June 28 2011, Garden no 10

Garden 2011 no10

At last the hot humid and wet weather has gone and we have lovely warm sunshine. It’s not forecasted to last long so guess I better make the most of it while I can. Think I understand why the rainforest is so lush………we have had what seems like mini rainforest conditions here in Scotland and the effect on the garden is incredible. Every thing is fresh and green and blooming. My herbs are really thriving; I planted a lot of new ones earlier this year. Some herbs I started indoors and some I sowed from seed into the containers in the garden. I’ve almost lost track of what I have in the garden but I h've started to harvest them more this year. I try to take a few leaves from all the plants as often as I can. This year I’m freezing my herbs in little tubs. It’s like using fresh herbs and now that I’m used to doing it, I prefer this method to drying them. In my freezer I have rosemary, thyme, coriander, basil, oregano, dill, chives, lemon balm, mint, chocolate mint, peppermint, lovage, parsley and marjoram. I’m also harvesting the lavender as it blooms.
My one potato barrel is doing well, I wish I had planted more potatoes because the little new potatoes taste wonderful, so much better than shop bought ones. I’ve thought about harvesting what I have and then re seeding the potato barrel to get  at least two crops. I have onions and garlic in containers and from what I see, they are all coming on ok.  And at last my new vegetable plot, which is in the middle of what was my lawn, is ready to use. I know it’s very late in the season to plant root veg but this vegetable garden has taken me so long to do. The weather has held things up and the problems with the fence made it difficult to get on with other things in the garden. Anyway, this evening I planted two small rows of carrots, two rows of beetroot and two rows of parsnip. Maybe I’ll get a late harvest from them or maybe I could overwinter them and dig them in the spring. What ever happens, its good practice for next year, I can start planting in spring. Despite the high winds and the chaos building a fence I am getting a little fruit. The white currants are ready for picking and the gooseberries are ripening on the bush.
I think its going to be a very poor harvest, I’ll be lucky to get enough to make one pot of jam, but considering the rain/ wind/ frost  damage I’m surprised the fruit canes survived at all and with luck, they will be bigger and stronger next year and the harvest will be better. Even with out the awful conditions they are all young and not fully mature.When I look at my garden from the pavement I can’t help thinking other people must think it’s a very odd front garden. Most people have flower beds and neat lawns at the front of their house, my garden looks more like an allotment or some sort of urban farm. That’s because the only private garden I have is this little bit at the front, the land at the back is all communal garden, shared with neighbours. The fence still isn’t finished. More cement is needed in the post holes of the panel’s already in situ and there is one final panel to go in at the very end of the garden.

My latest garden purchase

As I have dug up most of my grass I no longer need my big electric hover mower. It’s a hassel getting it out, getting the extension cable sorted and then having to make a mad dash as soon as one little spot of rain comes down. AND it takes up far to much space in my small shed. It’s too big to fit around the tiny bit of grass I have.
So I bought an eco friendly, non electric, hand mower. I thought I could save on electric and get some exercise all at the same time.
Trouble is…… I HATE self assemble……………..but this one was quite easy.

Tags: garden, garden2011, plants, herbs, vegetables

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delete reply forelithe wrote on Jul 3, '11 Your garden is wonderful !

edit delete reply forgetmenot525 wrote on Jun 29, '11 brendainmad said Maybe your neighbours will copy your idea about the vegetable garden. Oh Brenda I wish................but not much chance of that, I get the impression my neighbours think I'm a bit excentric.........can't imagine why :-)

edit delete reply forgetmenot525 wrote on Jun 29, '11 greenwytch said great blog, my dear. and i love the mower. ; D Oh me too Deb.............I've used it and much prefer it to my bigger electric mower. I know if you have huge area of grass this little mower would not be enough, but for me its just perfect...............AND ..... doesn't it look so cute and pretty sitting in my garden ??

edit delete reply forgetmenot525 wrote on Jun 29, '11 veroniquemariquita said I have found a wonderful (free) container for freezing small bits of stuff. Thanks Vero, I love when its 'FREE'..........not just because you don't have to pay but also because there is far too much waste and its good to recycle things. If you look at the little plastic tubs on my table, they were originally full of ready made 'fillers' for baked potatoes or sandwiches. Using the containers sort of makes me feel better about buying ready made fillers and not making my own . I also have a collection of yogurt pots that I start seedlings off in..............

