27 August 2018

Dorset Garden Diary - Can't Believe It's Nearly September

Hi everyone,

Hard to believe we're on the road to autumn...where did the summer go? Over the past couple of weeks it's been warm but not so humid and we've had a couple of good downpours to start replenishing the garden after the drought. It's also been quite windy over the past few days.

The sparrows, blue tits and blackbirds have disappeared from the garden leaving just the magpies, pigeons and doves. Him indoors discovered something has been burrowing under the back fence again, probably a fox as the gap was too small for a badger. The fish have been surfacing more frequently and we've been feeding them 3-4 times a day. The other day he counted between 30-40!

We've been tidying up the garden - I wish the plants and veg grew as quickly as the weeds - and him indoors pulled out some of the oxygenating weed from the pond that was taking over. The cauldron pond isn't doing too well so it will have to have a makeover in the autumn.

I came across this geranium that I saved last year...it is happy and rewarding me well
The radishes appear to have got out of hand, impressive but inedible unfortunately
And...drum roll...there are three lemons growing. They probably won't develop into full blown fruit but hey, still impressive
Yesterday I picked French and runner beans, a pepper and plums
The veg beds are getting a bit sparse now but the second sowing of beetroot is coming on and the perpetual spinach is getting it's second wind
and the fennel and kale are coming along. The carrots are still a bit hit and miss though
In the greenhouse the padron and razzmatazz chillies are turning a lovely shade of fiery red
and the indoor and outdoor cucumbers are still producing


The pond garden is looking colourful with the rudbeckia
and the grasses in the cottage garden never fail to delight

That's it for this week. The forecast for the coming week is, and I quote, 'summer is returning'. Hope so.

Regards,

DD

Follow me on Twitter @daisydigga




12 August 2018

Dorset Garden Diary - Now We're Being Spoilt - More Rain!

Hi everyone,

The temperature has dipped, the humidity has gone and it's raining again. Welcome back to our traditional English summer.

The drought has brought failures and successes. The failures:
Maris Piper potatoes from six plants. Grew them in the ground rather than bags, thought I'd watered them enough but obviously not.
Now at first glance this looks like a success after the first batch withered on ripening, but actually they are a failure because each one is rotten inside
and I don't hold out much hope for the rest of them.
The courgettes are putting on a brave face and trying to score brownie points but I've only had one decent courgette from two plants all summer...so far!
The carrots are sporadic - these were growing next to each other.
but this one put a smile on my face!

Failure into success when the rains came
flowers appearing in the cottage garden
and the pond garden.

Successes:
indoor cucumbers
and outdoor cucumbers surprisingly.
peppers
razzmatazz chillies
padron peppers which I thought were peppers but found out they are actually chillies when I put them in my salad!
fennel (left) and dill (right) seeds sown at the beginning of the month.
The eucalyptus has rallied after nearly dying at the beginning of July.

New plants for the garden are:
Rhodohypoxis - rose lily grass
Hebe high voltage (foreground) and Hakonechloa aureola (background)
Blechnum volcano (dwarf Brazilian tree fern) (foreground), coronilla citrina (back) and the piece de resistance - him indoors favourite plant ever...drum roll...strelitzia bird of paradise.

And another of him indoors' favourites has come into flower - Ena Harkness rose

Dotted around the garden we have rock solar lights
they are placed under trees and in the flower beds. Every morning at least a couple of them have been toppled over by mysterious activities in the night!

That's it for this week, the weather looks fairly settled for the week albeit a bit breezy at times.

Regards,

DD

Follow me on Twitter @daisydigga