Thaw

Still snowing

Pots of primroses in the snow.

Snow

The weather has been colder than average for about the last week. Parts of the country have already had snow, but the white stuff arrived here overnight, and it kept snowing for most of the day.

Capsicum update

The capsicum has been growing well, but today I looked more closely at it and noticed 3 reasonable-sized peppers had formed.

Green Manure

I have cleared out the beds where I had the spuds. I pulled out the spring onions as they hadn't developed very well - I suspect I planted them too late. I also cleared the tomato bed. In both beds I sowed some green manure seed. Hope it's not too late. We've had a considerable amount of rain over the last few days, and high temperatures for the time of year are forecast, so hopefully the seed will start germinating soon.

Split!

Tomatoes prefer a nice steady supply of water. Over the first part of the summer this was easy to achieve because we had hardly any rain, so I could control the rate of watering. However over the last three weeks or so we've had a number of heavy downpours which has disrupted the watering regime. As a consequence, many of the tomatoes have split.

Primrose update

The primrose seed that I sowed in July are now sprouting, as are some of the seed that I sowed in May. One of the May seed is from a purple plant, so hopefully I will get to see what colour flowers a child of a purple plant gives rise to (although I'll have to wait until next Spring, now).
These are the potted-up plants that I lifted from the front garden in the Spring. I hope to split and re-plant them around the garden in the Autumn. Some pots have seedlings growing in them.

Courgette update

I have now lifted all the spuds, leaving the courgettes and spring onions (in a row on the right hand side of the veg bed above).

Capsicum update

The capsicum is looking a bit frayed, as it was subject to attack by sparrows when I left it on the lawn for a while. There seem to be flower buds, one of which has fallen off, but I expect it's too late for it to produce any fruit now.

In the Spring I removed most of the primroses from the front garden and potted them up, as I thought they wouldn't survive the Summer in the sunny conditions. However, the few primroses I left have survived and are now flowering again. I did water almost every day as we had a very dry Summer.

The honesty plants I grew from seed haven't flowered this year, presumably they'll flower next Spring.

Tomato update

The tomato plants look a bit tall and spindly - I think this is because I fed them prior to the fruit setting. I might not do that again next year. I pinched out some of the Gardener's Delight today.

Seedling updates

Here are some marigold (far left), wallflower (front) and primrose (the rest) seedlings.

Capsicum and wallflower update

Spring onions

After lifting the first row of spuds, I sowed some spring onion seed. I noticed today that they're sprouting.

Flower bed update

I dug out the lupins a few weeks ago.

Front garden update

The honesty plants that I grew from seed haven't flowered - hopefully next year.

Crocosmia update

The crocosmia that I transplanted last year are still a bit sparse, but flowering well. Hopefully they'll get a bit more bushy over the next couple of years.

First toms harvested

A few of the toms on the Gardener's Delight plants are ripening.

Marigold seed sown

A couple of days ago I sowed some marigold seed.

First courgette harvested

Wallflowers potted up

Second batch of primrose seed sown

The primrose seed I sowed back in May show no signs of sprouting. The seed I sowed the same time last year were sprouting by now. I remember that last year I thought the green seed I collected in May shouldn't be covered with soil when sowing, and only later did I realise I should cover them, by which time the green seed had turned dark. Maybe sowing the seed and covering it while green results in it rotting.

Anyway, there were still a number of seed pods on the primroses from the spring, so I collected some (all dark by now) and sowed them in the two pots above. The only trouble is, I didn't mark the flower colour of the plants, so I think I sowed some from red/yellow, and some from purple/yellow.

Capsicum update

Probably should be planted out now, or put in a bigger pot. Haven't decided yet.

First runner beans harvested

Runner beans forming

First pentlands harvested

Courgettes flowering

Lupins

The lupins have gone to seed. The problem with them is that they have become large and are overshadowing the rudbeckia and marigolds (the fact that the wisteria throws shade over the flower bed doesn't help). I have cut back the lupins, and I'm thinking of digging them out in the autumn.

The lawn is very dry as we haven't had significant rain for weeks.

Wallflower and capsicum update

Blackfly on runner beans

Spotted blackfly on the runner beans. Decided to clear them using the finger-squish method as it's less damaging to the tender parts of the plant on which the blackfly cluster than using the old toothbrush method that I tried on the courgette.

Squishing them this way is not a pleasant process, but it's even more unpleasant for the blackfly.

Tomatoes forming

Gardener's Delight

Moneymaker

Marmande

Apple tree in trouble

The James Grieve apple tree is suffering with something. I hope the apples will stll ripen ok. There was evidence of this problem last year, so I should have done something about it then. As far as I know, I'll have to wait until the winter then treat the tree with a spray (I think).

First spuds harvested

I harvested the spuds from the three Charlotte plants in the first row of planting.

Runner bean update