Friday 25 May 2018

Lots of Gardening Done Before and Since

This post was started several weeks ago...........
Before the 11th
After the cold of April gardening got started in the first week of May and a few things were done in the week before Colin became more unwell............... he helped me put the wire-netting fence  around the cutting garden. That's foiled the ducks and pheasants from taking a short cut right across it!

Col had sown lots of beetroot seed several weeks ago and covered it with fleece but what with one thing and another we hadn't looked underneath to see what was happening and when we did look it seems the wind and rain on the fleece hadn't protected the beetroot seedlings but rather rubbed them all out of the ground.....well not All but lots. So the fleece was lifted onto wire hoops and I shall be re-sowing in the gaps when the remaining seedling get going.

Next job was to finish  putting compost on the pea/bean bed  and fork it in. I put up canes ready for the French climbing beans and hardened them off for a while.

Everything in the greenhouse is fine except there was a disaster  when  both my remaining cucumber plants collapsed.......not really sure why, as they were covered with fleece when we had those cold nights. Replacements were found from the car boot sale.

Since the 11th
I've thrown myself into gardening, keeps me busy, so I've cleared along one side of the greens bed leaving just the spring cabbage, which are so late, then compost  was added and courgettes planted.

Lots of grass cutting, I can work the ride-on mower, but I'm a bit dangerous with it. Col hardly ever let me have a go and even cut the grass with it the week before he died. I'm much safer with the small rechargeable mower, it might have been expensive to buy but it certainly is an easy machine to use, starts easily, light to push, easy to empty, easy to charge the battery..... I sound like the TV ad!

The two gooseberry bushes that I planted just after we moved here are covered in fruit, the old blackcurrant likewise. Not sure about the raspberry canes yet. Strawberries have flowers. I'm hopeful for several days of my own soft fruit this summer.

I'd love to know why the only place in the whole garden where there is bindweed is in the end of the bed where I planted the asparagus crowns last year?  I'm pulling and digging it out every time I see a new bit. I think I'm winning. Horrible tenacious stuff. 9 out of 10 asparagus crowns have survived the year. Next year I'll be able to cut one or two to eat. I found the cat rolling in the dry dirt around the asparagus crowns so put lots of prickly bits of hawthorn hedge on the bed to stop her.

10 maincrop potatoes planted.....very late. The early potatoes look OK except for a couple - must find out why -. Leek seedlings have been re-potted. I think they will be the only winter veg I'll bother with as it's such a faff trying to protect the brassica family from cabbage white butterflies/white fly/pigeons etc.

Mangetout peas are all planted  under a fleece cloche. Climbing French beans are planted out. The Tomatoes, Cucumber, Aubergines and Peppers have been moved into big pots around the greenhouse and then I ran out of compost. Spring onion, lettuce and radish seeds sown in the half barrels on the patio and I rescued the Bay tree from the nettles that were growing up around it.

Still to do.........Sow runner beans in pots, I'm late. Put up canes for them. Do hoeing and more grass cutting and loads of weeding in the two front flower beds. Colin edged them with tiles last year but because I can't work the big strimmer it's just a mess.

Finally lots of watering every day because now the garden really needs a good rain, we had a short shower yesterday afternoon but it didn't do much good.

Back Soon
Sue

36 comments:

  1. Bindweed, ground elder, twitch - horrible, nasty, evil stuff but I'm sure you will triumph in time. You'll win that war! Our asparagus is a way from picking so I will envy you next year. Sadly, we only seem to have three survivors out of ten. Not great!
    Like you, we gave up on brassicas for similar reasons.

    You're getting on so well and deserve a great harvest!
    J x

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  2. Heavy rain for us in West Suffolk overnight and this morning (having watered everything yesterday).

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  3. Lots going on there, for sure. We've not had rain here and it's warm. Out every evening to water potted plants...especially a few each night or they become overcome by heat...not sure if I'll plant some of them again next years. Pansies seem to grow easily though! Hope your garden grows well! Hugs!

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  4. I grow bindweed up a tall canes/canes. When it is established, don rubber gloves and rub weedkiller over it. If I can, it gets wrapped in plastic, if not surround it with something to keep pets away. This usually works but is labour intensive. Lovely heavy rain early morning here, hope you got some.

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    1. That is exactly how I have dealt with my bindweed.

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  5. It must be a great help having something to keep you busy that you really enjoy, much better than sorting endless paperwork out or going to the dentist. I've done my gardening for the year, a few bedding plants and 4 pots of herbs, not quite on the scale you're working with :) The header photo you've taken is gorgeous, is this the path that leads to Col's wood or is that your own private land? xx

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    1. The photo was taken standing on the farmers field looking back through our land and the footpath that goes through our meadow and the new birthday wood trees and then down the lane passed the house. So these lovely big trees are on our land

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  6. I love the part where you said that Col hardly ever let you have a shot of the ride on lawnmower-that really made me smile, Sue. Everything else has kept you busy and it sounds as if you are set for a good harvest. We haven’t had rain now for nearly two weeks so I’ve probably just wished a monsoon on us! Happy cultivating.

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    1. His favourite sort of gardening was anything that involved machinery so the lawn mower, strimmer and rotovator were his sort of gardening!

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  7. So good to read that the garden is keeping you busy. We had rain all yesterday afternoon and through the night - I'm sure it's done all the plants and veggies/fruit a power of good, but even with that amount of rain, we still have cracks in the lawn.

