Oh dear, my poor garden is really suffering in this continued heat. It's been 29 degrees here today. Too hot to be outside and too hot inside to do much either.
While I was away my son was house sitting. He's not a gardener but tried to keep everything watered for me. Because I knew I wouldn't be here I deliberately didn't buy or plant any new seeds this year. In fact the sum total of my garden spend this year was £8.50 for some coir pellet pots! My focus was getting some perennial fruit bushes set up and these were all free (cuttings from established bushes or gifted). My new fruit garden has survived but is looking very straggly!
I've had a small bowlful of blackcurrants. What they lacked in quantity they made up in taste.
However my rhubarb has done well despite taking a mauling from Penny the chicken!! I hope to get some rhubarb chutney made this weekend.
This apple tree is looking a bit sickly. It had lots of blossom then a windy May caused it to blow away. Now the leaves are yellow. Maybe needs feeding?
In one of my raised beds at the front I simply threw in some (very) old calendula and cosmos seeds I found in my seed tin. Only the calendula seeds grew but they look ok and the bees and hoverflies seem to like them.
The middle bed has parsley and basil, again grown from really old seeds . The 'chives' are self seeded from the place I had some shallots my lovely mum gave me last year. We're not sure if they were in the compost or if they're actually shallots. There's no bulb at the base of the leaves and they had purple chive like flowers.
Leeks are doing well but the cabbages have been nibbled.
2 of the blueberry bushes are fruiting, 1 has died and the other 2 have teeny wee dried up berries 😕
Not much but they were delicious
I hadn't planned on growing much this year so I'm not disappointed. But I am quite envious of fellow bloggers' crops. Maybe I should take a look at what I could be planting now for Autumn and Winter. I'm definitely thinking kale. Anything else?
My fruit harvest is down this year, just too dry, as all gardeners say, oh well there's always next year.
ReplyDeleteI think a lot of crop yields will be down this year. I heard that the potatoes up here aren't growing well which will mean increased prices
DeleteLiving in Australia, I would never go away in summer without putting down a good layer of mulch to keep in any moisture and the searing heat out of the soil. Check that the soil right through that apple pot is moist as most plants in pots in places where we really do get hot conditions usually suffer form lack of moist in the potting mix.
ReplyDeleteI mulched a little bit but clearly nowhere near enough. Will check the pot
DeleteI'm asking my OH to have a go with growing kale this year - we've recently "acquired" 2 pet rabbits and they love it. A large bag is about £1 and they get through 3 bags a week - so it may be more economical to grow our own.
ReplyDeleteI love kale and it's easy to grow here. I just need to fight off the snails who love it too!!
DeleteI've just sown Cavalo Nero, and waiting for Pentland Brig kale to appear. Other good things that will stand over winter with a little protection are perennial spinach beet and Swiss chard - the Bright Lights rainbow one is great; still time to sow them :)Also spring onions.
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