Well, so far this year my garden is a disappointment. It was really hot and dry; then cold and wet; now hot and dry again. The soil is clayey and either heavy (when wet) or a dust bowl (when dry).
I planted runner beans and none have come up.
My rhubarb started out well and has just about given up.
My salad seeds aren't doing anything at all.
Other seeds really doing anything either, just not germinating.
My hanging baskets are just as originally planted.
My courgettes need to be planted out (sorry gc to hear about yours).
I had (note tense) some marigolds - seeds - only 6 tiny plants grew - I left them uncovered last night and all but one have been eaten (the slime trail betrays the culprit).
What is thriving is the chard and my savoy cabbages (both last years) which have bolted. The cabbages are over 6 ft tall and the chard must be 5 ft, including their pretty flowers. I have decided to leave at least some of these as sacrificial plants. Maybe the slugs and snails will eat them instead of this year's chosen crops (that's if this year's chosen crops decided to grow at all).
I am suspecting my compost. All the stuff that is not doing well is in the same compost. I have other bigger plants in this same compost or where I put them in a bigger pot with this compost or scraped away the top of their old potting material, and somehow they don't look quite as vigorous as they should. It came from the garden centre so you'd think it should be all right but it's the one consistent thing among my pot plants that aren't thriving or have died/disappeared.
So how does my garden grow this year? Meeaaahh!
PS If I could train the girlies to chase slugs and snails, now that would be good.
Hot dang, Twinky, I guess with 6 ft cabbages anything else is afraid to grow in your garden!!!!! With those cabbages ya'll with have enough roughage to last an entire lifetime. You must have to mortgage the house to be able to afford the meat to make stuffed cabbage!!!! Those monster movie cabbages probably ate everything else trying to come up.
Get your soil tested, cabbage mama. It will tell you everything as to what is going on. So, you purchased compost from the garden centre? Hhhhmmm, all that going on and all related to the compost...does sound suspicious. I would talk to the folks at the garden centre and ask them what they think. Is it fresh compost?
Twinky, do you remember last year their was something going on with the manure/ It was the feed for the cows, it had some type of pesticide on it. At the end of it all it damaged all the plants it was put near. Any connection there?
Plan on going to the garden centre on Thurs. It's a repuable garden centre.
I had 3 bags of the stuff last year and only have 1/2 bag left. All the rest is in pots with other things. The plants in those pots are all ... not thriving and somewhat yellowish on the leaves.
As to the remaining 1/2 bag, probably it would be all right as general garden compost, but for container plants it doesn't seem to be doing any favours.
I now have ONE sturdy bean plant.
There are a few others "crowning" so that I should have about 5 others up tomorrow. That's if the slugs don't get there first. Leafy, hurry up with that chicken!!!
About 77 beans I put in....
One for the slug and one for the crow
One to rot and one to grow
Old English country adage.
If I got 20 beans that would be plenty. Maybe I will put some more in, see what's raised its head by the end of the week.
I think that leaving plants for the slugs to eat is a bit of an error.
The reason I think that is because it will encourage them to reproduce. Any time a creature has an abundant food source, it's baby makin time!
And there is no way to make sure that they only eat those plants - if we could do that, then I would make it so that bugs only ate weeds.
Now a question - someone mentioned that the green bell peppers were at one end of the garden and the hot peppers at the other end - is that so that the bell peppers don't end up hot, and the hot peppers don't end up mild?
A nice evening in the garden. The courgettes are all planted (including the "spare" ones, which if I get down your way soon, gc, I will uproot and bring with me - no promises) and so are some little cabbages (type unknown).
Some of my plants simply weren't thriving in pots so they are now in the garden in one of two "nursery" areas (or "last chance saloon"!). Easier to water, more space to spread their roots, and if it is the compost, well, there is other real soil with decent own-made compost enriching it. If they survive, good; if not, tthey'll just ... disappear.
Oh, the cabbages are "sacrificial" to cabbage white butterflies, but till the cabbage whites discover them, there are still some nice leaves which I pluck every so often. Still taste good. I have chopped off the flowers (and the flowers on the chard). They haven't gone to seed yet, and so are now ... preparing to enrich the soil next year. Cannibalistic, really.
It's been pleasant out in the garden, out till dusk, only just come in (10 pm) - the cats have been playing on the lawn and trying to catch moths. A very homely scene.
It has been wonderful and sunny here in Plymouth, the plants have been in heaven and I could sure use an a/c in the evenings. I absolutely love that it stays light until 10.
I'm trying to put all of my seedlings into the ground before I fly home. I still have rudbeckia, rock daisy, snap dragon, love in a mist, columbine and some unknown that the birds planted.
My annual and perennial sweetpeas and my peas are doing well, the annuals and peas are starting to bloom. My climbing rose which has been climbing up one of my arches for a year now has finally bloomed. Its pretty and pink with a subtle sweet scent. The perennial sweetpea is climbing up the other side. Actually, it hasn't starting to climb up the arch yet, its just growing tall trying to grab ahold of anything it can.
