How does your garden grow?

[Trev62]

Sounds like you have a lot of work on Spreckly.

Here, everywhere needs weeding, seeds need planting, a couple of beds still need preparing yet the rain keeps falling, falling and falling.

[Spreckly]

Not really, Trev. I can take my time, and have no livestock to look after, except my little dog. My sons cut the lawns, which are really beyond my strength. I just tick over.

This morning I have first coated one half of the framework for the underneath of the coal bunker lid, and made a dreadful mess, it is difficult to reach it easily. Fortunately the drips and smears are on the underneath and won't show.

Isn't It great to have Manda back!

[Mo]

I seem to remember sowing wallflowers in June(?) to grow and then flower the next year. They are biennials, though if you leave them they will survive and flower for longer. Though they get very leggy and woody if left for extra years. We had some against the wall of the house next to the path, in poor soil and they self seeded, various colours popped up. We just pulled them out when they looked too bad.

I seem to have problems with runner beans from seed, but last year i got plants from a friend at dance club who brings all sorts of plants for the charity bring and buy. Spoke to her last night to see if I could reserve some and she said they were in the spare room, just showing through. Hope they survive my slugs.

[Trev62]

Isn't It great to have Manda back!

Fully agree and hopefully a few members that continue to browse will post again also. I had forgotten how enjoyable being a member here was

[manda]

Isn't It great to have Manda back!

Aww thank you xx

I have missed being here actually but life got in the way with the house build. Living in a caravan was "interesting" (I'd like to never do it again ).

Our gardens currently are paddocks ...there is lots of Wooly Mullein which is a pain and needs to go but it's not going to go quickly. We have lots of ideas for gardens and the veggie patch is a blank space at the moment. We are on old river bed so to say it's stoney would be an understatement but we plan to do a bit of stone burying and then build up. There's a local business that do have untreated sawdust free so hubby has spoken with them and the plan is to get trailer loads of the stuff which we will mulch with and I have compost bins that are doing well which we can add to the top.

Somewhere in it all we'd like to try and build a root cellar which if we can will look a bit like a hobbit house ..pipe dream at the moment but we like the idea of not being reliant on electricity to store produce.

[Spreckly]

Hope your garden plans take shape for you Manda.

Mo, I think it was you who mentioned about slugs. I bought some organic slug pellets this morning. Slugs or snails have chewed up some of the chrysanth leaves in the greenhouse, so the pots have all had a dose of the pellets. They were the cheapest ones in the shop. The prices

[Mo]

What does 'Organic' mean in this context. I would have thought that if it just means plant based they might be just as poisonous to friendly wildlife and pets as that made by chemical processes.

It is very dispiriting when things get eaten though.

[Trev62]

With the volume of rain that is falling everyday I am considering growing rice in our field. Not sure how much more water the ground can absorb. You know it is a wet year when all the puddles have frogs spawning in them, not a good sign.

[Trev62]

Today we picked our first strawberries and very nice they were to! We lost a lot of plants due to letting the geese wander last year whilst dismantling the old barn but have been planting all the new runners (if that is what you call them) which will hopefully root and be transplanted to their new home at the end of the year but up next, home made strawberry cheese cake, best let the belt out a notch

Forgot to mention we also harvested our first batch of herbs, Thyme, Sage and Mint. Some has been hung to dry the rest are in the dehydrators at present. Smells good

[Trev62]

After several days of heavy rain and thunderstorms we have had to rescue most of the peas as they and their supports had collapsed, lots to pop out of their pods but so far around 1.5 kgs have gone in the freezer, also picked most of our gooseberries, quite a few for their second year and many of the stems we dug in have rooted so we can separate and move them later in the year so hopefully increasing our crop next year. All the currant bushes are producing, picked a few black ones today for breakfast tomorrow but the red and white currant plants are heavy with fruit but just not ready to pick. Again this is our second year with them so we are surprised with what they have produced.

[Mo]

The blackbirds think my black and redcurrants are ready. I'll have to find time to pick the few ripe ones. Easier if they were all ready but the birds won't leave them

[Trev62]

That's it, all the peas are up, shelled and in the freezer, first beans picked today, a massive bucket load and several bowlfuls of red and blackcurrants (though like you Mo the birds seemed to have had a lot of our black currants). We will start picking the white currants tomorrow they seem to have ripened slower than the others. Still getting a few strawberries as well so not a bad year with them. Lots of courgettes so the animals are getting treated to some of them and to top it all, three red raspberries and one black raspberry! They will be in the dish for breakfast tomorrow. Cannot wait till the raspberries are ready, love them.

[Mo]

I've been finding hollowed out gooseberries on the path. And saw a squirrel near them yesterday so suspect that was the culprit. Not had that before. I wanted to leave them to sweeten but I'd better get picking (why am I still sitting here?). Had some of the ripest in a fruit salad yesterday, but the less ripe can freeze for stewing.

[lancashire lass]

I tried to reply earlier but there seems to be something wrong with the DTL website - it has been overly slow on some occasions (both my computer at home and the one at work) Anyhoo ...

saw a squirrel near them yesterday so suspect that was the culprit.

a colleague at work is always at war with the squirrels (which like to dig up his newly planted spring bulbs ....) but it seems unusual to hollow out the fruit - I would have thought they would have removed the entire fruit or (between thorns) attempt to half-eat instead. Have you checked the fruits have no sawfly larvae?

[Mo]

The fruit is on the drive. I'm used to birds taking my soft fruit and knocking whole gooseberries off but never found hollow fruit before. It was just seeing the squirrel running ahead of me up the drive that made me suspect it.