Fruit, Veg, Flowers and Slugs

 At the start of the growing season 2025 there are many things to do on the vegetable patch and in the garden. For personal reasons I have been unable to update the Blog recently but I have been busy 'behind the scenes' and much has been going on.  For the last few weeks there has been little spare space on windowsills around my house with various seeds germinating here there and everywhere. Greyhound cabbages and Lancaster F1 leeks have been residing on the windowsill of the spare bedroom, four different tomato variaties were on the front room windowsill and the Scarlet Empire runner beans were threatening to take over the conservatory. Lavender cuttings and Agapanthus seedlings (seeds saved from one of my established plants) were also to be found in the conservatory. The Salvia cuttings I took last year from an established plant had been moved to the logstore at the bottom of the garden along with the Geranium cuttings in March ‘hardening off’ along with some Nasturtium seed...

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 ...

The latest article for the Romford Recorder was released last week and you can read it below. I deal with most of what has been happening on the plot in the article other than mentioning the ongoing battle with weeds! I wondered if the very cold snap we had in winter would have killed many weed seeds but going by my plot that has not been the case; honestly I think I have more weeds than ever. I can only assume this is down to the very dull and wet spring we have had followed by the relatively nice conditions of late encouraging growth.  One job I have undertaken recently not mentioned in the newspaper editorial is to take up the old garden path that I had, put down by my Father many moons ago, and create a new Barbecue Patio halfway down the garden. I have re-used the most of the slabs taken up from the path to create the Barbecue  Patio so the only cost was for sand and cement and a fair amount of hard graft! The turf lifted to allow the patio to be laid was used to fill in ...

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...