Sunday and Monday 22/23 June 2014
Summer Pruning
Sunday and Monday continued the lovely spell of weather we’ve been having over the last week or so. With decent sunny spells and temperatures into the low twenties centigrade it feels as though summer really has arrived.
I’ve been trying to decide whether or not to spray our potatoes and tomatoes with Bordeaux Mix to try and control or stop the spread of blight on our plants on the plot. Some rows of potatoes are badly affected and some are still clear of any signs.
We’ve still got some powder left from our failed attempt to control peach leaf curl. Perhaps it works better against blight. I seem to remember using it a good number of years ago now without any success but perhaps I didn’t keep up with the fortnightly spraying regime that’s required. I suppose I might as well use up the powder rather than leave it a cupboard where it certainly won’t do anything to control the blight.
Whilst I was considering our blight problem I thought it was about time I tackled one of our camellia bushes which has grown a bit too large for its location and is obstructing one of our garden footpaths.
I had toyed with the idea of moving it to a more suitable spot but I don’t really think it would move successfully. In any case I would have to prune it severely to have any chance of digging around the root ball and it would also needs lots of watering if the weather continued to be warm and dry. So I settled for a severe chop similar to the one I gave our other camellia and which has recovered well and flowered this year. I think it missed flowering for one spring.
I’ve done it now! Maybe I was a bit too lopper happy but it’s too late to worry now. As for the debris it’s all chopped up and in the garden waste recycling bin with room to spare. I thought I might be getting rid of it over a few weeks.
Next in line is the bamboo that you can now see lurking behind the pruned camellia. This isn’t going to get the pruning treatment more a complete digging out treatment. We should be able to recycle a few decent canes when the bamboo gets the chop.
Tuesday 24 June 2014
Almost Forgot
Tuesday wasn’t as good weather wise as we’ve been used to. We had a little light rain around lunchtime and the afternoon was dull and cloudy although it remained mild. The forecast is for the settled weather to have broken down by the weekend.
Last week when we visited RHS Harlow Carr we had a look around their kitchen garden to see if we could spot any good ideas that we could copy or anything a little out of the ordinary. In the disappointment of finding blight on our potatoes I forgot about these two interesting ideas in their kitchen garden.
I haven’t seen this method of growing tomatoes before. The tomatoes have been planted in reasonably sized pots that are half filled with compost. These are growing on bales of wet straw where they presumably get all their moisture from and are fed in the small amount of compost in the pot. I have to admit I’ve only just spotted the information sheet describing this growing method hanging from the greenhouse roof. It will be interesting to visit in August to see if the plants produce a good crop.
The second thing we spotted was a tomato and potato plant called a TomTato.
This sounds like a pretty good idea but presumably you wouldn’t get a potato harvest until the top of the plant has finished producing its tomato crop. As these are growing outside I would have thought that would be towards the end of September or even the middle of October. I wonder how much the grafted plants cost?
These are the TomTato growing in large hessian sacks. Once again it will be interesting to see how these are performing on our next visit to the gardens.
Wednesday 25 June 2014
Hanging On
The forecast change in the weather doesn’t seem to have arrived yet. Wednesday was mostly dull and cloudy but it remained dry and mild.
I eventually made up my mind and decided to spray our potatoes with Bordeaux Mixture in an attempt to stop any more potatoes succumbing to blight. When I’d finished some of our potato leaves had taken on a blueish tinge. If this treatment is to have any effect it needs to be repeated every two to three weeks.
The rest of the couple of hours I spent harvesting. Despite the lack of sunshine it was still a pleasant afternoon for mooching about on the plot picking strawberries and tayberries.
We’re trying to decide the strawberry varieties for our new bed which will be planted up next spring. We’d almost dismissed Amelia as it hadn’t done too well in the last couple of years. This year it’s done much better as though making a last ditch effort to show us its worth. Three lovely punnets of strawberries, which tasted superb, have got us thinking again.
Our bought in brassica plug plants have not only grown well but as if by magic they are managing to mature in nice succession. We’re down to our last couple of “Duncan” cabbages as the calabrese “Marathon” is ready to harvest.
The rate that the heads are growing we might have to freeze some calabrese.
My most strenuous job of the afternoon was to dig a few more leafless “Winston” potatoes. My leisurely afternoon on the plot turned out pretty productive.
Thursday 26 June 2014
One of Winter’s Survivors
It looks like the weather will change on Friday as the fine spell continued on Thursday. Once again there wasn’t much sunshine but with only a light breeze and the temperature nudging 20.3°C in felt very pleasant.
Last January I posted a picture of a geranium, (or more accurately pelargonium), in our neighbour’s garden which with the help of some protection from a bay window had managed to survive the winter outside.
