Now I'm going to force you to look at them.
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| Blackberries through the netting |
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| Chive flower |
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| New camera :) |
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| about to flower |
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| a happy sunflower |
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
A new toy
I got a new camera! I'm really pleased with it and I have been taking hundreds of bad photos as an excuse to play with all of the buttons.
Now I'm going to force you to look at them.
Now I'm going to force you to look at them.
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Catch up post
I've had a really busy week this week and have done no gardening. The weather has been incredible so I have managed to sit in the garden and get sunburned twice.
On Thursday morning I realised that I hadn't been watering my Strawberry basket. It is very unhappy, this is what it looked like on Thursday morning.
It is looking a little better now but is still in a bit of a huff. Hopefully I will nurse it back to health.
My chives are starting to flower, I love the way they look. I'm also very pleased that I managed to take this picture with my P&S camera.
We have been eating lettuce from the garden and the kitchen window sill all week which is great. This is my lettuce growing indoors in a variety of containers.
Do you remember ages ago, in early April the naughty rabbit chewed my kiwi vine in half? I put the top half in a jar of water in my kitchen and this morning I noticed it was starting to flower! I has been in water for nearly two months so I can't believe it is still alive. I'm not really sure what to do with it!
On Thursday morning I realised that I hadn't been watering my Strawberry basket. It is very unhappy, this is what it looked like on Thursday morning.
My chives are starting to flower, I love the way they look. I'm also very pleased that I managed to take this picture with my P&S camera.
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| Chive flower |
Do you remember ages ago, in early April the naughty rabbit chewed my kiwi vine in half? I put the top half in a jar of water in my kitchen and this morning I noticed it was starting to flower! I has been in water for nearly two months so I can't believe it is still alive. I'm not really sure what to do with it!
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| Miracle flowering kiwi vine |
Sunday, May 20, 2012
Such a busy day
It has been a glorious day today so we spent most of it out in the garden. Fabulous husband took three car loads of old slabs to the dump which let me tidy up the back patio and get rid of some monster weeds. I also earthed up the potatoes with some help from the toddler who loved tipping his little bucket of earth onto the plants. I also sowed a few more lettuce, camomile and celeriac seeds to fill in some gaps.
I decided to tackle the potato plant in the compost bin. This is what it looked like when I opened the door, everything seems to be composting well at the bottom except for the very healthy looking potato plant.
Years ago, when we bought the house, there was a horrible bush in the patio near the house, I pulled it up and soon afterwards we put down turf in the main garden and got some builders in to make a retaining wall so that the back is now fairly flat. The space that used to have the bush was used by the builders to dump a lot of sand which they never took away. We have had a bench sitting on top of this and I have been ignoring it for years. Today I decided that I would put some herbs in that patch so the toddler and I put all of the sand in a big bucket, I was so pleased to discover that under all the sand were a few metres of edging slabs because we were planning to buy some! The builders must have stuck them down before dumping the sand. I've moved the edging slabs to the back to surround one of the new beds and I dug the last of my bought compost into the new bed and planted rosemary and sage seeds and some artichoke seeds which I will let flower if they can grow in this poor soil / poor light combination.
In case any of them do work, the rosemary and Imperial star are on the left, the sage and purple globe are on the right.
So now I'm tired, a little sunburned and pretty satisfied with my day :)
I decided to tackle the potato plant in the compost bin. This is what it looked like when I opened the door, everything seems to be composting well at the bottom except for the very healthy looking potato plant.
I had a little dig around and managed to get (I think) all of of the plant out. As a reward for this I also found seven little potatoes which I'm going to eat tomorrow.
I also planted all of my indoor grown squash, cauliflower, asparagus and leeks (mostly because I want my windowsills back). We fashioned some rabbit defence from canes and garden mesh to stop Daisy eating it all. The cola cans are to stop me poking my eye out on the canes when I'm weeding.
Years ago, when we bought the house, there was a horrible bush in the patio near the house, I pulled it up and soon afterwards we put down turf in the main garden and got some builders in to make a retaining wall so that the back is now fairly flat. The space that used to have the bush was used by the builders to dump a lot of sand which they never took away. We have had a bench sitting on top of this and I have been ignoring it for years. Today I decided that I would put some herbs in that patch so the toddler and I put all of the sand in a big bucket, I was so pleased to discover that under all the sand were a few metres of edging slabs because we were planning to buy some! The builders must have stuck them down before dumping the sand. I've moved the edging slabs to the back to surround one of the new beds and I dug the last of my bought compost into the new bed and planted rosemary and sage seeds and some artichoke seeds which I will let flower if they can grow in this poor soil / poor light combination.
In case any of them do work, the rosemary and Imperial star are on the left, the sage and purple globe are on the right.
So now I'm tired, a little sunburned and pretty satisfied with my day :)
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Compost worries
I didn't spend much time in the garden today, just an hour pottering around the edges after coming home from the park.
I got myself all worried about the compost bin. It is hoaching with slugs and ants and I can't really turn it any more because of the massive potato plant growing at the bottom (the tubers are everywhere and are holding it all together). Luckily google knows everything:
Slugs are a good thing - they eat all the stuff I put in there (obviously) and tend not to venture out of their warm, predator free home looking for food when it is all provided for them.
For the unexpected potatoes, apparently I can pull them up and eat them if they look ok, or try to get them out and plant them in a pot. Or leave them if I feel lazy. I'll have a go at getting them out tomorrow.
Despite chucking buckets of water into the compost bin and (trying to) turn it more frequently the ants are undeterred. More googling suggests that they will probably eat seeds and aerate the compost (reducing the need for turning?) which are good things.
I might look in the pound shops tomorrow for some slug barriers to encircle the compost bin just in case.
