Fruit, Veg, Flowers and Slugs

And so it begins that wonderful time of the year as the tomatoes begin to ripen. I mentioned recently that the first of the Tiny Tim tomatoes (they are tiny) had begun to ripen, well many of the other varieties I am growing this year are now ripening as well. I spoke at the start of the year about how I planned to grow more tomatoes than ever before and so far so good as they say. As yet none of the four Buffalosteak plants   growing on the outside patch are ripe but I have plenty of fruit on the plants and having grown these before I was always confident they would go well. Also in the outdoor patch are the heirloom variety from Germany Tomato Bloody Butcher . A variety that has Potato like foliage (as Pink Brandywine) my research into this one suggested it would produce crops of golf ball sized fruit with a dark 'blood-red' juice. It reportedly is one of the first varieties to ripen, ripening in only about 60-days, and continues all summer long and I hoped it would be perf

I managed to get a few hours out on the plot on Sunday, I admit in the afternoon when the temperatures had lifted slightly, but even then certain parts of the Vegetable Patch were still frozen to a depth of an inch or so from the frosts we have been suffering for the last few days. I have a store of wood from the Cherry Tree, pruned each year, and a few logs were thrown on the Chimenea whilst I was working away. The occasional coffee break was taken whilst standing in front of it to warm the cockles, and, of course, the ash is great as 'pot ash' and I have a bucket in the Potting Shed for emptying the content of the Chimenea into once cooled.  I was able to get a spade into the bed where I have grown the Runner Beans for the last couple of years and that was given a thorough weed and digging over as part of the process of preparing for the upcoming growing season. This year I am thinking of growing Tomatoes on that particular bed. my Greenhouse isn't that big and can really

I am writing this article on an unseasonably warm Saturday morning in October, the thermometer tells me it is twenty Celsius. The garden is still looking surprisingly fine considering the clocks go back this weekend and next week we are into November. The Salvia Hot Lips remain covered in bloom, Marigolds are still in flower in their pots, I have tomatoes ripening outdoors (hopefully anyway) and one of the Agapanthus still has a bloom on it!  I will be pruning the Climbing Rose this afternoon and as it is now pretty established it is a simple case of training the stems I want to keep horizontally to encourage flowering and cutting back where it has outgrown its support. As for new stem for next season which will carry the flowers, w hen pruning climbers, cut just above a bud that points in the direction that you want a new stem and let the rose do what it does.  I have already taken a few cuttings from my Zonal Geraniums,  P elargoniums to give them their correct name as I understand i