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  8. You are doing so well. Colin would be so pound of you.
    I have had a stroke so I am not able to read much.
    Love
    Hazel c

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  9. We were promised lots of lovely refreshing rain, what we got was about fifteen minutes of light drizzle!
    The ground's parched, we need a grey, wet day to damp everywhere down properly.
    The gooseberries are looking good, the strawbs have a bumper load of flowers, the
    blueberries look very promising, rasps, blackberries, tayberries, red and white currants are all doing nicely.
    We've not planted any veg this year, no specific reason why not, somehow time just ran away from us, too busy playing with 21 month old grandson I suppose!
    Glad to hear that you're keeping busy in the garden, Mother Earth is a great healer.

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  10. We get bindweed growing just inside our fence, the neighbour next door lets her garden grow wild, so I am pulling the stuff every day without hope of ever getting rid of it. Gardens have a great way of recovering. We had loads of rain yesterday, which was much needed. It's going to be a wet Bank Holiday, people will moan, but our gardens will be better for it.

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    1. Marlene, our bank holiday forecast is for 24c with lots of sun and no cloud, I hope they're wrong, I want some cool rain!

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    2. Marlene, my neighbor over the fence had ivy running wild, up, over and down the fence to my side. About every 3-4 years, I sprayed the ivy that was on my side of the fence. I never said a word and neither did he. I highly recommend killing whatever is on your side of the boundary.

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  11. It's a very grey and wet day here Sue so hopefully you have the same for your garden.
    Hugs-x-

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  12. Don't worry in slightest about your maincrop spuds only just going in ... mine went in last week I had forgotten all about them. Already there is signs of shoots poking through the soil. Everything catches up.

    It sounds like you will be kept really busy with the garden this year. We have our fingers crossed for rain this weekend ... we must be the only people that have ... but our paddock was partly reseeded two weeks ago and it's been bone dry here in our neck of the woods ever since ☹

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  13. Gardening is good for the soul. What is fleece?

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    1. A very fine covering that lifts the temperature by a few degrees, lets water and light through but keeps the birds etc off.
      I'll have to do a photo

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  14. I hope you are getting a nice heavy rain all day as we are up here Sue - it will do a power of good.

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  15. Haven't seen a spot of rain all day, must have had a little in the night as there is a bit in the water butts of the garage which were nearly empty.

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  16. Our bedding hanging on the line has had an extra rinse today. It is very humid here. We needed the rain badly....I just hope it knows when to stop! x

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  17. This is the first time I've commented, I found your blog a few months ago and had read all through from the start. Then life got in the way and I lost touch briefly, only discovering today via another blog about Colin's death. I'm so sorry to hear this, I've never met either of you but you were clearly a lovely couple and meant for each other.
    One thing I really wanted to say to you picking up on something you said soon after Colin's death - about the sadness that his grandchildren will never know him. Of course this is true enough, but my father died when I was 11 and my father-in-law died shortly before our first son was born, over 30 years now. Because we always talked about them with our sons, both grandfathers have been a real presence in our sons' lives. Not the same I know, but not nothing either.
    My very sincere wishes for you and your family, Deborah

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    1. Hello, lovely to have a new reader.
      We will talk about Colin a lot and have photos. My gran on my Dad's side died when I was under a year old and apart from one photo of her holding me I know almost nothing about her except she liked gardening. Would have loved to know more. So we must pass on all we know about Col to the Grandchildren

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    2. One idea might be to ask family, friends, coworkers, etc., in the coming weeks and months, to write a paragraph or more about Colin - perhaps mentioning a funny event involving him, a favorite Christmas or holiday memory, a kindness he did for them, what they admired most about him, etc. and collect them into a loose-leaf journal that could be copied for each of the children and grandchildren. Just a thought.

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  18. You will have a busy summer with all the gardening. You will also be rewarded with many delicious treats for your efforts! Gardening is hard work but also good for the soul.

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  19. I have had a couple of my early potatoes go ‘funny ‘ this year too . They have gone limp and look a bit poorly ! I grow them in large bags along the side of the house, and they’ve been absolutely fine the last 3 years.
    Not sure what’s going on , Shelly x

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    1. I pulled one up and as I guessed...... ANTS underneath the plant. Lost 3 out of 10 now. Bother.

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    2. I didn’t even consider that .......I will be out in the morning, when the rain has stopped, and pull one up .

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  20. Hope all your hard work is rewarded with good crops of fruit and veg. I am not very good with machinery either. I can't even get to grips with the small strimmer. I prefer long handled shears.

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  21. Gardening... so good for the soul.

    LX

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  22. I’m envious of your Bay tree! I’ve tried over two years to grow just one. I’ve bought two that I killed. A friend gave me enough to try growing four starts and not one of those took even with root compound. Black thumb here, apparently!

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  23. You have certainly been busy. As Lettice said gardening is good for the soul.

    You will master the ride on mower the more you use it.

    God bless.

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  24. Your garden will bring you close to Colin each time you spend time there, and I have no doubt that he will be watching over you. I'm glad you have such a nice bit of land for your growing things. ((hugs)), Teresa :-)

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  25. Gardening is good therapy, and brings some peace or, at least, a respite from difficult thoughts. Because you spent so much time with Col in the garden, that is the perfect place to be. Take care, Sue.

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  26. I agree 100% with the post above this one. My FIL died unexpectedly in November. MIL had recently retired and was left without an income for a few upcoming years until she could collect his Social Security. She went back to work, and by March, she was outside (in long underwear) getting her garden ready for spring. She worked outside every spare minute throughout the next growing season. She didn't have money for ANYTHING, but she planted and nurtured seeds that would come back every year. (I especially remember her snapdragons and sweet Williams--they both came back EVERYWHERE). Her yard looked fabulous all year. By the time she put it to bed in the fall, she had worked through the worst of her grief and created a beautiful place to live. She gardened for the next 12 years--as long as she lived there--and was always thankful for what the garden gave her.

    God bless you, Sue.

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