterpillar destruction but it shows how carefully I need to watch over my plants.

All these new plants are a long way off maturity (and eating) as are the tomatoes. Just as well the potatoes and peppers are doing so well, otherwise I would be starving!

Day lily's in bloom

2009-07-03T13:41:00.002+01:00

The 1st of July brought the first day lily of the year. This year the day lily's have put on alot more growth and produced a huge amount of what will become flowering stalks. I had originally bought 4 plants, which produced a flowering stalk each. From each stalk you might get about 3 or 4 flowers. This year I have counted at least 20 stalks. Although the flowers only last a day (as the name suggests) I should get a long show.

As you can see from the photo, there are lots of buds ready to bloom.

Potato harvest

2009-06-29T09:17:00.003+01:00

On Saturday I dug up one of the four potato pots I have been growing this spring. There was no indication from the leaves on top that anything was going on below the surface, and only a week ago a stuck my hand in the soil to try a find a potato. On that occasion I found something, something small, but something none the less. It gave me some optimism.

Anyway, I could not wait any longer. So this weekend I dug up one pot with the best foliage and as you can see from the photos, this is what I found. This large pot had 3 seed potato plants and from those 3 plants I harvested 4lb of potatoes. Wow. Big wow. I never thought I would get so much.

The Saturday harvest became the Sunday dinner. The skins fell off beautifully to reveal pale white flesh and they boiled quicker than the new potatoes I have been buying.

And the taste - beautiful, creamy and light. Well worth the effort and wait.

I have 3 more pots to harvest over the next few weeks. I am never going to be self sufficient growing in pots as I am now but perhaps now I have experienced this small taste of success I might feel a bit more confident if I ever got an allotment in the future.

Potato leaf spots

2009-06-25T13:12:00.002+01:00

I have notice brown spots on some of the potato leaves in the last few days. It seems to be in localised areas at the moment. I've checked the books and the closest thing I can find that might be the cause is a beetle type thing.

The only beetle type thing I can find in the leaves is a strange light brown/green thing that jumps incredibly fast when you poke it. I imagine that this is the thing causing the brown spots.

Thankfully these spots should not mean the potatoes are in danger or diseased.

I shall harvest the largest of the potato pots this weekend and will report back on what I find.

Insect mystery

2009-06-15T08:51:00.003+01:00

I noticed a strange mass of web attached to the underside of a leaf on my Sedum plant. Its about 2 inch's long and must contain some kind of insect or insects. I shall keep a close watch over it to see if I can spot what is growing inside.

The potato plants are getting really big and bushy. I've been thinking that maybe I should be harvesting these 'earlies'. So I excavated a bit of soil from around one of the plants to see if any potatoes had grown. It took a while but eventually I did find a very small potato. I left it where it was to grow some more and will leave it for a couple more weeks. Ive started to water the plants twice a day now as I have noticed the big pots always seem to be dry.

Soggy June

2009-06-08T08:35:00.002+01:00

The headline does not come close to describing the weekend weather. After a scorching start to June there was a months worth of rain (52mm) over the weekend, most of which fell on Saturday in the form of torrential rain, hail and thunder. At times the garden was a mass of inch deep puddles as the clay soil is so slow to drain.

So no gardening done this weekend but the garden is bursting with energy now its had a much needed soaking. I did manage a on Saturday morning, but came back after 4 miles wet through to the skin.

Salad days

2009-06-05T10:00:00.004+01:00

I have been enjoying the first fruits (or should I say salads) of my labour. Yes, the lettuce is ready for picking. I've grown cut-and-come-again varieties, so I only pick a leaf or two off each lettuce. That's plenty for my plate. The leaves seem stronger and larger that last years crop. Perhaps its due to the great sunny weather we have been enjoying.

This year has seen a huge amount of greenfly on almost all plants. You can see loads of them in this photo. I have been trying to control them by squashing them, but there is now too many to do this to. I had also hope the other insects like spiders, wasps and others would be feasting on the aphids but am surprised by how few they seem to consume.

Its getting to the point where I bring in the chemical control. I might try a washing up liquid solution first before getting too aggressive. However, I don't fancy the taste of that in my salad.

The race to grow

2009-06-04T08:50:00.002+01:00

On Saturday I sowed a number of seeds including corn flower, marigold, sweet pea and cabbage. I had not had much luck with the seed sown earlier in the year so I thought I would try again, although I thought it might be too late in the year for some.

