6. OCTOBER

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It was a lovely day today, no sign of storm Amy. It really didn’t do much damage  here, it was very windy, it rained but as far as I could see, that was all. We were very lucky, I feel for everybody who suffered.

It was time I continued with further refreshing of the pots around the pond, that was long overdue. Yet again I can see how much time I have to spend in the garden – I didn’t do anything like this while I had the allotment. It took the whole day and a 50 litre bag of peat-free compost to weed the pots, divide the hosta from one into three and top them all with fresh soil. It  looks much better and I’m sure the plants will repay me next year.

2. OCTOBER

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I don’t like housework but cleaning the inside of my greenhouse is something quite different. It is a lovely large Rhino greenhouse and it was full of grow bags with tomato plants and there were salad leaves in the bottom beds. Quite a number of the tomatoes have finished so I kept only a few in large flower pots and some more salads in the bottom. I’d like to have a few strawberry plants on one side – there are a few and some more suckers are coming.

The lovely fragrant nicotiana has seeded itself there, the first lot of flowers provided me with a huge number of seeds, now I have another flower and delicious scent.

The latest sowing of winter lettuce and spinach are doing fine and only yesterday I sowed some more winter salad leaves. With a bit of luck this will all survive and we shall have some fresh salad in the winter.

 

29. SEPTEMBER

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I am back in action after a long break. A lot has happened in the meantime. The biggest change is that I no longer have my allotment. There is a long story to go with that but I will just say that I don’t really miss it, I have more than enough to do in my front and back gardens. I had a total knee replacement in June and I’m delighted to say that I’m almost back to normal. Not only that but Frank’s bladder cancer seems to have been sorted out, he will just have to keep going from time to time for a few sessions of immunotherapy and the occasional cystoscopy to make sure all is well. I gave the allotment about 14 years and enjoyed it but towards the end it was getting a bit too much. I have got a number of apple trees in large pots on the patio in the back garden, lots of room in the greenhouse to grow tomatoes so I’m happy.

6. JUNE

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Everything seems to be working just as I wanted. My little fruit trees are doing very well, especially this Bramley apple. I had a few apples last year but this is something else.

It is a  miniature variety, I feed it and this year is a pay-back time.

Inside the greenhouse is a similar story. I’m growing a number of different varieties of tomato and a few cucumber plants – Moneymaker. I knew they were flowering and that there were some tiny cucumbers on them but I didn’t expect this.

But the best I think is the fruit on the old fig tree. This tree is at least 30 years old. It took a while before producing fruit but since it started it does well every year. This year is the best I think. I have thinned out quite a few branches so that might have helped. I shall certainly do my very best to harvest all the ripe ones but even the unripe figs are very good to pickle, I did it last year, they keep well and are delicious.

The garden is full of colour and the peonies are providing a wonderful display, this is just one of many.

14. MAY

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My plan is working, I’m very pleased with the results. I wasn’t quite sure if the strawberries would manage in the greenhouse – I didn’t have to worry. They are doing very well and very soon I’ll have the first fruit. It won’t be very much, this is the first year after all but I’m already thinking that I will have them in the beds under both benches.

I will have some courgettes too, these are yellow ones and hopefully they’ll crawl from the large flower pots with apples. They are looking good and I’m hoping to plant them there next week.

The tomatoes and cucumbers in  the large bags of compost are amazing, one or two plants have some embryo flowers already. These bags are just bags of peat-free compost on their side with a few holes cut out for each plant.

Everything outside in the garden is looking good. I’m sure it is because I have much more time to look after it now, after I’ve given up the allotment.

The large fig tree in the corner should give me a fairly big harvest, already I can see quite a lot of figs. And I know that the ones which don’t fully ripen I can pickle so  nothing will be lost.

27. APRIL

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The weather is getting closer to what I can call ‘spring’. Today is nice and sunny and all my fruit trees in the large pots are flowering. I hope we’ll have a reasonable harvest, even without the allotment.

