Sizzling Sunny June

June

What an incredible summer we have been having and the wonderful weather from May continued straight into June with no let up in the gorgeous hot and sunny days.

M took advantage of the good weather to mow the orchard, around the edge of the woods and some of the paths though the woods.

The main veg bed was beginning to fill out with potatoes, peas and french beans on one side. 

Next to the peas was the large area dedicated to onions. We really didn't mean to plant this many but when you order the onion sets they do only come in large packs. Hopefully we will get them dried thoroughly so that they store well.

In the next veg bed were the broad beans, two different varieties this year. The brassicas at the top of the bed were protected from birds and butterflies with mesh cloches.

For the first time since moving we have had to deal with exceptionally dry ground. I took a hoe out to weed between the broad beans and had to give up as I couldn't break the surface of the soil.

We had an abundance of Astilbe plants taken for one plant we purchased last year so thought we would plant them along the side of a path in the woods. They seemed to like the light shade and were indeed thriving.

Sadly the next day the Astilbes looked like this. Yes, the deer apparently like them. We put some wire around what was left in the hope that they may recover, only time will tell.

Before we moved I collected some acorns from my favourite woods where I used to walk Jess and Finn. Now, 3 years on, we actually have some little oak tree saplings. They are still protected from the deer for now and are looking great.

Finn often pootles off into the woods on his own for a wonder around. A while ago he started to bring out these eggs. Unfortunately we had no idea where he was getting them from but he managed to collect about 4. They looked like duck eggs and M examined them to check for life but they didn't appear to have been fertilised.

The greenhouse shading was definitely worth the time and effort with the daytime temperatures regularly reaching over 40⁰C.

The tomato and pepper plants were thriving and enjoying the unexpected heat.

One sad moment was the discovery that the 250 bluebell bulbs planted in the spring appeared to be Spanish bluebells and not the English variety I had expected. I contacted the seller (and sent photos) and they agreed that they looked suspiciously like the Spanish bluebell. Kindly they offered to replace these bulbs with a new batch of English bulbs.

One day later and I had successfully removed the majority of the bulbs. I must admit I was feeling pretty deflated by this as most of the bulbs had grown and produced 2 or 3 baby bulbs. Not only did this mean that we will probably have Spanish bluebells poking up for a few years but also That we have lost a whole seasons growth. Looking on the bright side I hope the new bulbs will be more successful next year.

One veg calamity this year has been some of the garlic crop. As the tops had turned brown we planned to lift one batch out of the baths. Sadly the bulbs were small and mostly covered in a white fluffy fungus which M correctly diagnosed as Onion White Rot.

It appears that the dry weather can exacerbate the problem and this batch were destined for the bin. Hopefully it will only be one of the baths and if need be we can remove the soil, disinfect the bath and refill for use next year.

Thankfully the Fig was loving the heat and had doubled in size since we bought it last year, with one little fig growing bigger by the day.

After much discussion we decided this would be the last year for growbag tomatoes and peppers in the polytunnel. They were nowhere near as good or healthy as the plants in the greenhouse so we will only have some hanging baskets with tumbling toms next year.

Keeping everything watered was the biggest challenge during June as the high temperatures seem to evaporate the water almost before the plants even got a drink. The water butts were emptied and our rain dances increased. Some plants died and others flourished so lately we've been learning to make the most of what we have and not dwell on those that weren't meant to be.

With all the good weather we were spoiling ourselves by finishing work in the early afternoon and relaxing in the garden. We had an old gazebo which we used when camping and it proved to be ideal in the garden as Jess and Finn were able to join us in the shade. (Looks like the weeds in the lawn were the best draught survivors and sadly the only photo I have of the Gazebo was when the sun went in briefly). With the radio we were also able to keep up with the football scores while reading magazines, doing sudoku, knitting and chilling. Bliss!

It has been wonderful to see the garden filling with colour as the pots and beds have come alive.

The wall troughs were full to bursting and the bees have been joining us in enjoying all the flowers.