Monday, 27 June, 2016

Hard to believe that June is almost over already. 

Thankfully we received some desperately needed rain during the night. Not nearly enough but we are grateful for what we got. However, the air today is so thick you could cut it with a knife. Horribly humid.

Will run errands and then stay inside. I cannot function in this kind of heat. It is supposed to break completely Tuesday night.

Sunday, 26 June, 2016

I am doing absolutely nothing outside today other than water the potted plants. The temperature with the humidex is to reach 100 today. That is utter madness and way too hot for me to function.

I will stay in and work on a landscape plan to surround the house.... where I want the patios to be, pathways, etc. Much more pleasant than shoveling gravel in this scorching heat.

Saturday, 25 June, 2016

The heat wave is fully with us. Utterly vile. There are only 6 more months until Christmas! At this stage I will be welcoming the cold weather. Summer is my least favourite season. And this heat is the reason why.

Frank filled Bed 3 in Row 3. We still seem to have quite a bit of garden loam left with only one more bed to go. I think that they sent us too much. We will have to use it up somewhere.

I have continued to lay the pea stone pathways. Now working in Row 3. Did between beds 2 and 3 and also beds 5 and 6 which are the 12 foot beds running vertically up the garden. Even that little bit looks nice. Far too hot a day to be doing this though so have retired to the house where it is still quite comfortable.

Frank is installing door knobs and locks on the chicken coop and feed storage area. Lucky him... he is not bothered by the heat at all.

Friday, 24 June, 2016

The hot weather has returned and is making life miserable, at least for me.

Frank and I have built the last two 12 foot beds at the bottom of row 3 only to discover that the south fence is so far out of true that things are going to look very odd indeed along that line. Now trying to sort out what best to do to correct the problem as we cannot move any of the installed beds.

We are having a pretty serious drought and have needed to water almost every single day. Now that the weather is getting much hotter again, things are just that much worse. I am now watering very early in the morning, just after sun up. It is somewhat cooler outside so the water is better absorbed and there is much less evaporation. Easier on me also not to be baking out there in the heat.

We have filled bed 3 in row 3 so it is ready to plant out. Will wait until this latest heat wave is over so will plant out on Tuesday.

I have been working on the gravel pathways between the beds and have finished row 2 except the area at the bottom where the large rock is. Debating what to do about that... leave it there and just gravel around it or drill into it and try to break off the top so we can put a bed in there.

Pretty much all the plants are doing very well. We have been harvesting lots of spinach, lettuce and kohlrabi for salads every night. Also taken quite a bit of rhubarb and lots of strawberries. The June berries are mostly quite small but they have wonderful flavour. 

Tuesday, 21 June, 2016

I checked the weather station this morning and they say that we will have one more minute of daylight than we did yesterday, which was the Solstice. ???

The beans in Bed 3-Row 2 are leaping from the ground. They have grown about 2" since yesterday which is amazing. Still nothing from the carrots in same bed.

Gladioli are making strides in the diamond bed as are the pineberries.

I completely weeded the entire veg patch today, all 12 beds. Not really all that bad a job as I try to keep on top of it. I am working my way through the asparagus beds once again and have finished 1, 2 & 3. The problem is the tufted vetch and the blackberries and raspberries that are determined to grow there. I am equally determined that they shall not. I am going to win this battle no matter what!

Spent a good bit of time working to clear the last of the area in Row 3 for the last two beds.

Frank will need to "adjust" Bed 1 in row 3 due to large rock that it will be sitting upon.

Strawberries coming fast and furious now. Delicious. Will harvest some tonight along with some rhubarb to make pie. Yum.

Need to pull out the rest of the spinach at the back of pea bed as it is starting to bolt due to this horrid hot weather. Still quite a bit of lettuce there still so will not reseed that bed until the lettuce is out.

Will start to harvest kohlrabi today for addition to salad.

Monday, 20 June, 2016

Today is the Summer Solstice. Sun up at 5:19 and will not set until 8:53. That means 15 hours and 34 minutes of daylight. Lovely.

The strawberries are now starting to ripen quickly. Will pick a bunch to have with breakfast and also dessert for dinner.

The beans I planted in Bed 3-Row 2 are just breaking the soil this morning. Nothing from the carrots in that bed yet but that is not surprising. Kohlrabi are getting larger and we can likely start to harvest a few of them this week. I have pulled another patch of spinach from the pea bed, weeded the little triangle and replanted with three varieties of lettuce.

Both brassica beds are doing just wonderful. The interplanted lettuce are getting larger so soon time to get them out of there. There has been no sign of Cabbage White Butterflies so I am thinking that I can roll up the fleece and put it away.

The garlic beds are doing well and now starting to produce scapes.

The lettuce, spinach and radish that I planted in the pea bed a week or so is now up. That bed has just been amazing. Will plan to have at least two of them for next year. I think that one bed alone will keep us in salading for most of the summer. The actual peas themselves are starting to fill out the pods. Not a lot of them though which is disappointing.

Potatoes are up in both beds and doing well.