This past autumn I dug out a beautiful fuchsia that was too large in the top tier front garden. While trying to get at the roots I knocked down the wall my husband built, ooops. So for months I've worked building a new one. I've pushed it back a little over a foot making that tier more narrow and the wall taller. I've finally finished it last week. Now I'm sifting back soil so I can begin planting in that front bed. It really looks good, I'm proud of my work! I want to put flowering scented shrubs that attract bees with a row of smaller perennials behind them, and some that will hang over my wall. My choices today are rosemary, lavender, fuchsia, rose and a pretty shrub I took a cutting of last year that has small pink flowers.
All of my veggies are thriving. What has surprised me most are the bell peppers and the cucumbers. I can't remember who told me to try yellow and orange peppers. I planted yellow, orange and red and they seem to be thriving. Both the peppers and the cucumbers I've kept under the sun tunnel so they have stayed warm. The last couple of days I've been able to move it to the side the temps are so high.
twinky, I've planted three more courgette seeds and managed to save one plant. One seed has sprouted and they are in a large pot, finger's crossed. I sure hope you make it here while I'm here, I'll be gone for 3 weeks to visit my family. I can't wait!
Was given some mint yesterday. The donor told me it was a "rampant" mint and aggressive grower. It certainly is!! So it is confined to a pot and will not go near the garden. The flavour is really strong.
Two other people have promised me other mints with different flavours.
While I was there, he gave me some of his home-grown plants: 6 sweetcorn, 3 different squashes, and a sort of round cucumber. And 2 sprouting broc, but can't remember when they are supposed to flower (summer?). I already have some other minute little brocs and they are the other season (autumn?).
The squashes and corn will be completely new for me to grow but having read all your advices on this thread, I feel comfy with the corn. The soil is quite clay-ey but the donor's soil will be the same and his corn was thriving and he grows it every year. I grew courgettes last year and the new squashes should be similar in requirements. I did try with a squash last year but it just produced a few leaves and forgot to flower!
gc, these long warm summer evenings are just wonderful, aren't they! bliss!
Lovely for sitting out in, or I often take a stroll through the fields back of my house as the sun sets.
Twinky, I enjoy it so much that my husband has to come find me most evenings. There is a pedestrian street behind our house that been around for hundreds of years called The Abbots Way that I love to walk. I've been told that its so called because it was the path the abbot used in his routine. Its shaded and cool with hedgerows and you never know what will be in bloom.
I think that leaving plants for the slugs to eat is a bit of an error.
The reason I think that is because it will encourage them to reproduce. Any time a creature has an abundant food source, it's baby makin time!
And there is no way to make sure that they only eat those plants - if we could do that, then I would make it so that bugs only ate weeds.
Now a question - someone mentioned that the green bell peppers were at one end of the garden and the hot peppers at the other end - is that so that the bell peppers don't end up hot, and the hot peppers don't end up mild?
The hot peppers cross pollinate with the sweet peppers making them HOT! and believe me it does happen.
Okay so finally got all beds seeded that weren't already planted. I have two left that need drip irrigation but I will do them as I replant them over the next month.
I am so excited this morning I had two cucumbers and one bean peeking out of the ground and tonight there are three cucumbers and two bean plants I can't wait to see how things look tomorrow.
Also my first cantaloupe peeked out this afternoon.
by next weekend I should be seeing some radishes and spinach and lettuce and by the following weekend I am hoping for some beets to be peeking out and hopefully the carrots and maybe my second planting of cabbage.
We are having a very cool summer so far... and extremely windy. so I am hoping I will get some tomatoes.
I have done all my beds with the black plastic covering and am hoping it helps hold the heat in enough to make happy tomatoes.
I also got the flower garden almost completely weeded and ready for some annuals and some more perennials.
I have lots more work to do in there.
I am wanting to do some new path edging... and still need to level and expand a little patio I put in there last year.
And a large stone raised flower bed that I need to add one more layer of rock to and plant with dahlias. I am hoping they will be safe from the evil gophers in the raised bed but We will see.
Steve, what leafytwiglet said is true about the cross pollination. The same is true if you plant Roma tomatoes close to other "regular" size tomatoes. My heirloom tomatoes were small last year because I planted Romas in the same mix. Bees aren't prejudiced.
A critter, I suspect the ugly roly poly bug, ate parts of my speckled butter beans but left the green beans alone. Finicky, finicky little bug. I move back the mulch and they are prolific. This is only the second year I have had this problem with these peskies. I am gonna mix me up a concoction and spray them. Red pepper flakes soaked in water for a couple of days then sprayed on them will be their demise.
If you are having problems with plants not producing flowers then broadcast wood ash. If no wood ash available then purchase organic bone meal and follow directions.
