Sunday 30 July 2017

My homegrown harvest, July 2017.

This has been a month of many courgettes!  

My homegrown harvest, July 2017.  From UK garden blogger secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #gardening #gardenblogger #permaculturegarden #suburbanpermaculture #harvest

I need to sort my timings out for next year, and plan to do more successional  sowing, I've run out of lettuce and had the last of my peas, and didn't sow any more to replace them! 

I've had loads of courgettes however, I'm at the taking-courgettes-to-work-and-passing-them-off-to-my-colleagues stage of courgette glut.  

My homegrown harvest, July 2017.  From UK garden blogger secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #gardening #gardenblogger #permaculturegarden #suburbanpermaculture #harvest

I had a gorgeous head of garlic, just from a clove of supermarket garlic I planted - it was so lovely and fresh. 

My homegrown harvest, July 2017.  From UK garden blogger secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #gardening #gardenblogger #permaculturegarden #suburbanpermaculture #harvest

I've picked all my broad beans and the start of the borlotto beans, I'm not waiting for them to dry, I'll eat them fresh.

My homegrown harvest, July 2017.  From UK garden blogger secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #gardening #gardenblogger #permaculturegarden #suburbanpermaculture #harvest
 
The rats tail radish has been prolific, unfortunately neither of us are keen on the seed pods, either raw or cooked.  They may be heading compostwards!  The flowers on the plants have attracted loads of hoverflies into the garden, so I might grow it again next year just for the insects. 

My homegrown harvest, July 2017.  From UK garden blogger secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #gardening #gardenblogger #permaculturegarden #suburbanpermaculture #harvest

My homegrown harvest, July 2017.  From UK garden blogger secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #gardening #gardenblogger #permaculturegarden #suburbanpermaculture #harvest

There's been a bit more that I didn't photograph, but not much.  We've had a few blueberries, but the blackbird has had more!  And my autumn bliss raspberries have produced a few berries too.  I'm not sure why, you can leave a cane of autumn rasps to over winter, then it'll fruit earlier in the summer, but I cut all my canes to the ground.  Whatever the reason the raspberries I've had have been so delicious, like sweeties.

How are your gardens?  Are you harvesting anything exciting? 



 
 

Tuesday 25 July 2017

Diary of a suburban edible garden, July 2017.

Lots of things have been happening this month in the garden!  Joe filled up my new raised bed, and I've planted the first few things in it!

Diary of a suburban edible garden, July 2017. By UK garden blogger secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #permaculture #suburbanpermaculture #organicgarden #raisedbeds #growyourown #ukgardenblogger

I've popped in some sweetcorn and society garlic plants that have been hanging around a little longer than they should have been, but I hope they'll be happy now.  And I planted a mix of lettuce seed, some borlotto beans, walking onions, rainbow chard and a mix of carrots and spring onions.  Now it's almost full and I want another one!

All the soil to fill this raised bed came from the weedy patch at the back of the garden.  I've been battling against this weedy patch for 2 years, I've cleared the 5 foot nettles away twice, and scared away a family of mice who were hiding in the turf I'd piled up to compost.  But I never quite managed to clear it.  So I asked my husband and he did it in a morning.  And raked it all flat.  And made a little retaining wall from some bricks we keep digging up.  He's too good!

Diary of a suburban edible garden, July 2017. By UK garden blogger secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #permaculture #suburbanpermaculture #organicgarden #raisedbeds #growyourown #ukgardenblogger

You can see how it looked before in the background of this photo,

Diary of a suburban edible garden, July 2017. By UK garden blogger secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #permaculture #suburbanpermaculture #organicgarden #raisedbeds #growyourown #ukgardenblogger

I'm going to cover the soil in the now un-weedy corner with some cardboard for a while to kill of any weeds, then it'll become a fruit tree and fruit bush area.

My other raised bed is doing amazing!  Everything is productive, I've finally had courgettes, and I love my sunflower!

Diary of a suburban edible garden, July 2017. By UK garden blogger secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #permaculture #suburbanpermaculture #organicgarden #raisedbeds #growyourown #ukgardenblogger

Diary of a suburban edible garden, July 2017. By UK garden blogger secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #permaculture #suburbanpermaculture #organicgarden #raisedbeds #growyourown #ukgardenblogger

Our next big job is to get rid of the lawn.  We're going to mow it short, then cover with newspaper or cardboard, then a thick layer of woodchips.  We're happy we won't have to mow the lawn anymore (hurrah!).  Next year when we have the pennies we'll get someone in to do the hard landscaping like the patio, path and maybe the fence.  I know that whoever these future builders will be, they will stomp all over my garden, because the builders who put the fence up on the other side did exactly that and it was very upsetting and damaged my soil and plants.  So I'll wait til that's over before turning my lawn into a garden! 

