A Little Garden Update

From our little garden!

My dreams of a cottagey garden this year have once again not worked. None of the hollyhocks sown last year have survived so I have instead bought some. One is about to flower, one is sad and needs moving, and the others are small plugs so they need growing on to flower next year. I have however bought some new seed (the seed I used last year was saved from plants in 2019) so I shall try again.

I am anxiously awaiting flowers, I just want the garden to be utterly filled. I have been spying buds on things so they’re coming. I have three foxgloves in flower and the bleeding hearts are all growing well but I don’t think they’ll bloom this year. I love bleeding heart, I have 2 pink and 1 white. Apparently a black variety exists which I absolutely want but it won't be black black, probably a dark velvet purple.

I hope we’re in this house next summer so I can see it all.

Monsieur Le Hoppity is still around. It/he/she doesn’t like being watered. David thinks the blackbird caught it and fed it to the babies but it is far too big to be eaten and I’m pretty sure it is still lurking. Mainly because some of my young plants have holes in the leaves.

There’s still lots of trays and pots and things around. Some have been taken to work and some to the allotment but I still seem to have hundreds. I think I have enough sunflowers now.

The newest addition to the garden is a little timber planter wot I made. It is made with offcut scraps of timber from work and I made six little planters, painted and lined them, and then a friend has decorated and varnished them. Mine is now planted up with lemon balm and amaranthus that I’ve grown from seed this year, and then I’ve also put in a load of other seed. Topped off with grit because I like the way it looks. The rest were given to the Wednesday group as a little present.

The planters out the front have been tidied and more seeds put in them too.

The over fence pots are growing well. 

The liatris is huuuuuuuuge. I bought a bag and it had 12 corms in and 11 have grown.

The phlox called Laura hasn't even attempted to grow.

Food wise we have peas, courgette & a million other squash, parsnip, carrot, chard, raspberry, strawberry, spring onion, lettuce, beetroot, and herbs including mint (pineapple, banana, garden, spear, eau de cologne), thyme (lemon, orange, normal, woolly), bay, rosemary, lavender, chives, catmint, sage, oregano, saffron crocus, lemon balm, orange balm, garlic chives, chamomile, and burnet salad. Any maybe other things. Defo a lot of mint tho because every time I walk past it at work I take more cuttings. And I stole some from my sisters front garden at the weekend.

The hibiscus is growing well but no signs of flowers, and the honeysuckle has its first flowers! It didn't flower at all last year so I'm well pleased with that. I panic bought it in the first lockdown.

I am quite pleased with the garden but as ever I want more. More is more. I think I am going to spend some time this weekend and rearrange things, dig stuff up and move them, and dig up and divide stuff and spread them around. Yes. A good idea.

The black pansies in the second planter were planted waaaaaaayyyy back in maybe October last year and they just won't die. Very pleased with them. I don't even deadhead them and they just keep going.

Honeysuckle

7-spot ladybird larvae

Christmas tree is happy, lots of new growth. The male blackbird likes to perch at the very top before flying up to the nest behind our shed.

Liatris

Front door poppy

Front door rose. The roses on the one side are nearly up to the upstairs window now

Thyme

Pea flower (no it isn't a sweet pea)

I think this is a scissor bee, I saw one last year but couldn't identify it, but I've slept on it and I'm pretty sure I'm right. She's tiny. Just under 1cm long and about 2-3mm wide. She generally only forages on this one plant.

Mental Health Day

Lots of things going on in my life and in my head, not all of it good. I am trying to reclaim my lunchbreaks and actually have a break but it isn’t going well thus far. I have taken today off work as a mental health day because I feel like I am getting very close to being signed off for a few weeks and I am trying to avoid that.

I have made a two week meal plan for lunches so that I don't have to decide what to eat. When I was working from home all the time I was doing really well at having good proper breaks, but now that I am back on site I am just not doing it. And I need to. 

Today I have decided that I am not going to schedule any more blog posts relating to the journey home from Saudi. I feel like I am half-arsing it, and that’s not something that I want to do or enjoy doing. I would rather do it properly, with date correct pictures, more background info, maybe memories that I have incorrectly remembered from the trip. It was more of a vanity project I think, but I would rather do it properly with more time to prep it all. So that’s that. No more posts, but I won't delete the other ones - yet.

