Dear Gentle Reader,
And just like that with marking June, half of this year has almost already passed. It's just crazy how this first half of the year has gone.
Anyways.... Life in my raggedy looking garden continues, unfortunately because of bad weather, cold and rain we had my garden this year doesn't look the way I'd love it to look. And inspite of all the hickups we had, my garden keeps giving. Some plants are a success some aren't, this year is not their year.
In the greenhouses grapes, peaches, melons, tomatoes are growing nicely. I can see little tomatoes on the vine, and my melons are blooming, no sign of melons yet though. Outside the weather has been kind, sun was shining, was warm and the plants took advantage of this change. Rambling Rector in the hedge along with the Golden Honeysuckle are slowly taking over the hedge peppering the lush green with patches of white and bright yellow. Red campion stands proudly with the last blooms of my tree peony. The thornless blackburry is laden with flowers. Yummmm.
My wildlife and fishpond got 4 new additions, now they are 6 fancy goldfish. I'll be moving 3 in another tank like the one they are in now. But for now they seem to be fine together like that. Also trying to figure out a solar powered pump and filter for them, which is a bit of a headache but not impossible to make . (more about that later) Got a few good tips from the fb group I'm in, so hopefully those ideas will come to fruition later on.
My little elderflower tree produced it's 1st flower, yayyyy, even the Hypericum is happy about it with its lush yellow blooms. The other honeysuckle it's covering the shed very nicely with the Clematis Montana that bloomed pink and white last month.
The first picture in this collage is my rambling rector rose which is taking over the hedge with the Golden Honeysuckle. You can't see the Honeysuckle on this picture, but it's there , I promise it is. That yellow rose came to me as a cutting, it's a climber, but it's happy enough to be treated as a tall rosebush. It's fragrance makes me smile every time I smell it. My soft fruit bushes: the raspberries, red and white currants are not happy this year, the blackberries full of flowetbuds (hopefully there will be fruit too if the weather keeps on the kind side). Gooseberries the red ones are laden with fruit, so are my black currant bushes too. The yellow gooseberry is a tiny bush not old enough to produce fruit just yet.
The weather forecast said it's unusually cold for this time of the year, might get ground frost on higher grounds. Awesome, that's all we need😫😭, but I'm hopeful my garden will survive and it will keep giving.
Today weather wise it's pretty mixed, chilling wind, sunshine, scattered showers and all that jazz. I wish the weather just made up its mind and be just favorable for the gardeners. But I'm not complaining, it could be worse. However, late May and early June is still sowing time for beans, beetroot, cauliflowers, carrots, blanching celery, chard, kale, kohlrabi, Brussels sprouts, lettuce, radishes, spinach, onions, corn, swede, turnips, etc. I already sown a few from the list. I'll try sowing corn now and see if I get a cob or 2 this summer early September. The peaches look amazingly well and apparently it likes the fish water I pour on it every time I change the water in my fish tank. The same treatment gets the grapevine too and judging by the length of each bunch of it grown any bigger I'll have to duck to avoid bumping into the lower berries. 😉😜😍🤷♀️🤦♀️😋 The tomatoes are coming along nicely, their fruit (some might disagree with me here saying, it's not fruit, it's veggie) 🤷♀️ but hey ho, it will end up in the same place after eaten.... I mean in the tummy😋 Also the melons, now this one is a new cultivar I'm trying out, it's called Emir, are already showing off their fruit. I decided this year to let them go rampant in the small greenhouse where I'm growing 2 of each, Galia and Emir, both are specifically bred for polytunnels and greenhouses. Galia I love had great success with previous years. Let's see which way is more successful: growing upwards or letting them run around the raised bed. We shall see! 🤔
about Galia here Life in my greenhouse is beginning to show signs. The seeds I've sown some time ago are starting to sprout and by the time the promised heat will come, they'll be ready to go out in the raised beds. Melon Emir is swelling nicely in the small greenhouse. Outside inspire of temps like 5 - 9C, which is crazy weather for this time of year my plants look OK and blooming away. My rambler rose "Wedding day" started blooming, it's a new addition to my garden, I'll train it up a hawthorn tree behind the greenhouse. This way the bird nest in the tree will be protected from sharp claws. I love this rose, the bud displays butterpale color, then the flower when fully opens it's white. They smell like freshly baked shortcake cookies. This year I had only a few clusters of flowers, next year I'll have more and after that even more 😜 And as I was exploring my garden further on I've noticed signs of cobs on my hazelnut tree. I hope no cheeky squirrel or other hazelnut loving creature will nick them before I have the chance to taste them this year too. Walking further on among my fruit trees I've noticed 1 single, solitary fruit on my cherry.... Wow, I hope I'll get a chance to taste this one too. Then a few paces further I notice an flower on my pear tree and plum tree. Strange, they should have done with the flowering by now and producing fruit.... See, what I mean by the crazy weather? Even the fruit trees get confused, let alone us, humans. But I guess it's not just Ireland, that gets this unruly weather, it sweeps through most countries in Europe and it's due to an Arctic stream. 🤷♀️🤦♀️
Now the next bit was a fun project. After watching a few videos on YouTube and Instagram, and asking for advice on FB groups I've managed to put together my very own filter pump for my fishtank. It has all the trimmings, it has a pump, filter sponge, fleece and stones, and cheaper then and electric filter pump, which I didn't really want. But it works as the picture showes. Happy me, happy fish.
I was also advised to buy these so called "Chinese Hillstream Loaches" the lady at my local petshop said that they keep some in cold water and that they clean the aquariums walls of algae. We'll see now how they like my outdoor tank, pleanty of algae there.
On the other hand today was surprisingly good day. I've harvested 3 very ripen, juicy, sweet peaches from my peach tree. And it was wolfed down right there and then still warm by my family. Everyone enjoyed this lovely treat and everyone was nicely surprised. I've noticed another of my bush flowering (I don't know the name, the wind blew away the tag). My grapes are getting bigger and bigger and I honestly felt bumping my head into the lower grapes. And my Emir Melon is growing nicely, swelling day by day.
With the ripening of raspberries, currants and gooseberries we lightly step into July.
Sincerely yours
Gardener Anna
It has true rings, half closed true rings, bare thread space, joins, picots....almost everything I've learnt in those 11 weeks before the break.
