My gardening view is currently all about harvesting and seeing the results of earlier work. In the cold early months of the year it’s easy to let bad weather or other setbacks – in my case mice – put you off but persevering with seed-sowing and growing on is now paying off.
We’ve had the first proper harvest of tomatoes with many more fruit waiting to ripen. Surprisingly, quite a few were from the plants outside rather than in the greenhouse. I think the sunny wall has helped with ripening them.
As usual, I seem to have ended up with a lot of plants – I haven’t dared count the number. There certainly won’t be a shortage of tomatoes this year.
The beans have also started to crop. I’m growing my favourite runner ‘Moonlight’, which I find stays stringless even if I miss the odd bean until it’s quite big.
There are three types of French bean this year. The dwarf ‘Red Swan’, climbing ‘Blue Lake’, another favourite, and ‘Taiwan Climbing French Bean’, which I was sent to trial by Garden Organic. I’ll report back on it in the round-up of my gardening trials later in the year.
More exciting, I’ve actually managed to grow some carrots! They should be easy on my sandy soil but I always struggle to get them to germinate. This is ‘Charisma’ from Marshalls, part of last year’s gardening trials.
Last year, I lost a lot of squash to wet weather and the resident slugs and snails. There’s nothing more disappointing than discovering what looks like a good squash is eaten away or rotten underneath.
Lifting them off the ground seemed like a good idea and that’s what’s happened – not for every plant as, like the tomatoes, I seem to have rather a lot.
These ‘Uchiki Kuri’ are growing quite happily over some repurposed trellis unearthed in the garage during lockdown.
My Gardening View in the rest of the garden is one of colour thanks to the huge number of annuals I grew this year.
The borders around the new deck may have only temporary planting but they are proving really successful. I can’t believe how big everything has grown.
Cosmos and calendula are twice the size of plants elsewhere in the garden and the spare dahlias that I used to fill the space are thriving.
Perhaps it’s the less sandy soil or possibly the top dressing of Dalefoot compost. Either way, it’s putting the rest of the garden to shame.
Another last minute solution that’s proved a real success is the ‘Perfect for Pollinators’ seed mix from Thompson and Morgan that I was sent as a gift.
Sowing it on another of the bare new borders seemed a good way of quickly providing some colour and somewhere to try out the mix.
It’s become one of my favourite areas with a mix of annuals and perennials in various shades. They provide the sort of semi-transparent planting that I like and look really good against the reclaimed brickwork.
I’ve added some of my own annuals – cosmos and lavateria – to bulk out the display and am seriously considering recreating it next year.
Of course, to keep it looking good I am having to spend quite a lot of time deadheading. But then, work in the garden is never truly done.
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