Seasons end

Well this will probably be the last post until next year. It has been a good start. I've successfully grown and harvested carrots, chilis, chives, mint, runner beans, broad beans, rocket and lettuce.

The rocket has gone mad probably because the slugs don't like it. Yesterday I picked a bunch of broad beans and another load of runners. The runner bean plant has been invaded by blackfly and the broad beans don't look very healthy.

The borage I planted as a companion plant in front of the broad beans have almost taken over so next year I'll put them in a place of their own.

My nasturtiums have completely covered the trellis I had originally put up for the honeysuckle. I think the honeysuckle is still hanging in their behind the foliage. It was good to see all the caterpillars happily chomping away on the nasturtium leaves but not my crops.

So what is for next year? Well I will start a lot earlier. I'll plant more herbs like parsley, coriander and basil. I'll definitely do runner beans, lettuce and carrots again. I would also like to plant some potatoes and dwarf beans. The slug problem still needs sorting as the nematodes on their own weren't enough.

I have a lot of garden related chores in the coming months. There's the issue of the office pod and the garden path at the back. So I'll have a lot to keep me happy until I start planting again :-).

Slugs...again

Ah yes, another slug post! Due to the rain we've been having I thought it would be prudent to go on a 'slug watch'. I went out shortly before dusk yesterday to check the lettuce beds. There they were happily chomping away upon my 'lollo rossa'. And judging by their size they had been there a while. I dispatched seven or eight into a jar. I probably need to apply some more nematodes. I have also been thinking of putting some copper strips along the tops of the raised beds, which I think will be a good deterrent.

The good news is that I have harvested my first crop of broad beans. they are around 5-6 inches long and taste delicious.

Bonkers

Things have been going bonkers in the garden of late. This has a lot to do with the prodigious amount of rain we've had for the last couple of weeks.

The rocket is threatening to escape from its bed and the runner beans are fighting to get away from their wigwam supports. The borage has started to flower and is attracting lots of bees and hoverflies.

At the back,what I like to call 'the wilderness', the nasturtiums have decided to climb up the trellis and have reached the top of the wall. The borage at the back has yet to flower but the leaves are massive compared its flowering brethren. Broad beans are going great guns. I'm hoping to harvest them in a week.

Let there be broad beans

The recent hot weather has certainly pepped up the growth of the veggies. The broad beans have flowered and are now producing lovely succulent beans. The runner beans have just started to flower so I am expecting beans in the next week or so. the borage that I transplanted next to the beans has gone ballistic with great big healthy-looking leaves.

Yesterday evening I was out scouring for blackfly eggs. I came across little clumps of tiny yellow eggs on the nasturtium leaves. Not sure what they were but I dispatched them with a quick wipe. It was nice to see the bees and the hover flies flitting around the broad bean flowers doing what they do best.

The slugs are back with their eyes on my lettuce, so yesterday evening I went out armed with a torch. The first group were found behind the herb trough. I think they had been making their way up the wall and then crawling onto the mint to get into the trough. This is how they got to my basil seedlings. I collected three slugs and then cut back the mint.

In the lettuce bed I found another couple munching away. I'm not sure why the nematodes are not working. Maybe I need another application. Then again maybe the slugs population would be much worse by now without them.

Lettuce

We picked our first lettuce at the weekend. Pure organic goodness! It tasted delicious with a crisp fresh taste and nice frilly texture.

The dwarf beans are doing well. Still no sign of the beans, either broad or runner.

Over night the three chilis have started to emerge. At the moment they are green so I guess they will turn red later(unless they are green chilis).

Black fly

The black fly are loving my nasturtiums and broad beans. They are less partial to the pumpkins and runner beans though. Every morning and most evening I have been turning over the leaves and checking the stalks for the eggs. When I find these they are dealt with by squashing between thumb and forefinger. A little icky but it does the trick. On the nasturtiums the beasties tend to congregate just belows the leaves on the stalk. It's easy to miss the little blighters so particular attention is required.

