A recommendation
I was looking for information about peat-free compost and came across an interesting trial conducted by Jack Wallington. Since then I have read a few articles by him, he's always very practical and down to earth.
Have a look:
Wild Way, Jack Wallington. Wet Growing Season problems.
A problem that wasn't
or how I attacked our Autumn Flowering Cherry prunus × subhirtella autumnalis
I had been dealing with an attack on our flowering cherry - Shot hole disease or Coryneum blight - by removing every sign of disease, which meant a really severe pruning. I have been keeping close watch on the newly appearing shoots, which have looked nice and healthy, until .... I noticed small, sticky, round blobs on the leaf stalks and I thought "on no, what now?" So, some more pruning and careful disposal after which I decided to look it up properly (I had tried on my mobile phone in the garden without finding anything). Indoors on the laptop with an image search tucked away down near the bottom of the page was a picture which took me to a blog post, which has probably saved the tree from my over-enthusiastic attentions.
The little red blobs it seems are "extrafloral nectaries" released by the plant to attract beneficial insects.
Thank you LISA'S GARDEN ADVENTURE
We used to host a Potato Day in the village, but Covid put paid to that and it has not been possible to get it going again. However the excellent nursery I have used for years is still supplying (thank you Pennard Plants).
The varieties I have ordered to grow next year are:
First Earlies
Red Duke of York E Multy
Rocket 1E Waxy
Winston 1E Waxy
Second Earlies
Acoustic 2E Multy
Charlotte 2E Waxy
Harmony 2EW/Multy
Sagitta 2E Multy
Mains
Ambo EM Multy
Markies M Floury
Orla EM Multy
A crisp clear start this morning
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| No more fruit on these bushes till next year |
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| Brussels sprouts should now be sweeter |
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| Red kale happily coping with frost |
Whilst spring always seems to be bursting with new life and summer is full of growth and generosity, autumn can look rather scruffy and past it on the veggie beds - but that's a false impression isn't it? Yes, some parts are just waiting for attention, but others are laden with food to see us through the winter, they just don't look so pristine as they did in summer. The photos, below show the beds as they are this week.
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| Sheltered cut and come again salads replaced spring cabbage. There are still some red cabbage and swede to use. |
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| Scruffiest of the lot? Stalks and stems of French marigolds which were interplanted with the tender stem broccoli (all gone). |
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| Mustard green manure, sown after the peas had finished |
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| A few rows of parsnip, the rest is carrots |
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| Beetroot in the foreground, the spinach in the middle has all gone, leaf beat at the rear for winter use. |
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| Still a few tomatoes coming and a cucumber too! |
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| This year's experiment, some overwintering greens in with the leeks. The greens are taking up too much area, but the leeks have ben swelling. |
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| Summer's salads, all past it now, the bed will get manure then compost on top, followed by a sowing of field beans for green manure. In the backgrounds are pots with emerging Babington perennial leeks. |
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| Brussels sprouts (with caterpillar damage) and behind broccoli, green and red kale and kalettes. |
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| Raspberries, blackcurrants, gooseberries and strawberries. |
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| The other greenhouse with now fruitless aubergine, cucumber and pepper plants. |
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| Green and red kale, kalettes behind. |
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| Hoping for some good broccoli in the spring. |
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| Cabage heading up |
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| Cabbage headed up more. |
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| Brussels sprouts - getting there slowly. |
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| Large head of read cabbage |
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| Kalette plants |
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| Kalettes close up. The are delicious - like a mix of kale, cabbage and Brussels sprouts. |
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| Swede |
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| This bed was climbing beans, growing under and between the beans and now getting unobstructed light, nice plump celeriacs. |
No matter how well I think I have planned, sown in succession and planted, Mother Nature always has her own ideas, which usually means more of something than we can manage.
This year it was courgettes and various types of climbing bean (not runners, we don't much like them), so I went in search of recipes and came across a brilliant site, with not just recipes, but many resources and advice for gardeners, it's well worth sharing, so here it is: Allotment and gardens
Well, that was in May this year, I have been growing potatoes successfully in containers for a few years now, but I picked this one just as a sign of growth and hope - and don't we need quite a bit more of that these days? I do have next year's seed potatoes on order already from Pennard Plants
Life here is very different, I now have a new little helper in the garden as we are now happy grandparents. Many of the things we used to think important, or found time to do fell by the wayside - this blog included.
Now that I have found it again, I shall make no promises, but looking back at old posts, I can see what a useful record it has been for me, so who knows.
I was sorting through my seed order, which arrived today from the Organic Gardening Catalogue and stumbled across a brilliant website that most gardeners in the UK could benefit from, so I thought I'd share it.
It is called Garden Focus and you can find it here.
There are 2 great benefits, the first is being given the option to select your nearest town, to take into account latest frost, then select the vegetables you intend growing; the second is that having confirmed the selection, a week by week list is created (and a suggested rotation if you need it). Clicking any of the crop weekly entries then brings up detailed information for sowing and cultivation.
Well done to the website author David Marks.
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| Sunflower by the raspberries, now gone and the birds have eaten its seeds |
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| Markies potatoes, tipped out of container yesterday (24.Nov.16) |
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| First Earlies from container (June 2016) |
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| Garlic (elephant and other) plus shallots and onions (April 2016) |
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| Nets over the brassicas (June 2016) |
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| Climbing courgettes in foreground, potatoes in containers behind (11.June.16) |
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| Some carrots and spring onions in a container |
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| Strawberries on the left, some garlic looking unhappy to the right |
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| Greenhouse tomatoes with companion plants of marigold, borage and chives |
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| Cabbages healthily coming along under the net |
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| Peas to left, climbing beans middle, broad beans behind |
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| Excellent suggestion from Bere Regis for gathering comfrey juice |
