Spring Update

Well, this is an impressive lapse in output, even by my standards! I'm prompted to start blathering again by a flurry of activity over the last few days.

First and formost, my dad built us this rather spiffy raised bed. Good innit? Roughly 2m by 1m, it should mean some actual decent edible output his year. I've got peas already going on a window sill and am hatching plots for beans, kale, plenty of interesting salad, and a smattering of whatever else I have lurking in my seed box. We filled it up with compost and horse shit, and I've watered it in so I'm just giving it a few days to settle before it starts sprouting cloches that look remarkably like plastic bottles. Looking forward to seeing what it brings us this year.

First Of The Year

The stars were aligned and the conditions were right. The kids napped, and it stopped raining for long enough for me to get outside for a couple of hours.

Autumn Planting

I'm starting to get increasingly worried about whether I'm going to get my autumn planting done. My garden, the back in particular, is very poor draining, and the amount of rain in the last few weeks has been enough to ensure everything stays sodden. Even with the odd rain free day, the ground just doesn't dry up enough to do much. The lawn stays like a paddling pool, and the beds are so wet that any digging at all will do more harm than good.

I'm hoping that I get a break soon as I've got quite a few bulbs to put out, as well as a load of perennials that I've grown from seed. The lawns are in serious need of their final haircut for the year.

The weather forcast isn't favourable, but I don't tend to pay much attention to it as it seems to have very little bearing on reality, so fingers crossed!

Posted with Blogsy

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!

 

Challenge Fail

Ok, so I appear to have totally failed on the photo challenge. Seriously, who has time to do that every day as well as keeping up with real life!?

Anyhoo, some pics from this morning...

 

NGS Garden Visit - Washington Old Hall

What better to do with another fine weekend but partake in a spot of garden visiting? Even better is a garden that is free to enter, but had a NGS plant stall, and a very reasonably priced tea shop with a fabulous selection of cake. Just the job. The Intrepid baby, my sister, and I felt it was too good to resist.

Garden Log - May 2013

What a month it's been for growth. Plenty of rain mixed with a reasonable amount of sunny days have sent things rocketing up! Lots of colour is appearing and the amount of soil showing is shrinking by the day. I've dug a new bed in the main garden (it's against a south facing fence, so hopefully that should allow me to try a few more sun lovers), and moved a few bits and pieces around. Here are this month's pictorial highlights.

The Hanging Planters Of.... Sunderland...

 

I read somewhere recently (possibly Gardeners World Magazine) about a thrifty method of preparing hanging baskets. Ever the cheapskate I decided to give it a go.

The general gist is quite simple - don't buy moss or whatever to line it with. Kill two birds with a single proverbial stone and use the mossy thatchy stuff that you can rake out of the lawn. Simple! Hanging basket liner and an incentive to get around to scarifying the lawn in one fell swoop.

Now to see how well it lasts. We've had a couple of seriously soggy, windy days since it went up and it has survived thus far. Only time and the ever delectable British climate will tell.

 

Posted with Blogsy