Fruit, Veg, Flowers and Slugs

What a strange spring we have been experiencing this year. Apparently, we have just gone through the warmest May and spring since records began in 1884 provisional Met Office figures show; the figures especially influenced by high overnight temperatures over recent weeks compared to the norm. It was also the wettest spring since 1986 and the sixth wettest on record with some areas in the South receiving over a third more rain than would be expected.  My garden is certainly in a different condition from what I would expect for this time of year, a number of plants flowering later, but there has been some success stories, nonetheless. The native Foxgloves have been particularly beautiful and stood up well to the wind and rain; I had one at nearly seven-feet tall. The climbing rose on the other hand, that is usually covered in blooms from late May through June, is noticeably less floriferous this year following the battering's that took through the winter winds and unpredictable sprin

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

Harvesting is in full swing now with produce coming off the Vegetable Patch at a rate of knots. I have Blackberries coming out of my ears and Runner Beans and Courgettes galore plus the first of the Carrots, the variety  Carrot Eskimo that I am trying  this year for the first time, have been pulled and they were delicious . The first crop of Peas from the Pea Bingo plants have been picked and eaten with the second sowing due to be ready in a week or two now; a third sowing will be made this week. I have also been able to harvest the first of the Buffalo Steak Tomatoes from the Greenhouse and they went down very well at a BBQ over the weekend. The Gigantomo aren't far behind and the first of those could be harves ted by this weekend. The Tomato varieties I am growing outside on the veg patch following the disaster that was the Limoncito and Black Cherry seedlings failing on me are now  Yellow Pear and  Pink  Brandywine   and these are going well I am happy to report with the fir

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