delete reply veroniquemariquita wrote on Jun 29, '11, edited on Jun 29, '11 You certainly are making great use of your gardening area. Love the idea of the herbs in pots. So much prettier than just sticking them in the ground. I have found a wonderful (free) container for freezing small bits of stuff. Plastic tubs that Gerber baby food comes in. Our "baby" is five now but she still loves eating the sweet potatoes and carrots so that Grandma can have the containers. lol

delete reply mitchylr wrote on Jun 29, '11 Your garden is looking splendiferous!! THe herbs are really doing well. Yes, all the rain we've had certainly makes a big difference,

delete reply greenwytch wrote on Jun 29, '11 great blog, my dear. and i love the mower. ; D

delete reply brendainmad wrote on Jun 29, '11 I always enjoy seeing what's new in your garden. Maybe your neighbours will copy your idea about the vegetable garden. I remember how good the food was from our garden when I was growing up.

delete reply djdx wrote on Jun 29, '11 I think it looks great. Why should there be a standard idea of what a front garden should look like? Go for the vegetables, although I don't know how short your season is, I think there is hope. You could maybe put a fleece on at the end to lengthen things out a bit. We ate some new potatoes last night. :-)

delete reply lrrpslady wrote on Jun 28, '11 Just lovely Loretta.

delete reply starfishred wrote on Jun 28, '11 wonderful :) we had 37C yesterday it was 24C all night today it is suppose to rain a bit hope so it is hot

edit delete reply forgetmenot525 wrote on Jun 28, '11 I love basil, my basil this year hasn't done as well as last year but its Ok and maybe it will pick up a bit now the weather is better. Sage.............thats one I forgot, I should find some seeds and plant it.

delete reply esoterika713 wrote on Jun 28, '11 Very nice. We have a co-op member do our lawns. Luckily, I don't have to worry about it. Although I have to weed around the gardens which means taking grass out here and there. Your plants look wonderful. Gardens provide such happiness. By the way, we planted a lot of herbs this year too. We planted Basil (tons of it), sage,rosemary, thyme, parsley,coriander, zucchini, cucumbers,raspberries and tarragon.

June 5 2011, Garden no 9

First of all I have to say one of the kids was messing about with my camera at yesterdays BBQ and I haven’t figured out what they did, but somehow, they have changed the settings and my photos are all a bit out of focus. That applies to the ones I have just posted of yesterdays BBQ and my granddaughters greenhouse.
Anyway, the garden, today I have actually spent the whole day out there, apart from little breaks when I came indoors to catch up here . It wasn’t too hot, it wasn’t too cold and it didn’t rain. Well that’s not strictly true, it did rain but only as I was packing away to come indoors. The fence building project that has become a fiasco looks like it may be completed on Thursday, weather permitting. It has been impossible to do, either it was raining, or we had howling wind, or both, or on the nice days, when it was almost too hot to do any thing, the people supposed to be building the fence were all working or otherwise occupied. We did make one attempt last week, it was a beautiful hot day, the holes for fence posts were dug, the concrete mixed………….and then big black clouds appeared as if from no where and it poured and poured with rain. The newly dug holes filled with water and mud and every thing stopped for the day. The only good thing about that day was the fact that the rain came down quite literally as the water was about to be poured into the concrete mix. We managed to keep the concrete mix dry and water free. So now I have a huge container of concrete and sand, sitting in my shed waiting for the right moment, which hopefully will be Thursday. 
In anticipation of getting the fence built, I’ve been clearing away the wood and general rubbish that will not be needed. I’ve dug over my vegetable garden once more, I don’t think I will be in time to plant vegetables this year, maybe some late root veg or something but mostly it will be something to look forward to next year.
I checked out all my containers while I was out there today. At least the plants seem to have benefited from the rain; I’ve never seen them looking so good.







The chocolate mint and lemon balm are perfect, just right for picking and freezing, a job for tomorrow after work I think.

The lovage is in bud. This is the first time it has flowered for me. Tomorrow I think I will harvest as many leaves as I can to use in soups over the winter and then wait for the flowers and harvest the seeds. Earlier this year I planted new herbs, I planted Dill and Thyme, they both seem to be doing well although they took ages to germinate.











