Suzanne’s Blog
Wednesday, September 9th, 2009
Autumn seemed to arrive on the 1st September, colder nights and longer shadows. The courgettes have developed mildew on the leaves but I will leave them in place for a while longer as they still seem to be producing courgettes, which is great as the colder weather has made me won’t to make soups and courgette soup is a family favourite. I decided to dig up all my remaining potatoes and store them in my Jute bags to make space for the pumpkins and squashes that have been rapidly outgrowing their containers in the greenhouse.
This completed I continued to tidy and weed the vegetable garden. I planted out some very late lettuce and made sure to surround them with an ample circle of Slug and Snail Deterrent.
I still have a lot of spinach another soup favourite and masses of Raspberries which I am picking on a daily basis. I must make some room to plant out some Garlic and make space for the kale that I am growing. I had to pull up all the original kale plants as they had a bad attack of cabbage white caterpillars. The tomatoes in the green house are slow to ripen but then I remembered a tip I had heard it was to put a banana skin near the tomatoes and the chemical that is released from the banana will help the tomatoes ripen. The good thing is that it is working.
I am also going to sow some Calendula ( pot marigold) for next year I love to have these bright little flowers in the vegetable patch and dotted around the garden.
In the flower borders I am continuing to dead head and collect seed for next year. The Asters are the star flower in the herbaceous border with the sedums coming a close second. We have Aster novi-belgii and Aster frikartii ‘monarch’ and Sedum spectabile ‘carmen’ I seem to have inherited some plants this season that were not there last year. One is the very large Rudbeckia Herbstsonne and a pink flower Chelome obliqua . Perhaps the seed was dropped by birds or they came along with another plant. It’s always fun when this happens.
Tags: Autumn, EcoCharlie Garden, Garden, Vegetable Patch, Watering
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Sunday, August 2nd, 2009
Well, there was great excitement in the garden this month. I was clearing away the peas in the vegetable patch and I discovered a little toad snuggled into a small burrow that it had made. Unfortunately I had destroyed his home by removing the wigwam of peas. So I quickly dashed to my potting shed to get an old crock to make a little toad house. I am pleased to say that he is still there and hopefully eating all the slimy creatures that have come his way. Talking of nature we have so many Bees and Butterflies in the EcoCharlie garden at the moment Bumble Bees, Honey Bees, Peacocks, Cabbage Whites, Tortoiseshell and a pretty brown one. I must remember to look in my butterfly book to identify it. The Bee Attract is obviously working very well. The down side is that we also have a large amount of caterpillars emerging especially on the cabbages. I do pick them off the leaves by hand but I am going to leave them now as there is just too many.
Toad in the EcoCharlie Garden!
I am afraid I was a bit slow in netting them this year and the cabbages now look like colanders! Never mind there is always next year.
We are very pleased with our newly seeded patch of lawn. Normally growing new grass seed would be a job for September onwards, while the days are still warm and we have more chance of rain but July has been such a wash out, weather wise that the grass seed has germinated and looks lush. If September is a dry month the patch is small enough to keep watered. Another job we have accomplished again because of the wet weather is mulching the large shrub beds with a layer of permeable membrane and then laying a thick layer of bark chippings. Normally this would have had to wait until the soil was wetter in the Autumn but because of our damp July we have been able to conserve the water and suppress the weeds.
The Raspberries have started to ripen thick and fast. I seem to picking them on a daily basis and using them for with breakfast cereals and in sauces for ice cream and desserts. I am cutting lots of flowers which perfumes the house with smells of lilies and sweat peas, lovely.
Tags: Pests, Slugs, Summer, Vegetable Patch, Watering
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Sunday, July 12th, 2009
Watering, picking and dead heading to keep the garden going is flavour of the month. The AQUADRIP Watering Spikes, attached to recycled bottles are watering the tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers efficiently so I don’t have to be too concerned about those but the vegetable seedlings need looking at constantly. I have decided to place them on a tray covered in Natural Slug and Snail Deterrent and pouring on water then putting the pots on top to keep them constantly damp. It helps to keep any slimy creatures away and stops my seedlings from drying out.