I spent a long time pruning the weigela and clearing underneath, and I've planted a Japanese anemone and a rudbeckia underneath.  I've had to buy a fair few plants this year, as most of my seedlings were eaten by slugs, but the garden is slowing filling up now.

Diary of a suburban edible garden, July 2017. By UK garden blogger secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #permaculture #suburbanpermaculture #organicgarden #raisedbeds #growyourown #ukgardenblogger

Scuse the mess in my shed, but I just wanted to show you the result of my weed tea brewing.  I put loads of nettles and weeds into a bucket with some water, accidentally left it for 6 weeks rather than 2 (it was super-duperly fermented and fizzy!), then put the liquid into bottles to dilute with water and use as fertiliser during the growing season.  I got 3 bottles full, which is more than enough to last me the year, and I threw the solid bits into the bottom of my new raised bed for extra fertilisation. 

Diary of a suburban edible garden, July 2017. By UK garden blogger secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #permaculture #suburbanpermaculture #organicgarden #raisedbeds #growyourown #ukgardenblogger

Do you like my butterfly deterrents?  Apparently cabbage white butterflies are territorial, so if they see another butterfly in your garden they'll go elsewhere.  The internet says make a little cardboard butterfly, stick it in the ground on a stick, and it'll keep your cabbage safe.  It really works too, there was a cabbage white landing on all my leafy greens, and as soon as I put these out it went away.  Shame I was too late to save my cabbage - it's a caterpillar nursery, but hopefully this will save my chard.

Diary of a suburban edible garden, July 2017. By UK garden blogger secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #permaculture #suburbanpermaculture #organicgarden #raisedbeds #growyourown #ukgardenblogger

The front garden looks a bit rubbishy to be honest, the gravel is so weedy.  We completely look like the scruffy-gits of our road - hopefully one more month of saving up and we can start to get it sorted!

Diary of a suburban edible garden, July 2017. By UK garden blogger secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #permaculture #suburbanpermaculture #organicgarden #raisedbeds #growyourown #ukgardenblogger

I'm quite happy with the back garden, in all it's work-in-progress glory.  I keep reminding myself of several things - it's summer so the weeds Do grow faster than anything else and it will be hard to keep control of them, we're just setting the garden up and it will be hard to get it done, and the gardening is supposed to be relaxing so I'm not going to let the other two things get me down! 

Diary of a suburban edible garden, July 2017. By UK garden blogger secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #permaculture #suburbanpermaculture #organicgarden #raisedbeds #growyourown #ukgardenblogger

Diary of a suburban edible garden, July 2017. By UK garden blogger secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #permaculture #suburbanpermaculture #organicgarden #raisedbeds #growyourown #ukgardenblogger

I've just noticed in the photo above, Joe's little face peeping out between the curtains of the upstairs window! 

Here are some pretty flowers (and a few weeds in the background!)

Diary of a suburban edible garden, July 2017. By UK garden blogger secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #permaculture #suburbanpermaculture #organicgarden #raisedbeds #growyourown #ukgardenblogger

Diary of a suburban edible garden, July 2017. By UK garden blogger secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #permaculture #suburbanpermaculture #organicgarden #raisedbeds #growyourown #ukgardenblogger

How's your garden this month?  Do you have any exciting gardening plans? 




Friday 21 July 2017

Photo an hour, July 2017.

Saturday the 15th was July's photo an hour day, here are my photos.

Photo an hour in organised by Jane and Louisa, anyone can join in and post their hourly photos on social media throughout the day tagging them #photoanhour.  Why don't you join in next time?
 
11am - Joe worked a late shift the night before, and neither of us slept brilliantly, so we had a lie in.  I checked my seedlings as soon as I got up - I'm waiting for things to grow! 
 
 
12pm - After 2 years of looking for a second hand armchair that doesn't smell funny and that we can get delivered (because we don't have a car) we've given up and bought a new one online.  Hope it's comfy!  We're having a real crackdown on getting the house nice, we're sick of living in a mess of unfinished projects.

 
1pm - I feel like my photo an hour days are always so boring, I tend to use the weekends to chill out and get life and house stuff done, sorry!  Having said that I deep cleaned the bathroom and washing machined the shower curtain and bath mat.

 
2pm - Quick sweetie break.


3pm - Still on the theme of boring Saturday, we bought a new hoover and it's loovley!


4pm - Watching Parks and Recreation before Joe goes off to work again.  We've watched an unhealthy amount of this over the last couple of weeks!