However, I looked in on the seed trays yesterday afternoon and to my amazement the marigolds and corn flower have germinated. That is only four days for germination. At that rate I should have a good autumn display.

The garden in June

2009-06-03T13:58:00.003+01:00

This is how the garden looks in June 2009. In the foregrond is an old frying pan which has been very effective as a bird bath. When its full its too deep for the sparrows to bath in, but once the starlings have had a splash the water level soon reduces.

This year the Hostas have grow very well. Almost all have doubled in size since last year and have produced tall shoots which will give way to flowers and then seeds.

Last year I managed to get seeds from a number of flowers in the garden, sweet peas, hosta, heuchera, day lily and love in the mist. So far I have only used the sweet peas seeds this year. I intend to sown some of the others this weekend.

Garden starting to bloom

2009-06-01T10:50:00.003+01:00

With the hottest days so far this year the garden is now starting to bloom. The sweet peas are starting to flower on all of the plants which have now reached about 5 feet tall.

One iris bulb has just started to flower. There are more bulbs in the garden but the growth is very weak on all the others. This may be due to the bulbs needing to be split. This needs further investigation.

The Eschscholzia is also flowering. The flowers are such a wonderful yellow and develop from a strange spear shape. This plant has been in a pot for a year or so now, which is a mistake as it grows a long tap root. When I picked it up this weekend I snapped the root off which had grown though the gravel and into the ground. I shall re-plant the Eschscholzia in the front garden instead.

I must admit I have not made much of an effort with flowers this year, apart from the sweet peas, tulips, daffodils and violas. My only other flowers were going to be marigolds but only one out of a tray of thirty survived. That was a combination of over watering and slug destruction.

I have sown some more seed this weekend - marigold, corn flower, Eschscholzia and cabbage. It may be a little late in the year for the flowers but the cabbage should be all right for an autumn crop (if it germinates). All the seeds have been sown in peat free compost and placed in the green house. There is very little in the green house now as most plants have been put out into the garden to harden off.

One strange occurrence this weekend was the movement of some small pots. I few weeks ago when the weather was cold and wet I put some bird seed mixed with used cooking fat into a small pot for the birds. The birds loved it and it was empty within days. More recently I was potting on my seedlings and needed a pot, so I used this empty bird seed pot. This pot along with another six was placed on a tray, on the patio. This Saturday morning, the bird seed pot has been moved off the tray, to the middle of the patio with the soil and seedling spilt. I suspect that a magpie has smelt the remnants of the bird seed and fat and thought there was more beneath the soil. So the soil was brushed up and the pot put in the shed. Sunday morning the same thing happen to another pot on the tray. Thankfully this time the seedling was not spilt. It seems that the magpie was looking for that pot. I must admit that I did not clean the pot after it had the bird seed and fat, but it was empty when I re-potted the tomato.

Sweet peas flowering

2009-05-27T13:11:00.003+01:00

The sweet peas sown in December have now started to flower. The plants are about a metre high now with a few deep purple blooms.

Great gardening weather at last

2009-05-26T10:52:00.003+01:00

This last bank holiday in May gave us brilliant weather to get out into the garden. With Saturday and Sunday being very hot and sunny, Monday was cooler but still pleasant. It seems that for the last few weeks the wind has been constantly strong and cold but even that has calmed down now.

The cold easterly wind has claimed the life of my Acer which I had left in front of the shed during winter. Just as the new leaves were beginning to develop, so did the cold wind and killed it off. I'm sure its much too late to save it now but Ive put it in a sheltered spot (where it should have been during winter) in the faint hope it may spring back to life next year.

Dwarf beans potted into final big pots with a lettuce intercrop. Each plant has a cane but I'm not sure if that will be necessary as none of the literature suggests so.

Iv have sown to much lettuce too early and so I'm struggling to find space for them. some have gone between the onions while more remain in small pots.

Veggie update

2009-05-11T10:19:00.002+01:00

Potatoes from the green house have been placed in larger pots or bags and earthed up. The potatoes grown outside are developing slower and have been earthed up less.

10 bean plants repotted. 8 very healthy.

Lettuce repotted to single small pots. Growing very well, may have too much to cope with.

