Phew - a much welcomed quieter month after a very busy - although also very lovely - month of May!
One thing which technically should have snuck in at the end of last month's post was the investment in a new water butt. It's been frustrating us for a while that although we collect the water off the roof of the shed and office, the water from the back of the house itself went straight down the drain. There is quite an expanse of roof there too with the main house roof and the extension as well, so we'd been discussing how easy it would be to fit another butt. The first stage of this task was done when we got the new table in place as there was finally the space we needed. I got off rather lightly on this one - MrEH realised he had time to take a look at it while I was off waving my camera around at Midlands Air Festival, and by the time I got home, it was all fitted and in place - very impressive work! The first burst of hard rain we had after it was installed saw it fill up pretty much immediately as well - so that will be a money-saving and environmentally friendly bonus.
One of the issues with a small garden is finding space for all the things you want to grow - and ours is no exception on this. As usual we're using pots for absolutely anything that is even vaguely suited to it - so my tomato plantation - which is spread about the garden in several different locations this year to try to encourage a spread of ripening times - we have a LOT of plants, and could end up positively buried in tomatoes! Some of the smallest bush tom plants have gone into a grow bag - we know they work well that way. Some of our peppers and chillies also end up in grow bags although for the taller ones we tend to opt for pots as they are then easier to stake when needed. A new diversion this year is seeing how peas do in a pot - I mentioned this last month, we're trying it mainly to see if we can stop the birds from noshing the shoots! So far, so good, they seem happy enough and they're certainly growing! Herbs also get scattered round in assorted pots - we have oddments in the ground too - a savoury; red veined sorrel (recovering from being moved last winter) and a bronze fennel (lovely - but spends much of its summer covered in aphids!) plus a creeping thyme in the front, but other than that they are all in various pots and of course my lovely recycled wine boxes too. Having a range of herbs ready to be cut when needed is an absolute delight, and I always add a variety of soft herbs in the summer too.
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In the main veg bed this year is the bulk of the "tall stuff" - so our sweetcorn - slightly more plants than we grew last year - and the obelisk with runner beans, plus a row of what will hopefully be giant sunflowers (more for the birds than for us) and a good sized calendula as a companion plant. We are still hoping to get some brassicas in along the back interspersed as well. The smaller/lower stuff is then planted in and around those things - one of our courgettes (which we hope will clamber out and spread across the path and then the grass) the bush beans - a mix of yellow and purple this year. One cucumber has found a home in the centre of the obelisk - the hope is it will clamber up and we’ll be able to find its fruit amongst the runner bean foliage!
We've continued with harvesting strawberries - although it's been a handful at a time just for eating straight off the plants, for the most part. We did harvest our one surviving cabbage at the beginning of the month - that was eaten in a stir fry and was very tasty. I'm certainly keen to try those again this year, although we may need to up our game with the anti-slug approaches! I think the first harvest of next month is likely to be tomatoes though - look…
I’m hoping the tomatoes don’t all start ripening at once or we’ll be over-run with them - we’ve ended up with so many more plants than I intended thanks to MrEH’s inability to accept that “spare plants” can be either passed on, or composted if not required! It is currently proving to be quite some task to keep up with watering, tieing in and feeding all the plants, and I can see a lot of tomato sauce, roasted tomatoes and passata in our future!
The other crop which is coming along particularly nicely is our Tromboncino squashes - this is another one where we could be over-run, and for the same reason - the two plants I had planned became 4 at MrEH’s hand! Apparently they are a little like a cross between courgette and a butternut squash - I’ve wanted to grow them ever since we’ve been here but this is the first year I’ve remembered to get the seeds. Being vigorous climbers they are ideal for our little garden as they are climbing cheerfully up the trellis panels and the arches. It must be said though, I’m not sure what the neighbours will think as the squashes do look a bit…well, rude!
Meanwhile in the front garden the star of the show has been our gorgeous pale yellow rose which has been flowering its head off for the past couple of months - I mean just look at it! It’s been cheerfully sprawling not only over our front garden, but over next doors too - we asked next door if they would like us to cut it back - “absolutely not!” came the response! We’ve had endless comments about how nice the front garden looks since we’ve moved in - it’s lovely that other people are enjoying it as much as we do!
Robyn