Other than worrying about the compost bin (and itching incessantly ever since I saw all those ants) I did a little weeding and thinned the swede plants. I've also put the squash and asparagus out to harden off.
Some photos to prove I did go outside today.
I got myself all worried about the compost bin. It is hoaching with slugs and ants and I can't really turn it any more because of the massive potato plant growing at the bottom (the tubers are everywhere and are holding it all together). Luckily google knows everything:
Slugs are a good thing - they eat all the stuff I put in there (obviously) and tend not to venture out of their warm, predator free home looking for food when it is all provided for them.
For the unexpected potatoes, apparently I can pull them up and eat them if they look ok, or try to get them out and plant them in a pot. Or leave them if I feel lazy. I'll have a go at getting them out tomorrow.
Despite chucking buckets of water into the compost bin and (trying to) turn it more frequently the ants are undeterred. More googling suggests that they will probably eat seeds and aerate the compost (reducing the need for turning?) which are good things.
I might look in the pound shops tomorrow for some slug barriers to encircle the compost bin just in case.
Other than worrying about the compost bin (and itching incessantly ever since I saw all those ants) I did a little weeding and thinned the swede plants. I've also put the squash and asparagus out to harden off.
Some photos to prove I did go outside today.
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| Lettuce I planted on the 24th March |
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| The Hibiscus I bought last week |
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| The rabbit who eats everything |
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| The strawberries I bought last week |
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| The first sunflower. Planted on the 6th Feb |
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| Lettuce planted on 3rd May |
Global market day
The global market was in town last weekend so we bought some new plants for the garden. I got a big basket of Strawberries, a Hibiscus and a Fuschia. The Hibiscus and Fuschia will fill in some gaps in the flower bed and the Strawberry basket is to replace the strawberries that I had growing on the ground before the rabbit ate them all up.
I got almost nothing done in the garden other than planting my purchases and pulling up a few weeds. On Sunday it rained so heavily I didn't go outside once and then I went away for work for a few days.
Things are really starting to happen in the garden, here are some photos I took last weekend. (I'll do a post for this weekend later).
I got almost nothing done in the garden other than planting my purchases and pulling up a few weeds. On Sunday it rained so heavily I didn't go outside once and then I went away for work for a few days.
Things are really starting to happen in the garden, here are some photos I took last weekend. (I'll do a post for this weekend later).
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| Purple sprouting broccoli - beautiful colours |
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| The cherry tree has set fruit |
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| My first sunflower is nearly here |
Thursday, May 3, 2012
A nice afternoon
I left work (almost) on time this afternoon because the sun was shining and it was too nice to work. I made the most of my hour in the garden by planting the three raspberry canes I bought in the sale and all of the flower seeds.
One of the raspberries looked good but the other two looked near death so I am not optimistic. All of the flowers wanted to be planted in a nursery bed then moved on later. I'm much too lazy for that so I've gone with my typical method of chucking the seeds everywhere and watering them a bit.
I also planted some more peas and lettuce in some pots outside and did a little weeding.
One of the raspberries looked good but the other two looked near death so I am not optimistic. All of the flowers wanted to be planted in a nursery bed then moved on later. I'm much too lazy for that so I've gone with my typical method of chucking the seeds everywhere and watering them a bit.
I also planted some more peas and lettuce in some pots outside and did a little weeding.
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
What I have learned so far
So I'm 1/4 of the way through the year and I have already learned some important lessons.
1. don't put dandelions in the compost bin
2. protect tasty plants from the rabbit
3. growing cauliflower, broccoli and swede outside is easier than growing them indoors (since God takes care of the watering and daylight)
3. I should be more careful about how many seeds I plant, I have twice what I need of some seedlings.
4. However, sometimes things just don't work out and I have to try again.
5. Flowers make me happy, I should plant more.
6. I can get almost anything I need on sale or in the pound shop
1. don't put dandelions in the compost bin
2. protect tasty plants from the rabbit
3. growing cauliflower, broccoli and swede outside is easier than growing them indoors (since God takes care of the watering and daylight)
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| Cauliflower |
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| Swede |
4. However, sometimes things just don't work out and I have to try again.
5. Flowers make me happy, I should plant more.
6. I can get almost anything I need on sale or in the pound shop
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| One of the Tulips I planted in December |
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Compost fail?
So the compost bin is full and it looks like there is lots of actual compost in the bottom (I know this is silly but it feels like I did magic or alchemy or something!) There is also a very recognisable potato plant growing out of the door at the bottom, what I think is an ant colony and a couple of dandelions growing out of the top.
I don't mind the potatoes growing there, that really is free food.
I couldn't really care less about the ants although I'm pouring some water in there more often (I leave a bucket next to the bin to catch the rain) because apparently the ants suggest the compost might be a bit dry and I think I would like them to move on before barbecue season.
I'm a bit less impressed by the dandelions. I may have thrown some (about 100) dandelions in there without really thinking it through. Next year I'll put the dandelions in the council compost bin instead - and I'll probably have a field of dandelions instead of garden.
Maybe I'll learn to love them, they're kind of cheerful, need no work and can apparently be eaten.
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| A potato leaf escaping from the compost bin |
I don't mind the potatoes growing there, that really is free food.
I couldn't really care less about the ants although I'm pouring some water in there more often (I leave a bucket next to the bin to catch the rain) because apparently the ants suggest the compost might be a bit dry and I think I would like them to move on before barbecue season.
I'm a bit less impressed by the dandelions. I may have thrown some (about 100) dandelions in there without really thinking it through. Next year I'll put the dandelions in the council compost bin instead - and I'll probably have a field of dandelions instead of garden.
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