Share your gardening joys July

Maria · Share your gardening joys July

I'm torn between jumping for jolly edible joys and being miffed that things aren't doing as i want them too.

Today saw lots of homegrowns in the salad, radish, red onion, lettuce, kale, rocket and peas. All of which are doing pretty well, along with garlic, onions, brocolli, kale, and rhubarb, all big and healthy looking. Some of my other things are looking positively poorly. Sweetcorn, courgettes all died in the ground, cucumbers damped off, only have one slow growing all female, and some 3 inch high telegraphs that might not get chance to come to much.

I've had lots of other boo-hoo gardening moments this month...but as this is a 'joys' i think most of my woo-hoo's have come from new things i've tried, and things i've shared. I have asparagus babies, and globe artichokes are just about hanging in there. I also have aubergines, and last year they got to the 4 leaf stage and keeled over. This time they're about to flower, as are the soyabeans I've tried in the poly.

Tomorrow I'll be out there sowing from the biodynamic guide some more beans and peas. Well you never know.

JamesB

yeah I know what you mean, so many of the young plants in the polytunnel got eaten by slugs, was a bit depressing.

however, last night I harvested a bowl on black currants, a bowl of broad beans and 3 cucumbers. The sweetcorn (only a single plant!) is doing ok in the poly, aubergine no so well, some of the marrow plants are looking really good and the tomatoes are starting to change colour.

in the raised bed, the first lettuce and radish are finished but the later lettuce are doing fine. im trying coffee grounds from work to deter the slugs (we'll see if it works!). Peas and 2nd lot of beans looking good too.

James

P.s is is just me or does anyone else not fail to get excited on opening pea and bean pods. I'll shell peas and beans for ages and still find it exciting!

Maria

Seeing the teeny peas in the pod never fails to bring a smile.

This evening before dark fell i ate a few peas while slug spotting. So me and the chooks both got our evening garden treats.

Congrats on the cucumbers James.

It's one of the few salad veg my little one will eat. I swore I'd grow more of them this year...which is perhaps why I'm so miffed at them damping off.

You live and learn ...I'll not make the same mistake twice.

Cabbages have lovely firm hearts now, and the beetroot is almost big enough to pull a few out. Might try my hand at a pink coleslaw-ish thingy. Yummm. Also rescued 10 strawbs from the damp ground and marauding slugs. Bout time the frogs started earning their keep. I wonder what other tasty treats they've found, to leave so many slugs and snails around?

Didn't get any pea's or beans in today after all - just too soggy under foot.

Forget-me-Not · Joys

Like Maria, it's the new things. Never grown beetroot before and it's great! Now got some celeriac, kohl rabi and pak choi growing for the first time too. Though trying to hold off, so they get a chance to grow bigger.(beetroot) Also having been given a globe artichoke from Maria, (doing well) I planted some seeds, the first are either still on the way or dormant but the second are just appearing

The blackberry and tayberry bushes, plus raspberries. Getting very nto fruit.

Willow

The fence and now put a few bits from the basket weaving in, in to grow for coppicing, now moved to down near the burn.

Foxgloves, holly hocks and sunflowers, lots of bumble bees.

The wildlife pond.

Using strawberries, black and red currants and elderflowers in cordials and ice lollies. (Used Smooth's neetle tea and herbs in the second one and very chuffed with it.

It's hard to limit this post as get so much joy from gardening

Cucumbers doing well, not tasted yet but about time, courgettes not doing well but have done wonderfully in the past, doing the same thing, so must be bad year and I can handle that.

Beth

Maidenstone

Not a joy, but a moan! ... was in Inverness yesterday (work) and went to Borders on the way back to look at some books. Went upstairs to Starbucks to ask if they had any used coffee grounds and the girl said if I gave her a couple of minutes she would empty the machine for me. Went away to look at the books, came back, and was told another girl had offered the bag of grounds to another woman, saying "Are these for you?" and she said yes, and took them!!!! Blooming cheek! Starbucks used to bag them up and have them in a container with a sign saying 'help yourself' but they have stopped doing that, though will bag some up for you if you ask. Apparently slugs hate them. We save ours at home too to put on the garden. They won't be organic though.

Rosie

I have spare coffee grounds if anyone would like some. Graham got them from the coffee van that used to go to his work. They are about 6 months old though. They kept the slugs off my dwarf french beans while they were establishing. Don't use too many though as they can alter the ph of your soil with continued use.

wildgarlic

didn't think about that for the slugs.

Maidenstone (just clicked that it is you I've added to my facebook! No wonder I thought I knew you) - perhaps the coffee grounds that woman got were caffeine free ones

Maria

Shared my first batch of garden goodies with my neighbour today.

Took some rhubarb, lettuch, radish, beetroot, peas and eggs. (well they've been growing in the garden too

)

It's great when there is surplus to share...one of the very best bits of gardening for me.

Just a shame we've not had more...the soggy ground has not helped my novice attempts at veg growing. Must raise the beds a little more before next year...and learn to grow things where they'll like it most...and not where i want them to grow.

JamesB

this is the first year Ive tried raised beds. we had some concrete blocks left over from the house build. they certainly work well

James

Diana

JamesB

its funny, its more by luck than skill. We have tomatoes and cucumbers in the polytunnel, a few red tomatoes and loads of cucumbers. One of John Seyours books said they are the best things to grow but he admits they dont grow well together. Tomatoes need it dry, cucumbers moist. We leave the poly tunnel open most of the time (partly cos Im too lazy to close and open it every night). We used to water the tomatoes too much but its better this year

Ive grown the cucumbers in grow bags but the tomatoes are in the soil, i wonder if that makes a difference ie the cucumbers stay moister?

Next year Im going to section off part of the polytunnel to create a moist environment for the cucumbers

James

Share your gardening joys July

Joys