These are my apple trees, both eating and cooking and a pear tree. I was quite concerned about this one as it was quite large and I had to use a pick axe to get it out of the ground. I’m very happy about it, it is a very nice pear, not your usual conference – comice pear.

Tree peony is another plant I’m happy about, it didn’t do very much in the front garden. I planted it in a large glower pot and it rewarded me with a lovely display.

One more plant makes me happy – it is a simple fern, an Irish one. That one was used to be in my mother-in-law’s garden and some years ago she gave me a piece of it.

I’m pleased with other rather unusual plants, sichuan pepper is one of them. I’ve got two plants and I hope they help one another as and when they flower.

As far as I can see I’ll be able to manage to grow enough fruit and veg without my allotment. I can lavish all my energy on the front and back gardens.

5. APRIL

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The move continues. The cucumber plants seem to be surviving in the large grow bags in the greenhouse, so are the sunflowers. As a precaution I put a layer of wool behind the pots with the sunflowers, it was some packing material Mike gave me some time ago. I decided today to transplant some of the tomato seedlings but did it in two ways. Hedging my bets I call it. Some of them I put in small pots and these will stay on the kitchen window sill.

The other ones are in small plant cells and I will keep them in the greenhouse, surrounded with the layer of wool. I’m thinking of the cold nights and early mornings, I hope this might give a bit more protection.

The two varieties are Black cherry and  Heartbreaker. Black cherry did very well last year but the other ones are new, it will be interesting to see how they will grow. I’ve got some more seedlings in the propagator and I’m hoping to sort them out in the next few days.

3. APRIL

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The Johnsons sunflower competition is here again. I have sown all the seeds that Chris gave me and all seven have germinated. They got a bit too leggy so I had to transplant them into smaller individual pots and now they can stay in the greenhouse. I’m sure they’ll be fine – the nights and early mornings can get a bit chilly but I’m hoping for the best.

As I have decided to have large sacks of potting compost on the greenhouse benches instead of grow bags I can have a cucumber plant growing in one or two corners of each bag. I have got seven cucumber plants and they were just as leggy as the sunflowers. They are going to  grow in  the corners of the sacks and I’m going to train them to climb on a string which will be attached to the greenhouse structure. Hopefully the cucumbers will be hanging down …

26. MARCH

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Another sunny day,  I’m feeling very hopeful. The basil seedling are getting bigger, I’d like to divide them between two pots as they get even bigger.

I have got some chard and dill seeds and the idea is to mix them with some flowers in the front garden. The chard is very colourful

and the dill will be very decorative in a subtle way.

I have got a small area of cleared ground and sowed two little lines of chard there

and the dill seeds I scattered between the brick in the little path.

I’ve got more space in the back garden, under one of the apple trees but I’ll wait a few days, I’d like to know that the seeds germinated and then I’ll sow some more chard there.

24. MARCH

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I had to get used to the idea of growing on a smaller scale – I don’t have the three plots and five greenhouses on the allotment but it can be done. Small is beautiful and all that.

The fruit trees are happy in their large flowerpots in the back garden and the greenhouse is ready to welcome the new occupants.

On one of the benches I have four large sacks of peat – free compost, they will be used in place of grow bags. There is much more soil in these. They will be ideal for growing tomatoes and peppers.

On the other bench I have got long trays where I will put my large flower pots and there I will have more tomatoes and peppers.

My old propagator is still working well and I started sowing my seeds there today. It has got four trays

so I have got a variety of tomatoes and peppers, carefully labelled and also five cucumbers. These will go in a corner of the grow bags and I will train them to climb. I have done it in the past, it works and the cucumbers just hang down from the plant.

The seeds I chose should do well, I grew all in the past.

I like to make my own pesto sauce. Last year my basil plants grew very well and we are still using the last of my pesto now. I sowed the seeds in a medium-sized pot, covered with vermiculite and a few days later I could see the tiny green shoots.