A four poster bed?

 My outdoor tomatoes are wrapped in a ‘four poster bed’ to try and keep them warm. Canes have been placed at the edges of the raised bed, then a double thickness of white fleece pegged around them. This stays up 24 hours and has been useful to protect them from the cold high winds.

Every night, a single fitted sheet is pegged into place over the top. It helps with the cold overnight temperatures we have been having. The sheet is removed every morning to allow light onto the tomatoes.

The tomatoes and peppers living in the greenhouse are growing better. 

It is ridiculous, almost halfway through June and they, as am I most days, are still dressed for winter!

Carpets

 DB took two days to clean the lounge carpet, followed by the one in the hall. Certainly smells better now. Seems to be the downside to having a dog. She doesn’t smell but we think it is the oils in her fur.

We have been out to two garden centres today looking for certain kinds of plants, no joy. Have you noticed how expensive plants are now, let alone the compost.

This is an expensive month for us, two decent sized purchases as well as making the final large payment on the car. It was all planned and saved for, but savings are greatly depleted now and we will start again in earnest.

Beavering away!

 DB has steam cleaned the bathroom to remove bits of mould from the grout, pipes and on the surface of some of the tiles. It is done annually and looks so much better. Wouldn’t mind but the bathroom window is opened for several hours after bathing to air it.

I have been busy potting on peppers and tomatoes, putting the more robust summer bedding in their containers. DB cleaned out our liquid weed feed bin and I have half filled it with nettles, comfrey and dandelion leaves. A quick light watering, a few more top ups and it works by itself to produce ‘tea’ for plant food.

Pickled eggs and bees!

We have been married nearly 43 years and I thought it about time, I did some pickled eggs for DB, who says he loves them:

We shall be able to try them the end of May. No idea whether I have chosen a good recipe.

May is the time when the non hive bees like to lay their eggs. We have been lucky in that they use our south facing wall. Our bee logs have increased over the years. The bottom one is new for 2024 and they are not too keen on it yet, preferring older logs:

The one above has hatched last years brood and new eggs are being laid.

The entrances are mainly sealed with mud but occasionally, we get ones sealed with rose leaves, as seen on our roses with holes missing!

The bee house below, was bought too late last year but they are beginning to find it. I am determined to help all bees as much as I can and usually plant as many flowers as possible both in the front and back gardens:

Vegetables growing nicely!

The potatoes have now gone into their final tubs and I have been topping them up. Just one more time should do it. Ruby managed to get in the picture:

Potatoes on the left and fresh mint plants on the right. DB likes mint tea so these will be harvested throughout the year, dehydrated and stored for later use:

Temporarily on the patio table are the first batch of dwarf French beans, 3 different varieties. I shall repeat sow these in a few days for a later crop:

In the green house are the tomatoes, Shirley, Ailsa Craig and Gardeners Delight. Some of these and a few peppers plus the aubergines will grow in the soil in the greenhouse. The rest will be outdoors:

Some are still small but I think that is because they are a smaller tomato variety. Finally, a few chilli peppers and aubergine:

 Hopefully we won't get snow or hailstones in the next few weeks, anything is possible!

 

Two nice days…

 On the trot, how wonderful is that! Also, after a couple of wet days early next week, we are due, hopefully, another few dry and sunny days.

The front garden is blooming now with a few more plants waiting in the wings. The tomatoes, peppers and two aubergine plants are growing well in their pots in the greenhouse. A few more weeks and some of them will go outside. Hopefully then, we won’t revert to cold wet weather.

Don’t you just love this time of year?

What are you growing this year?

 I hope to grow tomatoes, chillies, carrots, beetroot, various lettuce and other greens, dwarf French beans, radish, might squeeze in some peas, and more annual flowers for the bees.

On the fruit side of things not much. The bramble usually does well, but strawberries, gooseberries and rhubarb were all pathetic last year. Hopefully they will do better this year. Still have my red pear but it too didn’t do well.

Ah well, got to keep trying. 

On the herbal tea front, another month should see the nettle growth in a wild patch close to us. They will gradually get harvested and dried for tea. Made two jars worth last year, used one so far. Need to plant a lot more mint in tubs as we almost ran out of that.

If you have only bought commercial mint tea, lemon balm or lemon verbena, or nettle tea, your own that has been dried is way better.

Another gardening year begins!

 Last year we grew first early potatoes 'Winston'. Allegedly they weren't supposed to be very good but we enjoyed them. This year we are trying two 'new to us' varieties, Caledonian Pearl and Sharpe's Express:

They were already sprouting when we bought them and I needed to remove one or two long sprouts but the rest were stubby so okay.

Haven't got the compost/manure yet to plant them into containers but we will remedy that soon. I lost two of the wallflowers in a front pot so remedied that by buying two nice primula.

I am beginning to realise….

 That the older I get, the more I feel the cold! I need more layers on inside the house and even more when outside.

My garden is calling for the last few jobs to be done but I can’t bring myself to wrap up and do them:( We are still gathering the last few carrier bags of leaf mould to put on the back flower border. Once that is done, maybe 3 more will be required for the smaller border. That will be it for now.