Kitchen Garden Forum

Sorry, OH, but having moved into July and well beyond the half year mark, I thought we might need this new thread ......
Actually, at the moment the weather feels more like autumn with night temperatures almost at single figures.

Good grab at the mantle! Even down here in the tropical south I am in long sleeves! Challenging year to date but still getting reasonable harvests, more thanks to persistence & the brief spell of warmth & rain at the right time! Not so keen on the moles though, which are in abundance all over the site!

Yep, we both have our winter woolies on this eve. The greenhouse went down to 10 last night, so it will have been less than That in the open.

Does all this talk of gardening being good for your mental health during lockdown ever bother you? Have they ever done it? What about clubroot, white rot, blight, aphids, slugs, rabbits, caterpillars, weather, faulty equipment, vandals, thieves,..... and no manner of other things to drive you mad!

Geoff
But there is fresh air, the joys of changeable weather and the feeling of freedom. I feel so sorry for those in flats and cities.

But there's nothing like eating produce you have produced yourself, even if you do have to remove the bits chewed by slugs and caterpillars first.........................
A tale from around 20 years ago...........
family sat at the table eating dinner.
wife to children," your Dad grew the veggies we are eating"
daughter to all "where did that pile of poo go that the farmer delivered earlier?"
me to daughter "I dug it into the garden to feed the plants"
daughter replies " So I'm eating my dinner that was grown in cow poo......great"

It's dry, the sun is shining (well, it was until half an hour ago), but it's still jolly chilly .... Our climbing French beans are looking slightly unhappy.

Dear Monika, thank you for starting the new Bits and Bobs....just been snowed under with work and a few problems that i'm trying to sort out, so haven't been on the forum very much...but I have been trying to keep an eye on any relavent Birthdays...

We had so much rain! But now a new period of drought is predicted especially for the month August. Despite all the rain, plants inside the greenhouse are staying dry but still enjoy the benefits of rain water dripping through the ground below.

The first santa claus melon is showing up, I love them!



Also there are a stunning amount of watermelons growing on the plants. I've counted at least 11 fruits from which 3 are already getting larger! How many would you keep?

The fruits are well protected from snapping off



These pictures are the true meaning of mid summer for me

That looks a pretty effective first attempt for your greenhouse Elmigo. Not sure about the numbe r of fruit you might harvest but I suspect If want them to grow to a reasonable size you might have to let some of your babies go ! Or do youhave some extra manure you can place around the root area? I suspect these plants need a lot of nutrition as well as water to keep producing well.

Lots of harvesting over the last few days.

Primrose wrote:That looks a pretty effective first attempt for your greenhouse Elmigo. Not sure about the numbe r of fruit you might harvest but I suspect If want them to grow to a reasonable size you might have to let some of your babies go ! Or do youhave some extra manure you can place around the root area? I suspect these plants need a lot of nutrition as well as water to keep producing well.

Organic fertilizer, I don't have any cow manure. I can ask a nearby farmer, but how badly does it smell? As we have some direct neighbours here

If it is well rotted, it should not smell at all, Elmigo, but fresh(ish) manure certainly does!

Perhaps I should try it then!

Ask for the well rotted bottom of the pile stuff from the farmer! Easy for them to flip the pile with their tractors! No smell, usually some hay to improve the soil but more importantly feed the earth! Best to lay it on the empty beds over winter & cover the resting beds then let the worms do the hard work.