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.

Fruit and Veg Season

It has been a long time since I posted anything about our fruit and veg in the smallholding. Recently I've been slightly distracted by all the beautiful spring flowers and the renovation of the lounge. It's time to put things right and get bang up to date on the growing season.

April


In the middle of April we finally got all the onions into the veg bed, clearing some space in the greenhouse in time for all the seedlings to be potted on.

In order to increase our productivity M had a rejiggle of the polytunnel beds and created larger, deeper planting areas. Thankfully we have an abundant supply of rotted horse manure nearby and were able to fill them up before top dressing with some top soil and compost.


After the rather unsuccessful cut flower bed experiment last year we decided we'd use the 'lazy bed' as a new strawberry bed. Again M added more side panels to increase the depth and then we filled it up with manure to save on the amount of compost we needed.


Following a very long, cold and wet winter the weather in April thankfully took a turn for the better and M was able to get the first cut of the grass around the orchard.


In fact we had some gorgeous early morning walks on the beach enjoying the spring sunshine.

      

Last year we received some tree seeds from the Woodland Trust as part of their plan to encourage nationwide tree planting. Not all of the seeds germinated but those that did spent the winter in little pots before they started to grow again this spring. We had a couple of Rowan and Alder seedlings but the majority were Dog Rose. At the end of April we chose an area along the fenceline of the woods and planted 9 rose and 2 Rowans. Given the recent deer activity we put protectors around each tree so hoping they would get established quickly.

May


Sadly at the beginning of May Wilma, one of original chickens, died. She was the first one to lay and although not as friendly as Morag she would feed from our hands and could be comical to watch. With only Maisie left we decided we needed to get her some companions quite quickly. So after a short trip to a local breeder we arrived back with 3 new pullets.


We got another ISA Brown, a Sussex Light and a Silver Sussex? Unfortunately when they got out we realised that the Sussex Light had a badly deformed foot and was not keen to move around at all. Long story short, we did a quick turnaround and exchanged her for a healthier specimen.

Rusty the ISA Brown

Lotus the Silver Sussex

Madge the Sussex Light

Maisie initially seemed to be less than impressed by her new friends but soon started to tolerate their presence and even allowed Rusty to eat next to her.


The early May Bank holiday afforded us the opportunity to pop down south for a very special family birthday. It was a wonderful weekend and given the distance travelled we made the most of our trip by going to look at compact tractors. A few days after we returned it was delivered, one very happy chappie on his new tractor (with flail mower).


May continued with the most amazing sunny, hot days. The orchard was looking great with blossom appearing on most of the trees.


As usual I sowed plenty of tomato seeds this year with the addition of some tumbling toms for hanging baskets. I really wanted to make the most of the space in the polytunnel so we also got some strawberry plants into baskets.

We attempted to grow mushrooms about 10 years ago and only succeeded in producing a lot of flies. Not to be deterred we got another little kit and were thrilled to have our first tiny harvest of beautiful mushrooms.


I have always loved the time of year when the greenhouse is bulging with seedlings, overwintered plants beginning to grow and the obligatory tomatoes planted up.


It always feels like we are really starting to get somewhere and all the hard work during spring is paying dividends.


Although we don't often suffer from strong sunlight we opted to put up some greenhouse shading to protect the tomato plants. This was well worth the time and effort as the hot and dry weather continued throughout May with the greenhouse temperatures regularly reaching 40⁰C.

At the end of May Rusty started to lay, they were really small eggs but we were thrilled to have our first ever double yolkers. They tasted wonderful too.


As the good weather continued we were pleased to see the onions putting on plenty of growth and the newly planted peas and French beans were just starting to show signs of becoming established.


Even the potatoes which had a slow start were producing plenty of foliage.


At the end of the month we enjoyed another relaxing Bank holiday and even spent the afternoon relaxing in the garden with a glass of Pimms. However, we were also beginning to wish and pray for rain. The ground was the driest we had ever seen it here and the deepening cracks were visible in the veg bed. After 6/7 weeks without any rain the water butts were emptying fast and we were concerned about the survival of much of the recently planted veg and flowers. Still it was lovely to bask in the sunshine and soak up plenty of Vitamin D.

Bye Bye June

We (at last) say farewell to a very wet June in the hope that the days ahead will bring the wonderful and much missed sun and warmth we experienced in May. It seems that we tend to have a mini summer in May and then things cool down a little before the weather improves again in July so here's hoping the sun is on it's way. On the plus side the rainy days have given us the chance to catch up on some craft projects and begin a new decorating challenge in the living room but more on that later.

