Saturday 23 April 2011
Friday 22 April 2011
Weekend's a scorcher
Sowed seeds of Giant Sunflower in a pot. Saved some seeds from the African Marigold we had last year. They will need to go in the ground this weekend as well.
Meanwhile, Mr Macaron is reading the instruction manual for the coal barbecue that will find a place in our garden - can't wait to have all sorts of everything on the coals soon.
In some distressing news, the cruel peach leaf curl has struck again. Pinched away all the infected leaves, which were many, many. The leaves seem to have lost their strength and just come away so easily. The leaves need to be removed but removing so many of them risks depriving the tree of its ability to grow. Hope a spray of the Bordeaux Mix will stem the infection. Very painful.
Saturday 16 April 2011
The Darling Buds of April
The viburnum buds have grown larger, still pale green and in a few days they will be an incandescent white.
The lilies and strawberries are growing with a renewed vigour. And so are those muscari (grape hyacinth) bulbs planted just a couple of months ago. I had discarded a few bulbs by scattering them on the ground (as opposed to binning them as they seemed to be in a rather rotted state). Huge surprise to see rather healthy shoots and flowers from a couple of those bulbs, bulbs still on the surface of the soil with a few white root fibres anchoring them to the ground. How little it takes to support life - rather humbling to see how this universe works.
Sunday 10 April 2011
Growing our Five-A-Day
We have finally decided to have a veggie bed this year. But first, how not to grow veg!
Two summers ago, we got some free seeds along with a gardening magazine and promptly sowed them in three seed trays. Suddenly we had to plant nearly forty seedlings of basil, tomato and peppers. There was no space in the flower beds so I decided to pick up wooden crates from the open market and plant the seedlings in them. The crates just a few inches deep so the roots did not have enough room to grow and anchor the plants well. The basil grew limp. We got one under-developed pepper. The tomato plants literally shot out of the crates.They needed staking and I bought rather feeble stakes from the local garden centre. Soon the stakes were falling and the tomato plants along with them. There were an abundance of green tomatoes that were small and did not ripen, totally not the Gardener's Delight promised on the sachet. I eventually harvested them all for a green tomato salad. The crates remained an eye sore in the garden, the plants going gangly over winter and a certain Mr Macaron pleased at all at my half-witted attempt at veggie gardening.
The next year, having learnt that just a few seeds would do the trick, I went about trying my hand at French Beans, Courgette and Salad and planted the seedlings in the gaps within our flower beds. The Salad leaves were devoured by slugs and snails, who also helped themselves to the tender courgette plants. But the French Beans thrived, we got loads of juicy beans, tastier than their Tesco counterparts I might add, and the proof of concept was established!
This year, it was time to dedicate space in our garden to grow veg. Mr Macaron a wee sceptical that our garden is too small. My idea was to dig up a sunny part of the lawn for the veg bed of course. I had to remind him that Michelle Obama had the White House lawn dug up for a veg bed! Surely we can too. So now it's been agreed that we will dig up the lawn to create a bed and grow our own veg! Sowed a few seeds each of tomato, carrots, kale, french beans and courgettes. It should take two to three weeks for the seedlings to emerge, which gives us enough time to dig out the bed, backbreaking work given the unyielding clay soil we have. Once the bed is ready, lettuce and herbs can go directly in.
Talking of which, Mr Macaron mowed the lawn today and though it looks nice and tidy now, sad to see many of the yellow dandelions go. Followed by generous treat of compost for all the plants. The clematis that I thought we might have lost to clematis wilt last year are growing shoots. We created a new wire-frame against the fence to support them on their climb. The geranium troughs were brought out to the garden from the conservatory to make room for the veg seed trays. The tulips have come up with a dazzling display this year - you can see some of them here.
A lovely friend dropped by this evening and brought a pot of white carnations for us - delighted at the new addition to our garden!
