Vegetable Garden Update July

I have accidentally let two months pass without writing about my vegetable garden. I am busy picking raspberries, loganberries and strawberries every day, and my one small gooseberry bush is fully laden. Somebody told me gooseberries and strawberries combine to make a nice jam, so they are being popped into the freezer until I have enough. The trees in the orchard are also looking good, and I am hopeful that this year we may even get some plums - there are lots of green ones on the tree.

I will start with the positives, which this is year is my broadbeans. I followed advice and picked out the tops of the plants, and not a sign of any blackfly. Also the sweetcorn seemed slow to start, but I can now see the corns husks forming.  

But I have a lot of trouble with pests this year. Despite the chickwire fence around the garden I have caught the odd rabbit inside, but even mending the holes is not going to stop squirrels, whom I have also seen. My peas were doing fairly well, and I had picked for one meal, but then found that the plants and pods had been completely eaten. The rabbits, combined with slugs and snails, mean I am on my third attempt at runnerbeans. I think the first ones were eated by a rabbit, as the stems were biten through. I now have a combination of netting, tubes with copper at the bottom, beer traps, coffee and eggshells. Throwing everything at protecting this lot!

My first courgette plants also got eaten, so I have them under a cover and with sheep fleece around. It does not make the garden look great, but it is all I can think to do. 

Seeing the seedlings that you have nurtured get eaten up is quite sad, and has made me a bit reluctant to plant things out. I have hung onto my butternut squash plants in the polytunnel, just potting them on, but decided a few days ago that it was time for them to face the big outdoors. My sunflowers are also still in the polytunnel. I must be brave, but because I lost them all last year, I am still waiting for them to get a bit bigger.

I am trying a few new things in the garden. I have two purple sweet potato plants from the village. Apparently they need a lot of water. Also growing some pak choi seedlings, which are coming along. Some lovely cosmos flowers are making the garden look pretty.

Sweet potato plant, pak choi seedling, and some of the cosmos

Other things in the polytunnel are going fairly well. I have a new friend at Oxfam whom I am swapping seedlings with, and the exchange of plants in the village continues. My friend gave me two cucumber plants, and we have just eaten our first cucumber, which was delicious. 

The tomato plants that I grew from seed seemed very slow, so I bought two plants from a garden centre. They are a little ahead, but my seed grown ones seem to be catching up. 

White onions are looking good, but my red ones have not grown very well, and seem to have had the tops nibbled off now. I had always thought of onions as a fairly safe bet. Yesterday I planted out some of the leeks. It has been so dry it was quite difficult to dib into the dug soil. I have another pot of seedlings in reserve.

Vegetable Garden Diary May

I have realised that I perhaps should have started my sporadic garden diary.  Seedlings are under way in the polytunnel, and I have a new friend at the Oxfam bookshop, who is doing swaps with me. So thanks to her for the two cucumbers above, and she also gave me some peas and spinach for outside.

Someone (a rabbit I think) has been nibbling things in the polytunnel, so I have had to put some of the seedlings on the table and cover the troughs with netting, and need to reinspect the fence. I am turning into Mr McGregor.

The indoor strawberries are looking good, all grown from my outside strawberries last year. And we are already eating some American land cress leaves.

Outside things are coming along. Below shows the outside strawberries, and potatoes and raspberries behind. My husband's loganberry has even more berries coming than last year, so hopefully we may get more than the one jar of jam. It has also produced another bush a little way off.

Other things planted outdoors are runnerbeans, peas, sweetcorn, broadbeans, onions and carrots (which I planted near the onions as I had heard this might help, but as usual the carrots came up, and the nearly all disappeared over night).

And below is my "scarestork". Chris Packham was on the radio talking about the reintroduction of storks to Cornwall, and I thought this year rather than the scarecrow man we usually make (which the birds sit on) I would try and made something a bit more frightening - with light and noise. We will have to see how this works out.

Vegetable Garden Diary Update

I have just realised that unlike other years, I have not been keeping my vegetable garden monthly diary. I did try doing a little video, which seemed like a good idea, as it was me showing the garden warts and all. But I did not seem able to upload it, so am doing my usual photo catchup.

Like most years some things have gone well, and other not so good. I think for a lot of things the large amount of rain that we have had has been good, and we are now having a bit of sunshine as well. Also we have had the benefit of chicken poo, and four big sacks of free horse manure from a local stable, which I think have really helped. 

After my rabbit invaders, I covered all of the peas and runner beans with netting or mesh, which seems to have worked. So despite the invaders we have had a fair crop of runnerbeans and peas, and the broad beans have been much better than any other year. For the broad beans I picked off the growing tips of the plants, something I saw on a TV programme, and this year no blackfly problem at all.

 

I also was pleased to try some new vegetables - parsnips and pak choi, both of which have been great. Beetroots as well have at least grown to a reasonable size this year.

 

For salad leaves the American land cress and rocket have kept us going all summer, and I have had better radishes by doing a few small plantings. My tomatoes are way behind, but the plants look good, so hopefully eventually we will get some.

