Cherry Tree

I think that it’s fair to say that although spring was late, it has been rather good and was soon followed by a lovely sunny Summer so far. I have quickly ran out of water from my recycled water butt and the lawn is looking rather yellow and dry but I don’t intend to water it since I know that it will recover as soon as the rain comes again.

My greenhouse is packed with tomato, cucumber and pepper plants which I visit daily to make sure that the cucumbers are climbing nicely against the twine which I have hung from the greenhouse ceiling. Tomato plants need to be staked regularly as they develop more flowers and fruits rapidly in summer and may collapse otherwise. I have 2 different grow bags, one of which is peat free and was purchased from B&Q. I have noticed that the 3 peppers in that bag aren’t doing so well as the other ones.

I have enjoyed the cherries from the half of the tree which I protected from birds although they appeared to be rather small this year. I have noticed some particularly big bumble bees flying around my fruit trees and shrubs and I have been wondering why.

This year I have managed to dig over and plant the whole of the garden which is now full of vegetables, fruits and flowers. Gardening has been very rewarding so far, what with the weather being so good and the crops coming on nicely, so bring on July!

Here is my list of gardening activities for the next few weeks.

Laying turf
Since we have had a fair bit or rain recently it should be easier to pull up any old lawn to replace it by a new one. And Autumn is one of the best seasons to start a new lawn with turf or seed: the weather is still warm enough for the grass to grow and it will also get plenty or rain which should help the lawn establish itself. In fact I have noticed that my local garden centers have stocked up on turf recently. It’s always best to lay the turf as soon as possible on a level, weed and stone free soil in order to achieve best results.

Harvesting and feeding
The tomatoes which I have grown outdoors will continue to ripen into September, and therefore it’s important to continue to water and feed them regularly.

It’s important to harvest beans regularly to make the most of the young tasty vegetable and also to encourage further growth and crops.

The harvest of potatoes harvest is continuing especially for the maincrop varieties. And I am keeping an eye on the sweetcorn which should soon be ready for harvest.

Must have a go at cuttings
Pelargonium are a good choice for cuttings. Simply fill 8 cm pots with compost and some perlite. Cut off some healthy stems below a set of pelargonium leaves. Remove all leaves except the top 2 pairs and insert 3 in each pot. Water and put them somewhere light. In a few weeks they should start to root and you will be able to pot them up.

Forcing Hyacinths
I enjoy having a go at forcing hyacinths each year as it brings colour and delightful perfume into the bleaker months of winter. Choose a healthy hyacinth bulb (prepared bulbs are best for forcing). Fill a terracotta pot of suitable size filled with bulb fibre or compost mix and push bulb into the pot to half their depth. Water and put the hyacinth somewhere dark and cool (that’s very important – I have had problems with hyacinths suffering from heat or drought). When the shoots are about 5 cm tall, bring them indoors to fill your home with colour and lovely perfume.

Winter may seem like far away but it’s nice to prepare for it with some unexpected blossoms from the hyacinths.

Radicchios: this is a variety of chicory with red leaves which can be mixed with other type of lettuces to add a bit of interest to any salad. It’s not to everybody’s taste but worth a try as a change.

Christmas potatoes: I am considering growing some Christmas potatoes because my current harvest of potatoes does not look as bountiful as last year. And I do enjoy having a large supply of home-grown potatoes which I store in a dark and cool area of my shed.
I will probably buy specific winter varieties from catalogue or online. Apparently you can plant these in containers or pots late August – early September.

Winter Pansies : in my experience pansies are not particularly difficult to grow but I find that the plants take a long time to get to a decent size so I may not grow any this year.
Sown right now pansies will be ready for the winter season and bring some colour through the darker months of winter.

Echium Pininana: I believe it’s one of Toby Buckland’s favourite choice when it comes to plants that are beneficial to insects.
I have never seen it in its most favourable environment, ie. The Canary Islands but it seems pretty impressive. Looking at my packet of seeds, it seems that late July/August is a good time to sow these seemingly exotic seeds.
With so many things to do this month I will need to keep an eye on the diary.

Picking Green Beans

I have had my first harvest of green beans and courgettes and I am still picking at the Black kale leaves which I like to include in my stir fries.

The tomato plants in the greenhouse are growing well and fruits have formed but none is ready yet for harvest. And the outdoor tomatoes are at a similar stage although smaller.

The rose bushes have blossomed and I have dead-headed the faded flowers to encourage another set of blooms. I am enjoying the burst of orange colour which the day lilies have provided for the last 3 weeks. My main flower border is evolving as the annual flowers are blossoming and in turn fading.

