A Week In The Garden

I had the week off work last week, it was so nice to be able to stay home and potter in the garden instead of having to rush to get everything done. I thought I would document it so that I can look back to see what was happening in the garden and what the weather for the week was like.

Tuesday July 12th 

Sunshine, rain, hail and very strong winds, the only thing missing was snow. Two trees in my street, one an olive, and the other a jacaranda, lost a big branch each. On a quick trip to the greenhouse I noticed one of the cauliflowers was lying on it side, I will have to remember to fix it tomorrow if the weather improves.

Wednesday July 13th 

Another strange day weather wise, overcast, then sunny with intermittent showers thrown in for good measure. I still managed to spend some time in the garden, cutting the spent flowers from the Lion's Ear, tying up the larkspur that was lying on the ground where you couldn't see the flower stem properly. 

I noticed that the earwigs have had a lovely feast on the turnips and my only wombok cabbage, so I raked the pea straw off the bed so they wouldn't have anywhere to hide. I'm hoping that they will recover, but only time will tell.

 I finally remembered to move the coriander seedling that had come up (from the seed that was sown six months ago) between two rows of peas over to the carrot bed.

I also managed to get one and a half beds weeded before the rain returned.

Thursday July 14th 

No rain today, instead just periods of sunshine followed by grey skies. I added more soil to the potato pots, I'm really pleased with how they're coming along.

Four pots of Red Delight on left and four pots of Kestrel on right.

The three pots on the left are Kipfler, it's good to see them starting to put on some growth.

I had to give some of the peas a helping hand as I think some of them must have missed the memo about what their tendrils are actually for.

Dwarf Blue Bantam and Early Crop Massey.

Friday July 15th 

It has been an absolutely beautiful day today. The sun was shining, the skies were blue and there was hardly a cloud in the sky. It was the kind of day that is just too good to stay inside and it was a joy to be able spend some time in the garden.

The first thing I decided to do when I got down to the greenhouse was to put the seedlings outside so they could get some sun, as I lifted the first tray the weight of all the seedling pots was too much and the tray broke and the poor seedlings ended up on the ground. Luckily I was able to save most of them. The calendulas, which were more out of their pots than in  planted out in the insect garden, hopefully they won't mind the cold too much. The only ones that I'm worried about are the snapdragons. They are still so tiny, I'm not sure if they will recover.

I managed to finally take care of a job that has been on my to do list for far too long, but I kept putting it off because I just couldn't be bothered, but I'm so sick of the blackbirds kicking the soil and straw out of the asparagus bed I decided to just get it done. It took less than half an hour and now the asparagus bed finally has edging!

Asparagus bed before

Asparagus bed after

I sowed 26 broad beans, being a first for me I was unaware that they should have been sown last month, I'm hoping that I haven't left it too late.

"Early Long Pod" broad beans

The variety I wanted to plant was the "Crimsoned Flower" type, but I could not find them so I settled for Early Longpod. According to the packet they should be ready to harvest by October 21st. 

Finally time for a cuppa and to just enjoy the garden for a little while.

Saturday July 16th

Another beautiful day today. It took a few hours, but all the vegetable beds are now weed free, at least for a little while. I found a baby eggplant on the plant I am overwintering in the greenhouse, totally unexpected, but a very nice surprise.

Sunday July 17th

Another nice day, although not quite as warm as yesterday. With nothing left to do in the vegetable garden I decided to sow some seeds, Red and green lettuce, Mendania spinach, carrots Nantes, Top Weight and Chantenay, (I had sown some in the garden a few weeks ago, but they came to nothing, I'm hoping I have better luck this time), also some Kwang Moon pak choi.

I transplanted some of the flower seedlingss,  Poached Egg, the larger poppies, and the wallflower into bigger pots and fertilised the potatoes, the rocket and radicchio have sprouted

Six of the broccoli plants have developed heads, I don't now how I missed seeing them when I was weeding yesterday. 

I'm hoping to be able to do a similar post next month to keep track of how things went, so check back then.