Dorset Garden Diary - And What Would You Like With Your Tomatoes

Evening everyone,

Hope you've had a good week in the garden. I'm still reaping what I've sown (in abundance) and it's time to start the autumnal jobs.

Monday - Misty and damp this morning. I cut back the leaves on the indoor and outdoor tomatoes to speed up ripening and cut the tops down to the top trugs as advised by Monty Don on Gardeners' World. He also said to water azaleas well this month as they are developing their buds. I pulled up two of the cucumber plants that are no longer producing, a small cucumber is forming on the other plant but whether it will actually evolve into a cucumber we'll have to see. To date I've picked 23 cucumbers. I also pulled up the outdoor gherkin plants as they are not doing anything now. I'll do the same with the greenhouse gherkins at the weekend. The squash had loads of flowers on it but, yet again, the small fruits have died. Just can't seem to grow them. I moved the hebe from it's pot in the gravel garden to the bed near the back trellis and it fits well there (second from right).

The photinia (I think. No, don't think it is. I'll have to check) next to the hebe is developing it's red winter foliage

The geese flew over the wrong way this morning. I don't mean they were flying backwards, I mean they were flying away from the bird reservoir and not towards it. Maybe they were beginning their migration.

Tuesday - I didn't have time for gardening today as I was working but I did feed the greenhouse plants. I think that will be the last feed this year. The late planted cucumber plants have plenty of tiny flowers on them but I don't think they'll come to anything. The late planted peas also have flowers on

Wednesday - a foggy start (definitely autumnal) then the sun broke through and we had a hot and sunny day. I bought some extra-strength weedkiller for the roots embedded in the garden by the new fence and for the brambles that are unfortunately thriving at the moment. I doubled the recommended strength as I want quick results. I planted the forsythia, buddleia and ground cover hypericum. It looks a bit bare at the moment but I have more ground cover plants arriving over the next month and both trees will grow to around 10ft over the next few years

Whilst I was digging over the bed I unearthed this slug - definitely a case of who ate all the pies!

There are gangs of sparrows in and out of the garden all day rummaging around in the flower and veg beds. Picked more tomatoes

that brings the tally to 12lbs so far. There are still plenty to ripen

Thursday -  today was very windy and warm, the temperature reached 72F in the greenhouse mid afternoon. I moved the small red-leaved grass from the cottage garden as the flowers were suffocating it. It's now been relocated near the cauldron pond

Picked runner beans (not been a good crop - could be the weather, could be the type of bean), pears that were ready

and picked and cooked beetroot. This pear was on the grass, I'm presuming a squirrel is the guilty party.

I pulled out a small piece of oxygenating plant from the main pond and put it in the cauldron pond to see if it will take. I heard a woodpecker here today for the first time.

Friday -  overcast and drizzly and humid. I went to pick blackberries. They are not a good crop this year. Over half of them had gone mouldy in the humid weather. I picked a few but by the evening they had also started to go mouldy - so no jam this year.

I cut back one of the hebe's that was looking sorry for itself and took softwood cuttings. I re-potted the mini buddleia cutting into a holding pot until I can decide where it's going. A blackbird was drinking out of the cauldron pond this afternoon. I dug up and potted three swiss chard which will, apparently, grow through the winter in the greenhouse

This is the root of one - I wish the carrots were that long and straight!

Pic of the miscanthus grass in the late evening sun (cottage garden)

and the delphinium black knight is flowering again

Saturday - drizzly, misty and rain all morning so not much done today but at least I didn't have to water the garden.

 

Sunday - sunny and warm with just a tinge of autumn in the air - perfect day. Picked the last of the sweet peas

Pulled up the fennel as it had gone to seed

re-potted the samphire

 

And...just to prove me wrong...the greenhouse gherkins are growing again

and the cucumber that I said probably wouldn't come to anything...

has! Welcome cucumber no. 24. I picked another pound of tomatoes and there's still plenty more to pick next week

I went for a walk into town this morning and on the way back spotted this (either a shag or a gannet) warming it's wings in the sun

 

This is my first parsnip of the season. The root was so deep I fell backwards when it snapped pulling it out but at least it's bigger and straighter than the carrots!

 

And talking of carrots...meet tai-chi carrot

 

Well, that's it for this week. I watched the Countryfile weather for the week but still not sure what's happening. Could be dry, could be rain, could be thunder. The only positive is that it's going to be unseasonably hot. Enjoy your gardening week and catch up next Sunday.