I haven’t left the house today except for going out in the back garden and trimming the planters in the front garden / on the driveway.

In the garden I have:

·       Pricked out and potted up lemon balm, verbena bonariensis, basil, and foxglove seedlings.

·       Sowed a crap ton more seeds including

o   nasturtium (obvs – also sidenote, I now have ten different types in my tiny garden),

o   calendula,

o   tagetes,

o   clary,

o   globe thistle,

o   artichoke,

o   sunflower (now I have another 16 to find space for, on top of the 16 that are growing, and the 16 that I planted out two weeks ago… 16 because I can get 16 toilet roll tubes in a haribo sweetie box, and no they can't go to the allotment as I already have 16 there too...),

o   poppy,

o   common toadflax,

o   white campion,

o   chives, and

o   mixed red flowers for wildlife.

·       I have also planted up the mint cuttings from the kitchen windowsill.

I need a bigger garden.

In the front garden/driveway I cleared up the leaves, trimmed the roses, chopped down the remains of varying bulbs, cut back the buddleia as it had dead bits, and then planted seeds in the planters:

·       Nasturtium (obvs)

·       Calendula (also obvs)

·       Tagetes (…)

·       Poppy

So hopefully this summer the garden will be FULL of joy and life and happy and bright and colour. I also noticed today that the little over-fence hanging pots wot I got last year are also popping up with new growth – I put seeds in them last weekend. No guesses what?

What else have I done today? Not a fat lot. It’s been a good day. I’m not one for relaxing but pottering around the garden doing bits and pieces has been reet good.

Monsieur Hoppity is still in the garden. We are pretty sure it is a migratory locust and probably not a monsieur. Last seen between the courgette pots.

Last weekend - potted up the courgettes, squash & pumpkins. I now have 18 plants in the garden... 

Over fence pots. They have snowdrops and crocus bulbs in, and are now planted with (guess?) nasturtium and possibly some other things. I want flowers cascading down the fence.

Ooh look more nasturtium

Turned all the lights back on because they went spazzy last year but they seem to be working ok now

This was about 10pm - still light

Liatris

First strawb from the garden! 

Gladioli

Foxglove, clem, flamingo

Basil seedlings, grown from seed

The blue bucket is now full of vegetation from the front garden waiting to be put in the green bin.

Snaps! I bought these last summer at Sainsburys, it was a MASSIVE plant, I got it home and planted it as a clump. When it finished I split it into 5 and replanted them, and they've survived over winter outside even with all the snow, AND they're now flowering again! Not bad for a fiver.

....Nasturtium, of course. Also some other things.

Clematis wall. There's more flowers up top but these ones are HUUUUGGGEE

BuzzerButt

Foxglove, seed tray (guess), amaranthus, tomato plants. Caulis in the trough planter and gladioli in the yellow bucket.

Haribo tubs with sunflowers, hollyhock plugs (mail order, none of my seeds have grown), varying trays of things. THINGS. Other trays include aquilegia, pak choi, possibly some snakes head frittilary.

A wee seedgrown verbena bon

Green and green and green and green. The planter has hibiscus, chives, strawbs, sunflowers, nasturtium, and I think tagetes. Pot to the right is yellow raspberries, pots at the front are mostly mint.

And a wee foxglove to finish,

Allotment Life: May 2021

Another busy one at my new allotment! The list is huge. It’s amazing what you can do with a few hours each weekend.

The plot is slowly taking shape. Some of the beds are still empty as I have no compost, and I have also ordered wood to make more. But those are things for June. I wonder if I could do an amazon wishlist for people to buy me things for the plot...?

It’ll soon be time to harvest the garlics, they’ve grown really well. The leeks need weeding, and I have also discovered mares tail on the plot to go along with bindweed, couch grass, and creeping buttercup. And thistle. So I’ve got my work cut out to keep things weeded and under control!

I think I might leave some of the beds as they are for now – some have had a thick layer of cardboard put down and then a double tarpaulin to try and kill the weeds off. I have lots of courgette & pumpkins etc to plant but that’s really it. Maybe some more beans.

