2 June
We planted our third lot of broad bean again filling the planting hole with water before filling in. It is difficult to actually dig a hole as the dry, dusty soil quickly refills it. Our first lot of broad beans, although still fairly small, are on flower and attracting lots of bees. As I planted the new lot of plants along side of them I was treated to wafts of perfume - they have a lovely scent when the sun shines on them but tend to be shy when it becomes dull. The second lot of broad beans have crimson flowers and are pricking the curiosity of neighbouring plot holders. The beans will be green like the white flowered varieties but the purplish flowers are an attractive addition to the plot.
The new dahlias that we grew from seed were planted too - it’s hard to imaging them growing up to 5 feet in such a short time. If they do well we may reconsider whether it is worth the effort over-wintering tubers or whether we should just grow new from seed each year. We’re not too bothered about special varieties as the aim is just to grow some attractive flowers to cut for the house.
The potatoes bags have now been moved out of the plot greenhouse to make room for more tomatoes. They have enormous tops which we hope are going to produce a good crop of early pickings.
4 June
We finished erecting the bamboo structure for the sweet peas. Pea netting was attached to the side where the sweet peas have been planted. Unlike climbing beans that will twist around canes, sweet peas and peas in general climb using tendrils that clasp onto and suitable nearby supports and can’t attach themselves to canes. If all the sweet peas that I have planted grow well we should have a wall of colour and perfume.
Our first lot of runner beans have been planted to grow up another bamboo structure - this time a teepee arrangement.
Where possible I left the self-sown sunflowers which always seem to produce stronger plants much earlier than the one I grow in pots to transplant. We don’t grow the pollen free varieties as they are useless to the bees.
We’re continuing to plant out lettuce as this is an on going activity designed to keep us provided with lettuce over as long a season as possible.
I weeded the new strawberry bed and also cut the mass of runners that were being produced. I want the young plants to put all their energy into building up their vigour and producing as much fruit as possible. As the fruit is already ripening we will need to mulch under the berries as soon as we can.
This year we have decided to try growing one or two things in air pots. These are being used to grow tomatoes on the Beechgrove Garden TV programme (BBC Scotland). They reported good success using them last year Always ready to give something new a ‘go’ we have planted up some tomatoes, cucumbers and a melon in our air pots.
We also had a new bird visitor to our garden - a male bullfinch. We first saw it on our bird table earlier in the week and there it was again. This time we managed a few photographs - although none were really good ones. The bird was hidden behind a twig which the cameras insisted on focusing on. We just hope he sticks to the food on the bird table and leaves buds on fruit trees and shrubs alone.
On the subject of fruit we think our kiwi Issai has set fruit - now it’s a case of fingers crossed and wait!
11 June
We managed to get to the plot to plant a few more things - courgettes, squash, two varieties of runner beans and our first lot of sweetcorn. As sweet corn is wind pollinated it was planted in a four by five block which should hopefully mean a successful pollination. If the wind is co-operating and not blowing (hardly likely) when the male flowers appear I’ll brush the plants to distribute the pollen. We are growing two varieties of sweet corn again this year which will be planted well apart so there is no chance of cross pollination. As the ground is still really dry the planting holes are still being filled with water. For more on growing sweetcorn click here
The first lot of peas that we sowed are now flowering but the second lot of peas sowed aren’t really doing much at all including germinating. It has been so dry since we sowed even though we tried to keep the seed bed watered. I don’t think it helped that the birds used the dry earth as a dust bath before we managed to cover it with netting.
The first lot of French beans are also growing away - usually they take a turn for the worse straight after being planted out but this year they were protected with a plastic cloches for a week or so to try and acclimatise them which seems to have worked.
The tomatoes planted in the plot greenhouse seem to be healthier looking than last year so our suspicions that the compost used was causing the problems may have been correct. Fingers crossed that they carry on growing well. We may have to wait a while for any home grown tomatoes but it looks as though we may soon be able to enjoy some fresh lettuce.
We have also managed our first good crop of blackcurrants. The bushes were planted last year so this is really the first year that we have had a useful crop.
12 June
The long awaited rain was forecast for the afternoon and so I took the opportunity to plant the rest of the perennials that I bought for the flower bed at the front of the house. I also planted the dark leaved dahlias that had been growing on in the greenhouse. In the afternoon the rain actually arrived to settle them in.
13 June
More work in the garden today - I planted a few a few of my seed sown aquilegias in the front flower bed to fill some of the spaces and planted up some tubs with seed sown osteospernum. These had grown very straggly so I have cut them back to try and encourage them to bush out.
We decided rather than tinkering with the border under our crab apple tree to carry out a complete renovation. This involved digging up a huge fatsia and cutting out some of the branches of the crab apple tree to try and allow a little more light through. Now we just need to decide what we are going to plant in the fairly large space we have now acquired.
14 June
The main task for today was to mulch and protect our strawberry bed - fruits are beginning to ripen and so we needed to do something to protect for eagle eyed birds. As soon as a berry shows a tiny bit of redness they swoop down for a few pecks. The damper weather is also likely to reactivate the slug patrol.
We want to try and prevent the weeds from becoming a huge problem in our new strawberry patch and so we are trying a new approach. The ground was first covered with a new biodegradable mulch fabric, crosses were cut in it so the plants could poke through and then straw was laid on top to keep the very flimsy mulch in place. The mulch should last 16 weeks before it degrades into the soil so we will need to remove the straw before that happens as the straw always seems to contain lots of weed seeds.
