Yet another...

Well, this is a quick update on things in the garden...
The Team have done some proper chopping in the front flowerbed, which may just have motivated me enough to create some sort of cutting-garden type thing. It will involve far more digging, but could be fun to do.
Out the back, I've dug up the lavender. No, not the stuff I've been carefully nurturing along the drive, but a plant that was probably nibbled on by dinosaurs in its younger days. It's created a rather bare patch. (Well, lots of weeding may have helped!). The patch will probably have some of the bedding plants that are still being 'brought on' on windowsills around the house.
(Yeah, the manhole cover isn't the most attractive thing to have in a flowerbed - we've got one in the flowerbed opposite too...)
Meanwhile, in terms of harvest, the toms that haven't died a horrible death (which most, regrettably, have) are pumping out their crop.
And the carrots sown a little while back have been thinned (a few days ago...) and are growing merrily. Well, wetly, probably. It's a bit damp outside for much merriment.
Can't be bothered to write any more atm. Am shattered and it's only 8.00.

Many Marigolds.

I finished planting them at long last:


112 marigolds, from seed, all along the driveway. It took three separate stabs to get the job done, but now it is. And they'll hopefully be blooming soon.

Meanwhile, the pumpkins are growing, the red cabbages are being ravaged by darn caterpillars, the tomatoes are struggling to life, the courgettes still producing. The spring onion and lettuces are just beginning to show themselves, and yesterday saw the sowing of two rows of carrots where the last lot was dug up (is it a problem, planting them in the same place? Hope not!) The lavender's ok, a couple of ropey looking ones perhaps. The sweet peas have decided to offer up a few more flowers, and the spuds should be dug soon (though we had a batch from Wales, which was lovely!)

The 252 miniplug plants (primula, pansy and viola) have arrived and the viola is now 'potted on' into the trays (40plugs per tray)

Update:

So, we came back and the harvest started, but it's slowed down a bit since. In the last week, I've tidied up the long bed out the front of the boarding house (2/3 of it so far...) and planted marigolds. So far, I think there are about 80 in there. Need to do the last 2 1/2 sections and that'll take us over 100 I imagine. There are about 4 that haven't made it so far, so I'll have to replace them (I'd already replaced two which had been dug up by something - I blame cats.) They're all from seed. So apart from the hours of work, they cost about 2 quid. Not bad for 100+ flowers.
I've just (today) ordered 252 plants (£9.99 off Thompson and Morgan) with the following write-up
"Pansy 'Universal' is ideal for any season of the year and remains a best-selling variety. Viola 'Sorbet' is just as winter hardy and will produce an abundance of flowers, but just a little more dainty and in bi-colour variations. The gorgeous new Primrose 'Petticoat' Mixed gives a outstanding display of compact double blooms in bright-warm shades, which resemble miniture roses, again very hardy flowering through frost and snow." (Yes, they did spell miniature incorrectly)
They are sold as 'plug plants' but they may come as mini-plugs, at that price... We'll have to wait and see.
The squashes are growing well, it would appear. I'm going to put them on tiles tomorrow (we don't have bricks lying about, but we do have some roof tiles!) to keep them off the ground. Will probably also bung slug pellets on the tiles!
Sowed two rows (sideways) in the big bed. Next to the path, there are lettuces, and one row in are spring onions. Didn't want to start too close to the spuds, as they'll be harvested soon, and I intended just to tip the soil onto the bed and fish them out. The beef toms are beginning to appear. Cherries in the boxes are getting there too. We had the last of the carrots at the weekend, so I'm going to sow a bunch more this week too. We had some parsnips at the weekend too, which was satisfying, but I didn't take any pics!
Enough for now!

Carrots, carrots and more carrots.

Mentioned the carrots yesterday. Well, today, I started to harvest them.
The first one I got (which was a bit of a sad start) was mutant carrot.
It had these fab little arms and legs, and a very stubby body. It was not an altogether glowing start to the carrot harvest, but they did get better and better from there in.

Here's a shot of some of them having just been harvested, and they're not looking bad at all. (That's mutant carrot in the front there, but he's lying on his tummy, so you can only see one arm and one leg).

