Through the Garden Gate--June 2020

The month of June just seemed to fly by, I can't believe we are now in July.  We had a lot of rain in June--some of it very heavy, but we also had some very hot days. After all that rain the garden is looking very lush and fresh, the colours are brighter, the green is greener. Have you noticed how lovely it always smells after the rain? The rain has also made some areas of the garden look quite bedraggled.  We have some tall grasses--Calamagrostis which have flopped over. They can be quite annoying when they flop over a path, blocking the way and then you get showered with raindrops as you try to negotiate your way around them.

Despite looking bedraggled in places I can see that the effect I wanted to achieve when we first planned the garden--that of having little secluded seating areas surrounded by planting--seems to be working. Its not a big garden but when we sit on the patio, surrounded by tall grasses and plants either side of the archway there are other parts of the garden we can't see.  I like that, it gives us some privacy.

patio area

lower seating area

A few weeks ago there were a lot of pinks and blues in the borders, now there is a lot of yellow from the Alchemilla Mollis, Lysimachia, Thalictrum and golden grasses.

Alchemilla mollis

The clematis have established themselves well and are now in flower and scrambling up the obelisks and over the fence.

clematis

This poppy has gone over now but was really lovely it is called 'Bolero'.

On one hot sunny day we spotted a Humming bird hawk-moth on the white Valerian, apparently Valerian is one of the flowers which these creatures like. It moved too fast for me to photograph it though.

white Valerian

The patio pots are flowering away.  I bought some new herb pots to replace some which weren't looking as good--rosemary, thyme, sage and oregano and put them near the kitchen door. It's easier to snip them here instead of having to go down the garden, where they were before.

front garden border

Last year we made the borders in the front and side gardens bigger and planted them up with cottage garden plants.  Now they are looking good and much more colourful and abundant.  So we now have a much better view from the house windows.

front garden

I am linking this post with Sarah's blog at 'Down by the Sea' for her monthly
'Through the Garden Gate' post.

Some unwelcome visitors

 When we arrived at the allotment last Saturday we had a nasty shock--the plot had been broken into.   An attempt had been made to break the big padlock but having failed at this  a panel had been pulled out of the gate to enable the intruder(s) to climb over. As we walked up the plot we could see there was no damage to the vegetable beds but the shed door was open and various boxes and tins had been opened and left strewn about the benches. We don't keep any valuables on the allotment so there was nothing worth stealing and we know from past break-ins on this site that it's always the power tools which get stolen from plots. There were other plots which had been broken into on Saturday and some things had been stolen, so we were lucky.

So things could have been much worse and after a chat with our neighbour on the next plot we set to work on our jobs for the day.  Richard's job was going to be to put up a brassica frame which he has been making, but that had to be put to one side while he mended the gate.

We've been enjoying our time spent at the allotment these last few weeks. The beds are filling up and looking green. In the pea and bean bed the first lot of broad beans I planted are now starting to form some pods and the first lot of peas also have pods which are beginning to swell. We are so looking forward to being able to harvest them.

I have two other lots of peas growing in another bed, one of them is a purple podded pea. Unfortunately these two rows of peas have been nibbled by pea and bean weevils--more intruders but of a different kind! They don't look very attractive at the moment but I'm hoping that they will all recover.

                                                     

In the roots bed I am now picking beetroot and sowing successional rows for throughout the season. I sowed some fennel seed a few weeks ago but there is little sign of germination. Old seed perhaps?

Looking in the fruit cages I could see that there are plenty of blueberries which will be starting to ripen in a few weeks.  Fruit are appearing on the raspberries which I planted last year. In the other cage there are blackcurrants and the branches of the redcurrant bush are heavy with fruit. The gooseberries don't seem to have much fruit, but they have been moved this year to another bed and so might need time to recover. And the rhubarb just keeps on going. I freeze some and give some to friends.

