Cyclamen update

The flowers have almost finished, and seeds are forming.

Pansy update

Unknown plant update

Houttuynia Cordata update

The other pot is now looking a bit iffy.  Maybe they don't like having their roots restricted.

Shortest day

A nice sunny and mild shortest-day-of-the-year.  Nipped out into the garden to take this shot of the last bit of sun just before the ol' currant bun dipped behind the houses at about 14:00.

James Grieve update

The James Grieve tree collapsed during the summer.  The new growth looks fine but the old branches are covered in something nasty.

I cut off what was the top of the tree, but was leaning to one side, leaving the new growth.  This new growth is sprouting from a part of the trunk which looks diseased and has bark missing, so the disease may eventually spread.

Houttuynia Cordata update

One of the pots of Houttuynia Cordata looks a bit poorly.  Not sure what happened there, as the other pot is ok.

Unknown

While clearing up in the garden today I dug this up.  Don't know what it is, but I potted it up.

Containers update

Cyclamen flowers fading now.

Chrysanthemum update

Flowers fading now.

Green manure update

Growth is still a bit patchy.  Next year I need to sow more seed.

This year's spud crop finally consumed

The last of this year's spud harvest was eaten today, so I was self-sufficient in spuds from 10 July to 23 November.  Not bad.

Cyclamen

I bought these mini cyclamen today.  I'll probably plant them in containers.  If they flower well over the winter I'll try to propagate them, then plant some in the front garden.

Containers

The winter pansies are ones I bought.

I split the Houttuynia Cordata Chameleon into two.

Final batch of spuds lifted

Today I cleared out the spud patch. This is a good time to review this year's spud harvest...

I thought the variety I bought this year, rocket, seemed very similar to the pentland javelins that I planted for the previous 2 years.  Both varieties were ok, but a bit more 'floury' than I really like - charlottes are my favourite.

I also found that the rockets were prone to get burrowed into by some subterranean pest.

As I planted all the seed potatoes at the same time (7th April), I had a glut so had to leave a lot of the spuds in the ground (the first batch lifted was on 10 July), increasing the likelihood of pest attack.

I think next year I will plant charlottes that I'll buy from the supermarket.  I'll plant them in 2 staggered batches to avoid a huge glut.  Will probably plant one batch in the old strawb bed, and another in the tomato bed.  I'll plant the tomatoes in this year's spud bed.  I can also use the bed at the bottom of the garden for something else (planted spuds there this year), maybe French beans.

Green manure update

Chrysanthemum

I bought 2 chrysanthemum plants.

Capsicum update

None of the capsicums have turned yellow or red, and most have developed unattractive black streaks.

Heatwave!

We've been undergoing a heatwave for the last few days.  Looks as though the temperatures will fall back to something like normal next week.

Green manure update

The original sowing of green manure has been rather disappointing, so I have sprinkled some more seed around.  Hope it takes.

Wallflower update

Some of the wallflowers sown on 8th June.

Primrose update

The primroses in the square, black pots are the ones I sowed on 28 April.  The ones in the round pots are from the sowing on 23 March.  Actually, I think what I have always referred to as primroses are actually polyanthus.

A capsicum can also be seen at top right.

Lettuce update

Rather a bad photo, but the lettuce has been growing well, after taking what seemed a long time to germinate.  I had to cover it with netting to keep the sparrows off it.

Green manure update

Some of the green manure seed I sowed in the old strawberry bed 7 days ago is sprouting.

Courgette update

The courgette plant is still doing ok.  I lost a couple of courgettes as something ate them, but there are a few forming now, which I hope to harvest before the end of the growing season.

More green manure sown

Yesterday I sowed some more green manure seed, this time in the bed where the tomatoes were growing.

Green manure

I sowed some green manure seed in the old strawberry bed today.  I tried growing gm last year but it didn't come up, possibly because I didn't net it off from the birds sufficiently, or I planted it too late (October).  Let's hope this sowing is more successful.

Houttuynia Cordata Chameleon

I saw this plant in the garden centre and thought it was really attractive so I bought it. It says on the label that it's good for ground cover, but having thought about it now, I don't think there's anywhere suitable for it in the garden, particularly as the label says it is vigorous. I think that's code for 'if you plant this in your garden you'll never get rid of it'. The roots protruding from the bottom of the pot certainly look sinister. I think I'll split it and grow it in pots on the patio rather than let it loose in the garden, which I'm sure I would come to regret.

Capsicum update

I took this pepper off the plant as it was going black. Searching on the internet reveals different advice about this, with some people saying the pepper goes black before it goes red. Hmm, not sure about that. The pepper above is about one third of the size of those you buy in the supermarket. There are still some peppers on the plants so I'll just leave them and see what happens.

Tomatoes pulled up

I was reluctant to pull out the tomato plants, as I'd been so looking forward to a good harvest. I found that the Gardener's Delight tomatoes were least susceptible to going bad if I picked them as soon as they showed the first sign of ripening, then allowed them to fully ripen indoors. The Marmande were badly affected and virtually all the fruit had to be thrown away, the same with Moneymaker.

But today I pulled all the plants up, after saving all the unmarked green tomatoes. I didn't put any tomato plants or fruit in the compost.

Spring onion update

The spring onions I sowed on 12 July didn't come up. I suspect that they were eaten by birds, as I didn't put netting over the seeds.

Tomato trouble

Not looking good...