After a week of lovely fine and warm weather here it went back to a bit of rain on Tuesday, Wednesday and poured all day Thursday - will the Sunday Boot sale be cancelled again? Met with my friend from Grammar School Days in a new coffee shop in Stowmarket. I think we now have more coffee shops than normal shops...........thank goodness they had cheese scones!
I'm still battling the birds in the veg beds. Something got underneath one of the wire netting frames - which I'd balanced on flower pots over my two courgette plants - and managed to dig one plant out of the ground. It can't have been pigeons as they are too big - or the cat next door, so it must have been a blackbird or something similar. Luckily I'd sown six seeds and hung onto the other plants so had a replacement. Now they are covered by a netting tunnel and I also had replacement leek seedlings because of the same problem. The netting frames were only a couple of inches of the ground - thought that would put off birds/cats etc but seems not.
In the greenhouse, things are now in their big pots......less of everything than previous years when I've tended to squash too many plants in. I gave two tomato and one pepper plant to BiL and put 2 more tomato plants and 2 aubergine plants out the front in a box saying 'Help Yourself' and they went- so that's good. As usual I bought half a dozen French marigold plants which are supposed to be good for helping the tomato pollination. Other things in here are two more courgette plants into large pots that I'll probably abandon when the outside ones go mad, runner bean seeds just sown, yet another spare courgette, a cutting from the gooseberry bush where a branch had touched the ground and rooted, a small tray of calendula seeds and the sweetcorn growing well in their peat pots- to go out at the end of the month.
A while back I looked at the long range weather forecast........difficult to make any sense of it ........ very variable I think!.
Signals during this period are extremely weak, and for the most part indistinguishable from climatology. Similar weather conditions to those of the preceding few days are most likely to characterise this period to the end of May; a mixture of unsettled periods with rain and showers and settled interludes in-between. By early June, the chances of above and below average rainfall are evenly balanced. There is a slightly higher likelihood of above average temperatures compared with below average temperatures, such that the chance of hot spells, although still very small, is slightly higher than normal too.
Swifts are back in the village, spotted them on Wednesday - very good to see, no Swallows yet - so no signs of summer and we'll shall have to wait and see what the weather does.
Also back is the Great British Sewing Bee on TV for it's 10th series next week, it's one of the programmes that I watch to keep me company of an evening.
My mini greenhouse is very full at the minute. I must have sown my tomatoes too late - they are very small and way behind everyone else's
ReplyDeleteThey'll catch up for sure, mine are too tall and lanky - due to the greenhouse being in shade from the shrubs I think.
DeleteOnly two weeks until our holiday near Stowmarket. If you can suggest the best cheese scones in the area I’ll treat you just to say thank you for all the the years this blog as kept me company Jx
ReplyDeleteThe Osier Cafe in Stowmarket Church has lovely cheese scones and good coffee. I can be in town morning of 29th or 30th.
Deleteunless that's the wrong week!
DeleteVery mixed weather here. At least we only need to water in the polytunnel at the moment. Slugs and birds are a nuisance at the moment. Old net curtains do seem to be protecting the lettuces.
ReplyDeleteI foolishly gave net curtain to charity shop now I could do with it for the mini strawberry bed
DeleteI dearly love Sewing Bee. I've gone off Bake Off but Pottery Throwdown, Sewing Bee and Strictly are an absolute delight in my life.
ReplyDeleteAs is Doctor Who and I love that I can watch it Saturday mornings. :-)
I've never watched any of the cookery/baking competitions - they've not really appealed but sewing and pottery and dancing are all things |I'm never going to be doing, so better for watching!
DeleteI like watching the Great British Sewing Bee - it is currently on air here, but I suspect it may be a series behind you as it has been going for a few weeks now.
ReplyDeleteThe weather is more than usually contrary, it seems.
ReplyDeleteEvery week seems to be so mixed up
DeleteThe swifts are back here too. Lovely to see them, it feels like Summer and the barley is in ear.
ReplyDeleteI shall examine fields but don't think I've seen anything that far ahead yet
DeleteI've just potted on a courgette and a cucumber into the same really large pot. I hope they get on with each other ... and I also hope Alan spots the difference when he's harvesting the fruits.
ReplyDeleteYou could have one going up and one trailing down and label them up!!
DeleteWe've seen swallows but sadly they've decided not to nest here this year.
ReplyDeleteI always thought the marigolds were planted around tomatoes to deter green/black fly, didn't know about the pollination thing.
Alison in Wales x
I've remembered that the marigolds are to attract hover flies that eat any aphids - so you are right .
DeleteOh, I wish we got Great British Sewing Bee here in the US. Maybe I can find old episodes on YouTube. I enjoyed the Baking show and the Pottery show. I will plant some flowers this weekend but I don't do any vegetable gardening. Luckily, my younger brother does and he shares his produce! :)
ReplyDeleteAfter 10 series it might be around somewhere on t'internet or obscure TV channel!
DeleteI still haven’t put in any plants but will try to do so next week if I have time. Yours are all looking healthy. I am listening to my neighbours across the back and at the side hoovering their artificial grass and Bemoaning the task. Would have been easier just to leave the real stuff they had replaced at great expense. Catriona
ReplyDeleteI really don't like the idea of artificial grass - just so wrong - and hoovering must be just as time consuming as cutting
DeleteI find, something is always trying to invade the garden to eat produce or unearth plants. I am seeing more greenhouses for growing and wonder if this is due to predators. All of my fruit trees are showing tiny fruit (about the size of the end of your little finger) and I'm thrilled. The new peach tree is less than 5 ft. tall and very slim but the peaches are there. I've got fencing and netting over the tree attempting to save the 12 little peaches. It is raining today. Thankfully, I mowed yesterday.
ReplyDeleteI've only got fruit - apples- on one out of 7 fruit trees although the trees are all very young but it's looking very good for raspberries.
DeleteWe're battling against pests too. All the carrot seedlings have gone. It's disheartening to have to keep starting again.
ReplyDeleteYour greenhouse is looking very productive. I'm not sure what has happened to my carrots, but the potatoes and beetroot appear to be growing well.
ReplyDeleteAnd everything is enjoying the recent sunny weather. X
It has been cool and rainy here so no gardening has been done. That's okay as I have lots to do in the house and the weather is helping me complete those tasks. I do want to get out and plant though.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
All your plants are growing beautifully.
ReplyDeleteLooks like the plants are growing wonderfully. The deer ate my flowers. Sigh. Definitely going for a greenhouse of some sort next year. I didn't even get to take photos! I was apparently too slow.
ReplyDeleteThe weather while we were camping was wonderful, not too hot or too cold, but once we got back home it's been miserably hot already. 30c today with a heat index of more than that. It's horribly muggy too. I'm not ready for it yet!