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Posts tonen met het label garden maintenance. Alle posts tonen

vrijdag 10 januari 2025

2025/2 - And We're Off, my garden and me!!

 Last November I promised you that I would resume regular blogs a.s.a. the bulbs would show themselves; they are above ground! Since we had a storm with wind speeds up to 108 km/h in my area yesterday, I visited Hunky Dory this afternoon, to check if all was well. Thankfully it was.

 If you are reading this in the affected areas with snow blizzards or fires in the USA, I am wishing you strength! 

We had 1cm of snow last Sunday and I was over the moon...I cannot begin to imagine what you must be going through over there.

After an hour the rain returned
   When I arrived at Hunky Dory the sun showed itself, hurray!
   So instead of just checking, I actually pulled up my sleeves and tackled the first gardening jobs of 2025.
   I dragged some old artichoke branches to the compost heap, put some old cardboard on for good measure and watered my Spider plants that are living in the greenhouse. Next I topped up the frog pond (the level had dropped despite the rain) and let some water out of my water butts, as they are predicting night frosts for this week. 
   As I told you in blog 1, I am planning to try runner beans, climbing courgettes and climbing pumpkins this year, so I built them a frame. I used some old bright blue plastic rope the old geezer who had the garden before me had left behind in the shed: loathe it, but waste not, want not. Hopefully the greenery will cover that blue stuff pretty quickly.

See? I told you! Bulbs! They are narcisii, paperwhites.

During the winter months I gasp for green shrubs, and my Elaeagnus Ebbingei does not disappoint! From a 30 cm baby it has grown into a thug I now need to curb in its expansion, as it has totally overgrown the path. I will wait until late February and then will lift its canopy, unless it is safe to do it sooner, I must research that.

My kitchen sage is doing well; here you see it enjoying the sunshine.
And so is the rosemary, already starting to bloom! Oh dear, that night frost...
The malus looking pretty

    Last winter the birds had eaten all the tiny apples, but so far they are still hanging proudly.
   Can you see the clouds starting to gather? Always too good to be true, blue skies in January.
But I really wanted to build that frame, so I soldiered on.








And here it is, built in true allotment style from Tonkin sticks and old apple tree branches I cut off last autumn.

Must say I am pretty pleased with my effort. And I can't wait to put the seedlings next to it. But that will have to wait!
The Hellebore next to the frog pond is showing colour. It used to be apricot coloured, but reverted to pink after a year (pissing me off, as I paid a lot of money for it to be apricot). Still, it is very pretty in pink too, and it is just about the first thing to start blooming, so it's forgiven.
Right, this is the last photo for this week. This is in the border next to the greenhouse, and never disappoints. I pruned it quite harshly, but it has recovered and now looks great, giving me a welcoming splash of colour when I arrive at my plot.
Have a lovely weekend!
Renée 


vrijdag 17 juni 2022

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!

2025/3 - Don't believe everything you read

  Last week I told you I plan to prune my 'olijfwilg' , or olive willow to you (Elaeagnus Ebbingei), but that I want to make certain...