70 - I dream of green

 For a TEFL teacher like me, but any teacher really, June is a hectic stressful month, with tests, resits and exams, and happy students who can finally pick up their diploma. But June is also the month where the explosion of greenery that has taken off in May really consolidates in the garden.

The frog pond

Every day I walk down the path to my plot I see new plants in flower. The beans and peas of my neighbour are shooting up, and my own plants are suddenly playing catch-up. 

Remember I almost despaired of my gorgeous Princess Elisabeth rose? Well, it now looks much better and has a gorgeous rose and five very promising buds. I am overjoyed, because that rose was struggling on my balcony for two years and I had taken it to Hunky Dory especially to give it a better life, and its very own pretty obelisk to climb up against. 

And the Salvias are doing really well too. So are the many Verbena bonariensis I raised from seed.  They hardly grew during that drought, but now they are finally growing and blooming their hearts out.

The greenhouse

Broccoli

This week I spent some time not only watering, but also howing the mass of weeds that have sprung up amongst my spinach, cucumbers, bell peppers and tomatoes. There is chickweed and tall grass and I was amazed...where did all this come from??

The rose shows buds, yay!

When I put my small tomatoes in, it was pristine and all I did was spread some leftover potting soil. It really did make me think my no-dig experiment with cardboard on the other side of the greenhouse path will be the path forward (that sounds weird. But you know what I mean). Hardly any weeds on that side.

The cucumbers have given me 8 perfect ones already, and many more to come. And the tomatoes have lots of flowers and have grown up to over 1m. Not bad, from those seeds I saved from last year's crop, eh? Obviously what tomatoes they are, I don't know, it will be a surprise.

This week I have also harvested my beautiful cauliflowers, for the freezer. And then put some new veggies in, making sure I avoided last time's mistake of watering without a sprinkler head, washing all the seeds to the edges of the bed. Silly me! Will not do that again in a hurry! The thing is I have inherited 6 watering cans, but no heads...that gives me a good excuse to visit my favourite gardening centre. And sow in seed trays first may also be a good idea...Ah...I could always buy plugs... (here comes the impatient gardener in me, rearing its head). And I pulled out 5 wheelbarrows full yet again - weeds, my dear. The thistles looooove my heavy clay.

Anyway, when you would like to read more about Hunky Dory and/or my balcony jungle, visit Instagram@songsmith2962 and Pixelfed@DutchDeltaWoman and in the meantime take care in that mini-heatwave this weekend and release your inner plant nerd, go on, you can do it!