Garden Diary: 23rd July 2020

Today is a beautiful day. It rained last night but was dry when I rose, so it was nice to not have to worry about watering my outdoor plants. It got warmer and warmer to scorching at parts of the evening. I got a lot of gardening jobs done, plus a walk to the beach while listening to my current favourite podcast Permaculture Voices.

Indoor plants did need watering. Here is the current condition of my porch:

My tomatoes are doing great. The variety is Sungold and I received the seeds for free from a GIY Ireland project. They were only planted at the end of May and are just starting to set fruit. I'll start feeding them now, once a week. I've bought a bottle of tomato feed and they are the only crop that I will feed with a shop bought fertiliser. Everything in the garden is sustained with homemade compost, locally collected seaweed mulch, chopped up pea and bean pods, and a liquid feed I made from steeping perennial weeds in water.

Also in the porch is the garlic I harvested today:

It is a small harvest but I'm amazed that I got any garlic at all. I planted it much too late (end of March I think) and used poor quality seed garlic. I'll be very disappointed with myself if I don't have a big harvest next year. I'll be aiming for about 40 heads, with some of that to be kept as seed for the following year. My aim is to slowly become self sufficient with my seeds.

Speaking of seed saving, so far this year I have saved seed from chives, lupins, delphiniums, scots pine tree, and poppies. I have them stored in a biscuit tin in the fridge, in labelled white envelopes. I'm hoping to add as many flowers as I can, including calendula and sunflower, as I have a lot of room to fill in the front garden.

A major job today was digging a large hole so I could move a cherry tree from a pot into the ground. The variety is Regina. I have two and must transplant the second one soon. First the blister on my thumb must heal... I put a layer of seaweed in the bottom of the hole and mixed in fresh compost with the existing compost in the pot and garden soil.

This morning I threw together a few flowers for the vase on the kitchen window, a collection which I named Rise and Shine (Calendula Indian Prince, Californian poppy and yarrow):

We've been eating plenty of delicious Queen's potatoes. I wish I'd planted twice as much.

Also lots of peas, courgettes and the odd carrot:

And that's pretty much it for today. Till next time!

Garden Diary: 5th July 2020

Today was one of my most satisfying days in the garden. I cut out all my broad bean plants and harvested the remaining beans, blanched and froze them.

I've been freezing beans the past month and have a lovely stock now. These will go into soups, stir fries and curries.

The broad bean plant is well utilised in my garden. I left the roots in the ground, just digging them in, as they have nitrogen stores that the soil will absorb. I chopped up the stripped plants and put them in my compost heap.

In the empty space left after removing the beans, I planted my purple sprouting broccoli which have been in pots up to now and are itching to get into the ground. Then I mulched them with the empty bean pods, which I chopped up with a scissors.

The pots freed up from the broccolis have been given to my tomato plants that needed a bigger pot.

This cyclical garden system gives me extreme satisfaction. I want a garden that works for itself and sustains itself, something bigger than just growing food. It truly was a productive day.

I also planted some flower seeds in pots including lupin, cosmos, nigella and sweet sultan.

I cut a few blooms from the garden to brighten up my kitchen windowsill - lavender, yarrow and geum.