The herbaceous border is looking a picture with a great variety of colourful plants. The star has to be Helenium `moerheim Beauty’ it’s a real favourite of mine. I also love Lychnis coronaria that has self seeded everywhere, more plants for free! I am a great believer in collecting flower and vegetable seed and using the following year or giving to friends. I also know it will be happy in my garden and resistant to any pests.
Talking of pests we have recently been visited by some deer. Our gate was left open and in they strolled grazing on the plants as they looked about. There was not too much damage done, but Sedums seemed to satisfy their appetite and every flower head was eaten. They also munched happily on the raspberries. Luckily we have quite a few and they are the Autumn fruiting variety so not fully fruiting yet. Fortunately, the rattan cloches were protecting most of the salad and vegetables in the vegetable garden. It took us an hour to get the deer out as they can only come into the garden through the gate, all other boundaries are deer fenced and we have two acres of garden of which some is woodland. Good exercise for us first thing in the morning.
Hot Summers day in the garden!
The Vegetable garden is surrounded by box hedging and with the changeable weather we are a little late in trimming it. We started this week because of the lack of hot sunshine and hopefully the cut edges won’t get scorched. Quite a laborious job but looks so good when it’s finished
Tags: Garden, Pests, Summer, Vegetable Patch
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Friday, June 5th, 2009
With this hot weather I am up early each morning to water all the pots in the garden and to water the veggie patch before the sun gets onto it. I have found watering in the morning works better at keeping the slugs and snails away from my plants. EcoCharlie’s Natural Slug and Snail Deterrent is doing well on the beans and new lettuce I have planted I must remember to pick some lettuce today and some of the rocket that is growing wildly. Because of going away in the middle of June I have not planted many seeds in the greenhouse so not much happening in there. Just the cuttings I took last year to keep going.
Summer in the EcoCharlie Garden
It’s such a shame that the big red Poppies Papaver orientale `Allegro’ have not lasted very long. I expect it’s been too hot for them. Even the Lupinus` The Page ’ have gone over really quickly and some have very nasty large woolly aphids on them. I tend to wash them off with my hose as I water and I do the same with the black fly that has attacked the foxgloves.
Cutting the grass should slow a little soon but at the moment I seem to be forever getting out the mower and my edging shears to keep everything looking neat and tidy. At least with the close planting scheme in the big flower border there is not a lot of weeding to do there. In the vegetable patch there is always something to weed and pick. I have a lot of Kale, salad, rocket, radish, beetroot and spinach. The carrots have not been successful but there is still time to try again. I must make time to sow some pea, beetroot and bean seeds before it’s too late.
Tags: EcoCharlie Garden, Pests, Summer, Vegetable Patch
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Saturday, May 30th, 2009
May is such a lovely month in the garden. The Hostas in the front garden are looking great and hole free thanks to EcoCharlie’s Natural Slug and Snail Deterrentspread thickly around them. I do find planting them in a pot and keeping them away from any drooping leaves helps with slug and snail attack. The azaleas are flowering and with the warmer weather the smell in the evening is out of this world. Mine here in the EcoCharlie garden are mainly yellow and have formed a large hedge. The Rhododendrons are also flowering their socks off which keeps all the bees very busy. This year in there is an abundance of Foxgloves, they seem to have taken over a bit but it will be amazing to see them when they all come out.
EcoCharlie Garden in Spring
I have had a disaster with the tulips again this year. I thought that because the squirrels ate them last year I would only grow them in pots inside the cold frame then bring them out when they were about to flower. Not a good idea because the mice have invaded the cold frame and eaten them! Next year I will be putting chicken wire in the pots to deter any creature that fancies a nibble.
Vegetable Patch in Spring
In the vegetable garden everything is looking good I have a good supply of perpetual spinach, wild rocket and rhubarb (not sure of the variety as I inherited it with the garden). I really feel that a good mulch of manure has improved and bulked up my sandy soil.