Trudi, my esteemed neighbour, has been battling the slugs and it seems her veggies have finally succumbed to the relentless attack. I've applied some more nematodes so fingers-crossed that my lettuce will survive.

Hey squirrel. Leave those nuts alone!

I recently put up a bird feeder to attract some more avian fauna into the garden. My feeder is supposed to be squirrel proof but unfortunately the local squirrel mafia don't seem to think so.

The other morning there they were, squeezed into the outer cage, frantically nibbling at the inner cage that contains the nuts. The pigeons were enjoying this spectacle and were hoovering up the nuts that were falling to the ground.

Yesterday I found the whole feeder empty and broken lying on the grass. The outer cage had been peeled away(probably the work of the Brockley Parakeets) and the inner mesh had been cut and opened out. I will need to repair the feeder before putting it up again and in the meantime the birds are going hungry :-(

No more basil

I went out this morning to see how the crops were doing. The small basil plants have gone or at least that's what I though at first. Upon closer inspection the stalks are there but all the leaves have been eaten. This is odd because the plants were under a empty yoghurt pot for protection. One of the adjoining runner beans had signs of a slug trail so I guess these are to blame. I can only assume that eggs have been laid under the soil and the little tiny slugs have come up and had a feed.

At the back things aren't looking good for the borage. The two that I didn't cover have been partially eaten and the one under cover is looking rather unhealthy. My nematodes arrived last week so I think today is the day to apply them.

Raised bed...done

Like the Ramsey-esque title :-) ?

I spent around 5 hours hours on Sunday finishing off the raised bed. I lost the posts used to connect the two ends together so I had to fashion some using some offcuts of wood. Once the frame was together I had a hard time man-handling the whole structure to the bottom of the garden.

I didn't realised quite how steep the slope is at the back. The front end of the bed is almost level with the surrounding soil. I had to build up the other end to get it nice and level. The good news is that it is all done now. The next step is to double dig the bed and add some nice manure.

The broad beans are doing very well with lots of flowers emerging from their stalks. The borage has been attacked by slugs so I shall need to apply some more nematodes. The chili is also blooming...literally. It now has three lovely white flowers. I wonder when the young chili pods will emerge?

Take that you pesky fox

All is not lost with my carrots. They must be hardier than I thought, as several of them have sprung to life after being squashed by one or more fox cubs. So now they need protection!!

A couple of days ago I ordered a device to try and rid my veggie patch of my foxes. It uses an ultrasonic pulse that is triggered by a PIR device similar to those used in security lights. This high pitched noise is particularly unpleasant for foxes and cats(a bonus there then).

Last night I set it up next to the shed pointing in the general direction of the carrot bed. Then I put my mesh back over the carrots and secured the whole lot with some bricks.

I'm happy to say that this morning the mesh was intact and undamaged :-). Was this a one-off? Only time will tell...

Oh the irony

My enviromesh netting and support hoopes arrived on Friday. I set about putting it up around my carrot patch. I placed the hoops at equal intervals and then put the mesh over the hoops. I held the whole lot down with some soil that I excavated when digging out the raised bed. Not pretty but it did the job ;-).

The next day Ames was in the kitchen and saw a fox by the new mesh. I went down there and saw that the fox cubs had taken to using the mesh as a bed. The mesh had been clawed at and the carrots were completely squashed. I have now taken the mesh off because I don't want it to get shredded. So now my carrots are at the mercy of the dreaded carrot fly, and looking very poorly to boot.

Weekend away

I have just got back from a well earned rest. I had been worried that the potted plants would have dried out but the tray I left them in was still full of water.

It has been hot over the weekend with lots of sunshine. The rocket and onion seeds have started to emerge and my makeshift coldframe has done the trick of protecting them from animal damage.

It looks like the slugs are back. Last night my basil plants were attacked. I've ordered some more nematodes to keep the slimy suckers in check.

We popped into the garden centre and bought some long canes to support the runner beans. I made a wig-wam and tied some lengths twine around it at several height intervals.

Still haven't finished the raised bed...

Building the raised bed

I thought it was about time to get things moving in the garden again. For the past few days I have been mooching around. Bit of watering there, bit of tidying here.

