Great Bloggers Bloom Day

Ok, so I'm a day late.   Seen this about before but only just realised what it is, so here's my effort for Septembers GBBD!!

I've just had a walk around our garden to see what I can find, and sadly because we're still at an early stage with our garden, theres not much to see this year.What we do have is:

Fuchsias

 

Sweet Peas still flowering, although we have left them to go to seed now, so that we can collect for next year

Hydrangeas

 

And a couple of terracotta pots with Dianthus and Cineraria

 

Hopefully next year I'll be able to show off more plants.

Miserable Sunday Weather

The weather outside is looking very autumnal.  Its grey, its cold, its rainy and its miserable.

I'm still getting over last weeks accident and so have not done a great deal in the past week.  The stitches are out tomorrow and I think I will be off work a couple more days until its at a more manageable stage, though I am feeling a lot better than earlier in the week.

Due to these circumstances and a family bereavement, progress in the garden has almost come to a standstill.  This week, the usual daily routine with the chickens has continued and a couple of vegetable plants have been put in to fill a few gaps, but even after that easy work, I have needed a rest.

In the garden we now have lots of potato plants at various stages of growth, carrots coming through nicely, broccoli and cauliflower plants starting to establish, beetroot plants looking very healthy and sprouts still struggling on.

The sweet potatoes have been dug up, as they haven't really done anything this year.  More reading up on their care is needed for next year, before I try again.  The fennel took a beating with a particularly heavy downpour a few days ago.  Whether they will recover on not, I don't know yet, I do know they can be very temperamental though.  The courgettes seem to be slowing down in they final few weeks, although we have still got a few this week.

The tomatoes in the greenhouse are slowly turning red and what we thought was the final cucumber, is ready for picking, although I did spot yesterday a very small one poking out.  We shall see.
The peppers are still looking good and shouldn't be too much longer.

As outside has been mostly off limits to me, I have been doing some reading up on what I have grown, for tips on why they may not have performed, or if I could increase the crop next year.  Notes have been made and I will refer to these next year.

Sadly, its getting to that time of the year when these sort of miserable days will become the norm.  There are however still things that can be done.

I do also still have a cold frame to build, which looks like it will soon be need for strawberries and fuchsias to live in over winter.

In the garden, time still moves on...

Thrifty gardener

This post is going to be about what I've done in our garden so far on the cheap.  Things that haven't cost much if anything.

A lot of things in the garden can't be done cheaply, but theres a lot of things that can if your willing to look and do a bit of work.

Plant wise, some of my best bargains have come from two main sources, although there have been others.  Shrubs have been gained for next to nothing from a local DIY superstore.  There is a reduced section for plants that maybe looking a bit sad, are at the end of their flowering period or have maybe got a bit pot bound.  From these sales we have got a few conifers for about £2 each, an Azalea for a couple of pounds, an Euomymus for £3 a hellebore which was just finishing flowering for £1 and a Rhododendron for £3.  All these were good size but needed a bit of care, so I stood them in a bucket of water for a few days and gave them a good soaking, before planting them with some feed.

    The other two real bargains I got were when I used a birthday voucher.  I found a trimmed Bay tree and an Olive tree.  Both trees were rot bound and looking sad.  After asking the cashier for a discount we ended up getting £50 worth of trees for less than £20.  These two trees are now planted, one in the garden and one in a nice, free, terracotta pot and are both looking really good.

It just shows, that with a little care and attention, a lot of plants can come back from the brink, and grow into strong, healthy specimens.

The other good offers we have taken advantage of for plants is from the Gardeners World magazine offers.  Once a month there is a good offer to get plants for free, just paying postage.  All these need are potting up and growing from very small plug plants.
   So far we have had, three clematis plants, forty eight geraniums, forty eight lavenders of different cultivars, forty eight Sweet Peas, which have grown well and provided endless flowers for the house as well as colour in the garden.  We have also got forty eight plants of Salvia, Echinacea, Delephinium and Pestemon which are currently in the greenhouse growing strongly.

We also have a Camellia that was going spare from a friends garden.  It looked like we were losing it at one point.  I think it was because it was getting the early morning dew and then strong sunlight, it leaves looked as though they were almost burning.  I ended up moving to the opposite side of the garden and cutting it right back to almost nothing.  It is now growing again with healthy looking leaves.

