Fruit, Veg, Flowers and Slugs

The weather was relatively kind last weekend and I was able to get a few hours in the garden and on the veg plot completing a few jobs that were on the to do list.  I mentioned in my last post that I was thinking of clearing the Greenhouse as the tomatoes were coming to an end. That job  has been ticked off the list. The last of the fruit has been picked and all the plants cleared out and composted. It is always a little sad, accepting that there will be no more Tomatoes to come but also strangely satisfying when the job is done and I am left with a clean and clear Greenhouse to prepare ready for next year. The only things left in there now are the Carrots and Spring Onions as part of my winter crop experiment.  The French Lavender has also been pulled-up and composted. I mentioned in a previous post it has sulked for most of this year, it really didn't enjoy the changing weather conditions, and I have replaced it with English Lavender which I know from past experience will be happ

I have sown a packet of Mr Fothergills Green Manure Autumn/Winter mix on the part of the main veg bed that is now empty the French Beans having finished and the leeks thrown onto the compost heap having bolted.  I mentioned in a previous post what handy things Green Manures are. They stop weeds spreading as they grow so quickly, the seeds I sowed had germinated in just three of four days, and prevent nutrients leaching from the soil over winter. Clovers fixes nitrogen in the soil whilst Rye Grass and Mustard improve soil structure - these are all in this particular mix. Green Manures are also beneficial to a number of insects when few if any plants and flowers are around in late autumn and early spring.  The plants will be cut down and lightly dug into the soil come spring prior to the sowing of seeds next March/April.  If you have never used a green Manure seed mix I would highly recommend them.  On the rest of the plot it is all about harvesting and storing at the moment. The Runner

 The Leeks have bolted!  A mini disaster has beset the veg patch with the Leeks all bolting/going to seed. I have had to accept the inevitable and dug the lot up! Each and every one had gone, all forming bulbs rather than nice long slender stems.  Some will say I planted out the seedlings too early, I put them out over the Easter Weekend in early April, but I have done this many times before and all has been fine. I think it is a simple case of the weird and wonderful weather we have had this year with it so unsettled - hot when it would normally be chilly, wet when you'd expect it dry and cold when it should be time to slap on the sun cream!  With the French Beans also basically done I have cleared half the big bed in total, dug in some Chicken Manure Pellets and sown a Green Manure mix over the bare soil.  Poultry manure is a useful source of nitrogen and I also scattered a fair helping around the Strawberry plants as I do every autumn. I will naturally add other fertilisers such

 We have seedlings!  I wrote back on the 23rd August how I planned to sow White Ishikura Spring Onions and Carrot Amsterdam Forcing 3 carrots to grow undercover in the greenhouse through autumn and into winter in the hope of having some crops or the long dark months ahead and a few carrots for the Christmas Dinner fresh from the garden. I have also sowed a line of Carrot Amsterdam Forcing 3 seeds in the veg patch outside to compare with those in the Greenhouse.  Those in the greenhouse appear to be going well and I have a very high germination rate as you can see from below. Excuse my terrible sowing skills some thinning out will clearly be required - my big old sausage fingers are not built for sowing carrot seeds thinly 🤣 The carrots in the veg patch haven't germinated as well thus far but a few seedlings are popping their heads above ground and with warm weather forecast for the next few days I am hopeful a few more may get going yet.   It really has been a funny summer with

Over the weekend I was lucky enough to get several hours in the garden, pottering around, doing a little weeding, edging the lawn where it had become a little untidy, moving some pots around and generally tidying up. I also had time to begin the Winter Crop Experiment.  The White Ishikura Spring Onions  have been sown into a trough and the Carrot Amsterdam Forcing 3  sown into a couple of old buckets that I grow the odd thing in and a spare terracotta pot. I have used bulk standard multi-purpose compost bought from the local Horticultural Guild Trading Sheds on Sunday morning. They have all been placed in the Greenhouse and now the waiting game begins. I am as confident as you can be that they will germinate and all being well I will have a few extra crops throughout the months of autumn and hopefully even early winter.   Just for fun, as I am not sure if this sowing will work, I have also sown a line of  Carrot Amsterdam Forcing 3 in the veg patch. This is very late for outdoor sowing

 I have decided to have a go at growing some crops that are usually more associated with summer and autumn for a winter harvest, all being well.  Growing salad leaves for winter harvests isn't that unusual, there are some that are better sown in winter. in fact such as Lamb's Lettuce. I have in the past grown various cut and come again types in pots and even old buckets, sown in late autumn and when the cold weather really hits moved under cover into the Greenhouse, which of course by that time was empty the Tomato plants having long since been removed and composted. You don't get copious amounts but I have managed to grow enough to see me through the winter months - I don't know about you but I don't eat as many salads in December and January anyway.  This year I am having a go with Spring Onions and Carrots!  I have White Ishikura Spring Onions which the packet informs me are tender with long stems and slow to bulb. Usually sown between March and July to be harve

I have been pretty useless updating the blog recently, my apologies for that. I have though been busy on the plot with plenty going on.  What a crazy year so far with the weather. We've had late frosts, baking sunshine and temperatures in the thirties, torrential downpours and near gale force winds at times all in the space of a few days! The mid-month heatwave meant the UK had its fifth warmest July on record but we'd also had the wettest May as I understand it and June was simply all over the show!  It has certainly kept me busy and meant some harvests are going incredibly well whilst others are struggling.  I have a Parsnip that has gone to seed, honestly the first time I have ever seen that in August and the Sonesta Dwarf French Beans (yellow) have been a disappointment thus far with lots of misshapen beans and the slugs have had a real go at some of the plants. There is hope though with some nice looking beans coming through now. The  Amethyst Dwarf French Beans  (purple