Fresh manure will burn and kill plants. Fresh manure has to be composted for several months.
gc, my good friend's husband planted a fuschia for her. He couldn't remember what the Ag teacher called it and he thought it was a Mandevilla. She and I knew it wasn't but it was so scraggly we couldn't tell what it was. That was only three weeks ago and the lovely has grown profusely and is now budding. She is so excited because she has had a time growing anything in that area.
The rain has been so profuse. Last night 4 inches fell. We came out of the highschool graduation and the bottom fell out. We were going out to dinner after that but I had to go home and change. It looked like I was entering a wet t-shirt contest. And at my age...tsk...tsk... Anyway, all the gardens loved the rain. Everything is so green and happy.
This is an update on what is going on in my garden. I have my first pea pod and its beautiful. Little tiny almost flowers on my bell peppers, I want to rub my hands together when I see them. Two leaves on one courgette and three on the other. There is so much going on in my garden on the ground the slugs seem to leave the pots alone, 'cept for the runner beans, they must be worth the effort. Cucumbers are looking good. The potato boxes can not be filled any higher with soil. Lettuces are all strong and healthy. Carrots and Parsnips are growing nicely. Four of my six tomato vines have flowers about to open. Alpin strawberry plants are finally getting bigger, they are such small plants. Leek, green onion, red onion and yellow onions are doing great. Brussels sprouts are finally doing well. Cauliflower, Calebrese and Cabbage all look healthy. French beans have been eaten up by the slugs so many times I think they won't make it. Runner beans are doing well. Garlic looks great. I've been eating on my spinach for sometime now and those are starting to flower, but the younger plants still have leaves. I was able to make a batch of pesto from my four oldest plants, everyone liked it.
My sweetpeas are blooming and they smell wonderfully. The perennials haven't bloomed yet, but man! they are thick and green and 1/2 way up my rose arch. All of my roses are blooming and so are some of my dahlias. The first love in a mist has bloomed. Its such a delicate looking plant swaying in the wind. My other arch will look better next year when the passion vine, honeysuckle and clematis will be more established. I've been struggling to get everything planted before we fly out, most everything now is. I have Rubekia, aqualigia, rock daisy and snap dragon left, they will wait the weeks in a pot until I get back.
I'll be gone for 3 weeks and the slugs will have free reign in the garden. The birds will get my berries and my cherries will ripen while I'm gone. There will be lots of changes by the time we get back, I hope most for the good. I also hope I have a few blueberries and raspberries left.
Kimberly, I didn't tell you. I've had to cut both of my transpanted fuchsias. There were leaf buds for awhile that grew nicely, but then all of a sudden those leaves dried up and died. I'm believe the stem was too old and weak to transfer water to the new growth at the top. The roots are healthy enough on both plants and have new shoots coming up from them. The one that was a standard has 18 new shoots coming from the roots, the other plant has three new shoots, 2 from the roots and one from the base.
two of the three cucumbers that peeked out were eaten last night I think I have a vole in that planter box.. they are small enough to get through the bottom wire so i am going to douse that planter box with repellent tomorrow and throw some more seeds in the affected spots and hope for the best.
the repellent in not poison. it is caster oil which works really good. IT should chase the little guy out until every thing gets too big for him to completely eat.
forgot to mention the round cucumbers some one planted are lemon cucumbers they are a more tart cucumber and they turn a lovely yellow when they are ripe.
tomatoes looking good as are my peppers.
Can't wait to see more plants peeking out over the next few days.... my cabbages are getting bigger. they look lovely.
My garden is pathetic. Really pathetic. Little salad seeds have hardly emerged. Of 77 beans I have one nice plant and 3 or 4 miserable ones. I believe ants are carving up the leaves as fast as they appear. I am soaking some more seeds which I will plant NOT in the garden tomorrow, and if the plants grow I will transplant them.
I have been given some beautiful scarlet curly kale plants and some purple sprouting broccoli. They are now nicely at home in the garden. These are now resident in the place where the "sacrificial" savoys were and I have pulled off and kept the decent leaves for eating and composted the rest.
Tonight I seeded some lettuce (previous lot never germinated or was eaten) and beetroot (only a few brave ones germinated) and also some leeks (previous ones in pots did nothing).
Really must get on with finishing the shrub border. It has a lot of ground elder. A lot of that got knocked back last year when I dug out 4 leylandii. There is also bindweed in that border, which I also need to remove as best as possible. Then I will put permanent shrubs in, perhaps leave space to transplant the gooseberry and the raspberries from their current position.
Ah, about my bean trench.
In addition to the one decent bean plant and the struggling other 3 or 4 there are also:
Lots of potato plants
Some tomato seedlings
Something like a squash or courgette (just emerging)
Rather worrying. Means my compost wasn't properly composted when I dug it in. Who knows what else I have "planted"?
The potatoes are from peelings, so nothing really to support the plant. I don't expect much to develop underneath - if I choose to leave them.
Might transplant the tomato(es) if they get big enough.
