I enjoyed it too Nenya. I was shocked to go into my garden today and see my roses are beginning to get new shoots. It is supposedly winter here and my roses haven't even been pruned yet. Our local radio garden guru tells us that August is the month to do that here, so shoots or no shoots that's when they will be getting a haircut!
I noticed today that the flowers on a number of my tomato plants have died un-pollinated.
There are plenty of fruits on the lower trusses, so I suspect that the direct sun shrivelled up any flowers that were open during the heatwave last week.
There are a few trusses of unopened buds, but I had already nipped out the growing points on most of them so will not be getting more
The Swiss chard is magnificent, but as we are living on salads (and have abundant lettuces) I am slightly panicked by the abundance. I am having similar problems with the best crop of climbing beans I've had in this garden, although they are not at unmanageable proportions yet.
Well, we have got used to the drought, and we go to the allotment 4 or 5 times a week to water. Most plants are holding up OK, and a good year for tomatoes. Some blackberries look like little bullets, but our vines look good. Lettuce is always very tough, and chard. A few small herbs have died. I see the forecast is for 2 weeks warm sunshine, hilarious. But nice for holidays. Not sure what happens when we go away. Rain dance now.
I would strongly recommend a trellis and climbers - much greater variety of plants possible, and you don't lose a large part of your garden to the root systems or cause vendettas from your neighbours. Well, not unless you grow Russian vine or something like that up it...
I need some advice about our apple tree. For thre past 2 years there have been no apples at all. We have had the tree pruned back mainly to get rid of the small thin branches which grow towards the sky. What have we been doing wrong and what should we do next ?
Those small thin branches are called water sprouts, and from what I read they are another sign that your tree is not doing well--often, that the bark has been injured by prior pruning or insects, though I think there are other problems that can cause them. And then of course they go on to suck nutrients away from your apples etc. So getting rid of them was good, but you probably need to have the whole tree evaluated to figure out what's stressing it (and has been, for a while) in the first place, to cause both the sprouts and the fruitlessness. Could be anything from water (too much, too little) to light (same) to insects or some soil problem needing amendment. Might be best to call a professional. (And do it soon, before it's too late and you have to have the tree taken out, like we did. This sounds pretty serious.)
I'm with Quetzalcoatl, big trees are lovely but constantly paying for pruning, or having them removed is very expensive. We have a lovely row of camellias which are pretty low maintenance (she says then remembers picking up all the fallen petals off the lawn), most of the year.
I would strongly recommend a trellis and climbers - much greater variety of plants possible, and you don't lose a large part of your garden to the root systems or cause vendettas from your neighbours. Well, not unless you grow Russian vine or something like that up it...
I am no expert on apples, but I observe ours. Two have been in 10+ years, one of which fruits reliably every year despite some serious bark damage. The other did nothing, then last year fruited heavily, and now seems to have gone to sleep again - despite being apparently healthy and pruned in the approved bowl shape.
Another 3 were only put in, as small saplings, 3 years ago. Last year they all fruited. This year, the one that was laden last year has no fruit, but has grown several feet in height.
I would be agin conifers too. I have a problem with a stretch of back fence heavily shaded by a neighbour's elder. I put up a garden arch and found a shade-tolerant clematis which is happily scrambling over it. The rest of it is lilac (my side) rather over-enthusiastic weigela (neighbour) and the two apples mentioned above - with an undergrowth of monbretia, geranium, epimedium, fern, mint, wood avens and anything else that will tolerate dry shade.
Don't mention elder. We have neighbour's elders crashing over the fence, and then many baby ones springing up, which we snip off. But there's always on in a corner which grows unseen.
We dug up some spuds, and they were quite large! We were expecting marble size, because of Ye Drought, but no. And, at 12.30 there were 37 drops of rain, we caught several, and we are preserving them, for the benefit of any skeptics. So rain dancing does work, we just need to put some welly into it.
Those small thin branches are called water sprouts, and from what I read they are another sign that your tree is not doing well--often, that the bark has been injured by prior pruning or insects, though I think there are other problems that can cause them. And then of course they go on to suck nutrients away from your apples etc. So getting rid of them was good, but you probably need to have the whole tree evaluated to figure out what's stressing it (and has been, for a while) in the first place, to cause both the sprouts and the fruitlessness. Could be anything from water (too much, too little) to light (same) to insects or some soil problem needing amendment. Might be best to call a professional. (And do it soon, before it's too late and you have to have the tree taken out, like we did. This sounds pretty serious.)
All my veg beds are netted against one thing or another, but still can't grow brassicas, not because of the cabbage white butterflies, but because of the whitefly!
Our sea 'breezes' are decidedly blustery, but the whitefly don't seem to care.
