News Tagged ‘EcoCharlie Garden’

June 2009 – Summer is here!

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

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.


May 2009 – Spring has Sprung!

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

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

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.


April 2009

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.

April 2009 Garden

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.


March 2009 – SNOW!

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.

Snow in March

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.

garden snow

SNOW! 1 foot of the stuff!


February 2009 – The Vegetable Patch Begins

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.

Callum and some friends helping in the garden

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

Callum and some friends helping in the garden


January 2009 – Heavy Frost!

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 Garden Frost

January 2009 Heavy Frost!!