Wednesday 20 July 2016

Diary of a suburban, polyculture, food garden, July 2016.

I've been super busy with job applications and other stuff this month so I've not done as much gardening as I wanted.  

Also, there's this heat wave.  I'm not a fan of it.  I'm more a fan of sitting in front of my fan on the sofa to be honest.

But I've done a bit of gardening, so, onwards,

My garden, July 2016.  Diaries of a suburban, polyculture, food garden. secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #gardening #garden #My garden, July 2016.  Diaries of a suburban, polyculture, food garden. secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #gardening #garden #polyculture #suburbangarden #growyourownpolyculture #suburbangarden #growyourown

In the greenhouse I've got some tomatoes (tiny tim) and a courgette (verde di milano), no fruits from either yet but some flowers coming along.  Everything seems slow again this year.  I keep seeing other people eating their first tomato on Instagram, and I don't have any yet! 

I'm really happy that the hydrangea in the front garden have flowered this year.  They didn't last year because next door's magnolia tree was completely throwing them shade.  A years worth of surreptitious snipping away at it has given the plants underneath a bit more of a chance.

I have a LOT of ground elder in this front border, I know it's going to be a pain to get rid of, and I quite like it's white flowers (and so do lots of insects!) so I think I'll mostly leave it be, but try to dig up a bit to stop it spreading any further!

My garden, July 2016.  Diaries of a suburban, polyculture, food garden. secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #gardening #garden #polyculture #suburbangarden #growyourown

My garden, July 2016.  Diaries of a suburban, polyculture, food garden. secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #gardening #garden #polyculture #suburbangarden #growyourown

My garden, July 2016.  Diaries of a suburban, polyculture, food garden. secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #gardening #garden #polyculture #suburbangarden #growyourown

Back to the back garden, there are broad beans broad beaning!  I've planted lots of seeds directly into the soil in my main, mixed polyculture bed but nothing much has grown.  I'm going to re-try some in pots in the greenhouse, I need some rainbow chard and perpetual spinach, and spring onions at least!  

My garden, July 2016.  Diaries of a suburban, polyculture, food garden. secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #gardening #garden #polyculture #suburbangarden #growyourown

Out of all the perennial flower seeds I planted, only this one grew.  At least it's a pretty one, it's a 'malva zebrina'.

My garden, July 2016.  Diaries of a suburban, polyculture, food garden. secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #gardening #garden #polyculture #suburbangarden #growyourown

And the first of my very favourite, obnoxiously bright nasturtiums has arrived too, hurray! 

My garden, July 2016.  Diaries of a suburban, polyculture, food garden. secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #gardening #garden #polyculture #suburbangarden #growyourown

We were given garden centre vouchers as a wedding present, so we went to the posh garden centre which was a bit of a change from my usual favourite, Wilkos dead plant section!  We came back with a Lavatera called 'songbird' that has pink and white flowers, and a Physocarpus 'midnight' which have filled a gap in the back of the main bed.  I also found the dead plant section of the posh garden centre and came home with an armful of reduced herbs.

My garden, July 2016.  Diaries of a suburban, polyculture, food garden. secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #gardening #garden #polyculture #suburbangarden #growyourown

Most excitingly, my pepper (lipstick) has it's first pepper!  Yey!  I have 3 pepper plants, all the same type, and they're living in the conservatory which they seem to be happy with.

My garden, July 2016.  Diaries of a suburban, polyculture, food garden. secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #gardening #garden #polyculture #suburbangarden #growyourown

I've also had a month of chopping, all 3 wiegelas in the garden have been cut back, some more of next door's magnolia has been secretly snipped (alas, the more I snip it the bushier it grows back!), Joe sawed down the last of the fallen over pyrocantha that fell over when we had new fences and I've trimmed the catoneasters in the front garden too.  At least 3 green bins full! 

The only photo I have of the whole garden this month is this one.  My husband is doing something DIY-ish in it, but there you go, at least you can see that at the moment we have lots of flowers, a few food plants - loads of strawberries, and some bare patches where nothing has grown!

My garden, July 2016.  Diaries of a suburban, polyculture, food garden. secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #gardening #garden #polyculture #suburbangarden #growyourown

I've also been sprinkling used coffee grounds around the garden, on my acid loving plants, compost bin and wormery!  It's supposed to be a good soil improver!  Can you see the berries on the blueberries and the flowers on my tomatoes (san marzano and mortgage lifter) and the weeds?!  Ignore those weeds!

My garden, July 2016.  Diaries of a suburban, polyculture, food garden. secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #gardening #garden #polyculture #suburbangarden #growyourown

How are your gardens this month?  I hope you're surviving the heat?!

6 comments:

  1. Your garden is lovely. Eating your homegrown strawberries must be fabulous. I have done nothing in the garden this year due to it being my first year in Uni and being super busy. The weeds are taking over :( It's my first year not growing veggies for a long time and I really miss it, Seeing your garden looking lovely and productive has made my day - thank you :)

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    1. Hi Lorna, thanks so much :) The strawberries are delicious!
      I hate it when the weeds take over the garden! But I bet uni will be worth it (what are you studying?) and the garden will still be there when you've finished!

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  2. Looks like you are doing really well! You reminded me to do my gardening one!!

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  3. I am completely in love with your hydrangeas! I also adore your little green house! Did you build that? I'm hoping to have many many veggies next year! Fingers crossed I'll no longer be in an apartment then! Your new home and garden are divine! Where are you looking for jobs at? Best of luck!! xx

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    Replies
    1. I put about one nail in that greenhouse, then had a sulk because it was too hard and then my husband made the rest! It came in a flat packed kit but it was a lot harder to put together than I expected! It's cute now it's up though!
      My library has had it's budget cut so we'll all have to reapply for the few jobs that are left, or find new ones. I applied for and got a little freelance writing job, and I have an interview Wednesday for an admin job in the local theatre - eeek!

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