Oh the heat!

"We go in withering July
To ply the hard incessant hoe;
Panting beneath the brazen sky
We sweat and grumble, but we go."
- Ruth Pitter, The Diehards

Well if the last few weeks are anything to go by , 35 degrees in the shade!, then we are in for a real scorcher of a July and we need to think seriously, for the garden and ourselves, of how to beat the heat! A few small steps can make all the difference.
Watering now everyday or second day can be tiring, time consuming and more importantly, costly! The best advice I can give is to water your plants deeply and less frequently. Regular hoeing and mulching will help retain moisture all over the garden and in your pots and tubs too.

We have a large plastic tub outside the kitchen door and every time I need to empty the washing up bowl I do so into it .Then at the end of every evening I water the flowers in turn with it. Water butts like this are a great way to conserve water and it’s a good idea to place them beneath your overflow pipes so when you are blessed with rain you can capture as much of it as possible!

Water at the coolest part of the day ideally around 8pm in the evening. Not only is there less chance of evaporation but it gives all the plants time to recuperate overnight and feel the full benefit of the water.
We also need to look after ourselves.
Some of you may have heard of the old Ozzy saying ‘Slip-Slop-Slap' slip on a shirt, slop on sunscreen and slap on a hat". Drink plenty of water. On average the recommended daily minimum is 2 litres but add another litre for each hour that you work out in the heat of the sun. Also remember we are all different and a high metabolism requires a higher intake of water. Take regular breaks in the shade to relax and sleep if your body tells you to.
Remember we need to keep cool and refreshed as we too can lose moisture rapidly and start to wilt!

Dry and hot it maybe but it's business as usual in the garden.....and still having to find time to harvest the crops...
The haricot beans have been picked and are drying out with the late onion crop.



I just love the colours of these beans...

















The blackberries are ripening...we picked 5lbs of fruit yesterday and that's just first pick...



















Peggy and I taking time in the shade...don't know which one of us looks the most exhausted!...

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..and Vladi well he's more sensible, lying in the cool of the house....

June...Just Pics......

Well it's got hotter earlier this year than last....today it is set to be 36 plus!
It amazes me time and time again how the garden hangs on in there...while we hide in the cool indoors....
Here are a few pics ...

The flowers ...some planted by me....






















and others by the birds...I think....


















The Bourgainvillea is on it's second flowering already.....

















The sweet pea seeds my brother sent me from the UK are struggling a little in the heat ....they are just coming into flower but I am not sure if this heat keeps up if they will survive.....




















The first year roses I took cutting of myself are blooming nicely.Out of the 15 or so about 9 made it which I am very pleased with.This Autumn I will try taking double the cuttings I want ....


















The fruit garden is really doing well this year......
melons....

















The second year fruit trees are fruiting well this year already.We are really pleased with the apricot, some great fruit on that this year...



















The second year plum tree has also surprised us.....


















It's not all rosy though....the tomatoes are struggling again this year.It appears the whole village, possibly region , is having a bad time again with viruses this year.Even the seeds that claimed to be 'Anti virus'...50% of them have already died...























...but the courgettes, brussel sprouts, leeks.........





















aubergines,peppers.........




















..three types of broccoli.....






















and parsnips all doing well...........




















The big experiment for me this year was with Soya beans....they are slow growers but are looking OK at the moment......





















Some things are ready to harvest this month.We have already taken up all the Mouli and made a wicked relish with it! Yum !!will do that agian next year.

Now the Khol-rabi is ready to experiment with in the kitchen.........


















The Haricot beans are also ready for eating.....






















And most important of all the grapes......what a bumper year this will be.
If we carry on like this it won't be long before wine making time again!!!!!!

Busy in June!

Well it's all systems go in garden this month with everything seeming to ripen all at once!



The strawberries have been out for a few weeks now and have needed constant picking...we can't keep up with them this year and have given as much as we have potted and frozen!

The onions and garlic have been lifted and are drying nicely in the outhouse....the peas are ready to be pulled and in the next few days the morello cherries will be demanding attention...

The soya beans have finally started to come through, but its early days to report on any success.

The weeding too has taken up lots of time.We have had some great thunderstorms over the last few weeks, great for the veggies and the weeds too!


My garden slumbers in the winter, peaceful, quiet, weedfree.
It's tranquil in this setting, no weeds to be seen.
But comes the spring with its warmth and flowers delight
then the weeds poke out their ugly head, what a nightmarish site.
I pull, I scream, they reappear.
My husband says "Didn't we just do this last year, dear? "
My endless battle, it seems, I'm doomed not to win.
Is shooting your weeds considered a sin?

My Garden Slumbers
by Christine Blanksvard

I find at this time of year no sooner am I pulling them up than they are back and with a vengeance! Though remember not all weeds are bad, some are indeed a valuable natural asset to the garden. Again we are faced with the dilemma of whether to treat them naturally or attack them with chemicals.
But maybe it’s time we started looking at them in a different light.......How about eating them instead?

Dandelions for instance which are still grown commercially in France as a salad vegetable, are rich in minerals and young fresh leaves blend wonderfully into any salad. Apparently the roots when boiled make a caffeine free ‘coffee’, though I must admit I have not tried this one yet.

Fat Hen is high in iron protein, calcium and vitamin B, great for the vegetarians amongst us. It makes an excellent spinach substitute.

Nettles, everyone’s nightmare in the garden but this one is truly amazing. This plant has properties too numerous to mention them all but here’s a few; good for bladder infections, cleanses the kidneys, relieves mucous, helps in arthritis and rheumatic pain and a great antioxidant. You can use the tender tops as you would spinach, our neighbours make a very tasty soup out of them. My favourite is nettle tea with a spot of honey served hot or cold over ice. It’s a taste that takes a while to get accustomed to but the benefits are huge!


