After the chaos of the last couple of years, I’ve struggled to find energy to grow much let alone write about it but this year that has turned around. Having found inspiration from a number of YouTubers , notably Huw Richards (channel) I have not only grown more variety than ever before but upped my compost game and started delving into the world of enhancers like nettle tea and leaf mould.
So part of the reason I haven’t blogged about gardening in some time is that I simply haven’t had time to grow anything. Last year I gave up my allotment and even my little back garden was neglected as I focussed on my teaching.
This year I’ve managed to carve out some time to grow a little something, so I focussed on things I know my wife and I eat a lot of, tomatoes and cucumbers.
At the end of last year, I obtained some plastic greenhouses, on sale at the end of the season, so I got them set up. I’ve also set a few to grow outside and with the incredibly hot summer we’re having in the UK this year, they’re doing extremely well.
Do you grow your own vegetables? What are you growing this year?
Leave a comment below.
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| Brandy Bottle Lily in full bloom |
I removed the edging rocks and made sure the liner was in the right place, I topped up the water and poured milk on the surface, which apparently causes a whirlpool type effect at the site of the leak, I spent several hours visually inspecting the liner around the water level, I scrubbed the now ten year old liner of algae in case I was missing a hole but no joy. I even cut out two massive root sections of the Brandy Bottle lily, almost two thirds of the entire plant that covers the surface of the pond.
Today I installed a new pump to feed my filter/waterfall and set up my old pump to act as a fountain. The thing sprays a good seven foot in the air and looks wonderful! I just hope my fish are as happy as I am!
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| Happy Fish!
This post is part of Blaugust 2016, an initiative to Blog throughout August. For more information visit the Tales of the Aggronaut Blog
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I had a health issue earlier in the year that put me off my feet for the first couple of months of the season, which put me right behind with the preparation so much of the land I intended to claim back and dig over is still covered in grass. As a result I’ve been giving notice from the management of the site that I need to get the fallow areas covered to prevent seeds spreading to other plots. Failing to do so will result in me losing the plot, which I definitely want to avoid, but finding time to get it all done has not been easy.
Today I managed to get a full four hours down there and have cut down and covered a large patch with thick membrane that will stop weeds coming through but let water in so I’m now about 3/4 through the job. The hardest part will be clearing the now overgrown compost bins (seen at the top of the photo) but I’ll get there.
Today clearing my daughter’s over grown flowerbed, which sported one lovely flower (not sure what this one was called) I found a family of baby frogs. I found one on the plot last year so to find a few of them is great. They’ll take care of slugs that love to eat my vegetables!
I dug over a few potato patches and got a good amount of Anya potatoes (left), a lovely nutty salad potato and some larger Charlottes and Red potatoes.
The rest of the plot is coming along nicely, with a good crop of runner beans and Yard Long red beans (that I picked while young and tender). The first few courgettes have started showing up as well and my tomato and cucumbers are starting to fruit, despite starting late.
For readers in the UK, now’s a great time to grab seeds for next year and I highly recommend Seed Parade, online purveyor of vegetable and flower seeds.
Until the end of October, they are offering a 50% discount on all seed orders, simply using the code OCT50 on their website so head over and grab a bargain!
Returning to my plot after over a week away, I didn’t know what to expect. The weather was hot and dry by all accounts and with no-one watering I was worried some had died off. Thankfully the opposite was true. A lot had grown and most impressive was the sweetcorn. The hairs turning brown is generally a sign that a cob is ready, so I cautiously picked one off and opened it up and it was a thing of beauty. I quickly went through and picked another half dozen cobs with dark hairs, leaving the rest to continue to ripen.
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| Cherry Tomatoes |
The greenhouse had not faired so well. As it is fully enclosed, even the smallest rainfall wouldn’t have reached so the tomatoes and chillis, though fruiting are starting to look a little bedraggled. A good water and feed will hopefully get them back on track.
The Cucamelons, which I hadn’t expected to grow have actually done quite well and in fact one of the plants has started producing.
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| Chilli Pepper |
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| Cucamelon plant in the greenhouse |
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| Cucamelons |
The Blackberry bushes have now fruited and most have ripened. It looks like I’ll need a full day of picking to get through all these. I see lots of pies and Jam in my future! |
| Juicy Blackberries
So all in all a pretty good haul today. Spinach, Kale, Corn, Borlotti beans, Squash, Cucumbers, a massive Courgette and blackberries.
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| Full Harvest for the day
As I was finishing up today, I came across little friend. I managed to catch him on film before he hopped away.  |
Returning to my plot after over a week away, I didn’t know what to expect. The weather was hot and dry by all accounts and with no-one watering I was worried some had died off. Thankfully the opposite was true. A lot had grown and most impressive was the sweetcorn. The hairs turning brown is generally a sign that a cob is ready, so I cautiously picked one off and opened it up and it was a thing of beauty. I quickly went through and picked another half dozen cobs with dark hairs, leaving the rest to continue to ripen.
 |
| Cherry Tomatoes |
The greenhouse had not faired so well. As it is fully enclosed, even the smallest rainfall wouldn’t have reached so the tomatoes and chillis, though fruiting are starting to look a little bedraggled. A good water and feed will hopefully get them back on track.
