Growing My Own 2012

It hasn't really been gardening weather for most of April but I have been busy sowing more veggie seeds in pots - the sunroom is an ideal greenhouse substitute.

Yesterday I did a third sowing of peas and mangetout, a month after the first lot which are now having to take their chances in the veggie plot. The second batch are just about ready to go out, but frosts are forecast for the weekend so I am holding off.

I have leeks in the small container on the right.

 And lettuces growing away on the utility room windowsill.

Beans (runner, dwarf purple and French climbing) were also sown yesterday


The tomatoes and cucumbers have been potted on. So far only partial success with the cabbages, 5 out of 9. The seeds I collected from an unknown variety seem to be doing best!

In the garden itself the rhubarb is really taking off. It is doing so well that I picked some and had it stewed with some yoghurt for lunch today!

The fruit garden appears to be thriving.

I was a little concerned at how advanced the gooseberry bushes were when I eventually got around to pruning them last month, but they look very healthy at the moment, with a large number of flowers. I am inspecting them regularly as last year they were really badly infected with powdery mildew and I didn't bother to try to pick any fruit. The blackcurrants were already flowering so I decided against pruning them.

The new apple and pear trees are in blossom. I think I am supposed to remove the apple blossom this year but I can't quite bring myself to do it. I will just remove the majority of fruits if they get successfully pollinated to relieve the stress on the young trees.




On the ornamental side of the garden I am now reaping the benefits of all the work I got done in February/March of this year on the long bank extension. It is now a joy to walk past it every day with the dogs. And I have spotted a lot of other people taking a good look too :)

Gardening Blues But Red Tomatoes

It has not been a good gardening summer.

On the whole it has either been too hot and the ground too dry or too cold/windy and/or threatened/half-hearted rain. On the days I have got out there I have been bitten to hell by midges. I am guessing midges as I can't think what else could 'reach the parts other insects cannot reach'...

Given that I spent almost as much time out there in April alone than I have in total since, the garden does appear to be coping extremely well. I am almost keeping on top of the weeds, although it does appear that the long bank extension is my own personal 'painting the Forth rail bridge'. Hopefully, I too will have it under control when fully planted by 2012! I do have a backlog of new plants waiting to be re-homed in there although still a drop in the ocean.

I dropped Paul off at the railway station this morning and then went shopping. I remembered to nip in to Aldi as Paul had mentioned they had hibiscus plants advertised for yesterday's special buys. So I now have a blue/purple one and a white one. Then on to Morrisons where I bought three penstemons and a salvia - I did forget the HP sauce but luckily for Jen and Poncho not the bonios. The violas that I potted on are also ready for planting now, as are the remaining half a dozen hostas. Looking at the forecast for the next few days it doesn't look hopeful although there may be a sunny interval tomorrow lunchtime!

So given the lack of sunshine it is a bit of a surprise that I am getting sun-ripened on-the-vine tomatoes on both my plants that are in the veggie patch. The man I bought them off of at the Paxton plant sale was sceptical when I asked about growing them outside.

New on to the veggie harvesting list are my Red Rum runner beans. Having seen how many are coming I am now doubting the wisdom of having grown so many plants.

On the plus (?) side the Sunbright variety are looking very decorative, having been flowering prolifically for some time now, but so far I have not spotted any actual beans coming.

I had kept up with the purple dwarf beans having found another outlet for some in the form of Reg and Diana, but saw that a load more are now ready...

And I Thank Goodness yet again that we bought another freezer last year.

So far a couple of pounds of goosberries, three pounds of rhubarb (still got plenty more growing away) and a pound of wild raspberries frozen, along with some de-pipped puree. I have actually picked over five pounds so far this year but have made one batch of jam (definitely the best variety) and have been eating the rest with Scotch pancakes and ice cream :)