Autumn really has arrived

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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?

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

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

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

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

Sweet peas planted out

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.

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

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!

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

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

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.