Weeding is the main job of the moment and keeping the edges of the grass trimmed and tidy. I am also getting the pots that have overwintered in the greenhouse out now which gives me some space in there to re-new the soil ready to plant tomatoes and cucumbers. Last year they were so successful and tasty that I am going to grow them again. Also I noticed that the little peppadew peppers have self seeded so I will be busy potting them on for later in the summer.
Tags: EcoCharlie Garden, Slugs, Spring, Vegetable Patch
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Sunday, April 12th, 2009
The star of the garden at the moment is our Magnolia. It is a white flowering variety but I am not sure of the name. Plants are coming through nicely in the herbaceous border and everything everywhere is looking lush and green. We have a few rabbits in the garden so I cover some of the most tender plants with rattan cloches until they get going. The Primula Hose-in-Hose look very pretty against the dark mulch and there is an abundance of Forget me Nots coming up everywhere. The seed was probably in the home made compost but I don’t mind getting plants for free I can always weed out what I don’t want.
Spring Vegetable Patch!
I still have the heater on low in the greenhouse for the summer plants that have overwintered in there and I do put the blind down on very sunny days and also open the windows to ventilate it. It’s incredible how hot it gets. I have just started the Dahlias off in the potting shed and once they come through I will take some cuttings. I did this for the first time last year and was pleased at how well they took.
Tags: EcoCharlie Garden, Magnolia, Vegetable Patch
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Tuesday, March 24th, 2009
This month we can’t wait to get started on the new vegetable plot. We have planted onions, shallots and garlic then covered them with cloches to protect them from birds pulling them up and have sowed broad beans and spinach and also covered with cloches. We have started chitting our potatoes for planting at the end of this month.
Greenhouse in the garden - Snowing!
We also like to check the many pots that we have around the garden, looking to see if the plants in them require re-potting or if anything nasty is hiding, slugs, snails or Vine weevil. If we do find the dreaded Vine weevil grubs we change the soil and check the roots of the plants thoroughly removing as much of the soil as possible. We discard the soil onto area of garden that is not used and let the birds do the rest. Our resident little Robin likes a treat of fat juicy grubs. The plants are then re-potted into fresh compost. Any slugs and snails or the eggs for that matter get removed to our compost heaps. The large pots have the top layer of soil removed and a fresh layer of garden compost put on for a feed and mulch. Plants that are susceptible to slug damage also have a thick layer of Eco-Charlie slug and snail deterrent put around them. Lastly we clear around the pots picking up and removing any leaves and rubbish that has accumulated.
SNOW! 1 foot of the stuff!
Tags: EcoCharlie Garden, Garden Snow, Vegetable Patch
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Wednesday, February 11th, 2009
This month we have decided to make the vegetable patch. We have set out a square and divided that into four squares with paths that run separating each bed in a cross pattern. In the centre there will be a large pot. Each square bed will be sectioned in half by a scaffold board that we acquired from a friendly builder. We have decided to edge each bed in box hedging.
The start of the vegetable patch
So with the planning finished we need to put it into practice. The area was woodland so we ordered lots of good well rotted manure from a local source and dug it into the new vegetable beds. Then we planted the many box plants to form the hedge. Lastly the large pot was put into place. Very exciting and very aching backs!
Callum and some friends helping in the garden
Tags: EcoCharlie Garden, Garden, Vegetable Patch
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Sunday, January 11th, 2009
January is the month that we get on with a lot of the cleaning jobs in the various buildings that we use for the garden. The green house glass needs washing and the potting shed needs sweeping, sorting out and the tools oiled to stop any from rusting. There is something satisfying when all is tidy and shipshape ready for the growing season. We also like to plan the following year and spend time and money choosing seed and bulbs from catalogues, very enjoyable with a hot drink after a day tidying.
January 2009 Heavy Frost!!
Tags: EcoCharlie Garden, Frost, Garden
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