Two summers ago, we got some free seeds along with a gardening magazine and promptly sowed them in three seed trays. Suddenly we had to plant nearly forty seedlings of basil, tomato and peppers. There was no space in the flower beds so I decided to pick up wooden crates from the open market and plant the seedlings in them. The crates just a few inches deep so the roots did not have enough room to grow and anchor the plants well. The basil grew limp. We got one under-developed pepper. The tomato plants literally shot out of the crates.They needed staking and I bought rather feeble stakes from the local garden centre. Soon the stakes were falling and the tomato plants along with them. There were an abundance of green tomatoes that were small and did not ripen, totally not the Gardener's Delight promised on the sachet. I eventually harvested them all for a green tomato salad. The crates remained an eye sore in the garden, the plants going gangly over winter and a certain Mr Macaron pleased at all at my half-witted attempt at veggie gardening. The next year, having learnt that just a few seeds would do the trick, I went about trying my hand at French Beans, Courgette and Salad and planted the seedlings in the gaps within our flower beds. The Salad leaves were devoured by slugs and snails, who also helped themselves to the tender courgette plants. But the French Beans thrived, we got loads of juicy beans, tastier than their Tesco counterparts I might add, and the proof of concept was established!
This year, it was time to dedicate space in our garden to grow veg. Mr Macaron a wee sceptical that our garden is too small. My idea was to dig up a sunny part of the lawn for the veg bed of course. I had to remind him that Michelle Obama had the White House lawn dug up for a veg bed! Surely we can too. So now it's been agreed that we will dig up the lawn to create a bed and grow our own veg! Sowed a few seeds each of tomato, carrots, kale, french beans and courgettes. It should take two to three weeks for the seedlings to emerge, which gives us enough time to dig out the bed, backbreaking work given the unyielding clay soil we have. Once the bed is ready, lettuce and herbs can go directly in.
Talking of which, Mr Macaron mowed the lawn today and though it looks nice and tidy now, sad to see many of the yellow dandelions go. Followed by generous treat of compost for all the plants. The clematis that I thought we might have lost to clematis wilt last year are growing shoots. We created a new wire-frame against the fence to support them on their climb. The geranium troughs were brought out to the garden from the conservatory to make room for the veg seed trays. The tulips have come up with a dazzling display this year - you can see some of them here.A lovely friend dropped by this evening and brought a pot of white carnations for us - delighted at the new addition to our garden!
Friday 1 April 2011
Happy Mother's Day
An earth-bouquet for our dear Mums!
In advance, Happy Mother's Day!
Made up our hanging baskets this year - with saplings of trailing geranium and sweet peas. That was rather easy - have I missed a trick? We'll see!
Woke up this morning wondering whether the slugs had made a meal of our achillea. Looks like all the frilly leaves are intact. Found a few slugs nested comfortably under the achillea pots earlier in the week and tipped them over the wall onto an unused road behind our backyard. We think this is a sort of win-win method to remove slugs. If they can climb over the walls to reach our plants again, then they have probably earned the treat!
We are in need of a bird bath to replace the earlier one. Temporarily, decided to place a bucket near the bird feeders with a couple of bricks propped in the water to form a ramp for birds that want a drink. A couple of days later there were a cluster of snail eggs in the water, that probably made the journey into the bucket along with the bricks. Intrigued and alarmed at the same time, left them to see what happens. Now there are fewer eggs. Snacked on by a pigeon that stopped by I imagine.
Made up our hanging baskets this year - with saplings of trailing geranium and sweet peas. That was rather easy - have I missed a trick? We'll see!
We are in need of a bird bath to replace the earlier one. Temporarily, decided to place a bucket near the bird feeders with a couple of bricks propped in the water to form a ramp for birds that want a drink. A couple of days later there were a cluster of snail eggs in the water, that probably made the journey into the bucket along with the bricks. Intrigued and alarmed at the same time, left them to see what happens. Now there are fewer eggs. Snacked on by a pigeon that stopped by I imagine.
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