What's happening in the garden!

[Vandraren]

Planted:

New potatoes (earlies, in two tubs)
20 Sungold tomatoes, some last year's seed and some new (they are much cheaper obviously to grow from seed rather than buy plants, but a LOT more work...however.. I have the time)
5 water melon (a new venture, since the greenhouse should keep them alive till the air temp is higher in June
one Galia melon (so far)
some golden heritage carrots, 2 rows (in our new raised bed)
two rows of peas (also in the raised bed)

Lots more to do but I feel it's a good start!

JYM gave me paper pot maker this eco-friendly seedling pot maker for Christmas. It's a bit fiddly to make them but it's good that you have an endlessly renewable supply, and also that you can lift the paper pots directly into their beds when it's time to plant them out.

Merry, how is your garden coming along? How are the water melons doing? Have the potatoes grown much yet?

I love gardening and until two years back I used to live in different shared houses with a garden and we'd grow so many different veggies, I miss that kind of a garden! I hope you will show more of yours soon

Now me and my boyfriend have a closed balcony, which is also great, since it's basically a greenhouse. At the moment I have four different kinds of tomatoes going: Black sweet cherry (my own seeds), a red cherry and two different yellow cherries (also my seeds). Idk, I feel cherry tomatoes work better in pots than big tomatoes. There are also two physalis, two paprika and two cucumber-plants. And a ton of basil. I'd love to have more, but in the summer the balcony becomes a jungle. I'll add a picture of the growing situation at present Still lots of space, but that will change soon when it gets warmer and when I move the cucumbers outside.

[Vandraren]

Darn, why does it happen that my pictures are upside down?

[eccles]

I just rotated it in photoshop to stop the pots falling over .

[Vandraren]

I just rotated it in photoshop to stop the pots falling over

Thank you eccles! You saved my plants!

If anybody else has some garden photos, please do share! Gardens are the next best thing after books, be they messy or neatly trimmed or just a bunch of bushes and flowers, I love all gardens

[merry]

I do too, Van. Mine is messy but I love it. I get so much pleasure from my garden! I'll take an 'au naturel' picture tomorrow!

[merry]

Merry, how is your garden coming along? How are the water melons doing? Have the potatoes grown much yet?

The water melons, so far, are a no-show! The Galia type melon is now a tiny seedling

My cherry tomatoes from seed, the Sungolds, are doing well and now about an inch high!

Potatoes - flourishing. I keep covering up the tops with more compost as they begin to show through but when it gets near the top of the bag I'll stop and they will then grow giant and flower. Once the flowers die, you can try harvesting them. I have 5 bags of them and you can just about feel around the bag to see how they are getting on.

I tried Black Cherry Tomatoes that you mention - mine were not noce at all - I think it must be not quite warm enough here or something?

I LOVE your beautiful balcony garden!! how lovely to have a 'greenhouse'outside your window!

Delighted to find another gardening enthusiast - we'll keep talking and sharing progress!

[Patience]

My soil is very heavy clay and when my garden was redone I didn’t get new topsoil which was a very big mistake.
Last week I dug out a section of a raised bed down to the clay. This meant 3 trips to the tip as they only accept 6 buckets of soil per person per day. It worked out well as I dug out 6 a day and they fitted nicely in the back of my car.
Next I sprayed with week killer, put a weed barrier down and then big stones and sand. Yesterday I put in a 2/3 to 1/3 mixture of top soil and compost and put the 2 salvias back.
I’ll do the next section which is twice the size in June. Hopefully I can get plants other than salvia to grow there.

Getting decent topsoil seems to be difficult, does anyone have any recommendations?

[merry]

I bought some (topsoil) in bags once, from a local garden centre (or perhaps online) but sounds like you need quite a large amount so I'm not sure 50l bags would cut it!

You are hardcore, doing your own digging, Patience! I dug out one small Tesco crate filled with last year's roots and weedy soil and it nearly killed me!

[Patience]

I’m doing a bit at a time. The bit I have done took 50l compost and 105l topsoil.
The next one will be double that and I’m happy working with the small bags

[eccles]

I went through a phase of letting the back garden grow wild then attack with a brushcutter twice a year. It didn't work so when I had the first pond dug the guy I hired also attempted to dig the garden. He was getting nowhere because it was heavy clay. I hired a rotovator and he struggled with that too but at least he managed to get it through enough to lift the clay into large lumps. Once the pond was complete he said he didn't want to do any more so it was down to me to complete the digging and seeding. As a result of that, I have nothing but admiration for Patience doing similar work on her own. Not only that but replacing topsoil and compost as well! I at least had some help with the heaviest part of work.
Talking of which the garden is looking quite unkempt at the moment but I quite like it with oxeye daisies, common vetch and buttercups surrounding the pond. The weather is due to cool down a bit in the next few days so I'll cut the grass and trim around the pond then.

[merry]

I think it looks beautiful, Eccles.

Talking of which the garden is looking quite unkempt at the moment but I quite like it with oxeye daisies, common vetch and buttercups surrounding the pond.

My garden is unkempt but I like all the little flowers that spring up untrimmed. I fondly think of it as an 'English Country Garden', unlike my neighbours' which is the same size, but laid out expensively like a miniature park.

[eccles]

I have finally trimmed back the surrounding vegetation and noticed that there have been several large exuvia around the edges of the pond.These are the skeletal remains of nymphs after dragonflies emerge. Emperors usually emerge overnight so I think it is that species. Surface activity has increased with lots of backswimmers and pondskaters. I've noticed that pond skaters stay clear of the backswimmers. Both are predators.

I try to keep blanketweed down and fish it out occasionally. I pulled a patch out the other day and squeezed the water out of it before discarding it. As I squeezed I was bitten twice, quite sharp but not enough to break the skin. I carefully pulled the weed apart to reveal a dragonfly nymph. I shook it a few times in the water and it scooted away, apparently unharmed. So I learned that dragonfly nymphs can bite!

Lily pads are growing all round and it looks like one lily will flower in the next few days. I'll post a photo when it appears.

[eccles]

Photo of lily added to snapshots.

[merry]

Poor Eccles! Nibbled to death by a lady dragonfly!

When Tom was here, I had him plant some tomatoes (we named one Tom Tomato, of course) and he also sowed a line of peas.

His peas are coming up already!! I am amazed! He must have the greenest of green fingers!

I'll keep everyone posted on the progress of Tom Tomato

[merry]

For those following the progress of Tom Tomato, I will post a pic soon

Some other nice things in my garden this week:

[TRavine]

For those following the progress of Tom Tomato, I will post a pic soon

Some other nice things in my garden this week:

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I love these pics!!! It's so wonderful to have all these treasures in your own garden. Can't wait to see the news of Tom Tomato.

[merry]

Here's the first of the edible treasures from our garden - apart from a few lovely raspberries, which have been rather sparse this year!

There is nothing, nothing I tell you, so delicious as new potatoes you grew yourself and dug up only half an hour ago. With a knob of golden butter melting on top.

[TRavine]

These look beautiful!!!
And I totally agree, there is nothing better than home-grown potatoes!!!

[eccles]

They do look yummy. Mind you, I'd have removed the leaves and opened the pod myself, but that's just me.

[OurCreature]

I couldn't resist posting this little cutting from Facebook here as well as in the FB thread............