I have crippled my back pulling weeds, spent hours in the light summer rain, and hours in the depth of winter with double layers of gloves on but finally my garden is beginning to take shape.
Yes there is still the overgrown clematis that I come home to on light nights and hack at it some more, and the bushes which are really too tall and woody but I am getting there.
The vegetables are starting to come into their own now, the peas have pods. I have had a couple of harvests of the odd pod here and there. They taste delicious, and I already am trying to work out how I could get a better harvest next year.
The original radishes and beetroot didn’t survive the greenhouse-wind related incident, but the second batch of radishes were good.
I am trying to put more beetroot in, but I think the terrible rains washed the seeds away. They take a little longer to germinate so there is still hope yet!
The original tomato plants avoided disaster in the greenhouse but inside are taking a lot longer than expected. Out of the three remaining plants one is huge, has buds, but isn’t flowering yet. Another is quite small but has two tomatoes that are turning ripe.
The third plant was going swimmingly but then suddenly got infested by tiny little flies that killed off the foliage. In the end I chopped off all the affected plant (more than 60%) and it’s starting to come back – but I doubt I’ll get any tomatoes from it now.
Spring onions which I decided to add to my plot after seeing the seeds reduced in B&Q are growing really well. I chopped one into a stirfry last week!
It’s strange that now summer is finally on us, I am immediately starting to think about autumn and winter, what vegetables can I grow then? Is there any point when they could end up under a foot of snow?
You can see all my summer garden photos on flickr.
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Looking good! This year has been a bad one for peas and beans, I think, so perhaps just hoping that next year might have more settled weather might go some way to giving you better harvests.
I’d love to know how you got good radishes – mine always taste horrid no matter what I do to them and your chilli plant looks amazing!
Remember and get some of those rose petals to make rose petal tea or sugar if it’s a nice scented one
As for winter veg – there are a number of good ‘winter varieties’ – some lettuces, cabbages and kales, asian style large radishes and broad beans are started this late in the year – usually for a very early crop next year rather than actually harvested in winter.
Many thing to eat in winter itself are often, unfortunately, planted a little earlier – some cabbages, kales and sprouts, as well as parsnips and leeks all need to go into the ground a lot earlier so that they’ve grown to a fair size before the cold comes on.
Nate … Next Project & Autumn / Winter Sowings
It’s been our first year for growing peas and runner beans – and we’ve just had our first harvest from them. There seem to be loads that are growing and will come on in the future. We’ll definitely be growing them next year – and will sow them a lot earlier this time!
I’ve posted about both the peas and beans on my blog, if you want to have a look!
Jenny Eatwell … Unexpected Mackerel!
About your big tomato plant (for this summer, I guess, I’m a bit late), if the soil has too much nitrogen in it tomato plants will grow loads of leaves but not produce much fruit. If you want a bigger yield maybe try using a nitrogen free fertilizer? I’m not expert but I’ve had a similar issue and that’s what my go-to garden friend told me!