I am torn between leaving the beds as they are, or putting seeds in during August to try and get some winter crops. I am determined to defeat the ‘hungry gap’ at the start of spring but in all likelihood I won’t. It’s called the hungry gap for a reason.

I do want to be self sufficient in most of the food we eat but the fact is, it’s really hard. SUPER hard. Really super mega hard. I don’t have a big greenhouse, I don’t have a heated polytunnel, no cold frames etc. I also don’t have anywhere to store produce to keep it through the winter which is the main issue. We can’t freeze a lot (no room), I don’t pickle things (gross), we don’t eat jam, and I doubt we would eat dehydrated stuffs either, so no point getting one of those fancy machines!

Even with running 3 gardens for work, all of which grow food, I wouldn’t be self-sufficient. After 12yrs of allotmenting I am still getting summer gluts and nothing over winter – but that was in part due to the winter floods on the old plot so I physically couldn’t grow anything. I think you need a lot of self-discipline, money, space, equipment, and time to actually be self-sufficient in food throughout the year. Good thing I don't need it for survival ain't it.

Anyhoo, what have I done in May?

·       Took the shed doors off and rehung them so they open without dragging on the decking

·       Put hooks on to hold the doors open

·       Painted wooden plant labels bright orange a) so I could see them and b) to prevent them going mouldy

·       Put up an arch at the top of the plot where the path starts

·       Added a second arch to it to make a tunnel, and then put mesh over them both so I can grow climbers over them

·       Put grit into the herb bed to tart it up

·       Put mint cuttings in the gaps between the water butt slabs and put grit over them. They’re not growing yet

·       Put water butts up

·       Put guttering up & piped all the butts

·       Repurposed two tables with offcuts of timber – I am well proud of these! Momma has given me another one to do

·       Watched a ratty eating the bird food

·       Watched four ratties eating the bird food

·       Planted loads of shop bought chives. I love chives, such a happy plant. Also great for red-tailed bumblebees. I rip the clumps in two to double my money. I think I now have 16 clumps of chives and no it isn’t enough

·       Put up a wildlife camera which was a wedding present. Loads of photos of magpies.

·       Put bunting up

·       Made a solitary bee house using off cuts of wood from work

·       Fixed the windows. They kept popping out because the perspex that is supplied is never wide enough by about 2mm, so now each window has an internal and external frame around them to sandwich the perspex into place

·       Moved the bird feeder to try and stop the squiggle getting the food

·       Made a shelf unit – flatpack from The Range but I love it and I want more

·       Pricked out 133 cosmos seedlings. 133!!!!! Excessive much. But still, some are for work, some for home, some for allotment. Momma P has had a few.

·       Bought new wooden crates (The Range) and painted them

·       Fixed a little tray box thing that I’ve had for years which fell apart when we moved plots

·       Painted it

·       Planted strawberries on one side of the path under the arch

·       Made a cane holder for the shed for my long 8ft canes so they’re now hanging from the ceiling

·       Bought LOADS of trailing herbs to be planted in between the slabs down the path so I get nice whiffs when I’m walking

·       Planted more French beans as my first lot got eaten. I’ve planted loads more this time so hopefully some will survive. There’s plenty more waiting in the wings to replace them. Might need to allocate more bean space

·       Painted a little wooden tray that David bought me

·       Planted first lot of sunflowers

So quite a productive month!! It’s amazing to see it all written out.

Plans for June are:

·       Re-align paving slabs for the path

·       Plant herbs between them

·       Plant out things from home, courgette etc

·       Put up an external shelf on the side of the shed ready to put the bird & bee boxes up

·       Make new raised beds at the back of the shed and polytunnel

·       Put trellis or something on the back of the shed for things to climb up

·       Sow more seed. Carrots, parsnip, salad stuffs, spring onions etc

·       Put grit/pebbles in the polytunnel around the paving slabs to finish off the floor

·       Tidy up the polytunnel first to sort out the timber heap in there

So enough to keep me busy as well as full time work running three gardens and all the shit that goes along with that too. I am starting to replace all of the raised beds at one of my sites – to remove two and replace them with four has already cost £700…