*****
GC, looks like we won't be able to catch up before Aug. You are on hols soon, and a friend from overseas is visiting nearly all of July. Speak with you about a visit when my friend goes. Have a nice holiday!
My garden is pathetic. Really pathetic. Little salad seeds have hardly emerged. Of 77 beans I have one nice plant and 3 or 4 miserable ones. I believe ants are carving up the leaves as fast as they appear. I am soaking some more seeds which I will plant NOT in the garden tomorrow, and if the plants grow I will transplant them.
I have been given some beautiful scarlet curly kale plants and some purple sprouting broccoli. They are now nicely at home in the garden. These are now resident in the place where the "sacrificial" savoys were and I have pulled off and kept the decent leaves for eating and composted the rest.
Tonight I seeded some lettuce (previous lot never germinated or was eaten) and beetroot (only a few brave ones germinated) and also some leeks (previous ones in pots did nothing).
Really must get on with finishing the shrub border. It has a lot of ground elder. A lot of that got knocked back last year when I dug out 4 leylandii. There is also bindweed in that border, which I also need to remove as best as possible. Then I will put permanent shrubs in, perhaps leave space to transplant the gooseberry and the raspberries from their current position.
Ah, about my bean trench.
In addition to the one decent bean plant and the struggling other 3 or 4 there are also:
Lots of potato plants
Some tomato seedlings
Something like a squash or courgette (just emerging)
Rather worrying. Means my compost wasn't properly composted when I dug it in. Who knows what else I have "planted"?
The potatoes are from peelings, so nothing really to support the plant. I don't expect much to develop underneath - if I choose to leave them.
Might transplant the tomato(es) if they get big enough.
*****
GC, looks like we won't be able to catch up before Aug. You are on hols soon, and a friend from overseas is visiting nearly all of July. Speak with you about a visit when my friend goes. Have a nice holiday!
Hey Twinky, are you going to grow that tomato from out of your compost bin? Some years back I grew tomatoes and something else from seedlings grown from using my compost. I've got potatoes growing out of mine right now!
August sounds fine to me, have fun with your July visitor and thanks for the good wishes.
Just one week ago I re-seeded speckled butterbeans. They are already sprouting. I moved back the mulch so the roly poly's would not have such close access. I sprayed those suckers. A few days later more are back. Heck, they think they are so at home in my garden they were fornicating between the rows. I'm not one to interfere with love but it is them or my beans.
There are a couple of garden areas in the front yard that have not done well just in the last couple of years. I plant annuals and they barely show. I have been busy working lime and bone meal into the soil. Since the rain the annuals have grown tremendously. I guess I have been so caught up in the food garden I let these areas suffer.
This year I vigorously worked the soil for the tomatoes. Maters are my number one love. Can't have too many tomato sandwiches, pies or canned tomatoes. The plants have many blooms and tomatoes. Aaahhh, for the love of a home grown tomato. This year I am staking them instead of caging. The stalks are thick, green and healthy.
I cut the cilantro down to the ground. It seeded too early. Perhaps, I wasn't tending to it properly soon enough. The dill is the best ever. The aroma of the basil fills the air. Sometimes I pick it just to rub it on my neck. Chanel number whatever has nothing on fresh basil. The herb garden is the one thing I am most proud of this year. I had a few spots and pots of herbs before.
The butterfly bush that had grown into a tree started withering late last fall. I suspect it was due to the lack of rain. This spring it had one small branch with green leaves. I cut that baby back to about 4 feet. She was just wood. Now she is growing and has beautiful big green leaves and flower buds.
Twinky, honey, I soooo empathize with you about your garden. Last year I was at my wits end. All that work and love and care and tending and nothing. It is still early in the growing season. There is hope. Don't give up!!
Mr. Garden occasionally grows castor bean plants which get huge but repel just about anything. He used to grow them here and there in the garden and while they take up some space, they will indeed keep critters at bay. They are deadly poison however, so never mess with them.
A good way to eliminate cabbage worms, which are really caterpillars: Wait until evening, generously sprinkle white flour on the leaves of the plants; you have to be pretty sure you will get a nice dewfall the next morning. The caterpillars come out to eat holes in your cabbage plant. Then the sun comes out, and turns them into little burritos.
We had to replant beans; we got a very (after Mother's Day) frost and they died. Corn is looking good though, black raspberries are going to be stellar this year!
Our tomato plants, in the new bed full of composted mulch and good soil, are lovely. If all goes well, I'll be canning in August!
wg, I have blueberries that look very good. I'm not sure when they will ripen, I guess I should look it up when I get back. I put raspberries, gooseberries, currants and tomatoes all in one bed. Well, I also have parsnips, sweetpeas, poppies and sunflowers tucked it too lol I don't think I've ever heard of black raspberries before. Do they taste much different from the red ones?
Ummmmmmm I'd be careful with castor beans - one of the natural by products is ricin - major poison - don't handle the beans when ripe - don't let them contact food you will eat.