On Sunday I started building the raised bed kit. This task was quite satisfying. It involved little more than lining up the various pieces of timber and screwing them together.

The next task was to start digging out the area where the raised bed will sit. The reason I have to do this is because the garden slopes down towards the end so I need the bed to be nice and level.

The end of the raised bed closest to the house will need to be sunk a little way into the ground. Digging clay soil is difficult at the best of times, but when it has dried out it makes the going even harder. I'm pleased to say that I struggled on and got the bulk of the work done :-).

On the plant front, the beans are going great. Their splindly little tendrils are just beginning to grab the canes and start their path upwards. The lettuce has germinated somewhat haphazardly but the coriander remains a disappointment with only one plant making an appearance. The nasturtiums have germinated they should provide some colour, as well as being beneficial companion plants.

Last but not least the carrots have started to grow their frilly leaves. This indicates that I should start to thin them out, maybe this week.

Raised bed has arrived

The raised bed kit arrived yesterday. I have been wondering where to put it so devised a cunning plan by drawing a scale plan of the garden using Google Sketchup. It is free you download and once you get the hang of it, very easy to use.

On the plant front, the beans continue to do well. The lone garlic has been assaulted and is looking a little worse for wear. I have been researching on the Internet and will likely purchase some insect mesh to provide total protection for my veggies.

This evening I sowed some borage in my herb trough next to my runner beans. They are a great companion plants for beans because they attract bees. I also sowed some basil, so the herb garden is going well.

I have managed to give away all but one of my chili plants. We now have a little plant swap going on at work. Today I was given six little tomato plants which are now sitting in their own pots.

Trudi's pumpkins now have a nice roomy pot to live in. So this evening I have been busy busy!!

Down the garden path

It was a pleasant day so I set to on a few tasks. Firstly a long-overdue mow of the law and a bit of a strim around the edges. It looks great now. I'm hoping for a bit of rain tomorrow to feshen it up a bit.

I attached some bean netting to some canes and placed them in the raised bed. Those little guys are doing very well. The fourth one is just beginning to show itself.

In my carrot bed my long lost, presumed dead. garlic bulb has miraculously sprouted. I'll leave it a while then transplant it to my herb 'trough'. The carrots are still very wee so I think another week or so before I can start to thin them out.

My last chore of the day was to start marking out a path. The intended route is from the sleeper at the end of the lawn to the garden shed. Before marking out I moved the 'heap'. This resulted in three large frogs and one baby one leaping out. It was good to see them in my garden, and not wanting them to leave I herded them safely into the shady area behind the shed.

Let there be...beans

The foxes/squirrels have been vindicated! All four runner bean seeds I thought had been dug up have germinated.

The beans I potted as an emergency measure are also going great guns. So now I have lots of beans! I've put three in my herb planter and will put the others in my new raised bed. Hopefully they won't be too crowded. I don't know if I am being too paranoid but I've felt the need to give my 'raised bed' beans some protection. To this end I cut the ends off some juice bottles and have buried these into the soil. Try and get in there you nasty slugs!.

Chili

I asked a couple of guys at work whether they would like a chili plant. I had three takers. That still leaves me with four left. The chilis have done really well. I didn't expect all of them to survive, hence the surplus!

I had sown several seeds in one 3 inch pot so I now have taken these out and put them in a pot each. I was a little worried about 'root shock' because they started to wilt a little after transplanting, however they seem to be bouncing back nicely. I'll take the three plants into the office on Monday.

I've re-potted one of the remaining chilis into a nice big red 5 inch pot. I have named this particular plant 'voodo chile'. Heh heh heh. It will be interesting to see how this one grows compared to the others still in their 3 inch pots. I have to think who I can give the remaining chilis to....

The beans have sprouted

I decided to bring in the beans last night. Lo and behold overnight they have sprouted 'triffid-like' from their pots. I will let them get to about 2 inches tall before putting them outside. Let's hope the nematodes have cleaned up the slugs.

