~ garden update ~

Spent this afternoon working in the garden and i have to say… i do feel much better for it (thanks to Michiel who gently prodded me out there). Most of the afternoon was spent on the tomatoes. I didn’t realise that sideshoots can grow back, and some of the sideshoots at the bottom, that i’d not seen, were very large, and it takes time to check over 14 tomatoes plants!! I collected all the sideshoots up (some of which had actually flowered) and dumped them into the tyres i’d put at the top of the sweetpea/cane area, intending to fill it with compost and plant something in that. I may well still do that, but in the meantime i’m trying to put plant debris at the bottom so that it rots down and provides a little bit of compost. Still, you can see just how much i cut off the tomato plants, and how big some of those side shoots were in this photo. (as always, more photos behind the cut).

the tomatoes needed tying to the canes too, and i straightened the canes running along the tops of the canes, keeping the whole structure more stable, and put more canes in on the tomato plants by the greenhouse (that didn’t have canes running across the top). I also tied up the cucumber plant, which was growing horizontally out from where i’d last tied it from!! Its not doing that any more which is good. Hopefully the fact that the side shoots are now gone will encourage the plants to put their energies into creating fruits and making the ones that they have got swell - although i think it won’t be long before i’m going to have to pinch out the growing tips. I gave them all (and the courgettes) a good feed so hopefully that will help too.

You can see here the difference between before and after, with the moneymaker tomatoes which are situated in front of the greenhouse. They certainly are better for being held together across the top - its also less likely that the wind will blow the canes into the greenhouse (and run the risk of ripping the plastic).

Bed 3, which i have been promising i would do for ages… i tried to do today. In conversation with Sez i realised that the softer earth may make it easier to bang the wooden sides into the earth… only.. there was a tree in that corner, which was chopped down i think before we moved into the flat, but the roots are still there and these roots, rather large ones, make it impossible to hammer the wood into the earth (in the photo, where there’s a lightcoloured square (a junkfood box) is where the tree stump is, so you can see how close it is to bed 3). So i’m going to have to rethink that one. What i may do is to just rest the wooden sides on top of the earth as it is, but support them on the far side by means of bricks or concrete blocks. Not pretty, but it would keep the wooden sides upright and with earth/compost in the bed, as a raised bed, it would keep that side level. I’ll have to investigate the cost of bricks - although i may be able to manage with the ones that are scattered around the garden (for some reason, the local kids like throwing bricks into our garden).

Oh! and one of the butternut squash seeds that i planted has germinated!! Its grown into quite a big little seedling - i think it may rival the courgettes in size eventually! It’ll have to go outside though. I wonder if it’ll grow any fruits before the winter? hmm. Or i could keep it in the greenhouse - the extra heat may help it to develop fruits, and there’s certainly room (the biggest problem will be keeping the bloomin slugs off them). I need to do some reading up on butternut squashes, i think.

The rain that is beleaguering everyone else in the UK isn’t having too much of a negative effect here (far more damaging is the lack of any real sunlight). The biggest problem is those tubs that don’t have any real drainage (yes now you know why all the books/programmes bang on about drainage, keth) - i keep having to tip out those pots to drain the water off the top. The three mostly badly affected at the moment are the cherry tomato plants (three of them, one in a planter and two in the old BBQ) and the long tub that i planted some morning glory and sweetpeas in. The morning glory is racing up the canes that i planted in there, and if i just keep tipping out the water, and we get a good summer for the rest of the summer (by no means certain) then i might just get a nice display. The other morning glories are racing the sweetpeas up the canes at the other end of the garden, i’ve had some flowers off those sweetpeas (cupani variety, absolutely gorgeous deep blushing purple and i will be growing them again), i just keep cutting them off to try to encourage them to flower some more.

Courgettes are doing well. All the flowers at the moment seem to be of the female variety which means, of course, that they’re not being fertilised and growing bigger. Humph. Apparently this often happens however, so i just have to be patient. The “di nice a rond” or whateveritwas (that sez sent me) is growing nicely, with a couple round fruits already - apparently i can harvest those when they get to golf ball size. The kojacks - which are very similar to the ones you get in the supermarket) have produced a couple of female fruits, which aren’t being fertilised - i may just pick em anyway to have as baby courgettes. The gold rush ones are growing too, i can see several female fruits, but they’ve got to grow some yet. Looking forward to getting lots of fruits over the rest of the summer (what there is of it).

Inside the greenhouse the cucumber plants are growing well, as i already mentioned, and one of my capsium (pepper) plants has produced a flower! There are others ready to burst into bloom too so hopefully i’ll get a harvest from them. Not so sure about the chillis, i think they may just have been too badly bitten by the slugs earlier in the season. The aubergines are doing well as well, a couple of them need potting up so must get some bigger pots tomorrow. I think i can see them ready to flower in places, which is good, although something is eating the leaves - its not slugs, as i go out there every night. hmmm. The kale plants are growing well as well, although they need potting up really really badly - in fact, they need to get outside in the earth. As do my leeks and celeriacs, which have been terribly patient in their small pots, waiting until i can transplant them into the (as yet) nonexistent bed 3. I had considered actually putting them in bed 1 or 2, just potting them up until the other vegetables in bed 1 and 2 have been harvested and dug out, but i don’t think that will work - i am going to need bed 3, come hell or high water!! I grew some cornflowers in the greenhouse as well, and they’ve burst into flower way before the ones outside did, which is lovely to see. don’t have many flowers in my garden, as i need the space for veg.

Finally i want to share the view i have from the back door, as i go out every day. its moving from left to right, you can see the tomatoes, the sweetpeas beyond them, then bed 1 and 2, with their wigwams and beans, the courgettes between them, then bed 3 (or the area for it) and in front of it, the greenhouse, the tomatoes to the left of the greenhouse with the courgettes making a semi-circle around the guylines, then back towards the house with the strawberry plants against the wall and other plants in a kind of informal nursery:

So, i need to rethink Bed 3. Accepting that the tree roots are causing a big problem means a rethink on multiple levels (for my long term plans too). I think the way to go is to build raised beds on the surface, as i’ve already said, underneath the trees as well - as i wanted to make the most of the rest of the garden, maybe with flowers, and some shrubs against the fence to increase the privacy levels in the garden. Its a big adventure and i keep reminding myself that i can’t do it all in one year!!!