It’s Autumn now. No real ground frost yet which might be a first – it’s only 4 weeks to the winter solstice. I have got nearly all the geraniums in apart from one hanging basket I missed and the dustbin full of geraniums which were mostly leaf and not much flower due to the high level of compost in it..
So what was a success this year? Hmm. Well the brassicas are doing much better than expected. I bought a packet of cauliflower mix seeds from Real Seeds ‘Magic mix of cauliflowers’ They really were magic and exciting to see what emerged from the head of leaves within. I’ve still got half a packet left so will try again next year. The best cauliflower heads started off like Romanesque then spread out like a huge head of broccoli with many individual florets.
Cobra climbing french beans were also very long, plentiful and cropped over several weeks. I did have trouble with slugs attacking them though, necessitating nightly trips out with a torch and a small bucket.
Beetroot flourished again with few pests after them, helped by a reasonably wet summer.
Broad beans started well but then got blackfly and by the time I’d persuaded them to leave, broad bean rust set in. Lettuce did okay but again demanding slug checks.
Neighbour Mitch gave me a few squash/courgette plants and they loved growing against the stone wall. The trombonicus sprouted huge long trombones which hung audaciously over towards the road.
Andy planted sweetcorn directly into the ground since I’d not got round to sowing them this year. They did well but half were the old ornamental seed from last year which cross pollinated with the edible ones…
The strawberries were okay but could have been better..the raspberries cropped heavily again which have been turned into jam. We had what began to be a good crop of potatoes but by the time they were harvested, the worms and slugs had invaded most of them. I like the red Desiree variety.
Meanwhile in the greenhouse…the tomatoes started off well but then suffered in the heat, intermittent human induced drought and lack of feeding. For one week I was watering a friend’s garden down the road. I was shocked at how prolific her crop was! Then I saw all the bottles of tomato feed stacked up. Well I am not doing that so me and next door are researching on making a more nourishing fertiliser ourselves for next year. Must look up nettle feed..already started composting banana skins, egg shells and wood ash. We also have a good supply of what we call guano from the barn where cattle were once housed decades ago (well rotted then!) but it’s very dry and needs soaking for days. Perhaps the liquid from that will make a nitrogen rich feed as well.
Cucumbers started well, then heat stress. I’ve tried opening up the dome greenhouse more with bottom vents and a new window replaced with holes but still it becomes stifling in there.
Gardening in a Jungle 