I have been crediting our strong south westerlies for the absence of tomato blight ever since we moved here, even with humidity like we've had at times this summer.
Of course, by writing that I am practically inviting blight to make its home on this year's plants
Not a lot of being in the garden this week, a bit too coolish for my liking. However, I did run around with my bottles of water (which I save when running the hot tap) and water all the pot plants. Happy to say my small pots of Johnny Jump Ups are looking rather good and I'm watching freesias that we planted in the autumn. They are looking good but still a month or so from flowering (I think). Will be looking forward to the flowers and the divine perfume.
Daren't turn your back on bindweed for a minute - let alone a week or two. Also cleared swathes of cranesbill and galloping ivy, and yanked out soaring stems of rosebay willowherb and apple mint.
The windfalls from the Hawthornden are littering the ground, but I already have a cupboard-full of apple jelly and a very limited demand for apple tart/crumble etc.
Clean frozen apples make excellent material for apple bread in the winter. And the defrosting means they'll be basically apple sauce already, so no need to process them further.
Help! I've got a bed full of irises on one side and daffodils, tulips, and grape hyacinth on the other, with a handful of day lilies mixed in. I need something to plant over them that is perennial and good looking and won't come up so early that I can't see see the tulips/daffs/grape hyacinth when they bloom in fairly early spring. Ideas?
Ornamental alliums? There are plenty of varieties, growing to different heights and flowering at different times, but the taller ones mostly flower May/June.
Great excitement on the allotment, as first we got the notification of a hosepipe ban, but then, and I write with trembling fingers, we had a reprieve! We can water vegetables, but not flowers. My wife said she feels too guilty to get out the hosepipe. I ask you, guilt, what is it good for, and I hear the reply, absolutely nothing.
I don’t see any photos. It has been a while since I posted here but I seem to remember gettin a look into a number of gardens in and around San Diego, California. I stayed with a friend who lives there who has an interest in African bulbs. Before I left he gave me a small but five year old Boophone disticha which bloomed a couple years after being planted in the ground. But he also gave me a baggy of fresh seed bulbs of Brunsvigia litoralis which I got started in some seed mix but soon moved out to the ground as well. After six years three bloomed for the first time this year. The flowers have finished now and yesterday I discovered the first flower stalk had fallen over.
Autumn winds have just hit; anything not covered firmly or tied down is now in all probability in the farmer’s far field.
And the greenhouse panes have started going….I just Knew that offending branch should have been removed but the tree surgeon knew best!
Still, previous owner has left a stash of new glass and now we know why…
Windy here too. Nevertheless, hope to spend the w/end planting. Late in the season, but got the opportunity of a lift with a friend to a proper nursery - none of your poncy Garden Centre scented candles and overpriced chutneys, just acres of plants. Came home with what I think of as First Floral Para, designed to tackle the really hostile bits of the garden.
Wild winds and heavy rain forecast for here, starting about 4pm and continuing until 1am. This is a bit later than it said yesterday morning, and if the wind turns bit more to the north it might slide past us.. Not that the veg don't need the rain, but not enough to flatten the plants.
Climbing beans, outdoor tomatoes and even the ridge cucumbers still flowering and reducing tiny fruit. Unfortunately, not doing much by way of mature fruit.
I get he tomatoes in as soon as they start to colour and ripen them off indoors. Today's toms were a little paler than I usually pick, but rather that than have to scrabble about in the mud for them tomorrow.
We should find out today if the time and effort Mr RoS put into levelling the front path to eliminate a regular huge puddle has achieved the desired result.
He has decided to put waterproofing compound on the flat roof of the garage tis morning. I hope it is finished and dried before the weather arrives. I would have left it until the next dry spell, as there's no leaking atm but once he decides a job needs doing, it needs doing immediately !
We've been finding that plants that looked dead and buried in the drought, have sprung back to life. Most dramatic was an acer which looked frizzled, but is now sprouting green shoots. A little tomato plant put out new flowers, and the kale started to look alive. Some things have done badly, e.g., the vines. And our herbs have been reborn. Local trees have started flowering again, e.g., magnolia.
got the opportunity of a lift with a friend to a proper nursery - none of your poncy Garden Centre scented candles and overpriced chutneys, just acres of plants.
Those are great when you find one - we have one near us in Oxfordshire, and found a wonderful one on holiday, sadly Poolewe is a bit far to visit regularly!
A devils coach horse beetle (fabulous slug chompers they are!) has just been relocated from the middle of our living room floor……. Back ….into the garden!
Hopefully to do it’s stuff.
That tail though. Mr Alba wandered through with said mini beast in a jam jar, burbling something about a tiny black scorpion……
It's been a good year for oranges and lemons. They haven't suffered from the flooding rains in February and March. Last year the lemons were dry and juiceless, this year we are storing up juice and zest in the freezer.
