Post by tigerlily on Jun 14, 2009 14:50:49 GMT
I thought it was about time for an update, complete with photos.
This afternoon I dug over a patch of grass to make an area for the two gooseberry bushes (I bought another one yesterday, a red variety to go with my green Invicta bush). The Invicta has been doing its stuff in a large pot, but I decided it was time it went out in the garden so uprooted some 'grass' from a sunny patch in the garden and dug it over, adding some compost and fertiliser.
I've been bringing along some of my tomato seedlings in separate pots in that area, so they are spaced among the gooseberries - still in their pots - for the time being.
I also planted a thornless blackberry - Rubeus. (Isn't that Hagrid's first name)? We have a number of other probable thornless blackberries - two larger plants and a couple of smaller ones that have been hacked back in the past having been mistaken for brambles at first sight.
To my total amazement, the shrub I couldn't identify turned out to be a redcurrant bush! (Yes, I am sure it's a redcurrant, I just didn't recognise it as such until it fruited). Tomorrow afternoon I will be making redcurrant jelly, I think - just about all of the fruit is now ripe.
The various tomatoes are coming along great guns. I had one minor disaster, when the main stem of my golden cherry tomato was somehow broken off, but the stump is sprouting merrily so I have high hopes for that.
We bought three different varieties initially, Sportivo which is a large salad tomato, an Italian plum cherry tomato and a normal cherry tomato. We've since added an Italian beefsteak tomato which has comparatively few fruits on it.
I also planted two or three different kinds of tomato seeds. I've had five or six of the seeds germinate and they are now between a foot and three feet tall and flowering nicely.
The strawberries - five of six plants have survived and are setting runners to make new plants. I was unaware that you should pinch off the flowers the first year you grow them to ensure they put down good roots and all their energy goes into establishing them. Bit late now, I've eaten 12 strawberries from them! At the moment there are different flower seeds scattered among them - I can't tell the flowers from the weeds in some cases, so the patch is a little bit overgrown for now.
The bedding plants haven't spread as much as I thought they might, and the Aquilegia flowered for a couple of weeks then set about producing fruits. It should self-set nicely, they are prolific self-seeders which is fine by me because I love them.
The gladioli are coming along, though. I'm not sure if the other bulbs I planted have survived, and there is still no sign of the dahlias. I think I will have to go and buy some already in flower and plant them out.
The rose has a bud on it! The leaves on the other one fell off and it looks a little bit sorry for itself, so I am keeping an eye on it. The rambling rose behind it is a bit motheaten now, too, so it may be that there is some problem there.
The nasturtiums are doing an excellent job of attracting the blackfly away from the tomatoes and the peppers. Their orange and yellow blooms look very jolly, although they do look terribly leggy. Might be something I've done wrong or just that they've been grown mostly in the tomato containers and dislike the tomato fertiliser.
You can see from this photo how the garden is on an incline. There is a definite overabundance of conifers. I find them rather intrusive, particularly the one at the back nearest the house which throws shade over the beds there. I have hacked it back as much as I dared, along with the (probable) ornamental cherry beside it. Both of them could do with pollarding, I think, but we need the experts in to do that.
These are my baby pepper and squash plants - they were the slowest to get going of all the seeds I planted and I'm not sure how far along they are going to get, in all honesty. We shall see! I'm not entirely sure when I should harvest the peppers either, I don't know how much bigger the fruits are supposed to get on these varieties.
It continues to be a very enjoyable learning process. I've neglected things out there somewhat over the last fortnight in favour of working inside the house. Still have a lot of work to do both inside and out, but it is getting under better control now.
Oh - I don't know what this is. I know I planted it, though! any ideas?
I'll leave you with a shot of our neighbour's beautiful roses. I wish I could grow roses like hers!
This afternoon I dug over a patch of grass to make an area for the two gooseberry bushes (I bought another one yesterday, a red variety to go with my green Invicta bush). The Invicta has been doing its stuff in a large pot, but I decided it was time it went out in the garden so uprooted some 'grass' from a sunny patch in the garden and dug it over, adding some compost and fertiliser.
I've been bringing along some of my tomato seedlings in separate pots in that area, so they are spaced among the gooseberries - still in their pots - for the time being.
I also planted a thornless blackberry - Rubeus. (Isn't that Hagrid's first name)? We have a number of other probable thornless blackberries - two larger plants and a couple of smaller ones that have been hacked back in the past having been mistaken for brambles at first sight.
To my total amazement, the shrub I couldn't identify turned out to be a redcurrant bush! (Yes, I am sure it's a redcurrant, I just didn't recognise it as such until it fruited). Tomorrow afternoon I will be making redcurrant jelly, I think - just about all of the fruit is now ripe.
The various tomatoes are coming along great guns. I had one minor disaster, when the main stem of my golden cherry tomato was somehow broken off, but the stump is sprouting merrily so I have high hopes for that.
We bought three different varieties initially, Sportivo which is a large salad tomato, an Italian plum cherry tomato and a normal cherry tomato. We've since added an Italian beefsteak tomato which has comparatively few fruits on it.
I also planted two or three different kinds of tomato seeds. I've had five or six of the seeds germinate and they are now between a foot and three feet tall and flowering nicely.
The strawberries - five of six plants have survived and are setting runners to make new plants. I was unaware that you should pinch off the flowers the first year you grow them to ensure they put down good roots and all their energy goes into establishing them. Bit late now, I've eaten 12 strawberries from them! At the moment there are different flower seeds scattered among them - I can't tell the flowers from the weeds in some cases, so the patch is a little bit overgrown for now.
The bedding plants haven't spread as much as I thought they might, and the Aquilegia flowered for a couple of weeks then set about producing fruits. It should self-set nicely, they are prolific self-seeders which is fine by me because I love them.
The gladioli are coming along, though. I'm not sure if the other bulbs I planted have survived, and there is still no sign of the dahlias. I think I will have to go and buy some already in flower and plant them out.
The rose has a bud on it! The leaves on the other one fell off and it looks a little bit sorry for itself, so I am keeping an eye on it. The rambling rose behind it is a bit motheaten now, too, so it may be that there is some problem there.
The nasturtiums are doing an excellent job of attracting the blackfly away from the tomatoes and the peppers. Their orange and yellow blooms look very jolly, although they do look terribly leggy. Might be something I've done wrong or just that they've been grown mostly in the tomato containers and dislike the tomato fertiliser.
You can see from this photo how the garden is on an incline. There is a definite overabundance of conifers. I find them rather intrusive, particularly the one at the back nearest the house which throws shade over the beds there. I have hacked it back as much as I dared, along with the (probable) ornamental cherry beside it. Both of them could do with pollarding, I think, but we need the experts in to do that.
These are my baby pepper and squash plants - they were the slowest to get going of all the seeds I planted and I'm not sure how far along they are going to get, in all honesty. We shall see! I'm not entirely sure when I should harvest the peppers either, I don't know how much bigger the fruits are supposed to get on these varieties.
It continues to be a very enjoyable learning process. I've neglected things out there somewhat over the last fortnight in favour of working inside the house. Still have a lot of work to do both inside and out, but it is getting under better control now.
Oh - I don't know what this is. I know I planted it, though! any ideas?
I'll leave you with a shot of our neighbour's beautiful roses. I wish I could grow roses like hers!