Picked a bowl of raspberries, approx. i 1/2 lbs redcurrants, now in the freezer and approx. 2lbs of blackcurrants., again, now in the freezer. Pulled out a heaped bucketful of pond plant, had to top up the water. Sowed dwarf beans, climbing French beans, kale, coriander and fennel.
Cut back salvias such as Caradonna and Veronicas back to the ground and pulled out bedding plants such as Nemesias (old ones from last year) and calendulas. Finally gave in and used the hosepipe. Plants are suffering everywhere and l haven't got the energy or inclination to go back and forth with a watering can. The forecast rain disappears before it gets here and although it keeps clouding over the best we get is "mizzle" in the air.
I am seriously considering reducing the size of my biggest flower bed, which is in full sun all Summer, by a foot to 18 inches in depth. I planted a Rudbeckia laciniata in a shadier section of another flower bed, and that required a spade, pickaxe and 10 litres of water before l could get it in the ground. I'm not exactly on my last legs, but l don't need the grief and l certainly want to carry on enjoying gardening, not dreading it.
A friend gave us 4.5 kilos of plums to day , gave some to next door , some for eating and O/H made jam & chutney , still some left , looks like more jam tomorrow , no room in freezer Will need to fill water butts again next week from stream , might get some rain over night , hears hoping
Hello , somebody said their grass was still growing This is the field at the side of our house , the green growth in the foreground is where the stream. For some reason it keeps putting the photo upside down and I can’t rotate it.
Our front lawn is just about green but very scraggy. I think we benefit because the hills around us have about six natural springs in them and presumably it all trickles downwards towards us.
We trimmed our large native front hedge this afternoon, got most of it done with a long handled electric hedge trimmer but the strimmer couldn't cope with some very tough suckers in the verge. Cloudy when we started but then the sun came out unexpectedly and it became too hot to finish the job.
@AnniD Re: I planted a Rudbeckia laciniata in a shadier section of another flower bed, and that required a spade, pickaxe and 10 litres of water before l could get it in the ground.
The same in my garden yesterday. We had that crazy idea to buy a crab apple tree and I needed more than 10 Liter water. It was a bit naiv to plant a tree in the middle of a drought, but it is the full sun that makes desperate to get shade into the garden. We can’t even sit in the garden and have to wait for another 2 years at least to get shade from the trees behind us on the East side.
One wonders how plants can still survive in that dry soil.
Today, I took some of the leaves off from the tomatoes.
Picked another 4lb of tomatoes, and beetroot as big as my fist. My plums are yet to ripen @GWRS The grass has yellow patches, and spent today taking the dry dead heads off plants in the boarders. Everything seems dry and brown, but then I look closer and find the Little Leo sunflowers are just coming into flower. 🌻
A friend gave us 4.5 kilos of plums to day , gave some to next door , some for eating and O/H made jam & chutney , still some left , looks like more jam tomorrow , no room in freezer Will need to fill water butts again next week from stream , might get some rain over night , hears hoping
How about plum brandy, vodka or gin liquor. No cooking required, just a large jar, sugar, fruit and alcohol of choice. I have made sloe gin, cassis with blackcurrants, pickled blackberries, no reason why plums couldn't be pickled I suppose. I have also made blackcurrant syrup for use as a drink diluted with water, used as a drizzle over ice cream etc. Plum and almond cake. Just a few thoughts. I was forced to think outside the box a few years ago because there was so much blackcurrant jam in my larder, the freezer was full and I had a glut of blackcurrants, which a lot of people do not like and I could not bear to throw them on the compost heap.
@Joyce Goldenlily , hello thanks for the ideas , we hate wasting anything as well We did make some Rasberry Gin Liquor 🍹recently and have to say it’s fab
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Pulled out a heaped bucketful of pond plant, had to top up the water.
Sowed dwarf beans, climbing French beans, kale, coriander and fennel.
Finally gave in and used the hosepipe. Plants are suffering everywhere and l haven't got the energy or inclination to go back and forth with a watering can.
The forecast rain disappears before it gets here and although it keeps clouding over the best we get is "mizzle" in the air.
I am seriously considering reducing the size of my biggest flower bed, which is in full sun all Summer, by a foot to 18 inches in depth.
I planted a Rudbeckia laciniata in a shadier section of another flower bed, and that required a spade, pickaxe and 10 litres of water before l could get it in the ground.
I'm not exactly on my last legs, but l don't need the grief and l certainly want to carry on enjoying gardening, not dreading it.
Will need to fill water butts again next week from stream , might get some rain over night , hears hoping
This is the field at the side of our house , the green growth in the foreground is where the stream. For some reason it keeps putting the photo upside down and I can’t rotate it.
We trimmed our large native front hedge this afternoon, got most of it done with a long handled electric hedge trimmer but the strimmer couldn't cope with some very tough suckers in the verge. Cloudy when we started but then the sun came out unexpectedly and it became too hot to finish the job.
I ♥ my garden.
My plums are yet to ripen @GWRS
The grass has yellow patches, and spent today taking the dry dead heads off plants in the boarders. Everything seems dry and brown, but then I look closer and find the Little Leo sunflowers are just coming into flower. 🌻
Just a few thoughts. I was forced to think outside the box a few years ago because there was so much blackcurrant jam in my larder, the freezer was full and I had a glut of blackcurrants, which a lot of people do not like and I could not bear to throw them on the compost heap.
We did make some Rasberry Gin Liquor 🍹recently and have to say it’s fab