Garlic, garlic, every where...

Week 27, Saturday, 28th June 2008

Managed to get down to the lottie for the morning and dropped off all the composting stuff. Managed to catch up with “Ron the chicken man” and pay him for the last two months! I was getting worried that he was sick and tried to have a look at his chicken coops to see if all was in order. Turns out we were just missing each other all the time and he thought I was ill.

Anyway I managed to harvest all the garlic – the bulbs were a bit on the small side but a good harvest with almost 100% success. I have taken them home to dry in the shed and will try my hand at garlic plaiting soon. I cannot see any difference at the moment between the bought white garlic from the French pink garlic (bought at last years French market), which I saved and planted, maybe when they are dry and cleaned up a bit the difference will become clear.

My elephant garlic was wonderful – will try and remember to take a picture for the blog. From 1 bulb we bought for a quid at the last potato festival I harvested a huge bulb plus about a dozen little bulbils around it. So I have pulled off the babies and will store them for next years harvest.

Turned the now empty ground over, added pelleted chicken manure and then put in a row of beetroot seed and two rows of Swiss Chard seedlings that have been waiting in the wings for open ground. Hopefully this position (which is shaded by the Cardoon) will keep the plants cool and help with bolting.

Picked a huge bunch of sweet peas again – a lot more pink and peach colours coming out now but the stems seem to be getting shorter the higher up they get? Not sure why.

The afternoon was booked for Rosemary’s 13th Birthday Party on the beach at Hengistbury Head. Jacquie did hamburgers which were lovely and the kids all enjoyed building their own. I was a bit dubious about taking the barbecue down as there were huge signs “£500 spot fines” but the guys were adamant and sneaked it on. The weather was OK but the wind was really mean and had us skulking behind some rocks which acted as a buffer.

Wonderful Sungold tomatoes - first fruits

Week 27, Monday, 23rd June 2008

A lovely day today with lots of sunshine! Mom and I tasted the first Sungold tomatoes – boy were they good. There are lots of tomatoes on the plants both at home and on the greenhouse and even the cucumber plants seem to have stopped their sulking and have begun to romp away. Can’t wait for things to really get going. Seems strange that we have already had the Summer Solstice and we are now on our way to Autumn again. Yikes! Think that I will rather think about lots of lovely ripe tomatoes, beans, cucumbers, melons, etc.

Got the Job!

Week 26, Saturday, 21st June 2008

Well I got lovely news last night. I was offered a position that I was interested in and am so happy. I really need a change and a new challenge. My family and I have been really blessed over the last couple of weeks I am very thankful and count my blessings.

Despite me having an embroidery class at 14:00, Mom and I still managed to nip down to the lottie and drop all the composting dregs.

The lottie is really looking well with everything just going mad. The British corn that Rosie planted is starting to come up and the mange tout tepee is going bonkers! I picked another batch of mange tout which we can add to some vegetables at dinner. Also picked enough beetroot to make a meal and give the remaining ones place to start bulking up. The dahlias are starting to put on some good growth as are the cosmos – I must remember to head them next time I am down so that they can bush out some. Have been eating strawberries from the planter at home but not enough at one time to make a meal though. Will have to look at bulking my strawberry patch up on the lottie next year.

The greenhouse got a good watering and I refilled all the two litre bottles. All the bottles, bar one had emptied - so this time around I have not tightened the lids that much – I will see how that goes. All the bottles are vacuuming too much and it does not seem that enough air is getting in. Mom picked a huge bunch of sweetpeas and there are still tons on the tepee. Will try and get back next week-end to do some real work

Experimental Watering Bottle Tops

Week 26, Sunday, 15th June 2008

Managed to get down to the lottie for an hour and fitted the bottle tops for the watering bottles in the lottie greenhouse. This should save me time having to go out quite so regularly to water. Fingers crossed, that’s the general idea any way.

Everything is looking good on the lottie with the French beans starting to make their dash for freedom up the bean frame. No flowers yet, but patience. The gem squash and pumpkins are looking very good and we already have a couple of flowers on the Hubbard squash – can’t wait for harvesting. I might even enter one of my squash for the lottie summer competition on 9th August. The Ambo FE potatoes that were left in the ground by accident are flowering and I will have to dig them up soon. The label for the New International Kidney has got lost and I am not sure which row they are – it would seem that some of the labels have gone MIA all together. I have tried seeing the flowers but there is not one row that is obviously flowering profusely besides what I think are the new Sarpo’s I am trying this year. Maybe the flowering ones are the NIK’s with the wrong label on. Mmmm! Will go and investigate when next down there and have a bit of a dig around. We managed to forage a lovely huge bunch of sweet peas and some mange tout.

Jacquie's got wheels!

Week 25, Saturday, 14th June 2008

Went out to Sturminster Newton to fetch Jacquie’s car from Trevor and Tracey. Still think they are nuts going back to Zimbabwe with all the political unrest going on at the moment but hey – they are adults and should know what they are doing. Tracey did not even bother to put enough petrol in the tank and I am sure we just made the garage on fumes. It was quite a laugh when we got to the petrol station to fill up – we did not know what kind of petrol to put in. I must admit I felt quite foolish but in the end we decided to put in unleaded.

Got the House!

Week 25, Thursday, 12th June 2008

Mom and Jacquie got the house! Another one off the list now. They have accomplished so much over the six weeks they have been here it is amaxing when you sit down and actually take stock of the full picture.

Baby it hot, hot, hot

Week 25, Tuesday, 10th June 2008

26 Celsius and boy it’s hot!! Yesterday was also very hot and Ron popped up to the lottie and watered down the greenhouse and gave the whole lottie a good soaking. Hope this saves all my babies from frying. The kids all ended up spending the day at the beach and all came back with sunburns.

Once the sun went down last night (21:00), I suddenly got a burst of energy and ended up pruning the Rambling Rector who was again making a bid to take over the garden. Once I had tidying it up you can now suddenly see the Etoile Violette and the Niobe Clematis flowers much better. Unfortunately The President Clematis on the arbour is now past its best with only one flower hanging on. I think I will need to give it a good feed this week-end followed by a good soaking.

The Dicentra is now also almost past its best so also got a bit of a haircut. Once I had neatened it up I can now suddently see and use the walkway. The geraniums were starting to look a bit tatty so they also got a good scalping and already there are baby leaves just waiting to take their place. The hollyhocks have got a bit of rust but I have cleared up all the infected leaves and will need to check them regularly but in all they are now excellent, big plants and should make a lovely show later in the summer. The grapevine is also looking very healthy with lots of little bunches of grapes on - I will need to read up on maybe thinning out the vine so that we at least get some fruit this year.

Now that I have cleared the beds a bit I will be able to plant out the dahlias, Rudbeckia and the Nocatina plants waiting in the wings into their final places for the Summer show.