Dropping in to add...
Mr. Garden occasionally grows castor bean plants which get huge but repel just about anything. He used to grow them here and there in the garden and while they take up some space, they will indeed keep critters at bay. They are deadly poison however, so never mess with them.
A good way to eliminate cabbage worms, which are really caterpillars: Wait until evening, generously sprinkle white flour on the leaves of the plants; you have to be pretty sure you will get a nice dewfall the next morning. The caterpillars come out to eat holes in your cabbage plant. Then the sun comes out, and turns them into little burritos.
We had to replant beans; we got a very (after Mother's Day) frost and they died. Corn is looking good though, black raspberries are going to be stellar this year!
Our tomato plants, in the new bed full of composted mulch and good soil, are lovely. If all goes well, I'll be canning in August!
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kimberly
gc, black eyed peas are for luck and collard greens are for dollars. I plant enough collard greens the end of August to last us all winter long. Oh, honey everybody, I have maters and more maters.
kimberly
Bramble, so sorry about your garden. Our weather has been crazy too. This time of year we are accustomed to the feeling of a hot wet towel wrapped around the face when we are outside. But it has
kimberly
When referring to the herb garden I meant the annuals. I broke down and watered/fertilized the dill and basil. I am hoping for a comeback. The perinnial's (sp?)are forging on. Nothing seems to f
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Twinky
Well, so far this year my garden is a disappointment. It was really hot and dry; then cold and wet; now hot and dry again. The soil is clayey and either heavy (when wet) or a dust bowl (when dry).
I planted runner beans and none have come up.
My rhubarb started out well and has just about given up.
My salad seeds aren't doing anything at all.
Other seeds really doing anything either, just not germinating.
My hanging baskets are just as originally planted.
My courgettes need to be planted out (sorry gc to hear about yours).
I had (note tense) some marigolds - seeds - only 6 tiny plants grew - I left them uncovered last night and all but one have been eaten (the slime trail betrays the culprit).
What is thriving is the chard and my savoy cabbages (both last years) which have bolted. The cabbages are over 6 ft tall and the chard must be 5 ft, including their pretty flowers. I have decided to leave at least some of these as sacrificial plants. Maybe the slugs and snails will eat them instead of this year's chosen crops (that's if this year's chosen crops decided to grow at all).
I am suspecting my compost. All the stuff that is not doing well is in the same compost. I have other bigger plants in this same compost or where I put them in a bigger pot with this compost or scraped away the top of their old potting material, and somehow they don't look quite as vigorous as they should. It came from the garden centre so you'd think it should be all right but it's the one consistent thing among my pot plants that aren't thriving or have died/disappeared.
So how does my garden grow this year? Meeaaahh!
PS If I could train the girlies to chase slugs and snails, now that would be good.
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leafytwiglet
Pops Chicken in a box and sends to twinky to eat slugs and snails.
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kimberly
Hot dang, Twinky, I guess with 6 ft cabbages anything else is afraid to grow in your garden!!!!! With those cabbages ya'll with have enough roughage to last an entire lifetime. You must have to mortgage the house to be able to afford the meat to make stuffed cabbage!!!! Those monster movie cabbages probably ate everything else trying to come up.
Get your soil tested, cabbage mama. It will tell you everything as to what is going on. So, you purchased compost from the garden centre? Hhhhmmm, all that going on and all related to the compost...does sound suspicious. I would talk to the folks at the garden centre and ask them what they think. Is it fresh compost?
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gc
Twinky, do you remember last year their was something going on with the manure/ It was the feed for the cows, it had some type of pesticide on it. At the end of it all it damaged all the plants it was put near. Any connection there?
gc
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leafytwiglet
Makes me glad we use our chickens manure for fertilizing the mulch pile.
I agree go to the garden center and see what they say.
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Twinky
Plan on going to the garden centre on Thurs. It's a repuable garden centre.
I had 3 bags of the stuff last year and only have 1/2 bag left. All the rest is in pots with other things. The plants in those pots are all ... not thriving and somewhat yellowish on the leaves.
As to the remaining 1/2 bag, probably it would be all right as general garden compost, but for container plants it doesn't seem to be doing any favours.
I now have ONE sturdy bean plant.
There are a few others "crowning" so that I should have about 5 others up tomorrow. That's if the slugs don't get there first. Leafy, hurry up with that chicken!!!
About 77 beans I put in....
Old English country adage.
If I got 20 beans that would be plenty. Maybe I will put some more in, see what's raised its head by the end of the week.
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Steve!
I think that leaving plants for the slugs to eat is a bit of an error.
The reason I think that is because it will encourage them to reproduce. Any time a creature has an abundant food source, it's baby makin time!
And there is no way to make sure that they only eat those plants - if we could do that, then I would make it so that bugs only ate weeds.
Now a question - someone mentioned that the green bell peppers were at one end of the garden and the hot peppers at the other end - is that so that the bell peppers don't end up hot, and the hot peppers don't end up mild?