So next time I am out there losing my temper with the weeds, I shall stop and think 'If you can’t Beat ’em…Eat ’em!',some of these are useful and more importantly they are completely free!

As A. A. Milne said in Winnie the Pooh -

‘Weeds are flowers too, once you get to know them’!
...though not all as beautiful as the Roses and Jasmin this year......

May...waging war!

By now your garden should be budding, blooming and generally bursting out all over!
You should be able to take some of the produce straight from the garden to the table..


I love this time of year!!

BUT....just when you think it’s time to sit back, relax and admire all your hard work… . War breaks out, not between you and the neighbours, between you and the garden pests.

If it's drama that you sigh for,
plant a garden and you'll get it
You will know the thrill of battle
fighting foes that will beset it
If you long for entertainment and
for pageantry most glowing,
Plant a garden and this summer spend
your time with green things growing.

Plant a Garden by Edward A. Guest.

It’s a tricky time and you have to decide which path to take, whether to use natural or chemical methods of defence. We prefer the natural way and never use any chemicals on any part of the garden. We like to give our guests here at ‘Pelican Lake Guesthouse’ freshly picked fruit and veg the way nature intended it. Not only bad for us and the soil, chemicals often kill off more than their intended victims and take some of our garden friends too. One of the best forms of defence is to encourage some of life’s natural predators into the garden. This small army will make your life a lot easier.

Birds often get bad press in the garden but they certainly do more good than harm keeping numerous insects in check and regular hoeing will bring soil pests to the surface for them. Some may take up residence if you incorporate interesting features like bird tables, baths or nest-boxes around your garden.




Frogs and Toads. You can never have enough of these chaps, excellent slug controllers! A modest garden pond or small submerged container will help retain them in your garden, although they will really only make full use of it for breeding.



We have got lots here and also try to encourage Lizards who also like to cool off and take a dip and these will eat all kinds of little unwanted critters and if you are really lucky a Hedgehog or Tortoise may join you to eat the odd slug or two.


I spotted my first BG Hedgehog last night as it goes.I was out late walking the dogs, on leads thankfully, and one of the dogs spotted it.He was close up to our fence so hopefully he will have made it into the garden,fantastic!

There are also lots of things we can do to help our friendly pests help us against the nasty ones.
My Tip of the week is to look at ‘companion planting’ to try and attract the insects you want. For example by planting Marigolds & Nasturtiums close to you tomatoes Hover flies and Ladybirds will come and help keep down the aphid population.

The red haricot beans my brother posted me from the UK are coming along nicely after the rain we have had over the last few weeks.


















So just remember some of these ‘soldiers’ before reaching for the insecticide, you might win a battle or two but can’t fight a war singled handed!

April...showers?

You can always tell it's April
By the sound of falling rain
That mystic, mournful music
As it trickles down the drain.
We're told we should be thankful
For the kiss of April showers
As it washes all the grass clean
And prepares the soil for flowers.
There's another side to April
Which doesn't bode us good,
When that mini, manic maelstrom
Turns the lawn to liquid mud.
- Thomas Vaughan Jones, O' To Be in April




Things can start to get a little hectic now, if you let them, and also a little wet…
Organisation is the key to a success in April and you have to be ready to dodge the showers and make the most of your time when you do get outside. Remember also to take time to look around at the beautiful blossom all around on the trees, its lovely!




















I have started to think of the garden as 3 separate areas.
The Ornamental Garden, The Veggie Plot and the Greenhouse, that is if you are lucky enough to have the latter, in my case it’s a window sill and a homemade cloches which work just as well! It seems to make it more manageable and less daunting.

In the Ornamental or Flower Garden it’s time to rake those lawns and start mowing as soon as the grass starts to grow again. A great time to think about sowing new seed or laying turf.
Lift and divide any perennials and plant any hardy annuals.
W have been busy pruning rose bushes, cutting back any frost damaged areas.
I have been tempted to plant out the Bougainvillea, but the weather report is erratic still predicting slight early am frosts. I am placing it outside very day to acclimatise and thinking of the beginning of April for the full move outside.


The Veggie Plot. The ground has been warming up nicely over the last few weeks so I have already made a start on seeding out. I have found in the past salads, radish and leeks all need a little cover of plastic for the first few days to help with germination but beetroots, beans, carrots, spinach, artichokes can all be seeded without if the temperatures remain stable…if not use some plastic until the seedlings start to push through.

It’s also a good time to plant any new fruit trees, bare rooted especially. Mike has bought me a new cherry tree. One of ours just keeled over and died last month which was a real shame. It hadn’t been doing well since we moved here. I think all the building work must have disturbed it.

The peas are already showing through from last month and the light rain we have been having has been excellent for them.

Mike has been busy pruning the grape vines..it’s a long hard slog that job and I am glad he does it. We are pruning them right back this year, following what the neighbours are also doing.

Greenhouse
I don’t have a greenhouse I use my windowsills for some early varieties and now I start sowing under the cloches.
My tomatoes and peppers I started off on the window sill are coming along nicely. When the weather has been good I have started their acclimatisation by putting them out into the sun for a few hours every day but remembering to bring them back in at night.


On the window sill this month I am starting off little pots of herbs with a view to transplanting out next month. I have never done this before…so we will see how successful it is.

This sounds like a lot of work but an hour or so each day will allow you to keep on top of things and hopefully the planning done over the last few months will help you sail through it!