I just have to share a picture of this wonderful little Dahlia which did require a little bit of TLC to reveal it's true beauty. We bought it in the end of season sales last year when it had no flowers left and was in a pretty bad state. After a winter spent in the greenhouse we had lots of rich dark foliage appear in late spring, it went outside in early May and, despite the wet month, the flowers have opened. It is a gorgeous colour and if we were brave enough we'd love to use it in our living room colour scheme.

Patience, patience

In general I have never been a particularly patient person but waiting for the flowers to bloom or the fruit and vegetables to be ready for harvesting is really putting me to the test. The flowers, fruit and vegetable plants are all growing well but it may be some time yet before we see any real results from all our hard work earlier in the year.

The veg patch is starting to look quite full in this picture from a couple of weeks ago. You may just be able to spot our rogue potato plants infiltrating the onions on the left side. Despite our best efforts last year to harvest all the spuds it looks like we must have left some tiny bits in the ground. Initially we decided to just leave them to their own devices but they soon took over and the poor onions were lacking their fair share of light and space. So after much deliberation and hesitation I went forth to try to remove the potatoes without disturbing the onions.

Well, tiptoeing through the onions I managed to dig out most of the potatoes although I reckon there are probably still a few deeper in the soil. Thankfully only a couple of spring onions were disturbed in the process and stuck back in again to hopefully finish growing. (You may be able to spot a newly planted row of brassicas between the onions and beans. We had quite a few spare cauliflower, broccoli and cabbage plants so the hope is that they will not be too big before the beans and onions are harvested and will then have loads of room to grow.)

We are trying to squeeze in as much as possible and have two sowings of sweetcorn, leeks, leftover sweet potatoes, a late sowing of broad beans and direct sown peas. Much of this is an experiment so we'll see what survives.

This is the harvest from the rogue potato plants. Lovely though they are (we had some cheesy mash last night - mmm really tasty) I'm getting a little worried at the possibility of having more potatoes than we could ever possibly eat.

These are the potatoes we actually planted and if they are all healthy then we will definitely be eating spuds every day for the next 12 months.

As this is the first year for the polytunnel we are both intrigued and excited to see how the plants are growing in this micro climate. Although we are planting our usual range of veg we have had a go at a few new varieties. So a quick update on what is in here: closest to the camera, just poking into the picture is a bed with 4 cabbages (one red) and some beetroot. Centre left bed we have 2 summer squash plants, 2 winter squashes and 2 pumpkins with a few nasturtiums. Centre right bed: swiss chard, kale and pak choi with some newly sown spinach.

In this picture you can also see 3 new (half price leftovers from the garden centre) hanging tomato baskets. They don't look great just now but I'm hoping we can reuse them next year either for hanging tomatoes or maybe some strawberries.

From the other end it's easier to see the brussels sprouts, broccoli and cauliflowers in the raised beds, cucamelons are in the canvas pots and 3 types of sweet potatoes in the grey coal sacks.

On the other side of the polytunnel we have 4 grow bags containing a total of 12 tomato plants of 9 different varieties. At the far end we removed the patiogro for now so we could squeeze in some new grow bags which have more brassicas from a later sowing.

 

We have also managed to squeeze one lone gherkin (above left), a single herb chicory, one little aubergine (no picture yet) and our little fig (right) isn't quite so little any more.

M says it is not a competition between the greenhouse and polytunnel produce!! From an impartial standpoint it seems only fair to give you a tour of the greenhouse. Purely in the interests of experimentation and learning we have tried to replicate the varieties of tomatoes here. They are growing well but have been suffering a little from some recent cold nights and the vast difference in day and night temperatures.

On the other side of the greenhouse I have some more green canvas pots with 2 tomato plants in each and a single gherkin in the small one.

As last year the sweet peppers and jalapenos are on the bench at the end of the greenhouse where they get the majority of the sunlight available. Some of the later sown ones are still tiny but we already have flowers appearing on the tallest jalapenos.

Just like in the polytunnel we have used some grow bags for the surplus brassicas. I had hoped to keep them going in pots for longer but they were growing too quickly so this is yet another experiment.

Off we go now, full steam ahead into July, praying the sun is coming and anticipating the busy time of harvesting, preparing and storing our harvest. Soon we will have garlic, onions, carrots, peas and beans filling the kitchen before filling the store cupboards and freezers. Now I just need to work out what to do with cucamelons, gherkins and all that kale! Happy holidays to you all and next time I hope to have lots of beautiful flowers to share with you.