The raspberries have perhaps not been as many as other years, but most evenings I pick a little bowl to have on cereal at breakfast. The one tayberry bush has produced a lot of berries, all of which have gone into the freezer and will be made into jam. We bought a new gooseberry bush and built a fruit cage, with the blackcurrants. These have not produced much, so I cannot blame the birds this year. I think perhaps they need a bit of love and attention. The outside strawberries have been good, and I have high hopes for next year for the plants I have put in a trough in the polytunnel.

 

I realise I am being a bit too positive, so here is the one sunflower that survived the rabbits. I also have some very tiny sweetcorn plants, which have always been successful in other years, but I am really not sure are going to catch up this year.

  

Here is a photo of one of my favourite bits of the garden. The courgettes seem unstoppable, and I also like the self-seeded nasturtiums. The pak choi is on the left, netted peas in the background, and as you can see I have been doing a bit of weeding.

 

I am not too great as a flower gardener, but here is a little collage of some flowers in the vegetable garden. My sister gave me two dahlia plants. This one has settled in and is a gorgeous colour. I also saved love-in-the-mist seeds from last year, as they are one of my favourites. I've also included some courgette and bean flowers - useful and beautiful.

Garden Update June

The vegetable plot is looking pretty good, despite us having a little trip away during the very dry spell, which was a bit of a worry. But with some early morning watering before we left, nothing seems to have suffered too much. I have been very thankful for some of the heavy rain we have had recently.

As usual some things seem to be thriving, and others not. I am pretty pleased with the sweetcorns, and the runnerbeans, which are almost ready to pick. And we have been picking some stawberries, which are under the netting. Despite a combination of straw and fleece they are still getting eaten by slugs and snails, so some I am ripening on the kitchen windowsill. On the left, near a poppy that I just let grow because it looked pretty, you might be able to see the carrots, which have not been eaten at all as in other years. Are they just some more resistant type? No idea, but it has made me pretty happy, so I have planted a second row.

 

 

One thing I forgot to mention last time, is that my husband bought 6 grape vines. We thought quite hard about where to plant them, and in the end decided that in the vegetable garden was best, to keep them from the deer and rabbits in the field. There are three different types, and although we will not get grapes this year, they seem to be doing well. Arrived as little sticks in the mail.  

 

Although the veg garden and polytunnels seem to be my area, he is in charge of the tomatoes and peppers in the greenhouse nearer the house, but now he has a special reason to come over to the veg patch.

Other things are doing fine - potatoes, courgettes (only 3 plants this year), pumpkins and squash. But I have been worrying about my brassicas. There is a great plant exchange in the village, and as well as giving, I took three lovely cauliflower seedlings. They were doing really well, but now the leaves are being eaten. Is it the same little pests that completely ate the kale? My plan was to pick off any caterpillars from the underside of the leaves, but so far I have not seen any, and on some plants there is no underside because there is no leaf! Same thing started on the sprouts and broccoli, so I have covered these with fine mesh, but perhaps I have just made a nice breeding ground for butterflies.

The other thing that is usually really reliable are the raspberries around the edge of the veg plot. I did my usually pruning last year, but the plants are really sparse. I have just looked up that raspberries live about 10 years, so as we have no idea how long they have been there perhaps they have just come to their natural end. I am picking a little pot every evening, and adding it to the freezer, and perhaps will have enough in the end for one pot of jam. We may have to buy a few new canes. The other fruit that was abundant last year, were the cherries. But this year I think I may just get a cupful of fruit. No idea why, perhaps it was something in the weather when the blossom was out. No point worrying, perhaps next year will be better.

Cucumber Plants

 

In the polytunnel I have some tomatoes, lettuces, and tiny cumcumbers on the way. Also some aubergine (from the plant exchange), which have grown a lot, and a cucamelon! 

Aubergines

Garden Update May

I have just realised that I have not been writing my monthly vegetable garden update. Probably the person who will most mind is "future me" as I find it really useful to look back and see how things were going in previous years.

First a flashback to March, when me and my husband tackled recovering the polytunnel. For a few years we have patched it up with tape, but throughout this winter the rips got much worse. Recovering it took 2 days work, and involved watching a lot of Youtube videos, and sheltering inside from the rain once we could, but it now watertight, and hopefully will do a lot more years.

And here it is today

The other thing that seems to have worked really well is covering quite a lot of the patch with covers to prevent weeds. Those that we have removed had a few big weeds, but not the backbreaking weeding that we had last year. Some covers still have to come off, but this is something we will do again.

We found hoof prints in the Spring, and suspect it was our visiting deer. We have set a radio playing in the polytunnel, and hung some diesel soaked rags which you can see below, and so far nothing has been eaten. I have also keeping my strawberries under netting, as we lost them last year. I have trying out using some waste wool from the mill as a mulch instead of straw.  

I am pleased that I have some carrots up, as other years they have nearly all been eaten. These seeds were bought for 50p in the library, and had the seeds embedded in a tape, which you bury so that the seeds are evenly spaced and you don't have to worry about thinning. Seems to be working.

