Dorset Garden Diary - And The Drought Continues

Hi everyone,

Apart from a cooler day on Wednesday with an hour of light rain - which didn't make any impact on the soil but it was welcome nonetheless - it's been a hot and humid week with temperatures hovering around 27C 81C and today it's 29C 84F. Now I know to some of you this is a normal occurrence, but it's not here in England and especially not for this prolonged length of time (6 weeks).

The garden is starting to suffer. I thinned out the plums, some of them had already started to ripen and they've just shrivelled because of the lack of rain

Unfortunately, this is happening to other gardeners and their fruit crops.

This veg bed should be full of carrots, spring onions, beetroot and radishes but it's looking barren. I have been watering it but the daytime heat is turning the soil to dust.

 

The Pentland Javelin potatoes have failed

This is all I have from six plants (just under a kilo/couple of pounds) and they aren't looking that brilliant. The Charlotte's seem to have done better although this is all I have from three plants (about the same weight as the Pentlands). I have another six to dig up

And the outdoor tomatoes and cucumbers are struggling, I watered these this morning and they are already wilting

But the cucumbers in the greenhouse are doing well, we've had our first one - delicious

and there's more to come

We've had the first of the dwarf French beans

and I managed to get to these raspberries ahead of the blackbirds

The flowers appear to love this dry weather though, the snapdragons have sprung up all over the garden

These lilac perennials that I cut back after flowering in the spring have bloomed again

The ragged robin in the cottage garden

This lovely lily we inherited from the previous owners

and...the grass is now brown and dying off but these little flowers have sprung up

Well that's it from a hot and humid and dusty Dorset and there's no rain forecast this coming week either.

Regards,

DD

Follow me on Twitter @daisydigga

 

Dorset Garden Diary - There's an Outside Chance of Rain Today...Hopefully...Please!

Hi everyone,

That's June been and gone, we're halfway through the year and the days are shortening. Plus, it's been one of the hottest on record and the driest - there's been no rain here since the end of May. It's cooler today but high humidity, rain and thunderstorms are forecast but it's hit and miss. So it's been a week of watering the veg and topping up the pond. But it's worth it. The cucumbers in the greenhouse are doing well after last year's dismal performance

as are the tomatoes

and the chillies and peppers

The tomatoes and outdoor cucumbers are also doing well albeit more slowly

I've spent most of the week tidying the garden, weeding and deadheading. At times it was too hot to do much with temperatures hovering around the 28C 82F, although we have been lucky with a sea breeze but even that was warm.

The pot raspberries are close to ripening

the lemon tree (well, it's more like a small shrub at the moment) is in flower

the miniature blue hydrangea is in flower

as are the magnificent lionheart lillies

There has been a lot of damselflies and dragonflies hovering around the pond and I realised that they can't get to the water because of the netting keeping the heron out, so until him indoors can make something more permanent, this is my solution for during the day

and within minutes of erecting it the damselflies were underneath and hovering over the water.

I've had to top up the bird baths and the cauldron pond every day. The sparrows and blackbirds are using the cauldron pond to cool off. And talking of sparrows, they are feeding relentlessly, I am topping up the feeders every other day. I'm surprised they can fly with all that food inside them. On Monday I could hear the crows and seagulls creating a racket, I looked out the window and they were dive-bombing a buzzard that was lazily gliding round in circles. Beautiful bird.

I potted up two of the blueberry bushes I've grown from cuttings and now all the leaves have been eaten! I also potted up two of the apple trees I've grown from seed and I noticed yesterday that there are two miniscule apples growing on one of them - you can just about see them

On the other hand the plums are in abundance

I thinned out the beetroot and re-planted the excess seedlings elsewhere and sowed more spring onions and radishes. Some of he peas are ready

and the runner and French beans are in flower

The sweet peas that have been growing every year since we moved in are doing much better than the ones planted this year

the alliums are coming into flower in the cottage garden

and we have a flower on the Ena Harkness climbing rose (him indoors' favourite)

I watched Countryfile this evening to see what the weather is for the week ahead and it looks like the rain and storms have passed us by although there could be some rain tomorrow morning, but if not, then there's none forecast for yet another week. Great news for the tourists but not for us gardeners.