 

Regards,

 

DD

 

Follow me on Twitter @DaisyDigga

Dorset Garden Diary - Harvesting the Crops, Hot Chilli Chutney and a Spending Spree

Hi everyone,

Definitely an autumnal feel to the weather this week but we have had some balmy, sunny days and this weekend we've had much needed rain - buckets of it!

Monday - there was a lot of sparrow and bee activity in the garden all day. I collected perennial seeds for sowing, picked flowers for indoors and raspberries that were ripe (not many). As I walked past the pond there was a big splash, like something had been thrown in. Water had splashed onto the concrete rim and the surface was rippling with mini waves. I have no idea what it was...maybe a fish jumping although I wouldn't have thought it would have made that much of a splash as it can't leap high because of the netting. It could've been a frog or toad maybe. I pruned the apple tree - not as drastically as last year. The lemon balm in the top bed has started to take over and devoured the gooseberry bushes. I started to cut it back then thought, it's only going to take over again (I don't remember it being so invasive) so I dug it up and it's now composting nicely. I picked beetroot and boiled it up, carrots, runner beans and fennel (the kitchen smelt of aniseed all day). I watered the greenhouse and the outside pots.

Tuesday - jobs carried over from yesterday were move the goji berry, move the wild basil from the top bed, sort out the bulbs, start sowing perennial seed and move the gooseberries. Didn't get done so carried over to tomorrow. I had the pond pump running for a couple of hours then topped up the pond with water from the butts as it was getting low. I cleaned the miniature pond cauldron but no point setting it all up again until we have rain forecast, but I want to get it in situ soon for the wildlife. I moved some of the plants around to different parts of the garden to see if they'll grow better. Pickled the last of the gherkins - how did I miss this one

5 jars, the best yield so far

Watered the veg gardens and cottage garden and fed the greenhouse plants. The sparrows are using the veg gardens as a dirt bath. I had a clever idea - the sunflower is now drooping so I cut the top off, took some seeds for planting then, as the birds like the seeds, I hung it up for them. Halfway through the evening I went outside and took it down as it was hanging above the lawn and when (not if) the birds throw the seeds around we'd end up with sunflowers growing in the lawn and him indoors would not be too pleased.

Wednesday - didn't actually do much in the garden today as I was working. I froze the rest of the plums that have ripened, froze another pound of tomatoes and picked more blackberries, the largest and juiciest ones were just out of reach, as always. I weighed them, 12oz

That's the third batch I've picked and each batch has been 12oz! Cloudy today but warm. Went for a walk this evening, and treated myself to an ice cream. Jobs carried forward not done.

Thursday - move eunonymous added to list of jobs (my list)...and not done today. I picked fennel and carrots for my stir fry - the carrots grown in the tub are smaller but straighter

This afternoon and early evening the garden was bustling with different types of bees and butterflies.

Friday - Added to 'to do' list pull out all plants that have finished e.g. sweet peas, couple of the gherkin plants and the cucumbers which are dying off. All those jobs not done and carried over to the weekend - not good. I went to buy a pygmy water lily for the cauldron pond but they haven't got any now until next spring which is a shame. A friend had given me some quince/quinces (?) and crab apples. I know what I want to do with the quince but not sure about the crab apples. Twice this week there has been a spider in my gardening boots when I've shaken them upside down (just in case - and glad I did). Brave spiders...and brave me.

Saturday - I was up early before the rain arrived and out to the garden centre to buy shrubs to get in before the winter (the ruby buddleia is not in the picture as I left it in the front garden for those of you who counted 4 plants in the pic and 5 descriptions below!)

I dug up the dwarf buddleia in the front garden (lilac) and replaced it with the ruby

A bee settled on it as I was digging it in. I re-planted the dwarf buddleia in the newly cleared cauldron pond garden. The cascading buddleia, forsythia and the hypericum ground cover are going in front of the new fence and the rudbeckia will be going in the cottage garden. I dug out a larger hole for the cauldron pond so it's now lower in the ground and filled the bottom with gravel and larger stones, one for a plant pot to stand on and three on top of each other to allow wildlife to get in and out easily

 

I also put in a small piece of oxygenating plant which I hope will root. The rest of the plants I'll do tomorrow with everything else I need to do. It's going to be a busy day! I picked more tomatoes and cucumbers and made the chilli jam. Wow...it's hot, and I mean hot!