5pm -  Just checking out my huge courgette.


6pm - And my little oak tree has pretty new leaves.


7pm - Perfect tea, vegan fish finger and chip sandwich.


8pm - 400+ page book about permaculture and vegan chocolate ice cream = a rock and roll Saturday night.


9pm - A bit of Lego before bed, can you tell what it is yet? 


Did you take part this time?  How was your day?

This time last year I was also mooching about the house and binge watching TV, and in 2015 I was gardening and charity shopping.



Tuesday 11 July 2017

What I've been reading.

I find what I read directly correlates to the state of the world.  And in this current climate of Brexit, Trump, Theresa May and the aftermath of a snap general election, I'm sticking with kids books, gardening and tales of TV dogs.  Here's what I've been reading,

What I've been reading.  From UK book blogger secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #bookblogger #librarybooks #reading #bookreviews

Nigel, My Family and other Dogs - Monty Don
Disappointingly this book was neither written by Nigel the dog from Gardener's World, or written from the point of view of Nigel the dog.  Rather it's Monty Don's stories of Nigel and his other pet dogs.  I don't particularly like dogs, but Nigel is my favourite part of Gardener's World and I really liked this book.

What I've been reading.  From UK book blogger secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #bookblogger #librarybooks #reading #bookreviews

The Worst Witch - Jill Murphy
I never read The Worst Witch as a child, but I loved the 90's kids TV programme based on it and wished my school uniform included stripey tights and doc martins.  I love the illustrations in this book too.  Am I definitely too old to go to a boarding school for witches?  

What I've been reading.  From UK book blogger secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #bookblogger #librarybooks #reading #bookreviews

The Rurbanite - Alex Mitchell
If you want to live a more rural life in an urban setting then this book's for you.  There's lots of inspiration for guerilla gardening, community gardens, urban wildlife gardening and all sorts of other eco-friendly things you can do to make your urban space nice and green.  I liked this even though I don't live in a city.

What I've been reading.  From UK book blogger secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #bookblogger #librarybooks #reading #bookreviews

The Twins at St Clare's - Enid Blyton
The Twins at St Clare's series is basically Malory Towers, with different names.  But they're a nice easy read, full of midnight feasts, tricks on teachers and schoolgirl dramas.  Malory Towers has a swimming pool though, which I think makes it the better school.  Swimming is waay better than lacrosse. 

What I've been reading.  From UK book blogger secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #bookblogger #librarybooks #reading #bookreviews

The Tales of Beedle the Bard - J K Rowling
So firstly, this has the most beautiful black and white illustrations, which totally makes it worth reading.  Secondly, if you need to read wizarding fairy tales, with additional commentary and analysis from Prof. Dumbledore, then you should probably read this.  

More things I've been reading,

Emmy and Oliver - Robin Benway  Ollie is kidnapped as a child, and returned to his neighbourhood as a teen, with added romance with the girl next door.

Rat Queens Vol. 1 Sass. and Sorcery - Kurtis J. Wiebe  You definitely want to read a graphic novel about kick ass, violent ladies called 'sass. and sorcery'!

Air Head - Meg Cabot  The plot for this is Weird, in a way I can't say without giving a spolier, but it's still good!

All the Feels - Danika Stone  When her favourite film character is killed off, Liv launches an online campaign to reinstate him, which gets ever so slightly out of control.

What have you been reading?  I'm trying to get through my big pile of library books so I can start re-reading the Harry Potter series!  (It's not going well, I keep adding to my library book pile!)




Tuesday 4 July 2017

Make one small change, mend the thing.

Making one small change at a time can make becoming eco friendly loads easier.  Lots of small changes add up to a big difference.

Make one small change, mend the thing. By UK eco blogger secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #makedoandmend #repair #zerowaste

I very nearly bought a new steamer pan the other day.  The metal handle on the lid had sheared off and I was opening it in a slightly dangerous manner by sticking a knife under it.  I didn't have another lid that would fit either.  

But I decided, no.  No, I won't put an otherwise perfectly usable pan into landfill and buy a new one (not that I'd have put it in landfill, it would have ended up as plant pots no doubt!  But that still would have been a waste).   

I'm not actually sure how much of a bother mending this was, because husband bought the wooden handle and attached it to the screw that was already in the lid.  I was totally willing to do it even though I have no DIY skills, he just beat me to it.  

Mending your stuff saves resources and money (a new steamer pan costs £25, a wooden knob cost less than £1) and makes you feel very smug indeed.  Now I've just got to get round to mending that hole in my skirt, wobbly table leg, garden gate latch..... have you got anything you can mend and then feel smug about?

Don't forget to check out my other small changes to help you live a greener life!