Mind the gap...

Yes, all this harvesting can leave gaps in the plot if you're not careful to have quick growing late crops to infill with. So, time to sow more green beans...

And 7 days later...

Will leave them a few more days before planting out.

Late July - Harvest Time!

Daughter helped me shell peas for Sunday dinner, and the dog had a taste for pea pods. Eugh...

 There's an advert on TV that says nothing is better than freshly frozen peas. I beg to differ. They taste much better straight from the pods with fresh mint. Yum!

 Made a cheesecake with strawberries and raspberries, with a slice of chocolate brownie and lashings of cream...

 Couldn't resist looking at the first batch of spuds too. Not a great deal came out of the first bag, but 24 spuds from 3 seed potatoes is pretty good going!

The trouble with all this harvesting is that gaps start appearing in the plot. Time to mind the gap!

July round-up - Flowers

There have been some changes in the Victorian garden. Unfortunately the Lupins were hammered by greenfly and I sprayed them with weedkiller, not bug spray. Doh!

  

So, I've whipped out the plants and put in some sweetcorn and French beans.

 The wallflowers had the chelsea chop but didn't flower again, so took them out too and replaced with Sutherland Kale.

The hostas in the tilet-planter have escaped the slugs quite lightly. I've been getting the torch out and doing midnight slug hunts. Some get chucked over the fence while others get moved to the compost bin. Depends how malicious I'm feeling...

 The pond has reached a good balance, not too much algae. Treated myself to three new English Koi, who've settled in well.

 The bed at the back of the pond is developing well. The Crocosmia are just coming in to flower, as are the Rudbeckia.

  The hanging baskets are doing well. Need regular watering at the moment.

 At the back of the garden the bamboo has started to sprout. 

 The shade garden is great for sitting and relaxing at the end of a long day gardening...

July round-up - Fruit

Raspberries were getting sick of the rain too - lots of botrytus on the first flush of fruit. Had to pick the wrotten ones off, but with the drier weather later in the month I've been picking them every day.

Made the first batch of Strawberry and Raspberry jam with plenty of Pectin this time to get it to set. The kids have requested no seeds in the next batch.

The single Cherry that was developing has vanished. Probably gone to the birds. Have pruned the branches so they are in well-spaced pairs ready for making a fan next year.

 The strawberries have had a much longer season this year, have been picking them well past Wimbledon fortnight. I've found that the ones grown in containers have done much better than those grown flat in the ground. Next year will cut down on the number of plants and grow a wider variety in pots to get an even longer season. There are one or two 'ever-bearing' varieties in the shops that I might try too.

 The grapes are developing very well, on both red and white vines on the pergola. Might need to dust off the demi-johns!

 Nothing on the Bramley this year, guess it's just settling in.

 Nothing on the Blackcurrants either. Again, just getting established.

 I'm not sure that putting straw under the strawberries helped much either. Just gave the slugs somewhere moist and shady to hide during the day.

 Picked up some lone vine-eyes for the espaliered Elstar as the branches were too close to the fence. There are signs of a bit of rust or fungus on the leaves. Don't want to spray them, so hope the better air circulation and warm dry air will clear things up.

No sign of fruit on the fig yet either. Maybe later in the year.

 The first blueberries are ready now though...

 Nice to have fresh strawberries and blueberries on my cereals at last!

Next, flowers.

July round-up - Veg

It was the wettest June on record. I at the start of the month I thought "Great, the veg will love it", but by the end of the month I was worrying about everything wrotting, Potatoe blight, Botryitus... But mid-July is much sunnier and warmer. It's only now that I've had time to do an update. Here we go...

The month began by harvesting the first peas, beans, beetroot and brocolli...

 Potatoes in the bulk-bag just keep growing and growing. Had to tie them up again...

 Those in the smaller bags were doing well too.

 Peas were doing well, but next year I'll remember not to plant a row on both sides of the netting. Difficult to get to them behind the potatoes!

 The vertical garden hasn't gone, well, very vertical. Beans in the planters have been disappointing. Tried the variety 'Cobra' which is supposed to be very vigorous, but they haven't been holding on to their leaves at all well.

 In the greenhouse the Chardonnay grapes failed to fruit. Only a second year old plant though. Hacked it all back to leave two main horizontal stems and let more light in.

 Butternut squash 'Hunter F1' is doing well, alongside the beetroot and dwarf French beans.

 Shallots were nearly ready. Unfortunately I made the classic mistake of mixing up the weedkiller spray bottle with the Garlic barrier spray, and proceeded to spray merrily away on the peppers, which promptly shrivelled up and died. Won't be making that mistake again!!!

 Super Marmande tomatoes coming on well.

 First courgettes coming through too!!!

Next, Fruit...