Only a small number of tomatoes have germinated, and growth is slow. 5 seedlings at present.

Garlic doing brilliantly and onions doing well.

Carrots growing very slowly.

2 broccolli seedlings.

5 Beetroot seedlings.

Peat free gardening?

2009-05-01T08:46:00.003+01:00

With a little bit of influence from BBC Gardeners World, this year I am trying to be a peat free gardener. I've used up the last of the Miracle Grow and bought Homebase Peat Free instead. Already I am experiencing difficulties as many seeds have not germinated. At first I thought it might be the fault of the peat free compost.

However, it seems that the problem is a combination of over watering, slugs in the greenhouse (not helped by me not putting slug pellets down) and the cold conditions. As to whether peat free is any good - we shall see as the year progresses.

First fledglings of 2009

2009-04-29T08:44:00.002+01:00

I saw my first fledgling sparrows in the garden this morning. Two perched in next doors tree being feed by their mother. She was darting backwards and forwards taking seeds from the feeder and the ground to feed her young. The young made their innocence know by flapping their wings in a submissive way as she came close. No sight of a male to give a helping hand.

Dwarf Beans

2009-04-27T09:03:00.002+01:00

The Dwarf Beans are all about 3 inches high now and producing the first set of real leaves. They will need to be transferred to larger pots now. I'm not sure what size these beans will grow to (being dwarf I imagine quiet small) as it does not say on the packet. Just to be on the safe side when these beans are ready for their final big pot I will add a cane next to each. I don't want the same problem I had with the tomatoes last year, were I didn't add a cane until they had already grown tall. I could not get the cane close enough to the plant because it would have damaged the roots.

My tray of various vegetable seeds has produced a very poor crop. 5 seeds were planted of 8 different veggies. Of the possible 40 I have only got 2 tomatoes, 3 beetroot and 3 leeks. I suspect I over watered them to start with and although they were in the greenhouse I should have put a propagator lid over the tray to create more humidity. I have replanted new seeds this weekend, I hope its not too late in the season.

Potato crazy

2009-04-23T08:46:00.001+01:00

The recent warm weather has sent many of the seeds flying into action. Germination is going crazy for some, such as pototoes, onion, garlic and drawf beans and not so well for the rest.

Tulips and daffodils

2009-04-09T11:08:00.003+01:00

Sweet peas planted out

2009-04-02T08:44:00.003+01:00

The first sweet peas of the year have been planted out into the border. Five plants were sown during the winter and kept in the greenhouse. During that time they have grown slowly and now the warmer weather is with us they have started to shoot up. These plants were grown from the seeds I harvested from last years crop.

This first batch should provide early flowers. A second batch of seeds will be sown this weekend for a later flowering.

Ive attached netting to the fence for the sweet peas to climb up. I have tried to position it slightly more to the right of the plants this time. The wind can often blow towards the top of the garden causing many of the plants to drift that way. As a result last years sweet peas grew away from most of the netting.

The same batch of sweet pea seeds were given to family and friends at christmas. I hope to hear news of their own plants soon.

The wind also effects the bulbs which blow over easily. To control the wind, I plan to put in shrubs to act as wind breaks. I have lots of shrub cuttings in small pots at the moment. I hope they will be big enough in a year or so's time to be effective.

Busy, busy.

2009-03-30T13:33:00.004+01:00

Its all go in the garden now, with sowing of seeds and clearing the ground for the new crop. The greenhouse is full of garlic (now sprouting), onion sets, potatoes in large pots, peas, tomatoes, peppers, cabbage, beetroot, salad and more. Carrots have been sown outside. Potatoes have been planted in big pots outside.

Daffodils and tulips have started to flower. Only two tulips have matured to flower with more developing at a much slower pace. The bright yellow violas shine brightly on these chilly days.

New greenhouse

2009-03-19T14:52:00.003Z

My now older and wiser head will tell you all to never buy cheap as it costs more in the long run. This comes from my experience of buying a cheap Wilkinson mini greenhouse last spring and expecting it to last more than a season.

It was a very nice greenhouse, only 15 quid, with 3 shelves and just enough space for my first year of vegetable cultivation. However, the clear plastic cover started to develop weaknesses at the corners or where it was once folded. The weak areas developed into holes, and once the strong winds blew in February it soon became a mass of shreds.