Over in the brassica bed things are growing well. Weeks ago I planted two rows of cabbages--Kilaton and Greyhound and these are looking great. They've not hearted up yet, but could be picked for spring greens if we needed any. I do hope the slugs keep well away from them. I will be planting more cabbages next to them soon as well as cauliflower.  At the other end of this bed are kale and brussels sprouts. It's a big bed and needs to be netted against pigeons and cabbage white butterflies. So this is what Richard has been doing recently at home--making a wooden frame with netting fixed to it which can be put in place and then moved each year to another bed as we rotate the crops.

Well that's my allotment update for now, I'll be back again soon, and let's hope the intruders won't return.

Growing vegetables in containers

 At the start of lockdown I was worried that we might not be allowed to visit our allotments, so I started to grow some vegetables in containers at home in the garden. As it happened we didn't get our allotments shut down and we have been able to spend time there, but I have continued growing some veg in containers and it is interesting to compare  how they grow in these different situations.

I have a variety of  containers from big plant pots to old plastic storage boxes and council recycling boxes. Old compost bags turned inside out can be used too for potatoes. There are also containers which can be bought from garden centres or online especially for growing vegetables.

The salad bar

I started off sowing seeds of salad leaves, radish and spring onions in plastic troughs. These have grown really well, especially the salad leaves. I sowed some lettuce seeds, intending to take them to the allotment when they were big enough to plant out--a flat lettuce called 'Clarion' and an 'Iceberg' type. In the end I decided to plant them in troughs too as I find that lettuce often get attacked by slugs in the ground at the allotment. In the troughs they don't have as much space to spread out but that won't matter. I am finding that its easier to have the salad stuff here at home so I can just pop outside if we want a few salad leaves with a meal.

Healthy looking pea plants

I have two big storage boxes which I sowed peas into a few weeks apart. They are coming on well so I'm hoping that as well as the peas from the allotment we will have plenty of them this year. My husband loves home grown peas and I can never grow enough. The allotment peas have had their leaves nibbled by pea weevils, but the ones grown at home are looking weevil free.

Also in a big box are French climbing beans.  These are a mix of 'Blauhilde' which is a purple bean and 'Blue Lake'.

Climbing beans

I have problems with carrot fly at the allotment and after several years of ruined crops I thought I would try growing them at home. They are in a big tub and have germinated well. I will sow another lot soon.

Carrots

I am also growing beetroot and courgettes, both are growing well. In fact the courgette plants  seem to be much bigger than the allotment ones.

Courgette plants

I started off with all these vegetable containers on the patio where they would get a lot of sun, but have since moved them onto the drive.  This was partly because I was running out of space on the patio, but more importantly I think they were getting too much sun and often seemed to wilt in hot weather. On the drive there is sun and shade and they seem much happier now.

courgette plants

I am now harvesting lettuce and salad leaves--no other vegetables are ready yet, but with flowers on the peas which will turn into pods and little courgettes starting to form, I'm sure it won't be long before we are picking veg at home as well as at the allotment.

Through the Garden Gate--May 2020

May was a really busy month in the garden, there has been so much change as the borders have burst into flower and the jobs have been plentiful too.  We've enjoyed the lovely warm weather sitting relaxing or getting on with the jobs which have been mainly planting up containers with summer bedding.

Weeks ago when garden centres were still closed, I wondered if I would be able to get any summer plants for my patio containers. But I managed to find a local plant nursery which did a click and collect service. There were some offers on plants one being 8 trays of bedding plants and a big tray of basket plants. So I took advantage of this offer but I soon realised that there were probably many more plants than I would normally have bought. All planted up now and looking good, but it was hard work.

Walking round the garden each day I love to see what's newly come into bloom. The alliums were lovely but gone over now and I forgot to take photos of them. Now the lupins are out and are looking great.  These are one of my favourite cottage garden flowers.

Holly the cat seems totally unimpressed by the lupins

The blue irises opened up this week

The Gertrude Jekyll rose has finally taken off this year and is happily clambering up the archway. It smells wonderful.

There are other lovely smells around, this morning I noticed that the yellow honeysuckle which I think is called 'Scentsation' is flowering and climbing over the fence.  This was a cutting from one which we bought for our daughter a few years ago.