We also planted more brassicas and beetroot and created a support structure for the peas.
15 - 21 June
Really a time for routine tasks such as lots of weeding, watering and planting. The soil is still very dry and so the weeds are not growing quite as fast as they could be which is at least one good thing to come out of the lack of rain.
Our second sowing of peas have been a disaster so we have tried again and sown another lot. The first lot of peas that we sowed are beginning to form pods so hopefully we should have some delicious fresh peas. The sweet peas and the mangetouts haven’t really taken off yet in spite of us trying to keep them watered. I guess they really need some rain.
We’ve planted more broad beans, runner beans and some French beans.
A second variety of sweet corn has been planted out. These are planted well away from those planted earlier in the month to try and avoid any cross pollination which can result in kernels (seeds) that are not true to variety. We’ve also planted a few courgette and squash plants.
Cucumber plants will be grown in the greenhouses and outside. The outdoor grown plants produced well last year and have been planted to grow up the canes at the opposite side of the structure alongside of which are planted the sweet peas.
Somehow a butterfly has managed to get at some of our brassicas in spite of them being under insect mesh. The affected cabbage was planted before the mesh was in place so maybe the eggs were laid then. As the caterpillar was green it belonged to a small white (rather than large white butterfly). Thankfully these butterflies tend to lay eggs singly rather than in clusters so our cabbages were not devastated as they could have been but it is a reminder to be vigilant and have our soft soap spray to hand. Soon we will have to contend with an even bigger pest problem for our brassicas - whitefly which will no doubt infest the brassica patch and anything else it can colonise. We have had problem with sprout plants over the previous two years and suspect whitefly infestation and the resulting sooty mould hasn’t helped things. This year we will be trying to control them using a more systematic approach. Has anyone come across an effective way of controlling whitefly on plants grown outside?
We grow lots of flowers on our plot for cutting, to encourage beneficial insect and also because they look good. Besides the sweet peas and dahlias already mentioned we plant a variety of annuals. This year for some reason the flower seeds sown in pots and trays have germinated very erratically. We suspect that we, like many other gardeners, are having problems with the inconsistency of compost mixes. The performance of one bag of compost to another of the same brand as can be very different. The consequence is that some of our annual flower seeds have hardly produced any plants. As a last resort I have scattered some seed amongst our fruit bushes. I know it is a bit late to sow annual flower seeds but maybe some will germinate and grow flowers this year.
Some of last years flowers have self sown. Where these have germinated in an inconvenient place I have dug them up and transplanted them. Incredibly we have lots of self sown French marigolds. They are supposed to be half hardy and yet the seeds have survived last winter’s freezing conditions and produced healthy looking plants. At least the dry conditions have meant they seem to have been less troubled by hungry slugs. Maybe the seeds can over-winter but the seedlings are frost tender. I guess if I had sown the seeds outdoors I would have had little success.
If the hardy annual seeds do well having been sown directly in the soil I think I’ll try this again next year although earlier in the season. This way I won’t be a victim (or rather they won’t) of dodgy compost mixes.
Other suspected victims of dodgy compost are the various types of basil. The seeds have germinated but the seedlings never really grew and just look rather sickly. I’ve planted more directly in a trough so hope that these will do better.
24-26 June
It’s that time of year when the main task is to pick soft fruit. In spite of my worry that the dry weather would mean that the fruit wouldn’t swell and that we would have a poor crop, the fruit bushes are producing in abundance. For a complete list of what we are harvesting click here.
We used chicken wire to protect the sides of our redcurrant patch with netting draped over the top. This has seemed to be more effective than using just netting as so far no blackbirds have managed to get inside. It’s also safer for the birds as netting trailing on the ground can entrap them.
With blackbirds in mind we have also netted over the top of the cherry tree as the birds soon descend if they spot a red patch even when the cherries aren’t fully ripe.
The autumn fruiting raspberries - Allgold - have produced quite a thicket and so I have cut out all the weakest canes in an attempt to get the plants to send all their energy into the strongest canes and produce better fruit. It will also allow more air to circulate around the plants.
More peas have been sown as the second sowing was a failure - maybe one reason was that the dry soil was a favourite area for sparrows to take a dust bath. The new sowing has been given some protection to stop this happening again.
Despite the dry conditions the weeds under the carrot tent were in danger of swamping the carrots and so this year we have had to weed a second time. More carrot seeds have been sown - this time in slits made in the biodegradable mulch. It’s really just as an experiment to see whether the carrots will grow using this method. If it is successful we will sow our main carrots this way too. By the time the mulch degrades the carrots should be fully grown or at least well on their way.
26 - 30 June
We took advantage of a mini heat wave to have a barbecue with our plot neighbours and for the first time this year we erected our gazebo to provide shade.
Besides the necessary maintenance jobs such as cutting the grass and weeding we are still busily picking soft fruit and have taken the precaution of netting our cherries. We watched a blackbird trying to figure a way to get to the ripening cherries and were relieved to note that he didn’t succeed.
I planted a few more annual flowers amongst the fruit bushes and trees which will hopefully add a little colour to the plot.
In the garden the plants in the new front garden flower bed are beginning to come into flower and although not yet large enough to provide the dreamed of splash of colour they are creating interest as we see each of the flowers for the first time