With the return of the rain I have had to tackle the weeds again which are now growing in my strawberry patch.

There are still a few raspberries to harvest but it’s the end of the redcurrant, blackcurrants crop which was mostly eaten by the black birds in the garden.

The pumpkin plants have grown a lot of leaves and are extending their shoots through my vegetable patch amongst my sweet corn plants.

I have noticed that a big pumpkin is growing nicely amongst the lush leaves and weeds. My squash is not growing so quickly and I haven’t spotted any fruit yet. I am growing a squash variety called Butternut squash which has a sweet taste and usually keeps well during winter.

Cucurbitaceous plants such as pumpkins and squash benefit from regular feeding which they need to grow big tasty fruits.

Two weeks ago I sowed more green beans in modules and I have just noticed that the seeds are starting to germinate.

Continuous sowing of vegetables will ensure a steady harvest throughout summer and beyond. It feels like we are now at the peak of summer and yet there are so many good things to come from the garden.

Garden Dahlia

In my experience it is important to feed dahlias regularly in order to get a nice succession of blooms. Experts sometimes differ on what type of fertilizers they use to grow their prize-winning blooms (prize winning tips often remain secret!). I find that you can either use a general complete flower fertilizer that you can find in any garden center or better still, I like to use sulphate of potash which is basically the liquid that I use to feed my tomato plants.

I prefer to use liquid fertilizers since they are easier to dilute according to the manufacturers instructions. I also like to make sure that during periods of draught my dahlias are watered regularly and I obviously feed the base of the plant in the ground.

Right now I have dahlias grown in pots, and also some plants over-wintered as they were planted directly in the ground last year.

This year a couple of my plants didn’t make it through the exceptionally cold winter so it’s best not to leave them outside if you don’t want to take any risk.

Varied Border

The specimens that were planted directly in the ground and survived winter are only just starting to produce buds but I know that they will be just as beautiful as the forced one.

Another tip for growing dahlias is that it is best to dead head the faded flowers regularly. This encourages new growth and it also makes the plant look tidier.

Whilst I deadhead I also take the opportunity to check for earwigs since they lurk in the flower petals and can do quite a lot of damage to your plant. I don’t use any pesticides on my plants and prefer to trap the earwigs in upturned clay pots as I explained on my previous article about growing dahlias.

If you have found that a particular type of dahlia is graceful to you, then you will be able to propagate the plant at a later stage.

So it’s worth keeping a note of which plant is of interest to you right now so that you may be able to grow some more for free for years to come.

Beetroot: there’s still time to grow beetroots in your garden. They tend to be a slow growing vegetable from my experience.
Lettuce: I am currently growing an Oriental mixed lettuce selection which includes Pak Choi, Cima di rapa, Red mustard, Mizuma and Rocket lettuce. This is supposed to be an imaginative salad blend for people who are looking for an alternative to the usual salad leaves with new textures, colours and tastes.
I have not tried these before so hopefully this is a tasty and slow-to-bolt selection of lettuce. And it looks like I just need to harvest the young salad leaves as required.
Carrots: they tend to prefer light soil so you may need to prepare the bed before sowing and since the last few weeks have been fairly hot they will need a good soaking to get started too.
Herbs: basil, coriander, and lots of other lovely herbs to accompany any barbecue delicacy. I had lost my first lot of basil sowings because of the slugs but my second sowing is now doing well.
Beans: this is my third sowing of beans and this time I am trying a different variety from the Alan Titchmarsh Organic dwarf green beans range. Hopefully this one will be more prolific than the current variety which is currently in bloom in my garden and which I mention in my previous post about what to do in the garden now.

How about sowing a few flowers too:

Honesty : I have never grown these but I chose Honesty because this flower seems to be quite popular in cottage gardens. They look fairly basic but the faded pods look so nice in autumn and according to the packet the flowers are scented too.
Wallflowers: it may seem a bit too early to start thinking about spring but you actually need to sow your wallflowers now. They are best sown in pots as opposed to outdoors. The advantage of growing them from seeds is that you can actually choose the variety and in particular I am fond of the chocolate coloured type.
Blue poppy: also known as Meconopsis – I know that they are difficult to grow and they are fairly expensive to buy from nurseries. I tried sowing some blue poppies last year but failed to see any germination so I need to follow the instructions more closely this time.

Greenhouse in June

I particularly enjoy the evenings when I come back from work and go straight out to check if there are any strawberries ready for harvest.

We’ve had our first pea harvest which was so tasty that you can actually eat peas uncooked, but the quantity was rather disappointing – a big shelling job for a couple of handfuls of peas. I am considering sowing some snap peas next time.

We are finishing up the last of the green cabbage this week (much to everybody’s delight!). The rest of it has been ravaged by the white butterfly caterpillars and will probably end up in the compost bin too.

One of my favourite vegetables which I can hardly find in supermarkets: the artichokes have done really well this year. I have started to harvest a few heads and had to scrub off the black flies from a few heads but otherwise they are very tasty.

Artichoke Plant

The roses are looking great at this time of year and my flower borders are filling up nicely. My favourite rose this year is called Jude the Obscure, for its delicate scent and lovely shaped flowers.

My red oriental poppies all came up and now have gone very quickly so I didn’t even have a chance to take a picture. But I did finish planting all the flowers which I had sown indoors back in spring including the asters and more recently some zinnias which I have simply placed along the garden path.

The coming week is forecast to be a hot one, so I shall give the diary a rest to go and water my vegetables.

Cordyline Blossom

This year we had a new unexpected blossom from a Cordyline plant which as you can see below attracts all the bees and looks like a spray of small flowers. Cordylines give an exotic look to the border since they look similar to palm trees with the advantage of being relatively hardy in the UK.

The fragrance of the Cordyline blossom reminds me of a really gooey sweet nectar similar to Honeysuckle in my opinion.

Lilac

I have also recently enjoyed the late blossom of sweet peas which did not do so well for me this year probably because May was a really dry month. I shall remember to take more care of my sweet peas next year.

Blair No 2 Rose

Finally, if you are looking for a fragrant climbing rose I recommend the following: climbing rose Blair no. 2, as seen on this picture taken this morning , with its delightful dual shade of pink blossoms and exceptionally strong English rose fragrance.

On this sunny day and with so many fragrances drifting in the garden all I want to do is go back for a little wander which is what I will do now.

So, what have I been up to in my garden ?

With so many sowings carried out over the last few months, there are a lot of plants that needed transplanting in the garden. Most of them were hardened off and queuing ready to go out.

So yesterday I planted out my Cleomes which were starting to look a bit sad in the greenhouse as it was getting too hot for them. I have planted them at the back of my main flower border since they grow into tall flowers with their stem developing little nasty thorns over time. Similarly my red Amaranthus also grown from seeds back in March were planted towards the rear of my flower border.

Over the weekend I also planted some French green beans outdoors, a dwarf variety called Nomad, from the RHS Award of Merit seed collection and gave them a good soaking because it’s been so dry in May that my soil is still hard to dig into.

In fact it was so hot that my early spuds required a good soaking from the water butt, although I shan’t complain about the weather!

My home sown sunflowers also moved outdoors and since it was quite a windy day I had to stake them. I have sown 2 different varieties this year: Russian giant and a red Cherokee sunflower which grows into multi-headed flowers.

My sweet corn is also out next to the potatoes but I decided to protect them from the pigeons with a plastic bottle cloche. I have already lost most of my cherry tree harvest to the pigeons and I am determined not to let them nibble the leaves out of my sweet corn like last year.

I finished planting the last of the marigolds which I sowed in modules last month. I like to use them at the front of borders or along the path, and also as companion plants for my tomatoes. Companion plants are useful in the garden since they deter predators and pests from ravaging your plants and crops.

Finally this morning I had to rescue a little black bird who had managed to squeeze in my strawberry patch under the netting. The poor little fledging got his leg caught in the net and we had to carefully cut out the net to let him free while he was struggling to get out, much to the embarrassment of his parents who were frantically twittering around us.

Nasturtiums: are so easy to sow directly in the ground, and do best in poor soil.
The flowers and leaves are edible in salad but since they have quite a peppery taste I think it’s best to mix them with other types of lettuces if you want to jazz up your salad.

This week I also want to have a go at taking cuttings from the geraniums which I sowed earlier in the year. I’ve never done geranium cuttings before but it would be useful to make a few additional plants to use in my patio pots or flower border. I did however make some delphinium cuttings last month and they seem to have grown roots nicely.

Carrots (Amsterdam 2 Sweetheart variety): there is still time to sow some carrots. I prefer to grow them in my raised bed since it allows me to fill the bed with a lighter soil structure made of sand, compost and more refined soil.

Snap peas: home-grown peas are so delicious that I even eat them raw! (likewise this year I have tried eating garden-grown Fresh asparagus and it tasted great).

More basil: the slugs had the better of my last sowing of basil. Sowing basil now means that it should be still be ready in good time for my first crop of home-grown tomatoes which it accompanies nicely in salads.

Busy potting, planting and feeding plants, I shall make the most of the longest days of the year before we leap into summer.