18 years ago when we moved to this house the three different orange trees gave us fruit from May to November. Now there is fruit in April and the last of the oranges are on the tree at the start of October. We put this down to climate change.
Growing up in England, I now enjoy our bananas, pineapples and passion fruit. LKKspouse is the main gardener and marmalade maker.
When we moved into our new home I was unsure of the lot boundary so I asked my neighbor if it was my lemon tree or hers. She said it is on your property but it is the neighborhood lemon tree. She is right, thankfully it seems to bear fruit all year round, blooms and fruit on it at the same time. Indeed anyone in the area needing a lemon just comes and picks what they need. There seems an endless supply for all. I like being neighborly with no effort on my part.
In my very distant childhood, my father was stationed at a rural police barracks. So rural that some of the policemen grew vegetables in the back yard. One of them had a particular dislike of another, so he would piss on his leeks. Which grew magnificently - but for some reason no one would take up his free offers of them.
Comments
There are plenty of fruits on the lower trusses, so I suspect that the direct sun shrivelled up any flowers that were open during the heatwave last week.
There are a few trusses of unopened buds, but I had already nipped out the growing points on most of them so will not be getting more
The Swiss chard is magnificent, but as we are living on salads (and have abundant lettuces) I am slightly panicked by the abundance. I am having similar problems with the best crop of climbing beans I've had in this garden, although they are not at unmanageable proportions yet.
I’m really enjoying planning what to do with it. 🙂
What do you think of conifers at the end of the garden? Dark greens light greens and silvers.
They wouldn’t block anyone’s light as we back on to a really big garden, they have big hedges themselves.
I want something Evergreen and fast growing that’s not laurel. 🤔
Good idea! 🙂
Another 3 were only put in, as small saplings, 3 years ago. Last year they all fruited. This year, the one that was laden last year has no fruit, but has grown several feet in height.
I would be agin conifers too. I have a problem with a stretch of back fence heavily shaded by a neighbour's elder. I put up a garden arch and found a shade-tolerant clematis which is happily scrambling over it. The rest of it is lilac (my side) rather over-enthusiastic weigela (neighbour) and the two apples mentioned above - with an undergrowth of monbretia, geranium, epimedium, fern, mint, wood avens and anything else that will tolerate dry shade.
Thanks for that.
Bought a large brassica cage and our winter varieties of kale are ensconced in it. Have had enough of picking the wretched eggs off
Protection cage is pegged down.
And jammed between two fuschia bushes and a trellis so in theory it shouldn’t blow away……
Only those cabbage white butterflies……….
Should only be for a month and a bit.
I have been crediting our strong south westerlies for the absence of tomato blight ever since we moved here, even with humidity like we've had at times this summer.
Of course, by writing that I am practically inviting blight to make its home on this year's plants
The windfalls from the Hawthornden are littering the ground, but I already have a cupboard-full of apple jelly and a very limited demand for apple tart/crumble etc.
Today a deliciously scented purple sweet pea flower has arrived…..in the last of the edible peas
https://flic.kr/p/2nHRrVs
https://flic.kr/p/2nJhkUL
https://flic.kr/p/2nHRrUW
And the greenhouse panes have started going….I just Knew that offending branch should have been removed but the tree surgeon knew best!
Still, previous owner has left a stash of new glass and now we know why…
Climbing beans, outdoor tomatoes and even the ridge cucumbers still flowering and reducing tiny fruit. Unfortunately, not doing much by way of mature fruit.
I get he tomatoes in as soon as they start to colour and ripen them off indoors. Today's toms were a little paler than I usually pick, but rather that than have to scrabble about in the mud for them tomorrow.
We should find out today if the time and effort Mr RoS put into levelling the front path to eliminate a regular huge puddle has achieved the desired result.
He has decided to put waterproofing compound on the flat roof of the garage tis morning. I hope it is finished and dried before the weather arrives. I would have left it until the next dry spell, as there's no leaking atm but once he decides a job needs doing, it needs doing immediately !
Those are great when you find one - we have one near us in Oxfordshire, and found a wonderful one on holiday, sadly Poolewe is a bit far to visit regularly!
Hopefully to do it’s stuff.
That tail though. Mr Alba wandered through with said mini beast in a jam jar, burbling something about a tiny black scorpion……
18 years ago when we moved to this house the three different orange trees gave us fruit from May to November. Now there is fruit in April and the last of the oranges are on the tree at the start of October. We put this down to climate change.
Growing up in England, I now enjoy our bananas, pineapples and passion fruit. LKKspouse is the main gardener and marmalade maker.