Thursday February 28, 2008

Back garden....

Last year before I suspended this web log writing I talked about covering our back garden with gravel. Well it is done now as you can see. It has worked quite well we think. There is a dry stone wall between the gravel and the beds which is starting to naturalise quite well. In the pots at the moment we have wallflowers, tulips and small pansies. In the summer these will replaced by plants for summer colour. The beds themselves have had a thick layer of bark chippings from a local tree surgeon to keep the moisture in - that was not a problem last summer though! The stream had already been taken out and the rocky bed has lots of perenials in it that are doing really well. In the picture you can see out white wysteria and it is getting that lovely knarled trunk you see on older specimens. I am sure the birds are loosing out but blackbirds seem to be happy foraging in the bark chippings (and the apple/pear cores I leave out for them in the mornings) and I am feeding them all with fat balls and seeds.

Wednesday February 07, 2007

The last cut

After much thought we decided to get rid of the rear garden lawn. In the summer it is brown and ugly and when it is green it is not green with grass, but with moss and weeds. So last weekend I gave it its final cut in February! As you can see it is now covered with a membrane that allows water through but stops weeds growing. The idea is this will be covered with gravel and I have ripped out the log roll border edging to be replaced with something more durable. I also plan to have a different type/colour of gravel winding from the edge of the patio slabs to the back of the garden where you can see a winding path. The construction of the border edge may be of stone with different types in different parts of the garden. We also think we will have at least two circular bases on which we will have pots with seasonal planting to brighten things up. Those who remember seeing pictures of the stream will see it also have been removed and the stones used in it recycled to produce a dry bed effect. My only regret is that ground feeders like Blackbirds and Starlings have now lost an area on which they can feed on but I will do my best to alleviate this with some of assistance for them in the winter months - I already put out nuts/fat balls and fruit cores all year round. More news on this as work progresses.

Thursday January 18, 2007

Orchids for Dummies...

When you think of Orchids hot steaming greenhouses come to mind and plants that refuse to flower despite the best care and attention you give them. This plant was given to my wife five years ago I reckon and it has only stopped flowering for one month since she got it. It sits in the kitchen on the window sill and just flowers. It gets a drop of water now and again and it just carries on flowering. The only thing to be careful of is the flower stem. Don't cut it off or prune it until you are really sure no more buds will appear. Very often when it finishes flowering on one bit it will branch a sub stem off and flower on that. So I almost wait until the stem goes brown before I even consider pruning it at all. These plants are available in most stores/garden centres.

Tuesday November 21, 2006

Artichokes harvest

In error I dug my artichokes up. I read afterwards I could have left them in the ground, having trimmed their six foot high stalks to ground level. So I have had to put them in compost to stop them drying out. I was given small tubers last Autumn that I set in the Spring and they did very well as you can see. I have kept some small ones off this years plants for next years crop. So what to do with this crop? I made some soup with Carrot, Onion, Celery and some Artichokes which tastes reasonable. I also roasted some at the weekend to have with our Sunday roast dinner - again not a bad taste. I think the taste is a bit like asparagus - we will see how quickly they are consumed before I firmly decide to grow a crop of them next year...

Footnote

Yesterday I found out why this vegetable is not popular. I developed terrible flatulence. By lunchtime it was so bad I decided to WFH as our study has a toilet within handy reach. It took the rest of the day for my stomach to settle down....

Monday October 30, 2006

Peppers and Pumkins

Now that the nights are getting colder to single digit degress celsius it was time to move the Chilli and Sweet peppers into the greenhouse where they will be kept warmer. The Chilli are a new variety for this year they stay yellow but are not that hot. This is the first year I have grown Sweet peppers they have not done badly, maybe they are a bit small but are otherwise ok. If I grow them next year I will keep them in a cold frame even in the summer to keep them warm in the evenings. The Pumkin is also new this year - I only got one and it is a bit on the small side. I removed it when the vine died off and since then it has turned into a lovely orange colour that it now is. It will be turned into Pumkin pie and/or Pumkin soup.

Tuesday September 26, 2006

Things are getting smaller...

Well as most of this years crops are now gathered in, I can asses the effect of this years weather on this years produce. Apart from the heatwave the main problem has been the lack of rain in the the soil which is usually dry in this part of the UK but has not had any significant moisture in it for most of the summer so shallow rooted plants have suffered. The stuff that was harvested early seems to have been affected less - as you would expect, shallots, garlic and onions. All are smaller but not significantly so. The potatoes have been affected the worst, same number of tubers but a fraction of last years crop. The bin above is the full crop. That bin was full last year . The leeks are about half the size they should be but if we get some rain now and it stays mild they will catch up I think. Beetroot did ok, but as I only had small rows with a few plants it was easy to give them a good soaking once or twice a week. My first attempt at a pumpkin resulted in one healthy fruit slightly smaller than a football. As one might expect courgettes did very well and everyone I know who had a garden was asking everyone in sight "do you want some courgettes". The sweet corn another first also did well despite the lack of water.

So what to do to minimise the effect of dryer/hotter summers ? Well for onions you can plants autumn crops so they grow a bit in the autumn then overwinter and are harvested earlier. Potatos I could plant just early croppers but you have to protect them from any late frosts you might get. Another idea will be to plant the crops further apart to allow them a better chance of getting a decent amount of moisture.

Eagle eyed among you will have spotted my left foot in the bottom left of the shot...

Thursday September 21, 2006

Ha Ha

I hope you find this funny, Tim did when I told him this story..