I can only presume that the plastic cover could not withstand the extremes of temperature change.

My greenhouse wows are over now as I have bought a 4 tier variety from Homebase, and luckily for me I happened to buy it on a sale day so got it for £20 instead of £30. Well done me. Its cover is made from a much stronger plastic with mesh running through it and also a fabric zip. I would expect this one to last a good few years.

Perfect gardening weather - lets run 10km!

2009-03-02T14:39:00.003Z

This weekends weather was perfect to make a start on the first gardening jobs of the year. However, I had different plans. Instead I ran in the St Davids Day 10km run around Bute Park. I'm suffering a bit now - everything from the hips down aches - but the aches and pains are worth it. This was my first run for about 3 years and with a time of 1hour and 2 minutes I now have something to beat when I come to run again later this year. The big plan is to run in the Cardiff half marathon in October. Before that I hope to run in 2 or 3 more 10km events.

Winter peppers

2009-02-04T13:28:00.003Z

I was very surprised to see that my pepper plant, growing on the kitchen window sill, has 3 small peppers developing.

Especially as the season is a snowy winter. It seems that the warmth from the kitchen and from the sun through the kitchen window has fooled the plant into producing fruit.

Flowers started to appear a few of weeks ago.

The pepper plant was the only plant out of the 5 or 6 I grew last year that I kept indoors. The others were left in the greenhouse and as the weather grew colder the plants eventually died.

This variety of pepper will produce only small peppers and so is suited to growing in a small area such as the window sill.

These pictures are more recent than this post (end of March 2009) and shows the peppers near just as they have turned red and close to harvest time.

You can see down edges on one of the leaves. Im not sure what that is caused by by I am trying to water the plant more often and feeding it with Baby Bio. Not sure if the Baby Bio is the right thing to feed it so I shall research this a bit more.

The leaves go pale and drop off every so often but other leaves are a deep green and the plant looks healthy.

New year - new veggie plans

2009-01-12T13:07:00.003Z

I cant believe how long its been since I last wrote in this blog. It just goes to show how busy I have been as I honestly havent had a spare moment to myself for that long. I dont make resolutions but I do intend to plan a bit of time for the blog from now on.

Since the last post I have harvested 6 peppers (5 small and 1 large). A fair crop which help to make two dinners. 4 of the 6 plants fruited. I grew 5 of the plants in the greenhouse which have all died now. They produced green fruits.

I grew 1 on the kitchen window sill producing red fruit and this plant is still going string. I have even noticed new new flower buds. Its needed a bit of nitrogen feed as the leaves had gone light green but its looking healthy and strong.

Almost everything in the garden has died, especially as the last 2 - 3 weeks have been the coldest for 20 years. Even the lake froze over completely. So Ive put a few tendy plants in the greenhouse. It really makes me realiase I must do more with evergreen plants to make the grarden more interesting all year round. As soon as the first frost hit the Cocmos died straight away.

Autumn has arrived

2008-10-30T13:05:00.003Z

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

2008-09-08T12:39:00.003+01:00

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

2008-08-28T14:23:00.004+01:00

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

2008-08-22T14:07:00.003+01:00

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

2008-08-20T13:46:00.003+01:00

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

2008-08-08T14:24:00.003+01:00

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

2008-07-31T13:47:00.003+01:00

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 ...

2008-07-29T13:30:00.004+01:00

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

2008-07-29T13:10:00.003+01:00

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

2008-07-17T13:22:00.002+01:00

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

2008-07-08T13:57:00.003+01:00

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

2008-07-07T13:38:00.004+01:00

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

2008-06-24T13:06:00.005+01:00

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

2008-06-19T13:40:00.002+01:00

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

2008-06-13T13:55:00.003+01:00

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

2008-06-06T13:13:00.002+01:00

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

2008-06-04T15:13:00.003+01:00

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

2008-06-02T16:10:00.003+01:00

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

2008-06-02T13:40:00.003+01:00

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

2008-05-30T13:24:00.006+01:00

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

2008-05-28T13:26:00.006+01:00

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

2008-05-28T13:15:00.005+01:00

This is the garden 8 months after we 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 we moved in I was recovering from an operation. The ground is very clayish so during the winter it gets very soggy.

Salad garden Part1

2008-05-28T13:04:00.005+01:00

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

2008-05-27T08:47:00.001+01:00

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?