Hope you've all been enjoying your gardens and this beautiful weather.

I am linking this blog post to Sarah's  at 'Down by the Sea' for her monthly 'Through the Garden Gate' post

Looking good on the allotment

 It's quite some time since I last did an allotment blog. So much has happened since then, but although things are not good in the world at the moment we have been able to spend a lot of time down on the allotment. In fact it has never looked as good as it does at the moment.

We have prepared all the beds and started planting and sowing. The potatoes-- Swift and Charlotte are planted in the containers.  Richard has been cutting some height off the privet hedge which runs down one side of the plot. It takes a lot of light off our plot. It has been hard work sawing through the branches but he has finished that now and it has made a big difference.

My kitchen has been full of seedlings for weeks now and it will be good to be able to see the windowsill again soon. I start most of the seeds off at home, then gradually the seedlings move out to the greenhouse at the allotment as they get stronger. It is filling up now, tomatoes and chillies are in there, flowers and leeks.

The allotment beds are starting to fill up. Peas and broad beans are in. I started broad beans ( Bunyards Exhibition) off early on in cardboard tubes and planted them in the ground in a double row when they were big enough. After I planted them I then sowed some more broad bean seeds (Super Aquadulce)  straight into the ground. I have been watching for ages to see signs of them coming through and last weekend there they were all through. I never fail to get excited by the sight of seedlings poking their heads through the soil.

The first lot of peas (Douce Provence) to go in the ground were started off in the greenhouse in lengths of guttering and as with the beans, once they had grown enough to be planted I then sowed another row straight into the ground.

This second lot are Onward. I'm hoping I will still have room for another row of beans and peas. These are vegetables which we really love so I try to grow as much as I have space for. We put three cane wigwams in place at the end of the bed for the climbing beans. I have started some off at home in the shed in cardboard tubes. I have done two varieties--Blue Lake and a purple bean Blauhilde. These will be ready to plant out in late May.

In another bed I planted the onions a few weeks ago--Sturon and Stuttgard. These were started off in cell trays and planted out when they had formed a root system. I find them easier to plant this way and they get a head start so are stronger and less likely to be pulled out by the birds.

In the brassica bed are two rows of cabbages--Kilaton and Greyhound. I covered them with netting as there are a couple of pigeons which keep coming on the plot and eyeing these cabbage plants up.

So things are starting to happen on the plot, it is all looking good. We are enjoying the time we spend there, it is a good place to be at the moment and we are happy that we are still allowed to go to our allotments.  It is quiet and we are well away from other people, we feel quite safe.

Through the Garden Gate--April 2020

April has been a lovely month in the garden.  Lockdown has meant we have had more time to spend gardening and the weather has been beautiful. We have had lovely days working with the sun on our backs or sitting relaxing and admiring the garden.

The borders are filling out now and becoming more colourful each day.  I'm sure some plants are flowering earlier, it must be the warm weather which has brought them on.

The tulips have been lovely, all grown in pots, I must grow more next year.  The Amelanchier tree is the first to produce blossom, such dainty flowers, but they don't last long.

Along the grass verges outside our house are rows of cherry blossom trees. These look amazing when they are all flowering. The crab apple in the garden is now flowering, it has lovely white blossom.  

This little area in front of the shed is one of my favourites. It was newly planted up last year.  I love the blue Camassia and pink Aquilegia with the blue of the Ceaonothus further back.

 Aquliegias are popping up all over the garden now, they are a lovely cottage garden plant and although they seed all over the place I do love them.  The Alliums are about to burst into flower, hopefully in next month's garden review I will have a good photo of them.

At this time of year we are regular visitors to our local garden centres and plant nurseries. But lockdown has meant we can no longer visit them.  After much searching around I finally found that some nurseries are offering click and collect or a telephone  home delivery service. How relieved I was to be able to still buy compost and container bedding plants.

I am linking this post with Sarah's blog  at 'Down by the Sea' for her monthly
'Through the Garden Gate' post