Regards,

DD

Follow me on Twitter @daisydigga

Dorset Garden Diary - Flamin' June and Water Butts Empty

Hi everyone,

It's been a mixed couple of weeks with cloudy days, foggy nights and not enough rain to wet a leaf. We've only had 2% of our rainfall for June and there's none forecast in the foreseeable future. The pond level is dropping and needs topping up regularly but I have to do it in stages because it's tap water as all the water butts are empty and the veg is at the stage where it's need water and lots of it. We are on a water meter so I'm saving all the cold water that runs before the hot kicks in which is enough for the cucumbers, tomatoes, chillies and courgettes and the rest is the hosepipe.

But it's all looking good, the garden has filled out with greenery and flowers. This gorgeous poppy was grown from seed

one of the climbing roses has spread across the back fence

this is what it looks like close up



Looks like it's going to be a good year for plums, we hardly had any last year

 

One of the lilies is doing well, still waiting for the others to bloom

And these sweet peas that were planted before we moved in have been growing every year in the shade garden and survived last winter's freezing temperatures

During the week I pulled up the garlic and it's in the greenhouse  drying

and the onions and shallots I've left on the veg bed

Thankfully some of the runner beans have survived the slugs

The spuds pentland javelin and maris piper are in flower

 as are the charlottes' which look nearly ready

we have tomatoes

and, thankfully, cucumbers - I had a lot of problems with them last year

first of the baby beets

and six gooseberries which is six more than we've had for the last three years

It's been very hot today with high humidity and the temperature in the greenhouse has been rising to mid 90'sF low 30'sC all week. I tidied up one of the patio gravel beds this morning

and pruned back one of the azaleas as it didn't look very happy. I have a few things to pot on during the week. One thing I'm very pleased with...I've been mentioning the squirrel burying walnuts all over the garden, well I found three and they looked like they were sprouting so I potted them up and look...we have the beginnings of a walnut tree! Thank you Mr or Mrs Squirrel.

The fish are becoming more alert and surface every time I walk near the pond in anticipation of being fed. There are some small black ones which are this year's fishlings. And we have miniature frogs. They are smaller than the black tadpoles lurking in the oxygenating weed

some of them are not much bigger than my little fingernail. They are soooo cute and perfectly formed.
Well it's going to be a hot one this week with temperatures soaring, I guess I'll be doing a lot of watering - I can't lose any crops now. Have a good gardening week and catch up next Sunday.

Regards,

DD

Follow me on Twitter @daisydigga

Dorset Garden Diary - Foggy Evenings and the First Sweet Peas

Hi everyone,

It's been a strange week with fog at night and a mixture of rain and sun during the day. It was so foggy Wednesday evening I couldn't see the houses opposite.

The garden is looking full and colourful after the rain we've had but it still needed watering again today. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to get out there as much as I would like and the weeds have taken hold so I'm going to have to get stuck into that next week.

On Wednesday I staked the tomatoes in the greenhouse

and this was taken today - look how much they've grown

they're doing better than the plants outside

I fed the veg, raspberries, blackcurrants, courgettes and the olive tree with seaweed fertiliser. I was going to feed the dwarf runner bean but the slugs have got to it so I still only have two bean plants that have survived. The ones I put in the conservatory to grow have sprouted

so I'll keep them away from the slugs for as long as I can.

Today I put in the pond clear. It does help to keep the blanket weed down but because the pond is in direct sun for most of the day the water is never really clear. It won't be long before the tadpoles are frogs.

The courgettes are doing well, hopefully this could be the year I am successful with them as I usually only get a couple from each plant then it dies

The cucumbers are thriving

I've planted marigolds in with the tomatoes, courgettes, beans, lettuces and peas to hopefully detract the slugs from the veg and also to deter the green and black fly.

I earthed up the pentland javelin spuds

and the maris pipers

and this appears to be the first year I am successful with lettuce

The carrots, spring onions, beetroot and radishes are coming along, albeit slowly.

Nothing new on the flower front apart from an explosion of nigella everywhere which is delicate and pretty (note tip of right foot in foreground!)

I picked the first of the sweet peas

and next door's rambling rose has appeared over the fence

I went to Bristol zoo during the week and had to take a photo of this amazing tree - no idea what it is

Well, that's it for this week, I'll be back in a couple of weeks and it'll be interesting to see how much the garden has grown.

Regards,

DD

Follow me on Twitter @daisydigga