Gladioli have finally broken soil in the diamond bed. The pineberries in that same bed are simply amazing. They are in flower and also sending out runners all over the place. I will cut off the runners but allow them to keep a few flowers just to get a taste of these lovely white berries.

Lots of new little shoots coming up in the Asparagus beds. Still working away at keeping those beds weed free.

Frank has been working his way along the Raspberry border and digging up everything that is in there, except the canes we brought from the old house. He is just past the halfway point. Foul job. I have yet to finish cleaning up the north side of this border (25% done) but will resume work this coming week.

Have two more beds to build and install in Row 3. Must finish clearing the last of the weeds on that ground first and remove all the straw. Have at least cleared the area beside the south fence to the end of Row 3. Must press on with that to the end of Row 5. Another foul job but must be done.

Sunday, 19 June, 2016

Playing catch up with the posts.

The weather is really messing with us. We are in a serious drought now. I am out there watering the garden every day. Had been doing it at night, just as the sun was setting but have since found that morning is better. The soil is not as hot, the water does not evaporate as quickly and it takes me much less time to do it. Morning it is from now on.

Also just in the midst of second heat wave of the summer. Humidity to hit close to 100F today. I loathe this weather. This is only June. I shudder to think what August will be like.

Frank thinks that he may be able to break the top off the big rock at the bottom of row 2. He has drilled many little holes in it and when the time it right, he will give it a good whack with a sledge. If the top can be removed, we will put a bed there. I will cover with a tarp for the time being to keep the weeds at bay.

Continue to work on Row 3. We now have 4 beds installed, filled and planted out. We have built the bed that will be at the bottom of the row but once again there is a flattish rock in the way. The end of the bed will need to be sculpted so it can sit on top of the rock and keep the rest of the bed level.

The plants are all doing very well indeed. We have lost two courgettes due to the heat. A couple of the tomatoes are looking somewhat grim but I have been pouring water on them so perhaps they will make a comeback.

Sunday, 12 June, 2016

Temperatures plummeted today and the wind picked up like a gale force. Frank went for a bike ride and I stayed in and read all about Hidcote garden in England. Would have liked to work on the new beds but just too cold and windy.
Hopefully better tomorrow.

Saturday, 11 June, 2016

Harvested quite a lot of rhubarb today. There is still a huge amount on each plant.

We had a gentle steady rain for the entire morning. I am hoping that it will prove beneficial as I watered the garden very thoroughly last night so with luck it will have had a chance to seep in deeply. Fingers crossed.

Checked on the strawberries and have noticed that one or two are starting to show that beautiful red colour. It will not be long now until we are enjoying them.

Friday, 10 June, 2016

Worked in the garden all day. Harvested some arugula and some radish.

Weeded and replanted out a couple areas near the peas with Basil, spinach, lettuce, small sowing of arugula and small amount of radish.

Finished weeding the garlic. Weeded out all the other beds.

Deadheaded the daffodils under the apple trees and weeded out the grass.

Planted seed of parsnip, carrot, beet and chard to fill in the gaps from poor germination.

Completely cleared the ground for the last bed in row two which we built and also cleared the top end of row three and we built the two 12' beds in that area. We have chosen to make them wider at 48" than all the other garden beds as they will eventually have a pergola over top of them and we have the space. We did not get a chance to fill any of them yet. 

Checked on the strawberries and they are doing great. The early June bearing plants are absolutely hanging with berries.

The garden is really taking shape and looks wonderful.

Thursday, 9 June, 2016

Frank is continuing to work on chicken coop. Now installing board and batten.

We have built one more of the 15' beds and filled it. Also built the 4' diamond bed in the center of row 3, filled it and planted out with Gladioli and Pineberries.

Today I weeded just about all the beds and am almost finished cleaning out the garlic beds. 1/2 of one bed to go.

Have begun to clear the ground for the 12' beds that will be in row 3.

Have planted out a second bed of potatoes.

Harvesting a good amount of spinach now. Salad tonight.

Sawfly larva continue to wreak havoc on the red and white currants. Damage temporarily stopped on the gooseberries. We will need to spray again with insecticidal soap, much as we hate to do it.

Tuesday, 7 June, 2016

Frank and I have constructed 5 beds from the Hemlock and using the lousy soil at the very bottom on top of newspaper and then filled them with the beautiful garden loam we got.

Have planted out all the courgettes, one bed of potatoes, we now have three full beds of tomatoes.

Uncovered the brassicas today and they all look pretty good. Thoroughly weeded both the beds and will recover. We got a bit of a rain shower today and the beds were uncovered so they got a good soaking. Lettuce doing well in that bed. Also interplanted lettuce between some of the tomatoes.

Strawberries have thousands of blossoms and starting to produce little berries!

The sawfly larvae have utterly devastated the gooseberry bushes and the white and red currants. Tempted to just dig them up and plant something else.

Frank cleared once fence panel in the raspberry border. Only 5 more to go.

He also started to clear the weeds in row 5 so we can plant it out with the squash and the rest of the tomatoes.