Oh, and I also ordered some plants, shrubs and ground cover which will be delivered October/November. Him indoors is away and doesn't know yet! There is quite a bit of garden to fill so might as well get it all done in one go. It rained this afternoon. Light rain said the weather forecast...ok...

Sunday - I ache. Before I can plant out the shrubs I bought yesterday I have to dig the bed over and get out all the roots from the raspberry runners and next door's blackberry plants that have come over. That took over an hour and a half and still not got them all out, I'll have to get some root killer. I re-planted the gooseberry bushes (tick off list) and also found a blackcurrant bush which I re-planted from the back bed. I have a plan for the back bed now. I re-potted the turnips (tick) and planted out the swede (tick) with the garden grown seedlings, although I'm not sure what's swede and what's weeds in the veg bed as they all look the same. Interesting that swede and weeds are anagrams of each other. When I was digging this appeared and, funnily enough, I dug one up yesterday when doing the cauldron pond - no idea what it is

I also dug up this fat slug...who ate all the pies eh! It went for a journey over the fence.

And lastly, before he went away him indoors put in the grass sections I grew to patch up the lawn. They actually put the lawn to shame

 

Watched the Countryfile weather this evening and looks like it's getting warmer again this week with rain coming in towards the weekend. As it's raining again now I don't think I'll need to do much watering. Have a good gardening week and catch up next Sunday.

 

Regards,

 

DD

 

Follow me on Twitter @DaisyDigga

Dorset Garden Diary - Him Indoors Comes Up Trumps

Evening everyone,

Well, this was a ground-breaking week both metaphorically and literally. Him indoors has been in charge whilst I was away (I arrived back yesterday in the middle of a thunderstorm that hadn't been forecast) and he's done a great job of tidying up the garden which had become overgrown in places. And...he remembered to take before and after pics.

His first job was clearing part of the side garden for new fencing to go up

He cleared everything over a couple of days and now with the new fence up it's looking good. 

I'm going to sow green manure over the winter to enrich the soil then we'll plant butterfly and bee friendly shrubs including buddleia which is a favourite of his.

The back bed was looking tatty - the sweet peas had died off and bindweed had taken hold and was suffocating everything

It's looking much better now

(beautiful miscanthus in the foreground)

Next on the agenda was clear the weeds and grass that's been growing vigorously in the paving cracks near the vegetable beds. He transformed it from this

to this

And, with that done he then started on the patio weeds

He scraped out all the weeds and crumbling mortar and refilled it...brilliant job

And the area next to the pottering shed is now clear and tidy as well

And...talking of the pottering shed, whilst I was away last week him indoors has arranged to have the roof replaced...exciting!

In between all this he fed the greenhouse plants, watered the veg (apparently every time he watered the garden it then rained!), watered the pots regularly, picked runner beans, cucumbers and tomatoes, froze the plums as they ripened and had the first of the pears. The runner beans, a cucumber and some of the tomatoes went next door to the neighbours and he froze the rest of the tomatoes for making soups and sauces. So the running total so far is: runner beans 1.75lb, cucumbers 19 and tomatoes 7.5lb - not bad and there's still plenty more to come. One thing he missed was the gherkins...

I think the big one will be in a jar of its own!

The swede and turnip seedlings are coming on, I'll pot them on next week.

The cucumbers are still growing well

and the recently planted cucumbers plants have doubled in size this week

I watched two week's worth of Gardeners' World this morning. Last week's jobs were don't cut back lilies, let them die back naturally (doing that), keep picking runner beans (doing that) and sow herbaceous perennials and store (need to do that). This week's jobs are remove fennel if it's gone to seed (need to do that), cut away old foliage from strawberries (need to do that as well) and pot on any cuttings (and also need to do that - next week). The onions have now finished drying in the greenhouse and are hanging up in the (still tidy) pottering shed - there's not as many as last year unfortunately.

In the little flower bed under the cherry tree was this half eaten pear - it appears him indoors isn't the only one to like them...a hungry squirrel maybe?

The autumn raspberries are appearing

And the colours in the cottage garden look stunning at the moment

 

As you can see, him indoors did a great job - he's now gone back to work for a rest! I watched Countryfile this evening and it looks like we're in for a dry and balmy week here in Dorset so I'll be out in the garden as much as possible. Hope you have good gardening weather and catch up next Sunday.

 

Regards,

 

DD

 

Follow me on Twitter @DaisyDigga