More Growth

Said I'd blog something about the other veg plot once I'd weeded it - I've now weeded it twice!

As you can see, the onions are doing well - they're almost unrecognisable now as the rather weedy objects that we planted out back in May.  Some are larger than others, but there are a few potential 'monsters' at least.  A couple of potato plants appeared spontaneously as well - remnants from last year - we've left the two strongest in place to see what comes of them this year.



The peas have made a reasonable show, but I don't think we'll match the success of our first ever growing year - although I suppose they do have another 3 weeks to reach the 6 foot mark of that first harvest.  At least a few more plants seem to have survived into maturity - in contrast to last year.


Finally we have the green beans - we planted up a pot with the same variety we grew last year and they are climbing well.  We were given a bag of what we thought were a similar variety, but despite having a lovingly-constructed cane structure to grow up they are showing little sign of wanting to climb anything - I suspect they may therefore be a bush bean variety - well, we'll see . . .

Will confirm the bean situation, and just how high the peas did grow in due course . . .

Water, Water, Everywhere . . . #2

In contrast to the last post with this title, this was an entirely man made occurrence. It all started when Martin went to fix the outside tap that was the subject of our last 'flood' post.

All went well up to the point where he went to switch the water back on at the stopcock, and couldn't. Much angst followed, and when eventually the stopcock budged, it budged in its entirety and came off!

This left us with no water in the house, but far too much outside, as water welled up from the broken stopcock, and streamed across to the nearest drain. We were straight on the phone to Welsh Water, who said they'd send a man round as soon as possible. In the meantime we tried to 'harvest' as much of the water as we could - scooping it out with an old squash bottle, and filling watering cans and water butts, and watering everything in the garden along the way.

The 'man' duly arrived - and said he'd need to call in a 'gang' - which contrary to what you might expect turned out to be a gang of one!

To give the 'gang' his due, he'd soon created a good sized hole, and with the mains water switched off, fitted us a brand new stopcock (which has obviously gone through a major redesign since our last one was fitted 30+ years ago!).

From this:to this:

We now have water inside, and no water outside, which is as it should be - the hole outside is partially filled in, but as with these things, not everything that came out will go back in! Another 'gang' (which might be 2 men this time!) are due tomorrow to 'make good'.


It made for an interesting day anyway, and one we'll remember for things other than England losing to Germany 4-1 in the World Cup.

The Dangers of Hedge Cutting

Over the last few days we've been occupied with hedge cutting (see results on left).  We have rather a lot of mature hedges - mainly privet at the front and on one side, and a bit of a mixed bag (hawthorn, beech, yew) towards the bottom of the garden, plus brambles!

We tend to cut these twice, or at most three times a year - one big cut at the end of June (by which time hopefully the birds which nest within the hedges have got at least one brood out of the way), a potential late-summer 'trim', and the pre-winter end of the year tidy-up.  This year it has seemed like even more of a major task than previously - although we did 'remodel' one section, which involved a fairly radical cut.

On the whole it was just a bit of a slog in the hot weather, with Martin cutting while I cleared up the debris.  Ended up filling 5 of these big bags and taking them out to the tip - the trailer has come in really useful here!

And on the final day - despite having applied my insect repellent - I fell victim to a passing horsefly.  So I now have a rather impressive bump on my knee, and am popping antihistamine every 4 hours.  Hopefully normality will resume shortly as it's making it rather stiff going at the moment.

Giving serious consideration to investing in a zapper thing which generates a mild electric shock - apparently if applied to a bite within an hour or so it can help reduce the swelling and itchiness.  Will report back on said device in due course - although hopefully I'll never have occasion to use the thing if I do buy it!

Squirrel Tales

Or Raider of the Last Peanuts Part Deux . . .

We're going to be tolerant - unless she (we think it's a 'she' now we've had a closer look) decides to get destructive and knock things onto the ground.

How Does My Garden Grow?

Quick update on the garden - the larger of the two greenhouses is coming on now - the tomatoes are growing apace as are the cucumber plants we put in, although I think we are a little later with it all than last year.  In the smaller greenhouse we may actually get some grapes finally - although the chillis and peppers have a lot of growing to go:

 

The potato plot is however doing very well for itself, and on the fruit front everything has gone a bit wild - expecting a bumper crop of strawberries any day now - plus the rhubarb is still going strong:

Will blog something about the other veg plot soon - it too is growing well, but then so are the weeds - will upload a photo in the next couple of days when I've had a chance to weed it properly!!

Raider of the Last Peanuts

Need I say more . . .

Don't think he's a regular visitor as the peanuts don't disappear that quickly (the fat balls are currently the food of choice among the local bird population).  Something soon scared him off, but now he knows they are there I guess he'll be back . . . .

A Tale of Two Windows

It can really make a difference which side of the house you view the outside world from.

On one side:

Blue skies

Smiling at me

Nothing but blue skies

Do I see

On the other:

There may be trouble ahead . . .

Can't help but feel there's a metaphor for life (or at least the current budget crisis!) in their somewhere.

At any rate I think it means there's more rain heading our way.

The Month of May

Got a bit of updating to do, but let's start with the monthly weather report . . .

May was actually a really rather nice month on the whole - not particularly hot, but very sunny and mostly dry:

While the veg had a bit of a slow start, it was certainly a lovely month for flowers - the azaleas and rhododendrons put on a particularly good show: