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| Thyme flowers are out about now |
Summer marches on and compared to last year, we have had some protracted spells without rain which has been an improvement to say the least. Naturally, this means that the vegetables are growing quickly and, therefore, rapidly using up the nutrients in the soil which will need to be replenished as the weeks go by.
There are a few ways to do this; in some instances and where possible, I dig in some more compost - earthing up potatoes for instance. Around well spaced tomatoes I can sometimes dig in a little more compost but I also add a proprietary tomato feed, which, incidentally will also do for chilies, peppers, squashes and courgettes. I dig in compost around my beans and also lay some chicken poo (freely available from my chickens and in great abundance) around all the plants that are advanced enough to get near and not damage. This might also, thought I in a moment of severe frustration at having more lettuces dug up, deter my feline fiends from using my well hoed and weeded vegetable beds as custom made cat commodes. The jury is yet deliberating on that ruse.
Shop bought feed is obviously expensive although the sachet type that you mix yourself is cheaper than the ready made up stuff, but you can make your own by soaking as many nettles as you can cram into a large bucket and leaving it for a few weeks or by having a wormery and using the liquid feed from this. Worm pee - nice! Worm farms are a useful way of turning large amounts of garden waste, food waste and used tea leaves into a very small amount of very rich and potent compost, and a liquid run-off that can be added to your watering can to water in. It's quite potent and should therefore be well diluted.
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| A Safe haven for Brussels away from butterflies |
Remember that as your vegetable plants strive to grow you the most wonderful peas, beans, carrots, tomatoes, potatoes, leeks, chard, parsnips, beet root, courgette and every other wonder of vegetarian delight, you need to supply them with the nutrients to be converted into your food. Planting vegetables and leaving them doesn't always work, I'm afraid.
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| Tomatoes growing well |
As for the rest of the garden, it's down to maintenance really and the first harvests of your crop should come this month. We've had garden peas and some herbs from the tunnel, the broad beans are a week or two away and the first strawberries are blushing into readiness as I type.
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| Broad beans very nearly ready |
There have been a couple of disasters; the French Climbing Green Beans are, alas neither French nor climbing -they are green however, apart from the purple ones! They are, in fact, mis-packaged Dwarf Beans which look daft growing next to the towering edifice I spent a wet weekend erecting in the sunniest and most public spot in my garden. No doubt the occupants of the passing traffic are waiting avidly to see the beans climb all over this mighty erection, imagine their disappointment and my embarrassment when the beans just stop growing at about two feet tall. In an attempt to deflect my discomfiture, I sneaked out in the dark one night and planted a few runner bean seedlings I had left in the tunnel. I doubt this ruse will work either and I await the derisory hoots and beeps of my passing public.
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| My wormery - with tap for collecting worm pee! |
All my other minor catastrophes have, actually, been caused by cats as I mentioned earlier.
We live in the woods, acres of land all around, no neighbours, no roads except on one side and no restrictions as far as animal evacuations are concerned. Yet all three of my cats are determined to use only the areas in which I have chosen to either grow vegetables or carefully planted bedding pants. Their propensity to dig up seedlings, seeds, well buried bulbs and delicate flowers is astonishing and has also caused my wife some distress. However, as the promises I made to our cats in moments of extreme anger are in some cases physically impossible, in others, illegal and the rest involve implements I do not own, I hope she won't worry too much while she's away in Australia for three weeks.
Really.
All this hard work in soon to pay off, so stick with it and start looking up some vegetable recipes.