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Twinky
A nice evening in the garden. The courgettes are all planted (including the "spare" ones, which if I get down your way soon, gc, I will uproot and bring with me - no promises) and so are some little cabbages (type unknown).
Some of my plants simply weren't thriving in pots so they are now in the garden in one of two "nursery" areas (or "last chance saloon"!). Easier to water, more space to spread their roots, and if it is the compost, well, there is other real soil with decent own-made compost enriching it. If they survive, good; if not, tthey'll just ... disappear.
Oh, the cabbages are "sacrificial" to cabbage white butterflies, but till the cabbage whites discover them, there are still some nice leaves which I pluck every so often. Still taste good. I have chopped off the flowers (and the flowers on the chard). They haven't gone to seed yet, and so are now ... preparing to enrich the soil next year. Cannibalistic, really.
It's been pleasant out in the garden, out till dusk, only just come in (10 pm) - the cats have been playing on the lawn and trying to catch moths. A very homely scene.
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gc
It has been wonderful and sunny here in Plymouth, the plants have been in heaven and I could sure use an a/c in the evenings. I absolutely love that it stays light until 10.
I'm trying to put all of my seedlings into the ground before I fly home. I still have rudbeckia, rock daisy, snap dragon, love in a mist, columbine and some unknown that the birds planted.
My annual and perennial sweetpeas and my peas are doing well, the annuals and peas are starting to bloom. My climbing rose which has been climbing up one of my arches for a year now has finally bloomed. Its pretty and pink with a subtle sweet scent. The perennial sweetpea is climbing up the other side. Actually, it hasn't starting to climb up the arch yet, its just growing tall trying to grab ahold of anything it can.
This past autumn I dug out a beautiful fuchsia that was too large in the top tier front garden. While trying to get at the roots I knocked down the wall my husband built, ooops. So for months I've worked building a new one. I've pushed it back a little over a foot making that tier more narrow and the wall taller. I've finally finished it last week. Now I'm sifting back soil so I can begin planting in that front bed. It really looks good, I'm proud of my work! I want to put flowering scented shrubs that attract bees with a row of smaller perennials behind them, and some that will hang over my wall. My choices today are rosemary, lavender, fuchsia, rose and a pretty shrub I took a cutting of last year that has small pink flowers.
All of my veggies are thriving. What has surprised me most are the bell peppers and the cucumbers. I can't remember who told me to try yellow and orange peppers. I planted yellow, orange and red and they seem to be thriving. Both the peppers and the cucumbers I've kept under the sun tunnel so they have stayed warm. The last couple of days I've been able to move it to the side the temps are so high.
twinky, I've planted three more courgette seeds and managed to save one plant. One seed has sprouted and they are in a large pot, finger's crossed. I sure hope you make it here while I'm here, I'll be gone for 3 weeks to visit my family. I can't wait!
gc
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Twinky
Was given some mint yesterday. The donor told me it was a "rampant" mint and aggressive grower. It certainly is!! So it is confined to a pot and will not go near the garden. The flavour is really strong.
Two other people have promised me other mints with different flavours.
While I was there, he gave me some of his home-grown plants: 6 sweetcorn, 3 different squashes, and a sort of round cucumber. And 2 sprouting broc, but can't remember when they are supposed to flower (summer?). I already have some other minute little brocs and they are the other season (autumn?).
The squashes and corn will be completely new for me to grow but having read all your advices on this thread, I feel comfy with the corn. The soil is quite clay-ey but the donor's soil will be the same and his corn was thriving and he grows it every year. I grew courgettes last year and the new squashes should be similar in requirements. I did try with a squash last year but it just produced a few leaves and forgot to flower!
gc, these long warm summer evenings are just wonderful, aren't they! bliss!
Lovely for sitting out in, or I often take a stroll through the fields back of my house as the sun sets.
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gc
Twinky, I enjoy it so much that my husband has to come find me most evenings. There is a pedestrian street behind our house that been around for hundreds of years called The Abbots Way that I love to walk. I've been told that its so called because it was the path the abbot used in his routine. Its shaded and cool with hedgerows and you never know what will be in bloom.
gc
edited for goofy spelling error
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leafytwiglet
The hot peppers cross pollinate with the sweet peppers making them HOT! and believe me it does happen.
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leafytwiglet
Okay so finally got all beds seeded that weren't already planted. I have two left that need drip irrigation but I will do them as I replant them over the next month.
I am so excited this morning I had two cucumbers and one bean peeking out of the ground and tonight there are three cucumbers and two bean plants I can't wait to see how things look tomorrow.
Also my first cantaloupe peeked out this afternoon.
by next weekend I should be seeing some radishes and spinach and lettuce and by the following weekend I am hoping for some beets to be peeking out and hopefully the carrots and maybe my second planting of cabbage.
We are having a very cool summer so far... and extremely windy. so I am hoping I will get some tomatoes.
