Garden Log - August 2013

Shock horror. A garden log posted in the month that's being written about! You may not see this again for some time...

Everything is looking and smelling fab this month, but there is a definite sense of things reaching a peak and winding down. The ornamental stuff has, for the most part, done better than I could have hoped. The veg on the other hand has been somewhat disappointing. A few strawberries earlier on in the year, and I'm getting a few courgettes and a bit of salad, but still no tomatoes. They're on the plant, but taking forever to ripen. I suspect this is probably down to the soil being a bit crap and nutrient starved. I've been reading about how last years constant deluge will have washed everything out of the soil so I'll have to take some steps to address this once things have died back a bit. My compost heap appears to be doing well, so I should have a good load of mulch to stick down, and the missus and I have been discussing building a raised veg bed in the border under the kitchen window which will allow me to import some good top soil and horse shit. None of this can hurt even if it doesn't improve things (which I doubt will be the case) so we shall see.

Without further ado, here are some pictures!

 

Garden Visit - Jardines De Alfabia, Mallorca

The other half and I recently spent a relaxing, child free week on the Balearic island of Mallorca. Many will cringe at the mention of it, picturing horrific clumps England transplanted, numerous St. George's crosses and all, to a sunburned collection of cheap all inclusives and "English Bars". Past experience had led me to believe much the same thing. What we discovered away from all of this however was a very pleasant coastal village called S'illot. There were a few hotels and the odd Anglicised pub, but there was also a fine selection of Spanish Bars and restaurants offering local food and drink, which is just the sort of thing we like when we go away. Needless to say, I ate like a pig and we drank a very pleasing amount of local beverages. I still find it incredible that you can buy a carton of very nice Spanish wine for less that 2 Euros... Anyhow, enough of that, on with the point of this post.