 It looks as if I will be enjoying my first batch of new potatoes very soon and the onions and garlic will not be far behind.                    
                                    


The small corner flower bed looks wonderful, its full of colour and plants are popping up all over the place.





I'm not too sure how the strawberries are going to do, at the moment they look ok but I think they really need a green house. The strawberries in my granddaughters green house already have fruit on them.

My Parsley is almost in flower and the chives are full of flowers, I think its too late to salvage any thing except seeds from the chives, but i will harvest some of the parsley tomorrow and freeze it

As I left the garden tonight, I could see the improvements beginning to take shape. I have a pretty little flower bed, lush herbs, a pot full of potatoes, several containers of onions, a vegetable garden ready for planting, a tub of lillies about ready to flower and a stock of old wooden roots stored in a wheel barrow all ready for burning, ( to make wood ash for the garden), plus the old garden burner to burn it in. I even have some smaller bits of wood ready to burn one evening in the little chimera. And along the side I have a very narrow strip of garden where I’m planting all the bulbs salvaged from my daughters’ garden.




AND…………..maybe, just maybe, on Thursday I’ll have a finished
fence.

Tags: garden, plants, herbs, fence, vegetables

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delete reply veroniquemariquita wrote on Jun 8, '11 What an enchanting garden! A little of everything. I'm sure it brings you hours of pleasure. Hopefully all this weird nasty weather will pass and things will get closer to normal. (whatever normal is) lol

delete reply djdx wrote on Jun 6, '11 You can eat the chive flowers. Just twist the bloom between your fingers to separate the individual blossoms. Same taste as the leaves. Cutting off the flowers may stimulate the plant to produce more leaf growth.

delete reply artprevails wrote on Jun 6, '11 I adore the photos of this post...revisits are nice!

delete reply wendyj59 wrote on Jun 6, '11 Hope the weather stays ok so you can get the fence finished.

edit delete reply forgetmenot525 wrote on Jun 6, '11 artprevails said No outside fires allowed here Think I should add that I only burn wood, paper & card that can't be used for any thing else, they don't recycle card where I live and i keep back a little paper to get the fire going. AND, the important thing is; as well as producing wood ash for the garden, burning wood is carbon neutral because what ever you burn has already done enough for the atmosphere to cancel out all harmful emissions...............Its less damaging than many other methods of waste disposal. thought I should add that just in case any one thought I was burning any thing and every thing.........:-)

delete reply lrrpslady wrote on Jun 6, '11 Your garden is as lovely as ever Loretta. I know you will be pleased when the fence is done. Free Bowe Bergdahl

edit delete reply forgetmenot525 wrote on Jun 6, '11 artprevails said I am jealous that you can burn and use the ash to be honest, I don't think I'm supposed to, but my neighbours are quite easy going, we tend to 'live and let live' around here. So long as i don't do it all the time and make a nuisance of myself I think its ok

delete reply artprevails wrote on Jun 6, '11 You accomplished much and took stock of more! I love the shot of the wheelbarrow! I am jealous that you can burn and use the ash...I haven't burned trash since my Grandmother and Grandfather were alive together. No outside fires allowed here unless you have a private home for a firepit or barbecue.

delete reply skeezicks1957 wrote on Jun 5, '11 Beautiful!

delete reply acousticeagle wrote on Jun 5, '11 yay! It's all growing and looking healthy. Very encouraging.

delete reply rabbitfriendhere wrote on Jun 5, '11 Actually, I can't find an out of focus pic on the green house blog now either! :)

delete reply kathyinozarks wrote on Jun 5, '11 your gardens look great Loretta, I love my lemon balm and chocolate mint too

delete reply rabbitfriendhere wrote on Jun 5, '11 Your pictures look great! There was only 1 out of focus pic on your greenhouse blog! Good luck with the fence! :)

delete reply brendainmad wrote on Jun 5, '11 Hope you get your fence on Thursday.

delete reply bennett1 wrote on Jun 5, '11 I had chocolate mint one year (several years actually) and I really enjoyed it. Makes wonderful sun tea. Your picture of it is not at all out of focus.

delete reply mitchylr wrote on Jun 5, '11 With the exception of the fence, everything seems to be coming along splendidly. I hope the weather relents enough for you to get that finished this week. Great collection of herbs, I love the smells of all the different types.

delete reply nemo4sun wrote on Jun 5, '11 your garden is coming along very nicely :)