Dorset Garden Diary - Carrot-shaped Carrots and a Giant Radish

Hi everyone,

Greetings from sunny Dorset. It was a chilly 6C 43F this morning but it's quite warm now in the sun. We've had some spectacular sunrises and sunsets and it's been quite balmy during the day. The temperature has been steadily dropping during the nights which has led to some early morning low lying fog

Yesterday we had much needed rain. The garden is still looking good although autumn is creeping in and the leaves are falling. The grass is growing again from the summer drought but it's all patchy and the ground is now uneven so him indoors will be sorting that out in the spring.

I've been clearing the leaves from the pond (to help keep the water healthy) and I've left the netting cover off a few times during the day because there are a lot of (huge - 5-6 inches long) blue dragonflies hovering around trying to get to the water.

I pruned the goji berry and buddleia at the top right of the garden that had become entangled

it still looks a bit of a mess but at least it's a pruned mess! I've given the quince tree it's first pruning

and cleared away all the stinging nettles and brambles that were growing round the base. I was going to prune the hazelnut tree but there are some fruits on it so I'll have to do it in the winter.

Today I've picked the last of the tomatoes and cut down the plants. I was going to do the same with the cucumber plants but they are still producing as are the padron peppers. I've put the lemon tree in the greenhouse because of the chilly nights. Not sure if these will develop into actual lemons but it's looking healthy

I need to put next year's onion and garlic crop in this month so I started to empty and dig over the veg beds. The beetroot haven't been brilliant this year

There are still some carrots left (straight and carrot-shaped!)

I will dig up the rest next week. The radishes have sort of run away with me, the large one is around 9 inches long

but unfortunately too woody to eat.

This is the time of year that we are advised to lift dahlia tubers for over-wintering. I've never done that, yet despite the freezing snap in March mine has survived and the yellow flowers are striking against the chocolate leaves

 

We have other colour in the garden - the sunflowers are persevering

beautiful antirrhnums (snapdragons)

Russian sage

the geums are back in flower

and I've not seen the dwarf lilac this colour before, it's usually shed it's leaves while they're still green

Red berries on a shrub that's peeking through from next door

and the gentiana in the pond garden has come into flower again

There is plenty to do over the next couple of weeks. The shading cover needs to come off the top of the greenhouse; I need to clean and disinfect the greenhouse when the cucumbers and peppers have finished; dig up the rest of the carrots; dig compost into the veg beds and plant the onions and garlic; put the tender pot plants in the greenhouse once I've cleaned it; clean the pots and trays for next spring and, of course, tidy up the pottering shed...oops!

And this is the view down the garden from the kitchen

It's going to be another cold one tonight then it's going to warm up during the week with rain coming in towards the weekend. Happy gardening...

Regards,

DD

Follow me on Twitter @daisydigga

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

Hi everyone,

Just back from a couple of weeks in Madeira and a bit of a shock to the system leaving 78-82F (25-27C) and coming back to 57F (14C)...and rain.

It appears that once again the garden hasn't missed me but more surprisingly, neither have the cucumbers, chillies and tomatoes in the greenhouse. I gave them all a good water before we went, stripped off most of the leaves and left a bowl of water in the greenhouse to keep it humid. One cucumber is growing and there are more in flower

I picked all the chillies before we went away

and these have grown since

and the tomatoes just keep on coming

The outside tomatoes have rallied as well despite the cool temperatures

The fish are happy with a full pond again (I topped it up before we went away as the level had gone down quite a bit) after all the rain we've had over the past couple of days

Apparently it's been really windy - one of the covers on the outside table has been torn

and the goji berry has collapsed onto one of the buddleias so I'll have to untangle it next week

The two dwarf buddleias are in flower - I will need to prune those soon

the tall grass in the cottage garden now has it's flowery feathers

the daphne has come into flower

and there are plenty of buds on the lemon tree

and despite nearly being blown down the sunflowers are persisting

I have been worried about the bird of paradise plant I'd bought a couple of weeks before we went away as I didn't want to lose it, but it appears to have survived and is looking healthy

I took this photo in the hotel grounds in Madeira - hopefully this is what it's going to look like when it flowers

Although it's been chilly this weekend, apart from a couple of cold nights at the beginning of the week the temperature is going to rise again and it looks like we're in for a warm and sunny week - that'll make the weeds grow!

Regards,

DD

Follow me on Twitter @daisydigga

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



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