July in the garden…

 July started HOT - just keeping up with keeping everything watered was a challenge! I got my second salvaged wine box planted up with herbs though - it’s in the background there planted with a golden marjoram, a variegated sage, a blue hyssop and an upright thyme - plus a sprinkling of chive seeds which may or may not germinate. Best thing was that the four herbs used there were all bought for a bargain reduced price from a garden centre we’d not visited before. The sage is struggling a bit but the rest look happy enough,

In that picture you can also see another little project I’ve had in mind for a while - namely re-using old peanut butter tins to plant herbs. 1 has a mint- just a classic garden mint - and 2 others have “rescued”  supermarket basil and coriander - each bought for pennies because they were apparently pretty much dead… 

The beginning of the month saw the runner beans really take off - and start flowering. We’re growing two varieties this year - Scarlet Emperor and Polestar. Strangely enough we had little success with the Polestar seed last year, this year they’ve done OK, particularly those we sowed direct into the ground. 

The biggest thing we’re noticing about the garden is the contrast between when we moved in and now - I mean obviously we use the garden very differently to how our sellers did - to them it was a place to sit in the summer I think, and not a huge amount more than that. The pictures above show one side after and before the veg bed was dug out though and give at least a taste of how the feel of it has changed. The other side has the arches now, we’ve let next door’s honeysuckle and winter Jasmine continue to romp over the fence, and of course both sides of the path now being planted up has given that a very different feel.

Harvesting has now started well and truly - we’ve been enjoying wonderfully crisp, fresh beans with most meals, and although we’ve only had a couple of courgettes so far, there are an awful lot of flowers and I suspect very shortly we might be over run with them! The cucumbers too are flowering really well - and we seem to be getting a decent sized cuke every few days. The tomatoes are still a bit behind where we’d really like, but there are fruit forming now on most of the plants, so hopefully not long now before I can take them off my weekly shopping list! 

One thing I am really pleased with this year is that I’ve managed to get a decent crop of Basil. Last year every time I showed a pot of it, the squirrels came along and dug it up - the best I managed all year was a few handfuls of leaves for throwing into pasta dishes. This year is a different story - I’ve been doing successional sowings and it’s doing really well, I’ve managed to make a couple of batches of pesto as well as doing plenty of cooking with what is definitely one of my favourite herbs! 

Finally - and a first for us - is successfully growing peppers.We did chillies last year, and have a few plants of those again this year too, but we’d always assumed that peppers would be a bit optimistic allowing that we have no indoor growing space. So far though they seem to be doing well - they’re in tall pots tucked in front of the compost bin to provide a bit of shelter, and we’ve got some decent sized fruit forming! Very exciting! 

Robyn 

June in the garden…

Finally a month that we weren’t away for a great chunk of, and a chance to really get stuck in to the garden! In spite of our “neglect” over the past few months though, it’s already doing well - with the notable of our first peas harvested…

As expected they are absolutely delicious- in fact early on we were  pretty much just eating them raw - thrown into salads, couscous etc. The later end of the crop have been lightly cooked. Perfect little flavour bombs - and definitely a crop we will grow again allowing for how relatively low effort they have been. In future years we’d probably sow successionally to keep them coming for longer, too. The final few pods that dried on the plants as they were missed on picking have been set aside to dry for saved seed.  The strawberries too were producing well right through the month - we don’t have many plants so we’re never going to be looking at suitable amounts for jam or similar, but we’ve been thoroughly enjoying a few each here and there, often just eaten freshly picked from the plants as a treat! Those too will be multiplying by themselves as we’ve caught some runners and potted them up which should double our plant numbers for next year. 

Once again our trusty bargain mini greenhouse is proving it’s worth - less so the cold frame purchased earlier this year from one of the discounter supermarkets - that has turned out to be flimsy and with a tendency to pull itself apart in all but the lightest winds - so we wouldn’t recommend. It has shown us the value of a cold frame though so it is safe to say we might look into a rather more sturdy one at some stage.  It did serve a purpose, and we might see if it can be put back together in a slightly more structurally stable way! 

As for the general look of the garden - the front is really starting to come together into the sort of look we were aiming for now - sort of cottage garden on a very small scale. 

The Nicotiana in the middle there is a complete win - it sprang up from nowhere in the veg patch in the spring, we weren’t sure what it was but as it looked interesting MrEH dug it up and popped it into a pot…a month or so later it burst into the most beautiful flowers, and as it had just the amount of height we wanted, off to the front garden it went! The rose at the back was one of those we bought from a clearance section (either a local garden centre or the big orange DIY place, can’t recall which) last year and it’s one of the best things we have out in as it just flowers constantly and beautifully. The bright pink Salvia was purchased from the lovely plant chap at the local Farmers Market - £4! What a bargain! 

The back too is starting to look good - we’re intending to train the squashes over the arches, and with the Campanula, lavender and Rose Campion flowering we’re quite the haven for the local pollinators now.  We’ve started keeping a list of the various more interesting insects we’re seeing in the garden too - with the highlight being a couple of visits from a Hummingbird Hawk Moth the other weekend - the first time either of us had seen one! 

Robyn