Mildew

My honeysuckle has succumbed to mildew. A lot of the leaves have fallen off and there are a third left that have a fine powdery grey coating. I found a recipe to get rid of it here .

You take 5ml of baking powder and mix it with 0.5 litres of water. I sprayed this concoction onto the leaves this evening so fingers-crossed...

More gardening in the the sun

I spent the morning/early afternoon making my second raised bed. I decided to double-dig because the soil in our area is very heavy clay. The frame was a little more complex than the previous one. The slope necessitated three 4 inch planks. The extra height meant I needed to add a half length plank along the bottom of the trench to hide an unsightly gap.

It was hard work and very hot. We missed the mini heatwave in May because we were on holiday so this has definitely been the hottest day of the year so far for me.

I have filled the bed with two layers of compost sandwiched between soil removed during excavations. For the final finish I will mix up some compost and topsoil. The top soil was salvaged when I put decorative bark chippings in the border at the front of the house.

Nematodes

They arrived this afternoon so I immediately set upon the task of applying them. The pack covers forty square metres which is more then enough for my needs. The steps involved are:

• Take a quarter of the nematodes and place them in a watering can


• Add eight litres of water


• Mix


• Apply to a quarter of the area to be treated


• Add eight litres of clean water


• Water the area that has just been 'nematodized'


• Repeat another three times until the whole area is treated

I now need to wait a week for the nematodes to home in on the slugs living in the soil.

Sunny day at last

Still no sign of the carrots or runner beans. Trudi reckons they should make an appearance in a week or so. Fingers-crossed!

After work I spent the evening in the garden. I've potted a tray of lettuce and some beans. I started cutting the timber for the next raised bed. I've had to make this one 8 inches high because of the inherent slope at the back of the garden.

I've lost another marigold to the slugs!!! Instead of eating the leaves they just chomp straight through the stalk :-(. I picked a few more off this evening but fear I'm waging a losing battle(at least until the nematode army arrives).

Slug watch

I dispatched half a dozen slugs last night. I'm not sure what the neighbours thought. If they had looked out of their window they would have seen me peering at my marigolds, with a torch in the pouring rain...

This morning I found a few more of the slimy beasts munching away at the base of the marigolds. It didn't look like there was much damage. I think the foxes are doing a good job of hoovering them up. Still no sign of my slug trap :-(.

Those pesky foxes

I planted my carrots and runner beans last night. Just before it got dark I went out with my torch to go 'slug picking'. I found several of the beasties inching their way to my marigolds. They were soon dispatched with some salt. I've ordered some nematodes in order to get rid of them organically.

The weather has turned thundery again. This morning it was raining heavily. I went out to see it there was any slug damage. No damage by the slimy beasts, thankfully, but the foxes have run off with my home-made 'beer trap'. They also have been digging where I planted my beans yesterday. Maybe they were looking for slugs to eat?

Raised bed

I started work yesterday creating a raised bed for growing veggies. The reason behind the raised bed is my frustration at the heavy clay nature of the soil. You could literally grab and handful and throw a pot with it. I decided to raise the area a little so I could introduce a top layer of compost with a nice rakeable tilth.

I initially dug the area over and added plenty of manure/compost. I bought some exterior 2x4 boards and some battens a while ago which I used for the job. I bought some decking screws to hold everything together.

I only needed three sides because the raised bed was to abutt the garden wall. I measured up and proceeded to cut three lengths of wood. I screwed the first two together and ended up breaking the screw. So with the next one I pre-drilled the hole. I put two screws in each side and then lay the frame next to the wall.

The next step was to ensure that the frame was flat. My garden is on a slope so I had fun and games digging out one side so that the whole structure was sitting level.

Once I was happy with the placement I took the four battens and cut each one into a point. I then hammered these into the ground at each inside corner of the frame. A couple at the back would only go down halfway, due to the concrete under the posts holding the retaining wall up. I sawed the tops of these and then screwed each batten to the frame. In hindsight chunkier square posts would have been stronger but we'll see how long these last.

The final satisfying chore was to dig over the soil and then add a nice top layer of compost.

Tonight I will plant my runner beans :-).