The other obvious source of virtually free plants is to grow from seed.  Seeds don't cost much to buy and if you collect them yourself from plants in your garden it can be more satisfying.  Lots of our plants and vegetables have been grown from seed.  I am now also trying to propagate plants by taking cuttings.  So far I haven't had much success, but I have got some Forsythia cuttings looking quite promising.  As mentioned in another post, I have also increased my strawberry plant supply, by planting runners from this years plants.

I would be interested to know if for cuttings, anyone has any thoughts on whether or not rooting powder/ gel is needed.  So far I have used any, but I have recently purchased some organic gel to try.

Well that's my thrifty ways as far as plants are concerned.

Other things that have been free or cheap are the pallets for our compost bins, which cost nothing as many of those came from work when they were being thrown out.  I also have some cut down conservatory roof panels waiting to be made into a cold frame.  These came from a friend who had replaced their old conservatory.

Some of the wood in the garden has come from my Mum's house when she had work done and some of the paving stones where salvaged from my Mother and Father-In-Law's.

Many tools in my shed came from either my Dad or Grandad.  Not many have been bought.  The odd one is also borrowed from my often pestered Father-In-Law.

In our household we are very thrifty.  In today's day and age, it pays to be.  Wages are low and bills are high, and the garden is one place that prices can be kept low with good results.

Well that's all for today, Harvest 2013 is just about to start :-)

Ps, liking the part on Harvest about the organic farmer.

Harvest 2013

Well its Wednesday night and I've just sat down to see whats on television.  BBC2 8pm...Harvest 2013. 

I didn't know anything about this programme, I've just stumbled across it, but I thought I'd take a look.  Tonight's episode, one of three, is 'Vegetables: The Goodness of the Earth'.

The title has got me interested straight away.  Its following different farms growing and harvesting veg on a huge scale.  How they do it, how they time growing and keep veg for the year.

But even for farmers, this can be a problem.  If the weather isn't right planting can go wrong.  The broccoli crop at the moment is an example.  All the plants had to go in at the same time, due to weather, and some ended up being wasted as they were all ready at the same time.  Another farmer, grew carrots in the summer, then covered them over with black plastic and straw to keep them ready to be harvested whenever they were needed.  This is something we can do in our gardens and allotments, on smaller basis, but using natures larder...the earth.  Although, of course, this won't work with all crops.

At the moment on the programme, there is basically a massive warehouse come green house growing tomatoes in the middle of winter.  It looks amazing, tomato plants as far as the eye can see.  One day hopefully I might be able to do a similar thing, growing summer veg and salads in winter, when I have my own heated greenhouse.  Thats a dream, at the moment though I make do with my small plastic ones.  Glass greenhouses are expensive and probably not a great idea with kids kicking footballs.

Watching a programme like this throws up so many thoughts, ideas and insights.  For example, one farm had to spray the entire potato crop as they were suffering from blight.  We at home may have the same thing to do, but on a much smaller scale.  But, will they be using an organic spray?  Probably not, which does make me proud of the vegetables I grow in my garden.  Admittedly, the veg and fruit grown by these farmers may look good and taste good, but can you beat the taste and feeling of eating food you have spent time rearing yourself, knowing exactly how it was grown.

Following the tomato greenhouse, there is what could be almost called a boutique farm.  Down scaling a large farm to concentrate on the quality of veg, most of which is sold to Michelin class restaurants.  In this section, one tip picked up was that for example, the turnips grown are sown much closer together so it restricts the growth size, meaning you can grow more crops and harvest much sooner.  For me in my garden, that might be an idea.  Balancing the need for plenty of food, but also tasty food.
    They are also doing a scientific test on whether coloured light makes a different of growth.  Seemingly it looks possible that some coloured light sources may give more root growth while other give more foliage growth.  Things like this are ideas to consider. 

I have to say one of the most important things to me when it comes to growing vegetables, is to grow organically.  No chemicals, just all natural ways.

I will be watching the next programme in this series.  Whether its how I grow or not, its still interesting.  No doubt, there are some tips I can pick up and change to work in my veggie plot.  Anything I can use to expand my knowledge and experience is always welcome.

Right, I think its time for me to say goodnight :-)