Well it made it through the rest of what turned out to be a very mild winter with no real severe frosts. The geranium is still growing under the bay window and is now in full bloom.
Friday 27 June 2014
A Good Decision
Friday certainly brought about a change in the weather. Gone were the lovely warm conditions of the last few weeks replaced with cooler, cloudy, wet weather. It drizzled with rain for most of the day before “proper” rain set in by the middle of the afternoon. The temperature only managed to reach 13.6°C making it the second coldest June day in the last five years. The record is held by 03 June 2012 with just 9.6°C. The rainfall total amounted to 9.6mm by the end of the day.
Whilst we were down on the plot on Thursday afternoon, we decided that our garlic and over wintering onions had done all the growing that they were going to do. In the fine weather of the last few weeks the onions and garlic had dried off nicely and we thought it would be a shame for them to get a soaking in the rain if it arrived as forecast for Friday so they were all lifted and brought back home to be stored in the dry.
It turned out to be a good idea as they’d certainly have finished up wet and needing some more fine weather to dry them off.
Saturday 28 June 2014
Summer Needs Rebooting
Saturday was another rainy day, which came mostly as drizzle with the odd spell of heavier rain mixed in. It was another cold day for June with the temperature only making it to 13.1°C.
Our plans for Saturday had been for another trip to Bempton Cliffs incorporating a little bit of steam train photography too. We decided against the trip not fancying a walk along the cliffs at Bempton in the cool damp weather. Any gardening was on hold too.
By the middle of the afternoon things hadn’t improved at all but we decided on a short ride out to the East Coast Main Line to see if we could capture some photos and video of 70013 Oliver Cromwell as it headed back from Scarborough to Kings Cross with a special steam hauled charter train “The East Riding”. As we waited for the train to arrive the rain continued in erratic bursts and we weren’t sure if getting out of the car was going to be a good idea. Rain and cameras don’t get on well together in my mind.
As it happened the rain almost held off as 70013 Oliver Cromwell steamed past us heading towards Doncaster.
As usual with steam train photography it was all over in a few seconds and all that’s left is to retire to the car and have a quick look to see if the shots were as expected. There’s no second chances if the shots aren’t what you hoped for.
For a steam locomotive built in 1951 and withdrawn from service in 1968 Oliver Cromwell wasn’t exactly hanging around with “The East Riding” as she sped past our vantage spot.
Sunday & Monday 29/30 June 2014
Partial Reboot and a WoodBlocX Raised Bed
Sunday morning was dull, damp and drizzly but around lunchtime it began to brighten up and the afternoon wasn’t too bad at all. Monday was much better with much more sunshine and the temperature up to a more respectable 23°C for the time of year.
I decided to do a bit more work on our new coldframe courtyard. I thought it was about time to try and get our WoodBlocx raised bed constructed so that we could get some use out of it this summer.
I’d had a quick look through the instructions and been warned to make sure the dowels were inserted into the blocks on the countersunk side. One problem I anticipate is that I can’t position the bed in its final position so some way or another it will have to be repositioned at a later date, probably next spring.
The instructions do recommend constructing the raised bed on a firm level surface to aid ease of construction. I was constructing ours on bark chippings so I had my doubts about how the raised bed would fit together. I gathered together the tools I thought would be needed. All fairly obvious apart from the saw needed to cut the dowels to fit the top capping layer.
The base was set out in accordance with layer 1 of the instructions and levelled up on the bark chippings. The dowels were hammered home into the appropriate pre-
The second layer of blocks fitted remarkably easily over the dowels locking the blocks into place. A couple of blocks needed a final knocking into place with my lump hammer to ensure a snug fit. My piece of timber came in useful to protect the blocks from any damage from hammering directly on the blocks.
The two completed layers now looked like this and it was a question of repeating the process of fixing in more dowels and adding another layer of blocks. The process was easier now as my slightly soft base of bark chippings didn’t move as much now the base blocks were locked in position.
It didn’t take long to get all 4 layers of blocks fixed and the corner plates added to the top layer. The soft plastic dowels then need cutting three grooves down each one to allow the final capping layer to be added. The dowels were very easy to cut so this didn’t take too long and the capping blocks were added to finish of the raised bed.
I have to say I was impressed by the ease of construction. I had a couple of blocks that needed a bit of hammering to get them into place but there wasn’t any major problems putting the raised bed together. The instructions were easy to follow and it was simple to cross check with the plan that the dowels were in the correct holes and the shape and position of each block was correct for all the layers as each layer has its own diagram.
I’ve had far more serious issues with flat pack furniture than this raised bed. The quality is very good and I’m expecting years of use out of this new feature in our gradually coming together coldframe courtyard.