 

 

 

 

There are seedlings growing in the polytunnel. We had a visiting mouse, who must have thought he was in heaven, as he dug up a lot of seeds, and hid them around the place for later. Plants keep coming up in odd places.

 

Apart from the large pests, deer and mice, I am putting down coffee grounds, as I heard that can deter slugs and snails. I am determined not to use any pesticides, which perhaps means that I have to accept a certain amount of loss. We have such lovely birds here, and I feel that using chemicals is bound to get into the food chain and affect them. And my husband is constantly producing a steady supply of coffee grounds.

Autumn Garden Diary

I spent some of today doing a few jobs in the vegetable garden. The pumpkins are still coming along, so will leave them a bit nearer to Halloween.

I am also proud to present my melon, which is still growing in the polytunnel. There is also a smaller one. They are called Melba, and I guess I will leave it a bit longer, and pick when there is sign of frost.

We picked some more apples, which although more abundant than last year, don't seem to produce as much juice. My husband has been pressing them most of the day. I suppose it is because of the dry summer, so overall I think we may end of with much the same amount of cider as last year. Still a lot more on the trees, and pears as well.

Quite a lovely day, and still some colourful wildlife to photograph.

 

 

 

Garden Diary July

 

I wrote last month about a deer visiting my vegetable garden and raiding a lot of my plants and produce. The hanging CDs did not put the deer off, but we decided to go for all the senses. So as well as the sparkles, we have hung rags socked in diesel for an unpleasant smell, and also have a radio playing in the polytunnel. That combined with a spooky scarecrow, and we haven't seen the deer since.

Some of the things that I thought were gone have recovered. Although the beetroot tops were chewed, the beetroot themselves are fine. Roasted with thyme and olive oil, they are very tasty. (No horrible beetroot in vinegar for us!)

 

And although most of the strawberries were eaten, I had thought that the plants were ruined because so many leaves were chewed off, but they too have recovered, and tonight I found a single new berry.

 

We aren't going to have as many runnerbeans, but since we are still eating last year's bumper crop from the freezer, this is not so bad.

We have been struggling with space in our small freezer, so have decided to get a chest freezer, which is already filling up.

One new thing we have been growing is these patty pan squash. I love how they look like little space ships.

 

A few other things are still coming along - tomatoes, peas, celeriac, butternut squash, pumpkins and sprouts. We have eaten a few broadbeans, which although the plants are not as big as other years, they haven't suffered from blackfly. I am trying to pick the courgettes before they grow too big, and have made soup and last night courgette fritters. I keep feeling that we should dig the potatoes, as Monty was digging some of his, but we haven't yet.

One thing I feel this year is that we have had less weeds. Perhaps it is the hot weather, or maybe I have kept on top of them a bit better than other years. Hard to tell.

Finally two photos of the ruby passion sunflowers. They are not as tall, or as large flowers, as the sunflowers we grew other years, but they are really beautiful

Garden Diary June

A little bit late with my garden diary for June, and as you will see the look of the vegetable plot has changed in the last day. I have realised from gardening the last few years that not everything is going to work out, and you have to not worry too much about the failures, but celebrate the successes.

So far this year that was going much as usual, something ate all the carrot seedlings. But some of the new things we are trying are doing well: brussel sprouts, beetroot and celeriac. But then a few days ago when I went to water, all the strawberries I had been so looking forward to were gone, the tops of a fair number of my sunflowers were bitten off. Then yesterday I noticed that quite a few runner beans were bitten off at the base, and the tops of the beetroots were really eaten. But not I thought the usual unseen minibeasts, as there were also some fairly large hoof prints in the soil. 

Yesterday I was in the house but looked out to see the culprit strolling down the hill for some afternoon snacks. A very confident deer, who was not put off by my son picking cherries nearby. I shouted out the house, and he ran off, and then my husband spent the evening setting up a border of CDs, which we are hoping might stop the deer jumping in. They are quite shiny, and if they don't do the trick perhaps some hanging tin cans or windchimes might have to be added. I have also arranged as many covers as I can. Below is the celariac and beetroot under a wire cover.

 

In the polytunnel the lettuce are doing well, and the mini cucumbers which I am trying this year. Very pleased with the lettuce, which self-seeded from last years. We had put last years compost outside on the soil, and I noticed that little lettuce seedlings were coming up. I transferred them inside, and they are doing better that last year.

The courgettes are almost ready to eat, and this year I am going to pick them small, and not let them grow into marrows like last years.

Most of the fruit is doing better than last year. I am picking about a bowl of raspberries each day, which are heading to the freezer at the moment. I think they are doing better because we removed a lot of the brambles that were mixed in with them. Also there are a huge amount of cherries. We can reach some, but there are also masses higher up out of reach. My son and I have started some cherry wine. The apples, pears and gooseberries all look like they are going to be better than last year, but I am keeping my fingers crossed that the deer does not return and have an appetite for fruit.