Bits and Bobs and the Garden

----Pepsi Dog Fast asleep with tounge hanging out









Pepsi and George Cat sharing the Bean bag....Not I had to sacrifice my winter Poo bear Blankie !!





I'm sat out side watching the last of the sunset...A wind change is bringing in a much welcome cool breeze.... Up to now we've had a cloudless hot sunny day. Much work has been done weeding and tending to tomatoes.. The large green fruit holding much promise for a couple of weeks time.... The lights are switching on across the valleys below us ....Jill has poured a cold wine ...Life is relaxed today ....



Dinner straight from the garden





















Did you get to watch the film Grow Your Own?? It's an English film set on an Garden allotment..Anyway one dude was growing a Sharks Fin Melon or Spagetti Melon ...We'e now got one fruiting !! :O) It's all very exciting as it's visibly growing day by day...it's now the size of a small football...I'd better find a good recipe for it now :O)









That said we’ve also had some ‘composted’ seeds grow in various places …. Can’t say for sure what they are but may well let them grow on …Be they pumpkin or marrow etc …. Tomato seeds have also sprouted and from great depths for a tomato seed. We have had clumps of tomato seedlings dotted about the borders….Whilst preferring some sense of order in my borders, I’ve still left one from each clump to grow on. It’s a sad indictment on our gardening skills that these rogue plants are like weeds, growing healthier and stronger than the seedlings we’ve cared for and mollycoddled these past few months protecting them from cold and wind and rain…. Next year I will throw half the seeds direct into the outside soil and let them get on with it.

 

We are also growing a bed of onions and leeks. Last year was a pretty poor effort with the onions not growing to any size. Well maybe pickling onion sort of size … We still ate them thrown into stews etc …. Same for the leeks that really didn’t grow much bigger than when I had dropped them into their holes ….. This year they are looking much better… and I’m hoping for a good crop from both …. If the weather improves.

 

Having the extra borders has meant we can grow more of a particular vegetable at the same time …. And so carrots have been planted  in succession in 3 different borders …The first panting was well used and mostly eaten raw as first McD, then McDs daughter S, then my Son B all enjoyed pulling them out of the ground and with a quick wash munching away at them raw…… I might have had a few as well I suppose :O) I particularly like the purple variety ..We grow a whole mix from whites to reds to oranges to purples ….. We grate them for a multi-cloured addition to salads. With our purple lettuce and spring onions and feta and a honey mustard dressing...yum....Yesterday we pan fried scallops with diced elephant garlic (home grown), a little butter and some ginger...Yum...Lunch was good yesterday 

What we laughingly call our Garden (2)

I do have the Square Foot Gardening book. While there are some things I do differently In the main it's a great way of growing vegetables in a smaller sized area ....Some things we grow up trellises , however the problem in our garden is wind ... We are on the side of a hill and anything that gets above a certain height is then subject to (cold this year) winds of varying speeds ....So cucumbers - yes will probably give them a go on the trellising ...Pumkins - no.. they would just get twisted and suffer stem split ....  



 

We are also growing a bed of onions and leeks. Last year was a pretty poor effort with the onions not growing to any size. Well maybe pickling onion sort of size … We still ate them thrown into stews etc …. Same for the leeks that really didn’t grow much bigger than when I had dropped them into their holes ….. This year they are looking much better… and I’m hoping for a good crop from both …. .

Onions to the front....Leeks to the back



Despite my efforts to grow a range of different Chinese cabbage types through the spring, they all went to flower at the same time and instead of ending up on my dinner plate are now at the bottom of the compost bin … I was so hacked off with it I threatened to give up on the whole thing and let the gorse take over ….. We didn’t of course and the beds are now full again with various plants but mainly tomatoes ……I tried another crop of pak choi a few weeks back but they did the same thing …..Will try again maybe now we are past the longest day. They seem to grow better as the days are shortening …

 

I've been so busy I barely noticed the Foxgloves flower ... Now they are near the end and are throwing seeds to the winds .... I had though I would stop them this year and buy some other colours rather than just the pinks ... 



The ‘Bright Lights’ Chard and silver beet kept us going all through the winter and spring until finally, smothered by the broad beans it went ‘triffid’ on us and bolted for the heavens …. It just goes well with everything … on it’s own or with Mash potato, chopped into curries and stews, or as part of a salad…. We’ve planted more …It’s just so nutritious too….. We will plant kale as well this year    

 

I cannot think of the name of this plant .. We have white and these pinky reds come up each year ...They seed as freely as the fox gloves .... bragging rights to whoever tells me what they are :O) 





Having the extra borders has meant we can grow more of a particular vegetable at the same time …. And so carrots have been planted  in succession in 3 different borders …The first panting was well used and mostly eaten raw as first McD, then McDs daughter S, then my Son B all enjoyed pulling them out of the ground and with a quick wash munching away at them raw…… I might have had a few as well I suppose :O) I particularly like the purple variety ..We grow a whole mix from whites to reds to oranges to purples …..

 

Carrots, Beetroot, and elephant garlic