While standing out in the sun waiting for the wedding photos to be taken there were some children near me by a sunken barrier between the hotel garden and a field. One of the children pointed to the barrier and said "do you know what that is?" He proudly announced to them all - quite correctly "It is a Haha". A short period of silence followed and then the attention focused on the cows in the field. One child said "that cow is much bigger than the others and its udders are different"

The cow in question was in fact a bull and in front of the children and the wedding party it took an interest in one of his wives rear end - sniffing it. I thought "please do nothing else, we don't want any funny business going on now please". Luckily the bull decided that the green grass was more interesting and left his other exploits for another day. As Tim said the idea of the Bull's antics in the field accidently getting on the wedding photos was just to terrible to contemplate..

Friday September 01, 2006

Tomatoes in Twyford

This year I decided to grow my own tomatoes in the garden. To have them at the allotment would be hopeless as I would have to go up there twice a day to water them. So I converted a thin bed to have three growbags in it. I covered each bag with the membrane you use for weed control to avoid seeing the gaudy plastic bags. In the gaps between the bags I set Sweet Peas, Marigolds and Antirinum. I grew two types of tomato, bush and the regular vine type. After a long wait the fruit started to go red and were of a good size and quite tasty. The grass by the bags was the only part of our lawn that remained green in the heatwave and looked odd. You must water and feed these plants on a regular basis - they are hungry feeders. Wether it will be a sound economic proposition given the amount of time/money I have spent on these plants is not of interest to me - it is just a bit of fun. I also love the smell of the leaves. My next door neighbour gave me an end of season tip; snip the lower leaves off to expose the fruit to whatever sun we are getting in the autumn to help them ripen.

Monday August 21, 2006

Melons in the UK??

Having got rid of the Nectarine in the greenhouse I felt I needed to grow something in its old terracotta pot. While in a Garden Centre I saw a Melon plant and decided to go for it. It took a long time to get going but soon it was growing well over the string and wire I strung up inside the greenhouse. Eventually flowers appeared and as I kept the door closed except when it is exceptionally hot no insects were going to get in and pollinate the female flowers. As with all fruit and vegetables that have two flowers, male and female you can see a small fruit just behind the female flower. The hand pollination method is simple as long as you have female and male flowers open at the same time. You take the male flower off the stem and strip it of its petals and other stuff so the flower head is fully exposed. It is then a simple matter of poking it into a female flower hoping the pollen will end up where you want it to be. I usually repeated the excercise using several male flowers. So at the moment I have two growing fruit both a bit larger than a tennis ball. As you can see I have had to support them - I got a tip from a chap at the local allotment shop who suggested using the bags that large fruit are sold in. I am not sure when these will be ready but so far so good...

Thursday August 17, 2006

Hollyoaks [sic] plant of the week

These plants are grown as hardy perennials. They seem tolerant to drought and poor soil. I am trying to increase the numbers in my garden. Every year they put up a series of tall spikes on which flowers appear. Bees love them. They have all sorts of colours yellows, pinks etc. The seeds are really easy to get off the plant and they germinate well too. The best thing is to grow them in a pot for their first year and then plant in their flowering position in the autumn or spring. At the end of the year the spike should be trimmed back to the base of the plant.

Wednesday July 26, 2006

Plant of the week Clematis Jackmanii

The plant is on a trellis in our front garden. Most years it puts up a great show of flowers at this time of the year. For what ever reason this year the flower coverage is wonderful, its green leaves are hidden completely this year under the canopy of flowers. Another bonus has been the lack of blackfly that usually troubles the flower buds before they open. This is a very good variety of Clematis and it is one that you cut back hard in the autumn to ground level.

Friday June 23, 2006

Hidden lillies

When I get home usually the lillies in the pond have closed up for the night. So it was great to come home early and WFH and see them open for once. In the pond in the rear garden the pink lilly is finally growing stronger and has two flowers at the same time now. In the front we have a mixture of white and yellow. In the height of summer the number of flowers on the pond can be amazing. The lilly pads are great as they cover the water and stop the blanketweed growing in the pond and making it look horrible. Lillies need little attention just pull off the dead heads when they are finished. Eventually this lot will need lifting and splitting up otherwise the pond will get very congested.

Wednesday June 21, 2006

Alcholic plants

While away for a short weekend the other day I was worried that several plants might suffer in what was expected to be a hot few days. So I got a load of empty wine bottles and after giving the plants a final watering before leaving, filled each bottle and inverted it into the soil surrounding the plant. The water gradually seeps out into the soil. Wine bottles are not the best for this use, fizzy drinks or squash bottles are better. When using those you can leave the bottle in situ all the time having cut the base off and then fill it with a watering can. The main problem with wine bottle is because of their narrow neck this can get full of soil preventing the water escaping. Also large plastic bottles can also hold more water in the first place.

Thursday June 15, 2006

Basket cases

Hanging baskets at the front of a house can really provide an attractive addition to stark red brickwork. But in my humble opinion nothing can beat the riot of colour you can see on houses in countries like Switzerland, Austria at this time of the year. I Had mixed feelings about publishing this idea as showing a crime prevention idea also gives it away to the criminals of course. The picture shows ( blurry - sorry ) how a simple cable tie wrap can be used to put off the casual thief. Don't forget to water your baskets twice a day.

Thursday June 01, 2006

Time to put the Polyanthus to bed for the summer This years Polyanthus were even better than last year . To save buying new plants every year I take them out of the ground and put them somewhere shady out of the direct summer sun.

I use plastic troughs and put the plants in them and make sure they are kept fairly moist during the summer. This is better than throwing them away or trying to keep them alive in the heat of summer in their regular spot in the garden. Late autumn I then return them to the main bedding area and very often they can be split into two or more plants.