Fruit, Veg, Flowers and Slugs

Sleigh bells ring, are you listening? In the lane snow is glistening………. By the time you read this dear reader Christmas will be but 15-weeks or so away. Aside from Bing Crosby on the radio, the goodwill to all men, family gatherings, presents under the tree and general feeling of joy that Yuletide brings, there is one thing that matters at Christmas time - a really good roast potato!  I am experimenting with growing potatoes for Christmas dinner this year, not as I would usually growing through the spring and summer harvesting in autumn and storing in hessian sacks until needed, but by planting in August to actually harvest in December. I have some Maris Piper seed potatoes, the best for roast spuds, and have thus far basically treated them exactly as I would if sowing in March, left them on a windowsill to chit for a few weeks before planting, except I sowed the tubers into 30-litre pots during the first week of August. I wouldn’t usually recommend growing main crop potatoes in pots

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

Say it quietly, whisper it even, but it appears that summer has arrived. Following the wettest spring in nearly forty-years that big yellow ball in the sky has finally poked through the gloom; well at least for a few days.  It is that wonderful time of the year, the middle of summer. Astronomical summer began on Thursday 20th June 2024 and ends on Sunday 22nd September 2024 if you are interested in those sorts of things. 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 July! I have mentioned before in this column that I strongly believe there is little point in having a lovely garden if you never really get to enjoy it, and now is prime time to enjoy it, weather permitting.  In between the occasional glass of something nice in the sun or a snooze in a chair there are plenty of things to be doing on your plot at this time of year. Watering the lawn has not been a concern of late, far from it, but keeping

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

May can be one of the very best times of the year to be in the garden. Beds, borders, veg plots and containers are alive with new growth and the earlier flowering varieties of plants are in full-bloom. Thankfully, the weather is finally warming up, the evenings are longer and you can now spend time relaxing in your garden rather than just doing jobs. I strongly believe there is little point in having a lovely garden if you never really get to enjoy it. I take time just to be in the garden as often as possible all year round and can often be found sitting by the chimenea with a coat on in autumn and winter but through spring and summer, especially, make sure to take a seat, kick back and relax, and simply enjoy being in your garden. Reclined in a deckchair, eyes closed, listening to the bees and hoverflies buzzing around the Lavender blooms on a sunny evening is time well spent as far as I am concerned. It is so easy to always be doing something in the garden, over the coming weeks and

I have for one reason and another unable to update the blog as regularly as hoped so far this year, all being well usual service can now be resumed.  In my monthly column for the Romford Recorder I have spoken earlier in the year  about how with the somewhat wild weather we have experienced through late winter and early spring a lot of my time in the garden has been spent repairing wide damage to fences and the climbing rose trellis along with retrieving a compost bin lid that had flown two-doors down and collecting various flotsam and jetsam that had landed on my plot! Between the numerous rain bursts earlier in the year copious amounts of homemade compost, farmyard manure and blood, fish and bone were added and dug in across the veg patch beds and a sprinkling of chicken manure pellets was also added.  The soil in the Greenhouse was similarly refreshed again with some fresh compost, farmyard manure, blood, fish and bone, chicken manure pellets and in there potash as well all added an

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