I have done all my beds with the black plastic covering and am hoping it helps hold the heat in enough to make happy tomatoes.
I also got the flower garden almost completely weeded and ready for some annuals and some more perennials.
I have lots more work to do in there.
I am wanting to do some new path edging... and still need to level and expand a little patio I put in there last year.
And a large stone raised flower bed that I need to add one more layer of rock to and plant with dahlias. I am hoping they will be safe from the evil gophers in the raised bed but We will see.
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kimberly
Steve, what leafytwiglet said is true about the cross pollination. The same is true if you plant Roma tomatoes close to other "regular" size tomatoes. My heirloom tomatoes were small last year because I planted Romas in the same mix. Bees aren't prejudiced.
A critter, I suspect the ugly roly poly bug, ate parts of my speckled butter beans but left the green beans alone. Finicky, finicky little bug. I move back the mulch and they are prolific. This is only the second year I have had this problem with these peskies. I am gonna mix me up a concoction and spray them. Red pepper flakes soaked in water for a couple of days then sprayed on them will be their demise.
If you are having problems with plants not producing flowers then broadcast wood ash. If no wood ash available then purchase organic bone meal and follow directions.
Fresh manure will burn and kill plants. Fresh manure has to be composted for several months.
gc, my good friend's husband planted a fuschia for her. He couldn't remember what the Ag teacher called it and he thought it was a Mandevilla. She and I knew it wasn't but it was so scraggly we couldn't tell what it was. That was only three weeks ago and the lovely has grown profusely and is now budding. She is so excited because she has had a time growing anything in that area.
The rain has been so profuse. Last night 4 inches fell. We came out of the highschool graduation and the bottom fell out. We were going out to dinner after that but I had to go home and change. It looked like I was entering a wet t-shirt contest. And at my age...tsk...tsk... Anyway, all the gardens loved the rain. Everything is so green and happy.
Garden on, happy ones!!
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gc
This is an update on what is going on in my garden. I have my first pea pod and its beautiful. Little tiny almost flowers on my bell peppers, I want to rub my hands together when I see them. Two leaves on one courgette and three on the other. There is so much going on in my garden on the ground the slugs seem to leave the pots alone, 'cept for the runner beans, they must be worth the effort. Cucumbers are looking good. The potato boxes can not be filled any higher with soil. Lettuces are all strong and healthy. Carrots and Parsnips are growing nicely. Four of my six tomato vines have flowers about to open. Alpin strawberry plants are finally getting bigger, they are such small plants. Leek, green onion, red onion and yellow onions are doing great. Brussels sprouts are finally doing well. Cauliflower, Calebrese and Cabbage all look healthy. French beans have been eaten up by the slugs so many times I think they won't make it. Runner beans are doing well. Garlic looks great. I've been eating on my spinach for sometime now and those are starting to flower, but the younger plants still have leaves. I was able to make a batch of pesto from my four oldest plants, everyone liked it.
My sweetpeas are blooming and they smell wonderfully. The perennials haven't bloomed yet, but man! they are thick and green and 1/2 way up my rose arch. All of my roses are blooming and so are some of my dahlias. The first love in a mist has bloomed. Its such a delicate looking plant swaying in the wind. My other arch will look better next year when the passion vine, honeysuckle and clematis will be more established. I've been struggling to get everything planted before we fly out, most everything now is. I have Rubekia, aqualigia, rock daisy and snap dragon left, they will wait the weeks in a pot until I get back.
I'll be gone for 3 weeks and the slugs will have free reign in the garden. The birds will get my berries and my cherries will ripen while I'm gone. There will be lots of changes by the time we get back, I hope most for the good. I also hope I have a few blueberries and raspberries left.
gc
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gc
Kimberly, I didn't tell you. I've had to cut both of my transpanted fuchsias. There were leaf buds for awhile that grew nicely, but then all of a sudden those leaves dried up and died. I'm believe the stem was too old and weak to transfer water to the new growth at the top. The roots are healthy enough on both plants and have new shoots coming up from them. The one that was a standard has 18 new shoots coming from the roots, the other plant has three new shoots, 2 from the roots and one from the base.
gc
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leafytwiglet
two of the three cucumbers that peeked out were eaten last night I think I have a vole in that planter box.. they are small enough to get through the bottom wire so i am going to douse that planter box with repellent tomorrow and throw some more seeds in the affected spots and hope for the best.
the repellent in not poison. it is caster oil which works really good. IT should chase the little guy out until every thing gets too big for him to completely eat.
forgot to mention the round cucumbers some one planted are lemon cucumbers they are a more tart cucumber and they turn a lovely yellow when they are ripe.
tomatoes looking good as are my peppers.
Can't wait to see more plants peeking out over the next few days.... my cabbages are getting bigger. they look lovely.
harvesting the last of my garlic next week.
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Twinky
Leafy and GC, I am madly envious of you!
My garden is pathetic. Really pathetic. Little salad seeds have hardly emerged. Of 77 beans I have one nice plant and 3 or 4 miserable ones. I believe ants are carving up the leaves as fast as they appear. I am soaking some more seeds which I will plant NOT in the garden tomorrow, and if the plants grow I will transplant them.
I have been given some beautiful scarlet curly kale plants and some purple sprouting broccoli. They are now nicely at home in the garden. These are now resident in the place where the "sacrificial" savoys were and I have pulled off and kept the decent leaves for eating and composted the rest.
Tonight I seeded some lettuce (previous lot never germinated or was eaten) and beetroot (only a few brave ones germinated) and also some leeks (previous ones in pots did nothing).
Really must get on with finishing the shrub border. It has a lot of ground elder. A lot of that got knocked back last year when I dug out 4 leylandii. There is also bindweed in that border, which I also need to remove as best as possible. Then I will put permanent shrubs in, perhaps leave space to transplant the gooseberry and the raspberries from their current position.
Ah, about my bean trench.
In addition to the one decent bean plant and the struggling other 3 or 4 there are also:
Lots of potato plants
Some tomato seedlings
Something like a squash or courgette (just emerging)
Rather worrying. Means my compost wasn't properly composted when I dug it in. Who knows what else I have "planted"?
The potatoes are from peelings, so nothing really to support the plant. I don't expect much to develop underneath - if I choose to leave them.
Might transplant the tomato(es) if they get big enough.
*****
GC, looks like we won't be able to catch up before Aug. You are on hols soon, and a friend from overseas is visiting nearly all of July. Speak with you about a visit when my friend goes. Have a nice holiday!
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leafytwiglet
The potatoes will do more than you expect.
and it sounds like you have a good start.
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gc
Hey Twinky, are you going to grow that tomato from out of your compost bin? Some years back I grew tomatoes and something else from seedlings grown from using my compost. I've got potatoes growing out of mine right now!
August sounds fine to me, have fun with your July visitor and thanks for the good wishes.
gc
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kimberly
Just one week ago I re-seeded speckled butterbeans. They are already sprouting. I moved back the mulch so the roly poly's would not have such close access. I sprayed those suckers. A few days later more are back. Heck, they think they are so at home in my garden they were fornicating between the rows. I'm not one to interfere with love but it is them or my beans.
There are a couple of garden areas in the front yard that have not done well just in the last couple of years. I plant annuals and they barely show. I have been busy working lime and bone meal into the soil. Since the rain the annuals have grown tremendously. I guess I have been so caught up in the food garden I let these areas suffer.
This year I vigorously worked the soil for the tomatoes. Maters are my number one love. Can't have too many tomato sandwiches, pies or canned tomatoes. The plants have many blooms and tomatoes. Aaahhh, for the love of a home grown tomato. This year I am staking them instead of caging. The stalks are thick, green and healthy.
I cut the cilantro down to the ground. It seeded too early. Perhaps, I wasn't tending to it properly soon enough. The dill is the best ever. The aroma of the basil fills the air. Sometimes I pick it just to rub it on my neck. Chanel number whatever has nothing on fresh basil. The herb garden is the one thing I am most proud of this year. I had a few spots and pots of herbs before.
The butterfly bush that had grown into a tree started withering late last fall. I suspect it was due to the lack of rain. This spring it had one small branch with green leaves. I cut that baby back to about 4 feet. She was just wood. Now she is growing and has beautiful big green leaves and flower buds.
Twinky, honey, I soooo empathize with you about your garden. Last year I was at my wits end. All that work and love and care and tending and nothing. It is still early in the growing season. There is hope. Don't give up!!
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Watered Garden
Dropping in to add...
Mr. Garden occasionally grows castor bean plants which get huge but repel just about anything. He used to grow them here and there in the garden and while they take up some space, they will indeed keep critters at bay. They are deadly poison however, so never mess with them.
A good way to eliminate cabbage worms, which are really caterpillars: Wait until evening, generously sprinkle white flour on the leaves of the plants; you have to be pretty sure you will get a nice dewfall the next morning. The caterpillars come out to eat holes in your cabbage plant. Then the sun comes out, and turns them into little burritos.
We had to replant beans; we got a very (after Mother's Day) frost and they died. Corn is looking good though, black raspberries are going to be stellar this year!
Our tomato plants, in the new bed full of composted mulch and good soil, are lovely. If all goes well, I'll be canning in August!
WG
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gc
wg, I have blueberries that look very good. I'm not sure when they will ripen, I guess I should look it up when I get back. I put raspberries, gooseberries, currants and tomatoes all in one bed. Well, I also have parsnips, sweetpeas, poppies and sunflowers tucked it too lol I don't think I've ever heard of black raspberries before. Do they taste much different from the red ones?
gc
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RumRunner
Ummmmmmm I'd be careful with castor beans - one of the natural by products is ricin - major poison - don't handle the beans when ripe - don't let them contact food you will eat.
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