Dear Gentle Reader,
July brings new joy into my garden, in spite of still cold ish weather we're getting. Roses are at their best, Mock Orange perfumes the garden with its heady scent, the pink and white Astrantias and I've discovered a newly developed bunch of grape blooms on my grape vine. Sign of a long summer? Could be, and hopefully warmer. This summer was a rubbish one, with occasional sunny spells and yet cold.
Life in the greenhouse doesn't care about the rubbish summer we are having, it's like a sauna in there, which is wonderful for plants like tomatoes and melons. Raspberries outside are ripening, these kind of berries are sweet, but never too sweet, but this year they are a bit more tangy then previous years, hence the cold weather. However it's nice with cereal, brekkie doesn't come healthier then that.
Yesterday with the rain we had hailstones for a short while, not very big ones peppercorn size. They didn't do much damage, just fringed a few leaves in the roses. Today (Sunday, 6th of July) was a showery day, but I've managed to gather a bowl of red and yellow raspberries, change the water in my fishtank and for my delight I've seen one of my cleaners, one of my 3 hillstream loaches hiding among my dwarf lily pads, trying to camouflage, which was almost successful until it moved. I wanted to take a pic but it was too darn quick to dissappear among my oxigenator plants. Anyway it's always a pleasure to see them, I have 3 of them.
Little treasures in the gravel among the calendula, in form of alpine strawberries. My pink and red tall carnations look nice and smell amazing. I hope this year I'll be able to gather some seeds. I've also managed to water my toms, melons and other plants thst needed a drink using the rainwater from my waterbut, making room for more. No lack of rain here in Ireland 🤦♀️🤷♀️😁.
A few days ago I've noticed a single Regal Lilly in my flower bad, bit raggedy because of the lilly beatles, but still lovely looking and smelling gorgeous. To be honest not a huge fan of lillies inside the house but I don't mind them outside. Also to my joy I've got the first 2 toms in. Juicy , sweet, went down like a treat. More to come. 😜🍅🍅🍅The plants by the trellises, are my green runner beans, because of the cold weather they got in the ground a bit later then I hoped and now they are looking a bit sad. I lightly covered the freshly dug up raised bed with grass mulch, to keep the weeds down and the moisture in. I've noticed many gardeners doing the same thing on social media, so I said I'll give it a try. Trowel and error gardening is all about and how right that is 😜😁
As the month throttles towards the middle, we are getting a few warm, rain free days, with the promise of more warm, rain free days. I live in hope. Taking advantage of these warm, rain free days garden gear on, wellies on and out I am like a shot to do something in the garden. Like a shadow I'm followed by Her Majesty Queen Dubh, she's also my quality control manager, checking my every move and voicing her approval or disagreement. She's not shy about it either. We also take well deserved breaks under the warm sun and gentle breeze. And just like that cruising through the fruit trees of my garden something redish catches my eye and Lord behold, A CHERRY. A solitary blushing cherry on my cherry tree. Yayyyyy, says I, hoping that it won't be discovered by blackbirds. Maybe, just maybe, I'll get the chance if tasting it. Life in my fish pond continues without any bother and today as I was changing the filter fleece I caught a glimps of 2 hillstream loaches (I have 3), but by the time I reached for my phone, only one of them stayed out. 😜 Those lil buggers are very fast, but excellent cleaners. They also love hiding among my miniature lily pond leaves, which offers them an excellent camouflage. They are spotted like the loaches. 😜 Took me a while to spot one among the leaves the other day.
I was right, the other day I went out to put an organza bag on my cherry to protect it from my pesky resident blackbird and it was GONE. 😭 oh well next year hopefully I will get more 🙏🤷♀️🤦♀️
This year gardening and veggie growing is kind of a rush job, I'm still sowing (veggies that can still be sown in July) and getting plants into the ground. I put up some arches for the runner beans and blackberries. They are looking good. Also harvested my 1st tomatoes. My jasmine and Hardy geraniums are looking good, also have tall Chabaud carnations growing. And the water loving forget me not bloomed this year. Not much difference between your usual forget me not and this one except one loves water and the other not so much.
While I was digging in the high raised bed, I discovered a few spuds, leftover from last year or previous year, can't remember now. However it will be eaten. Also planted some over chitted spuds that I bought a few months ago and I was chitting them on the top of the press in the utility room. At this stage I'm hoping for some spuds in September or October and maybe for Xmas. They are nicely tucked in the ground under a thin layer of grass clippings mulch. The thin layer of grass clipping mulch will provide heat for the spuds on coldish nights (Still chilling nights some days), also will keep moisture in and weeds at bay. Dug into the soil will enrich it as it breaks down.
I went to a garden centre in the next county from where I live, to see if I can get a few veggie seedlings. Got spring cabbage and immediately once home I planted them. Also got some sage, green fennel and a small bayleaf tree. I hope on my next visit I'll get some lettuce plants or other fast growing veggies. After finishing cropping I moved the peach tree outside and now it's enjoying its summer al-fresco until the autumn and will be moved back when it will drop its leaves.
Melons looking good in the greenhouse, Galia is playing catch op with Emir. The competition is fierce in the greenhouse 🤣😜 the spuds are coming up nicely outside, so are the spring onions, every 2nd or 3rd day now I'm bringing in a few toms for the tea. This year I'm growing something new in the greenhouse...turmeric. It's a root/rhizome are used in many ways for many things. Great medicine for :
- Relieves joint pain and aids mobility
- Helps to fight chronic illnesses, such as arthritis, fibromyalgia and tendonitis
- Enhances immune health
- Improves the body’s inflammatory response
- Lowers the risk of brain and heart disease
- Increases the body’s antioxidant capacity
Make sure before you use any of the alternative medicine you ALWAYS check with your gp first.
But also it has a beautiful pink flower, it's part of ginger family, therefore tastes like ginger and pepper with a touch of sweetness. Also if used as a dye it will colour the fabric yellow.
There's nothing better then home grown stuff. Harvested my 1st Emir Melon and 1st of the grapes. Must tell you they make an awesome late night snack. Nothing better then those chilled on a hot summer day. We are getting temps up to 24 C and some showers, but the temps staying around 18-20 C, which is still good. Chillies and the eggplants are catching up at this stage, which makes me even happier, because I didn't think they'll get this far. On the other side of the small greenhouse Galia is getting roundy and swelling up nicely. Fruit on my hazelnut tree looking good too, sign that autumn is slowly approaching. Let's hope they aren't going to be discovered by some cheeky squirrels or other nut loving critters.
Sincerely yours
Anna, the Gardener
No comments:
Post a Comment