The Cucamelons, which I hadn’t expected to grow have actually done quite well and in fact one of the plants has started producing.
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| Chilli Pepper |
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| Cucamelon plant in the greenhouse |
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| Cucamelons |
The Blackberry bushes have now fruited and most have ripened. It looks like I’ll need a full day of picking to get through all these. I see lots of pies and Jam in my future! |
| Juicy Blackberries
So all in all a pretty good haul today. Spinach, Kale, Corn, Borlotti beans, Squash, Cucumbers, a massive Courgette and blackberries.
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| Full Harvest for the day
As I was finishing up today, I came across little friend. I managed to catch him on film before he hopped away.  |
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| Blackberries! |
I was excited to see my plot had some established blackberry bushes. Year on year I collect them wild, to freeze for crumble through the year and they make delicious pies and crumbles with a few apples.
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| Kale, Beans, Cucumber, Squash and Blackberries |
The squash plants are doing well, despite periods of drought, and I’ve already had two delicious fruits off them.
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| Cucumber |
The cucumber plants are also doing really well. Two plants in a tub at home have already given us two decent sized cucumbers with more growing away nicely. At the allotment I have several in the ground which are doing less well but time will tell.
Tomatoes at home are flourishing. Lots of cherry tomatoes forming, though nothing has ripened yet. At the allotment, the tomatoes I started later in the greenhouse are catching up and have just started flowering, as have the chilli plants.
My experiment with Cucamelons doesn’t seem to have worked. The plants are barely growing, either outdoors or in the greenhouse. Not sure what I’m doing wrong but maybe it’s just not been consistantly hot enough.
Beans have given mixed results this year. Borlotti beans haven’t done especially but the French beans have been excellent and the plan to grow some in hanging baskets, inspired by my dad, was great. Sadly his own haven’t done much at all.
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| Sweetcorn |
Sweetcorn, though not as tall as I’d expected, is producing plenty of cobs, much better than last year. Hopefully they continue to grown and
ripen.
This post is part of the Blaugust 2015 initiative. If you are interested in taking part, all the information can be found by clicking the logo below.
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| Blackberries! |
I was excited to see my plot had some established blackberry bushes. Year on year I collect them wild, to freeze for crumble through the year and they make delicious pies and crumbles with a few apples.
 |
| Kale, Beans, Cucumber, Squash and Blackberries |
The squash plants are doing well, despite periods of drought, and I’ve already had two delicious fruits off them.
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| Cucumber |
The cucumber plants are also doing really well. Two plants in a tub at home have already given us two decent sized cucumbers with more growing away nicely. At the allotment I have several in the ground which are doing less well but time will tell.
Tomatoes at home are flourishing. Lots of cherry tomatoes forming, though nothing has ripened yet. At the allotment, the tomatoes I started later in the greenhouse are catching up and have just started flowering, as have the chilli plants.
My experiment with Cucamelons doesn’t seem to have worked. The plants are barely growing, either outdoors or in the greenhouse. Not sure what I’m doing wrong but maybe it’s just not been consistantly hot enough.
Beans have given mixed results this year. Borlotti beans haven’t done especially but the French beans have been excellent and the plan to grow some in hanging baskets, inspired by my dad, was great. Sadly his own haven’t done much at all.
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| Sweetcorn |
Sweetcorn, though not as tall as I’d expected, is producing plenty of cobs, much better than last year. Hopefully they continue to grown and
ripen.
This post is part of the Blaugust 2015 initiative. If you are interested in taking part, all the information can be found by clicking the logo below.
Now summer is well under way, everything is growing well in the garden. Tomato plants have started flowering although of the 11 plants that have survived, I am unsure of the varieties, after planting three different types, so it’ll be a nice surprise when they start fruiting.
Within a couple of week, the poor, sickly looking cucumbers are now flourishing. Three plants in the back garden this year, and using a technique I discovered last year, forming a cage around the plants and weaving the growing head in and out til it reaches the top. The method worked very well last year so looking forward to a good crop. I have a few plants at the allotment too, but they are not thriving as well, most likely as they don’t get watered as often.
Having cleared a lot of weeds, the beans are now flourishing again. A mixture of yard long beans and Borlotti beans.
There’s also a few beans in hanging baskets. I’ve not tried this method before, having stole the idea from my Dad. In theory they should start to over hang and grow downwards.
I also dug out the only potatoes growing at home, a decent crop from a couple of plants.
After an hour long Jostaberry picking session yesterday, I now have well over a kilo as well as some lovely redcurrants.
As well as a few crumbles, I’ve made some Jostaberry and Redcurrant Jam which I can confirm is delicious!
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