Outdoors In May/June

Summer in the Garden

Due to recent events, I haven't been able to give my plot and our garden the attention it deserves. The lawn did turn into a meadow for a few weeks, and all the radishes and lettuces bolted to the sky, so I've had to replant those, or suffer very dull salads for the rest of the season!

I started by sorting out the potting area, which needs some TLC! My dad built the tables from left over planks balanced on kettle/oil drums so it's very thrifty! I removed all the weeds/dried out sticks and discovered we actually have a great stash of pots and other vessels, even old medicine bottles!

I've been searching for inspiration for this particular area online (mostly on Pinterest - click and see for yourself) but often the examples are so over styled, frilly and unpractical - like too much 'womens gardening' accessories these days, 'Shabby Chic' still reigns supreme - waaaaah!

I'm going to take a leaf out of Alys Fowler's "The Thrifty Gardener" book instead. Fantastic practical AND creative approach to getting your garden into shape, and she doesn't have to use bunting and colour-coordinated wellington boots to feel satisfied with her efforts, hallelujah! If you haven't yet picked up one of Alys's books, I cannot recommend them highly enough, however, her Twitter feed also provides great tips&hints, so get following!

Meanwhile, our bean crop has been perking up! Our 'Olympic Highjump' frame is working well, and the straight frame is full up too, sadly black fly have attacked half so I'm heading out with soapy water tomorrow, bye bye bugs!

Flower-wise, I have been slacking...apart from my still-growing sunflower, the only success story are the cornflowers, but they are a favourite of mine anyway! That vivid blue is rare to find in the natural world, i never get fed up with it! My chamomile plant is lurking under there somewhere too...

Mr Owl had to make a reappearance to try and deter some pests...very regal isn't he? Slightly wonky angle makes him slightly more endearing, which could work against him! And I am the proud owner of 3 baby squashes, we'll see what they actually turn into, they were from a mixed seed packet from Lidl!

Carrots and swedes both APPEAR to be well but who know what lurk beneath that soil (ever the optimist eh?)


And finally, our first attempt at growing potatoes seems to have been successful (although the taste-test still needs to confirm!). We grew the New Potatoes and Red Roosters in old compost bags, with well-drained pots in the bottom so they weren't getting too soggy! A few dodgy ones, but not because of blight...just because I ignored them for a while! It was very satisfying pulling them out from the soil, each one felt like a prize! I MADE THOSE!

As i know from experience, when things get tough, keep busy, keep productive. All the work on my Website came from trying times, so i know the answer for me! Gardening, blogging and reading.

Thanks popping by, as always!

Katie

June

Hard to believe June has flown by so quickly! Here are some photos from the trusty Olympus XA3 this month, lets start with some botanical beauties:

 Grandads Lupins, see last years version HERE

We had to build this "bedouin tent" style arrangement over the plot for when the scorching sun was killing off the seedings, needless to say it went on to protect them from drowning too! Time to take it down this week, but doesn't it look nice and green? Certainly looking fuller these days!

The toughest part of this month was that my best friend Claire finally followerd her dream of moving away from suburbia and into Brighton. Big change for us, and considering we worked together too, it's now very strange to not see her there, but I am very excited for her, and can't wait to visit! Here's my fave 'gal before she went!

 

And finally one of our weather vane, I can't bear to think that the nights will start drawing in again now, not fair!

Hope you're having a good week! I'm a bit frazzled myself, counting down the days until seaside-holiday time!