Biggus Ficus

It's my birthday this week, so mother-in-law treated me to a trip to the garden centre. Thought about getting an apple tree to grow as an espalier against the garden fence, but too many variables to think about after sunday lunch (root stocks, pollination groups, triploids...) so settled for a Fig, 'Brown Turkey'.

Plant itself cost £12.00 and was very pot-bound and dry. After giving it a good soaking potted it up into something bigger. Years ago I remember Monty Don making a 'concrete coffin' for his Fig out of slabs. Figs need to have their roots restricted to maintain vigour and fruiting. I've got some slabs left from a project last year, so will do that one weekend in the near future. For the time being she'll enjoy some autumn sun in the greenhouse...

Jasmine into skip-raid planter

A few weeks ago I made a skip-raid planter but didn't get round to planting the Jasmine. Now I've stocked up on B&Q's cheap peat-free compost it's time to finish the job...

There she goes. I've got some Pansies grown from seed from a planter outside daughter's school. Will put them around the base of the Jasmine when they are big enough...

Tomato harvest time

Time to harvest the tomatoes in the greenhouse. Tried Cherry tomatoes this year. Good crop of 'poppets' as Aunty Ede used to call them, but too small for slicing for sandwiches. Might try some bigger ones next year.

I sowed some Early Nantes carrots under the carrots this year. Not a bad crop, not problem with Carrot Root Fly either.

Some of the Tomatoe trusses still had a lot of green fruit on them. Decided to hang them up to ripen.

With room spare in the bed, decided to try burying some pots of delicate cuttings. Hopefully the soil will give them some insulation throughout the winter.

Mushroom treatment

I've tried to grow mushrooms from packet several times but with no success. Can't work out what went wrong. Picked up a packet for 50p from Poundstretcher a few weeks ago and decided to try again.

Mixed the spores in well wrotted compost and left in a tray in a bag for 2 weeks on a shelf in the shed.

Spores had begun to spread into the compost. Time to get a move on...

B&Q are doing 70 litre bags of peat-free compost for £3.00! Bargain. So, covered the tray with a layer of the good stuff - faint whiff of horse poo? - watered, then back into the shed. Should have some mushrooms in a couple of weeks. Watch this space!

Fish pond in Autumn

A colleague at work mentioned the new house he's moved into has an abandoned pond he's aiming to bring back to life. Thought these pictures would give him some ideas. Enjoy!

 

Fine pea netting has kept the Heron away. It was the Heron that caused the leaks in the pond liner last year while 'fishing'. They must have sharp beaks...

Pond sides are buried 2 x 2 slabs topped off with decking to make a shelf for pots, which also hold down the netting. Logs and stones from over the river bank do the same job at the back of the pond.

There are only two Lily plants in here, but they have gone ballistic this year. Over 55 leaves at the last count.

Marsh Marigolds and Yellow Flags don't seem to have had much trouble growing through the netting. Have had to cut a few holes for larger stems.

The pond liner was too small to cover the whole ares, so compromised and created a bog area at the rear. There's a Sedge in there on the bottom right rescued from the river bank when the council's JCB cleared way for a riverside path. Rudbeckia in the foreground were rescued from Homebase last year - 50p IIRC - and have very long lasting flowers. Bird bath was a fiver off Ebay. Slab on bottom left of image has had a corner cut off by an angle grinder to allow for overflow. Completely neglected to think about this when planning the pond!
Can you spot the chicken?

Snails have been at the beetroot

After a year the slugs and snails seem to have found the door into the greenhouse. Taking their toll on the beetroot.

Decided to take off the outer leaves and give them a good watering - should help them swell. Put down an extra layer of slug pellets too. Snails, be gone!

Viticulture, well, almost

The vines on the pergola are in their second year. Hit very hard by the frost last year. Seemed to have recovered well this summer, putting on lots of growth. Leaves beginning to turn now...

While there are no grapes on the white vine, there are some on the black. Not enough for a glass of wine though...

This winter I may give them some protection by wrapping them in fleece. Fingers crossed for a milder winter!

Strawberry patch-up

Good crop of strawberries this year, but they are a 'flash in the pan' - over in a few weeks. Still worth it though, IMHO.

Thought they needed a bit of TLC tonight as the patch was getting very crowded. These plants are in their second year, and will give poorer yields from now on, so they will need replacing. Many of the runners had taken root from the original 8 plants, so removed them and potted them on for next year.

Strawberries are very hardy - the current stock survived several weeks of -18C this winter! - so let's see how they do next year. I might even try a few hanging strawberry baskets...

French beans out, Leeks in

French beans in the raised bed were ready to pick.

 After harvesting cut off the tops, leaving the roots in the ground. Beans are nitrogen fixing, so help improve the soil. I actually lifted the roots and buried them slightly deeper in a trench so I could fork and rake the topsoil.

Had some of the beans for Sunday dinner. Lovely. Rest went into the freezer. The savoy cabbage had been hammered by the caterpillars so dug them out and sent to compost bin. Leaving room for the leeks that were growing in the nursery bed in the greenhouse. This year I'll try growing them in sets of three, rather than individually. Some people say it works well...

Also sowed a row of Swedes. Probably too late, but the soil is very warm and they may establish before the winter sets in. Also bought 6 Foxgloves from the bootsale for a £1. Getting too big for the tray they were in, so will give them some time in the raised bed to establish before going out into the garden.

Skip-raid planter

Found some timber in a skip the other day, luckily all the same length 8x2 offcuts. What to do with them though? How about a planter!

Simply drilled pilot holes and screwed four together to make a case...

Repeat for the second layer, then use a few old scraps of offcuts to make the base...

Gave the base and bottom layer a coat of creocote to aid preservation. Timber was already tanalised, but as planter will be full of soil wanted to be sure it wouldn't rot too quickly.

Both layers pinned together with a few more scraps of wooden batons, top finished off with some spare decking.

Job done! Will fill the planter with soil when I get round to it. Jasmine has found a new home...