#vegetables

Six On Saturday: Waxing lyrical

/ n20gardener / 19 Comments

Anyone dealing with drought and hosepipe bans will be sending out the same woeful message. It’s tough. However there are some things to enjoy. So here’s my six for this week.

One

Tomatoes. This week I went to see Benton End: a Paradise of Pollen and Paint at the Garden Museum in Lambeth, London. There’s a great painting there by Cedric Morris, showing the ingredients for Elizabeth David’s Ratatouille and the description includes a dictum by Elizabeth David – tomatoes ‘should be accompanied by a drink appropriate to the region and circumstance.’ I had a terrible time with my tomato seeds this year and resorted to buying in from the local nursery. It’s been a great mix. I’m going to say that it’s due to the weather but maybe those professional growers have superior skills! My absolute favourites have been ‘Supersteak’. Needless to say I have taken Elizabeth David’s advice.

Two

Marigolds. Grown from seed and mysteriously doing well here where once again the garden seems to have a secret supply of water. I’m not complaining.

Three

Gaura lindheimeri ‘Whirling Butterfly’. These are hard to show well in a photo so this one will have to do. I really enjoy these but never manage to keep them. This year I grew some from seed and managed to get six to planting out size. If they don’t over-winter I shall be growing from seed again. If they would only establish I might get a large clump that photograph well.

Four

Cosmos. I had several trays of these, some I shared with my daughter and the rest were waiting to go out into the garden. It became impossible to chip away at the soil and so I’ve put them into a large container. After a month in 9cms they are somewhat diminished in size but I’m sure they’ll romp away soon and no doubt sprawl all over the place. They have been pinched out so perhaps they’ll behave.

Five

Cucumbers. I went back to ‘Burpless’ this year but they do seem to have suffered more from heat stress. I also grew ‘Emilie’, shown here. I try to pick them small, which sometimes means picking every day. I’ll be growing these again and may forego ‘Burpless’ next year.

Six

I gave this hydrangea paniculata ‘Limelight’ two cans of water on Friday night, to prepare it for this morning’s photocall. The bedraggled background is my poor rhododendron, I’m not sure that one is going to survive.

The garden produce is keeping us happy at the moment. The first courgette arrived and was duly cooked up with tomatoes and bacon lardons for a pasta. Those tomatoes also go well with the French beans for a salad mix, and the tomatoes are stars again with basil and black olives for another tasty salad. Elizabeth David I thank you!

Over to Jim at Garden Ruminations for more SOS posts and Jim’s own personal selection. More sun, no rain so more watering can work for me. Happy Gardening.

Six On Saturday: I need to get going

/ n20gardener / 24 Comments

I’m hoping October will be mellow and fruitful. I have much to do and after longing for rain I have definitely had enough now thank you. I feel sure I had this feeling last year, I can see much in the garden that needs to be refined, cleared out, divided. It needs a good tidy up. So I need to get moving. On with the six then.

One

I was amazed to spot this gaura flower amongst the verbenas. Was it sheltered by them and also overcrowded by them? I hope it can last through another winter and I will thin the verbenas to give the gaura more of a chance.

Two

The hydrangeas are rapidly changing colour and this one has chosen the perfect autumnal red.

Three

I’ve called time on the tomatoes, blight finally got to them. But there is a good quantity ripening off inside. Not such a good quantity of carrots though! These are chantenay, so the shortness is good, but the germination was not.

Four

Here’s the frost shattered pot in its new home. Against a sunny wall, perhaps it will survive another winter more or less intact.

Five

New violas for the terrace pots. Cheap and cheerful and I’m hoping they’ll last a good while. The lobelia was definitely past its best so it was time for a change

Six

Lastly, I’m going back to the cactus dahlia because it is a firework of orangeness at the moment. It’s down at the shady end of the garden and looks much better in the afternoon sun.

I’m off to dig and divide geranium phaeums today. I hope you have good weather for your gardening jobs. Jim hosts the SOS links as usual, but unusually he has some great pictures of Cornwall! Have a great weekend everyone

Six On Saturday: Harvest

/ n20gardener / 18 Comments

I’ve called time on most of the courgettes, it looks like the cucumbers growing outside may be on their last legs as are the dwarf beans. It’s not been a bad year especially given the erractic summer. Here’s my six for this week.

One

This is going to be apple picking weekend. The first photo is of the reluctant ripeners but finally they have caught up, the pips are brown and so they are ready to pick for making into juice. The second photo is of a cox’s apple, also ready to pick and also going to juice.

Two

I have very fruits on the persimmon this year, here’s one I spotted this week and there are about four or five more. They won’t be ripe until December.

Three

I have been picking plums for a couple of weeks. There are plenty with brown rot but there seem be much fewer showing wasp damage. The wasps have definitely been less visible than previous years but one or two have been spotted this last week.

Four

The tomatoes have been slow to ripen, these are a yellow cherry variety which have been wonderfully sweet when ready to eat. These will have another chance to ripen this week and then perhaps it will be time to pick them for ripening inside.

Five

I grew four varieties of courgette this year and this is the last survivor. Probably the best cropper too. They’ve done us well roasted with tomatoes or on the barbeque.

Six

And lastly, I could not resist this photo of the verbena bonariensis. Caught in the early low light. They seed everywhere here but when they look as stunning as this I love them all over again.

I hope you garden is doing well this week. I did get some rain and although it seemed there was a good downpour or two the garden is still quite dry. The water butts filled up again though and so they will soon be emptied out on the plants that need it most. The season is shifting and we’re into the prep and planning stage for next year. I am about ready to start with some re-arranging and some major weeding of the dreaded cinque foil. Jim, host of the meme, has a colourful selection this week. Happy Gardening.

Six On Saturday: Harvesting

/ n20gardener / 14 Comments

I’ve been enjoying produce from the garden over the last few weeks. Early battles with slugs were fought and my use of home-made compost as a mulch resulted in a generous supply of verbena bonariensis and alchemilla mollis seedlings. So many that I now classify these as weeds at this end of the garden. The hose was out even though we had a few showers of rain and there is a forecast for scorchio temperatures for Sunday and Monday. In other news, I decided to leave twitter and I have migrated to Bluesky. I will keep the weekly post here going. Here’s my six for this week.

One

Here’s my lovely haul of beans, cucumbers and courgettes. I should also have added in the red onions and some lovely Charlotte potatoes. The cucumbers are grown outside and are delivering regularly. The red onions were a little better than other years but there where still some that did not achieve a good size.

Two

Blackberry picking has commenced, a kilo picked last week and shared with friends. This week’s pickings will also be shared as family are staying.

Three

This low growing mallow happily seeds itself around the garden and is left to do it’s thing.

Four

The hibiscus ‘Red Heart’ came to the garden in August last year and is doing well. I’m hoping it will reach the top of the garden wall by next year when it will, I hope, look magnificent!

Five

Last year I moved the white phlox out from under the apple tree. It was not getting enough moisture there. I now have several dotted around the garden and they have flowered well with the benefit of a little more light and space.

Six

Lastly, a new plant for this year. Helichrysum italicum, or the curry plant. The silvery grey leaves are very curry scented. I’ve always liked the little yellow flower heads and when the opportunity arose to give one a new home I jumped at it. I’m not sure if I can get it through the winter but we shall see. It’s in a pot so I can shelter it.

I’ll definitely be watering again this weekend. I’ll be hoping that the sunshine helps to ripen my outdoor tomatoes and I’ll be having another go at the weeds. I hope to get over to Jim’s to read some more SOS posts. Happy gardening to all.