Fruit, Veg, Flowers and Slugs

It is that wonderful time of the year, the middle of summer. I have spent as much time as possible lately simply just being in the garden; not that easy a task at times with the rain we had in early July, but late July and early August have been lovely. I have mentioned before here and in the regular Newspaper column that I strongly believe there is little point in gardening if you never really get to enjoy the garden, and now is prime time to enjoy it, weather permitting.  I have two designated areas for seating in my garden. One under the pergola on the patio directly outside the backdoor of the house; perfect for when family and friends visit. I have a second area, a table and a couple of chairs, on the top patio which is slightly raised at the end of the garden. This is an area often only used by me. I also have the BBQ patio in the middle of the garden set off centre slightly to the left as you look from the house and laid on an angle but this is used primarily for barbecuing but

Tis the season to be jolly and all that , and tis also the season to begin planning for the garden in 2024. I have been thumbing through the seed catalogues, a pastime almost as dangerous as Christmas shopping . I always s eem to find something that I had never heard of , but now knowing of its existence , simply now must have! Rarely does a year pass that I am not growing a vegetable or flower completely new to me; for me it is one of the great pleasures of gardening, there is always something new to grow.    I have been busy clearing the ve g beds removing the remnants of the Butternut Squash plants and Runner Beans to be composted and digging out the inevitable Dandelions , trying to get the entire tap root out as I do so. I will be adding quite a bit of compost and manure to the beds over the winter so having cleared and slightly dug over the bed where I grew outdoor Tomatoes this year, I have placed tarpaulin over this bed for now to keep weed seeds out . I will add the

The Garden and Vegetable Patch will really be coming to life by now and over the next few weeks and months there will be plenty of jobs to do but also plenty of enjoyment to be had.  The display from your spring bulbs such a Daffodils will almost certainly be over by now. I grow a lot of  my bulbs  in pots to allow me to place them where I want in the garden, though I also have a few throughout the beds and naturalised under the Cherry Tree. I always give mine one last feed when watering  to encourage a good display next year before moving those in pots into a corner of the garden, out of sight, to allow the foliage to die back naturally which also helps feed the bulb for next year.  High on my list of priorities at this time of year is checking the Lilies for Lily Beetle and their larvae as they can strip your plants of foliage almost overnight! I had a problem earlier in the spring with a Squirrel nibbling the top off of three of the emerging bulbs so they now won’t grow and flower t

We are into Spring and there is a plethora of jobs that we can be getting on with in the garden over the next few weeks. By now you will have begun mowing the lawn and may have noticed some bare or damages patches. Now is a great time to sow grass seed to fill those gaps before summer.    Remember to check your plants for Aphids such as Greenfly and Blackfly and rub off any you find before they become an infestation. There are hundreds of products on the market to deal with Aphids but the easiest, quickest and most environmentally friendly answer to the problem is to squash them by running your finger and thumb along the stem of the plant. On my Runner Beans each year, which will get attacked by Blackfly you can be sure, I find blasting them off with the hose works nicely as well. For wildlife friendly pest control you are actually best to let Mother Nature get on with it as much as possible. By not using sprays you will be amazed by the number of friendly little beasties that will ar