Wednesday 17 August 2016

Diary of a suburban food garden, August 2016.

This month has been hot!  Or rainy!  I've tried to get some gardening done in the cool evenings, but I haven't done much.  Poor garden, I'm going to start looking after it properly!

This snap pea plant has been excellent this month.  The variety is called 'Shiraz' and I have more growing in the greenhouse for a late sowing.  I'll definitely grow loads more of this next year - they're great in stir fries.

Diary of a suburban food garden, August 2016. secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #garden #suburbangarden #polyculture #vegetablegarden #fruitgarden

My patty pan summer squash finally has a patty on it!  Yey!

Diary of a suburban food garden, August 2016. secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #garden #suburbangarden #polyculture #vegetablegarden #fruitgarden

The front garden raised beds are my favourite part of the garden at the moment.  I think it's because they're easy and things grow well in them.  Although there's some lettuce that's not really growing much.  I've planted some more carrots and spring onions in there this month.

Diary of a suburban food garden, August 2016. secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #garden #suburbangarden #polyculture #vegetablegarden #fruitgarden

Diary of a suburban food garden, August 2016. secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #garden #suburbangarden #polyculture #vegetablegarden #fruitgarden

My mum was getting rid of this old bin she'd been using as a waterbutt so I took it off her hands.  There's a guttering pipe that comes of the conservatory but doesn't go all the way to the drain, so I popped the butt under the pipe.  It filled up really quickly and now I've got delicious rain water to water the garden with.       

Diary of a suburban food garden, August 2016. secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #garden #suburbangarden #polyculture #vegetablegarden #fruitgarden

Down the side of the house the garden's looking good.  The herbs are rampant, the buddleia is enormous and the raspberries are crazy tall this year!  My two new apple trees are growing well, no apples this year because they're only babies but I hope to get some next year.  Look at that ominous grey sky, that's what I've had to contend with most of the month!

Diary of a suburban food garden, August 2016. secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #garden #suburbangarden #polyculture #vegetablegarden #fruitgarden

I didn't plant any nasturtiums this year, and yet still they grow!  Good job, because they're my favourites.  Can you see my sweetcorn to the right of the photo?  They've had a slow start, and are the second lot I sowed, but they seem to be growing strongly now.

Diary of a suburban food garden, August 2016. secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #garden #suburbangarden #polyculture #vegetablegarden #fruitgarden

Diary of a suburban food garden, August 2016. secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #garden #suburbangarden #polyculture #vegetablegarden #fruitgarden

Mum gave me a pumpkin in spring, I planted it down the side garden and slugs ate it all up.  Mum gave me a pumpkin last spring, I planted it down the side garden and slugs ate it all up.  So I've taken the hint with this pumpkin mum gave me a couple of weeks ago and planted it in a pot by the conservatory.  No casualties so far!

Diary of a suburban food garden, August 2016. secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #garden #suburbangarden #polyculture #vegetablegarden #fruitgarden

It's a little late, but I had all these packets of wild flower seeds hanging about, so I mixed them all together and planted them in some big pots.  There's loads left so I'm going to scatter some in the garden and look out for some bare patches of ground around town to plant up too!

Diary of a suburban food garden, August 2016. secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #garden #suburbangarden #polyculture #vegetablegarden #fruitgarden

And here's the whole garden.  Not looking it's best I think.  I'm going to get back into doing my 20 minutes gardening a day, so hopefully it'll look a lot better this time next month!

Diary of a suburban food garden, August 2016. secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #garden #suburbangarden #polyculture #vegetablegarden #fruitgarden

How's your garden this month?  


12 comments:

  1. Good luck with your squash, we're had two really strong looking plants, and lots of flowers but no fruit. Pretty much sums up our veg growing year to be honest, I'm writing this year off and will come back to it afresh next spring. For the time being I working on the borders, hopefully it'll look less of a mess soon!

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    1. Oh bums, sorry to hear you've not had much luck with your veg, mines not brilliant this year (maybe it's the weather?) but I'm still hopeful I might eventually get something to eat from the garden!

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  2. Your garden is looking good Susie, considering its not that since you moved in. You should be proud, every year it will get better. We didn't sow nasturtiums this year either, they self seeded from last year, and i was glad I do like them, and so do the bees. And you made me smile, yes that black bin is great for catching delicious rainwater!

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    1. Aww thank you Shaheen :) I guess I'm being impatient and I'm dissapointed in myself that I haven't done as much weeding as I'd like! I'm trying to keep telling myself the garden should be a source of joy, not stress, and to stop worrying about weeds!

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  3. looking really good so far!!! The pattypans are coool. I love nasturtiums!! Yay! I can't believe that I went away for 12 days and my garden wasn't watered all that time and I came back and it had flourished!!!x

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    1. Thanks Kezzie :) I'm glad your garden survived your holiday! :)

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  4. I also noticed your hydrangeas in the background. Did you grow those from seed or plant them? I have heard they are very picky and high maintenance. What has been your experience? They're my favourite and I am dyyyying to plant them.

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    1. I can't give you much advice on the hydrangea front I'm afraid, they were already in the garden when we bought the house. We've only been here a year, the hydrangeas didn't flower last year but they've been lovely this year since I pruned the tree above them to let some light through. I can't say they've been difficult to look after though, I've pruned them once and never water them! I hope you plant some and they do well for you :)

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  5. I love seeing other people's gardens! Mine is pretty bare right now because we are between 'seasons' of course the caterpillar infestation didn't help. :(

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    1. I love a good nosey at other gardens too :) Sorry to hear about your green 'friends' hope they haven't eaten everything!

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  6. oOOh, I've come home to more courgette flowers- fingers crossed!!!

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