And of course, you can't harvest carrots without the help of a garden gnome (a.k.a Joshua). He was very useful indeed (in that he harvested one carrot and then let me get on with it!)
And yes, he is still in his pyjamas for this. Shocking, I know.
Here's the proof of the amount of carrots - over 1kg! Very pleased with that, especially given how many more are still to come up. I think I'll probably dig up one row over the next week or two, and then plant some baby carrots we got free from the National Trust. That should mean that we've got carrots for a while yet! They take about 7-10 weeks, if the book is correct...
Apparently, the Table Queen should be ready in about another month, but maybe I'll be lucky and have some sooner. They are supposed to be about 6in diameter, according to one place I looked! So they've got a little way to go yet.

We have harvest!

Very exciting day today. Got back from a two week holiday and had a look at the garden. Here's some photographic evidence:
Raspberries (sadly, this photo shows ALL the raspberries currently on our 12 canes...)
Pumpkins - Table Queen, if you're wondering. Not quite sure how to tell if they're ready to pick, but I'll look it up :)








Pumpkins (or maybe these ones are squash, come to think of it) Turks Turban. So named, because they end up looking like a turban. Although this one looks a bit flat, so I'm not sure if it actually will...





This is sort of the pumpkin/squash patch generally, which has come a fair way since the last photo. Also, the rhubarb in the middle is doing a whole load better than it was a little while ago. I think it's mainly recovered from it's long wait to be planted out.





These are the tomatoes. They're most (if not all) beef tomatoes, so we're going to have to consume a fair amount of tomato, basil and mozzarella salad... Sadly, the basil seeds I've sown inside have taken exception to not being watered for a fortnight...




Here are the potatoes. You can hardly see the bins now, which is slightly ridiculous. Again (as with most things...) I don't actually know when I'm supposed to be digging them up. Man, there's a whole lot more reading to be done.







Red cabbage. They're doing ok. Thankfully, the ones that were sown at the wrong time (i.e., when we were going to be heading south before they were ready to be planted out) have also survived, so will be planted out in due course. Note the nibbling that's happened on the far end. Not sure if that's slugs or caterpillars, haven't investigated properly. Note also the vast number of weeds that have flourished in our two weeks away.





I thought this was quite exciting. This is the carrots and parsnip bed (as you'll recognise from previous posts!) They're pretty immense. I also saw (though the camera phone wasn't up to the shot) a real carrot-looking thing at the bottom of the vegetation. Ok, so perhaps this isn't a big surprise, but it's EXCITING!







Here's the intercropping (pumpkins in rose bed) I mentioned before. They seem to be doing ok. Not sure that there'll be much pumpkin action in time for October, but hey. It's all a learning curve. Thankfully, there has actually been some rain up here while we've been away. This has help avoid a mass die-off in the garden. However, not everything has fared quite so well...


The tomatoes in the boxes, and the sweet peas with which they are planted, have not done quite so swimmingly. They don't really get much in the way of rain. They are outside, but probably get a bit of shelter from the patio roof, which means that the boxes can get pretty dry. Next year, I might have to line them with plastic, so that they keep the water in. The problem then, of course, will be waterlogging! There are, however, some tomatoes (they're cherry ones) on these plants.


And finally, the thing that actually came in from the garden today. It's tempting to make this a massive photo, but I'll resist. Unfortunately, these have actually grown a little too much. They're supposed to be courgettes, but have rather outgrown the tubs and are more marrowish. There were two like this, so we've kept one and given the other away. There's also a more normal size one, which we'll have at the weekend... Will also probably get some carrots up and maybe spuds and parsnips... Who knows!

In other news (roundup). Beans are doing much (well, it's in the singular, not plural!). PSB sown earlier is ok, but nothing impressive. Marigolds wilted in kitchen but not dead. Peppers in kitchen dead. Agapanthus growing. Pansies still going despite being uprooted (trying to find more seeds!) Haven't checked lavender. Plums beginning to redden slightly. (Still a way off though). Apples all doing well. Most roses over now. Loads of weeding to be done. Other rhubarb fine.
Will probably do a flower update tomorrow (or soon, anyway.)

Another rose...

Found this in the garden.
Very nice indeed.
But sadly the only one to come of that bush!

And while I'm on here, I may as well mention that I planted 5 pumpkin plants during half-time of the World Cup Final. One's been a bit nibbled and will probably not make it, but the others are doing ok. I've got a couple more to go in with the hope that they'll produce pumpkins for carving in the house. Though they might be rather ... uh ... small!

Weeded the beds under the boxes ... Weeded bed near the carrots and parsnips. Carrots sown recently seem to be showing themselves.