I haven’t written a garden update since June because I felt like I didn’t have much to say other than “Yes, everything is growing!” But now, looking back at May’s garden update, you can see that he has changed a lot in just 4 weeks.
June and July were great months for the garden as everything suddenly bloomed. It’s all a little crazy and wild and I’m sure 40% of what’s growing is weeds, but I love the chaos of it.
My new greenhouse!
I’ve added something new and big to my garden, and that’s my greenhouse.
I love this greenhouse!
It’s a BillyOh 4000 12 x 6 and costs just under £1,000. I was a little worried that it would be flimsy since it’s quite cheap compared to a greenhouse of this size, but I’m very happy with it. The raised area was expensive to build (we had to do it because the garden would flood) and it took Sam all weekend to build it, but it’s now in place and perfect. I think you can see it.
Currently, we have several tomato, cucumber, pepper, and lettuce plants starting to emerge.
My raised beds
My raised bed is going wild!
I know now that I was definitely keeping things too close. This is something I’m sure I’ll get better at over the years. I read (mostly) the instructions on the package, but it’s hard to imagine how big these plants can get when you’re planting tiny little seedlings!
Peas
my peas were not successful. I kept an eye on them, didn’t water them properly, and didn’t support their growth. In my defense, the package said they only grew to 30cm so no support was needed, but some of these peas were huge!
Also, I didn’t expect to be able to harvest it so quickly, so I left it for too long and it all went bad. But it’s okay. Since I made this discovery in early July, I pulled them all up and planted some new seeds directly into the soil, and they all look good. I definitely support these and will choose them as soon as possible.
Cucumbers
Look at that! I grew cucumbers!
To be honest, my cucumber seedlings don’t look very healthy. Many times I was sure my cucumbers had died, but this little guy, against all odds, grew real cucumbers!
Strawberries
We had a good harvest of strawberries for about 6 days. And nothing!
what! ? I was wondering if it would continue to bear fruit all year long!
We love strawberries and eat lots of them at home, but we realized that we will need a lot of strawberry plants to harvest strawberries next year.
Courgettes
My zucchini is getting thicker and thicker now. I thought a little too much and went a little too quickly. I asked for recipes using zucchini in this post on Instagram and got lots of suggestions, so if you’re interested!
I have two zucchini plants in pots in a greenhouse, two in regular garden soil, and three in a nice raised bed of compost in full sun. Those in raised beds are definitely trying their best. The ones in the greenhouse are large, but I don’t have many zucchini, so I’m thinking of moving them outside, but I think the problem might be the pots. Those in the shady part of the garden are arriving, but about three weeks later than the others.
Tomatoes
We have tomatoes!!
My tomato seedlings are doing well. I was told they left it because the legs were getting too long, but I’m not really sure what this means because it looks fine to me.
Flowers are blooming and fruits are starting to appear little by little.
The leaves of some of my plants have yellow mottling. After doing some research, I think it might be due to a lack of nutrients, so I’m hoping that increasing the tomato feed will solve the problem.
Sweetpeas
Ah, sweet pea. They are doing very well! I’ll definitely be planting them all directly in the ground next year, as the ones planted in the ground are much better than the ones in pots.
Mini carrots
I was able to harvest small mini carrots! The carrot was shaped like a round golf ball and was very cute.
But I don’t think I’ll stick to the mini size anymore. I thought the kids would think they were cute and imagined them walking barefoot in the garden, pulling carrots for a snack. Of course, it doesn’t work that way because when you pull it up, it’s covered in mud. The kids had no interest in eating what was previously muddy!
Mini carrots require just as much work as regular carrots, so I think I’ll try larger carrots next time!
My window boxes
You may remember that I was so excited about these window boxes, but they turned out to be too shallow to hold anything other than salad leaves and herbs. But that’s okay because they’re great places for them. All you have to remember next year is not to be bothered by the other things that are out there.
Potatoes
We had our first harvest of potatoes in mid-June and we were so excited.
There are still four buckets full of potatoes, but they aren’t ready yet.
Runner beans
I completely forgot that the runner beans were tall and didn’t support them properly! Remember this for next year. Purchase a suitable trellis for runner beans. Or you can make something really fun for your runner beans to build a den for the kids!
Slugs
Many of my seedlings have been destroyed by slugs and they are very annoying. Next year I will try harder to find ways to prevent slugs, starting with the greenhouse!
These aren’t marigolds
I was very proud of myself for “interplanting” marigolds with tomatoes and other vegetables. Marigolds seem to keep pests away from your crops because they emit an odor that creepy crawlies don’t like.
But the marigolds kept getting bigger and bigger. In the end I realized that they were not marigolds, but chrysanthemums (I think so!)
So I’m going to put some random plants in my veggie bed!
Bokashi Bin
I’m still a big fan of bokashibin, but it’s not very useful during peak summer months. I’m going to bury the garbage in my garden, but I don’t have a place to dig a big hole at the moment. I put the fermented food scraps in a large bucket and cover it with garden soil and it seems to be working fine, but I’m out of pots now.
I also put some food waste in the compost pile, but it attracts rats, so most of it just goes in the food waste bin for the council to dispose of.
Next year
I’m already looking forward to my garden next year and am surprised myself. This year hasn’t even reached its peak yet, but I’m already thinking about how things will change in 2022.
The main things I do differently are keep things separate and separate beds. Be sure to keep your plants together and separate them into their own areas. This is partly because different plants require different care, but also to help with weed control. I like raised beds. Although it looks a bit wild, you can see exactly what you’ve planted where and can remove weeds as soon as they emerge.
However, in the main garden flower bed, I have no idea where I planted what. In other words, I didn’t realize what it was until it was older, so I started weeding it too late. And now I have so many huge weeds that I really can’t be bothered to dig them up!
Another thing I do is make sure the plants that need support are supported from the beginning. I lost many plants because I didn’t support them properly.
Notes for next year – Parsnips can get huge and take forever to grow. I need more space!
I am very happy to have planted so many cosmos.
It won’t be long until thousands of damsons are born!
Nasturtium flowers – I was surprised at how well these turned out. I basically just threw a bunch of seeds along the fence and didn’t do anything else, but it looks so gorgeous!
See more nasturtium flowers
Louis is never far away when I’m in the garden
And Alba is always ready to eat whatever is on hand!
read more:
procession in my garden
April in my garden
may in my garden