It Is Busy In The Veggie Gardens

The weather here has been pretty good here lately--sort of a decent balance between cool, moist, wind and sun. This means that the crops are making a cautious begin at producing, it also means that I can work hard without becoming too hot...and working I have been doing. Things like ground elder and bindweed are my perennial the bane of my summer existence. These pesty plants are not present in the veggie plots....no, no--there its mare's tail.

Well, the veggie plots are easier to keep clean, but the flower garden is another story all together. Because of the way that I have it, weeding there is a bit of a nightmare.
Ach, so what I do is to now and then act tough and let the weeds know who is boss....very locally and in bursts. I do not think that the weeds are impressed.
I put most of my energy into monitoring and keeping the production garden clean and free of large weeds. There is always this little film of tiny 2 or 4- leafed plantlets that pop-up a couple days after hoeing their predecessors into oblivion. its ongoing, but manageable.

Well, I have a number of fotos to show today, so I had better get to it.

I would like to begin with showing another foto of me in Dooley's harvest apron that. It is a tribute to her, as I do not harvest without it now. --Thanks Dooley!


All six strawberry beds have been cleaned now, and the runners arranged so that they can develop plantlets for transplanting next month.


This whole bed was covered with pea vines and other refuse to protect is. Now it is time to remove half of it and make a portion ready for the planting of winter leeks.
I first raked the vines to the left side and prepared the ground for later (fennel will go there).


Then I raked the vines back over to the right and left that half bed protected until next month or so when I will plant the fennel there.
Once this was done, I could prepare the half bed on the left to receive the leeks.
I weeded and min-tilled the ground and raked it flat. Next I got out my furrow-maker and made the furrows for the plants.


I then used a dibber to make deep holes for the leek plantlets and planted them and watered it in. Now, its just a matter of waiting and earthing-up from time to time. A final touch was to plant a ring of marigolds around the bed, just for looks.


It is time to harvest some things as well. Swiss chard was first and i managed to get enough to freeze-in and eat fresh.
Next I had some purple sprouting broccoli:


Purple sprouting broccoli presents differently than the more common, calabrese--


I harvested these the same day as that first Legend tom.


There were also courgettes and broad beans to gather as well.


I had a look at one of the parsnip beds. I think that I ought to thin some of these...but I don't know. I will have to make a decision fast now.


A large square of spuds had to be removed to get some green manure seeds planted. Here they are all layed-out drying while i continued.


The Ferline toms are coming along fine, but not fast enough for me. I am anxious to try the first one of these. There are a few orangy ones way back in the back of the greenhouse....so, soon!


The Chioggia beetroots are starting to yield more and more. I want to lift them before they become too large and 'woody'.


Well, its too bad, but I will not be having a large blueberry harvest this year...however, here is the first bunch that I harvested. I will freeze these in and just add to them as I pick.


The last foto is one which shows the new leaves of my plum tree heavily laden with aphids, and the ladybirds doing their work.
My plum trees are loaded with ladybugs and they are munching their way through the aphids. I can see more and more on the leaves and also there are fewer and fewer colonies of the little sucking aphids.
I can see leaf after leaf becoming aphid free. Those little orange and black beetles are worth their weight in gold.


I guess that it is a good demonstration of how Mother Nature can solve her own problems without chemical intervention by humans.
It is a pity that I can't always leave her to it, for if I did, I would not have very many crops to harvest.
I do not use chemical pesticides, but use instead lots of unsightly netting schemes to protect my veg.--its a viable but ghastly-looking alternative.

 

You can definitely tell all the work you put into your gardens. What a fine looking harvest! And more to come, yes?

 

I'm impressed! And a bit intimidated. It looks like you have a wonderful garden and I loved looking through the photos. Thanks so much for sharing :-D

 

WOW!! Yes, WOW!! that's is all I can say.

 

You have some tasty looking veggies there.
The fruits of your hard labor.
It's a good thing you have that handy apron from Dooley!
And there is nothing nicer to see than Ladybugs growing fat on aphids.

 

Everything looks great. Lots and lots of work, but very rewarding. the tomato is of exceptional color! I still am green with envy over those peas, too! We carry buckets down the row, maybe I will have to get Dooley to send me an apron for picking, too. Yours looks very convenient.

 

Yummy, yummy, drool, drool, oops sorry I couldn't help myself with all that good looking produce. My garden still has weeks to go before we will have stuff to eat. Our Blue berry bush's really took a beating this winter. Not to much fruit on them this summer .Will definitely cover them better this winter.

 

Thanks for the picture! I'm happy you posted it first because with my dial up I don't always get all of the pictures. I do read all of the posts though. It's great to see the aprons in use. Mine hangs by the back door and I generally use a basket for carrying things. Mainly because all I have is tomatoes mostly and I'm afraid I'll squash them.
The weeds have been busy showing us who is boss around here, especially as dr won't let me start pulling them yet. We do have the kid from next door but you know how kids work---hit or miss.
dooley

 

Thank you so much, CHERYL--Yes, there will be more to come, I am just getting started.

Thank you, MISS LIBERTY- What a nice thing to say...but why on earth would you be intimidated? I am glad you liked the fotos though.

Thanks TONI--that was nice of you to say. There sure is good eating here. I am just beginning to enjoy it.
Yes, the weather certainly has had an effect on the veg this year. I am not getting as much as normally, and some things are sort of retarded and developing slowly. I expect mildew to begin forming any day now.
Things are so slow now that we have not yet begun giving things to the food bank. I spoke with the bloke just yesterday and told him that it would be a week or two before there would be enough to re-start the weekly pick-ups.

Thanks, KK!

Thanks, 4-G --Yeah, that apron of Dooley's comes in really handy I am so glad that I have it, it saves throwing things at a trug, or bending over frequently to put things in a trug. Yes indeedy--VERY handy it is.
Those ladybugs are earning their keep alright. I am tickled pink.

Thank you for your nice words, CAROLYN--You are right, it is lots of work, but oh, so rewarding. I have already begun adding things to the freezer for the coming year.
Dooley's apron is so handy because io can pick kilo's of beans or peas without having to bend over to stop until it is full (and it holds quite a lot)...I just wait until it is full then un button the central button of the pouch and dump the beans into the trug--easy-peasy. It is, as you say, very convenient.

Haha...here TOOTY-- have a kleenex. chuckle. My blueberry bushes are not producing as much as normal this year either. I protected the bushes with fleece, but when they were in bloom, I could already see that there were not as many blooms as usual. One just gets "down years" sometimes. It is difficult to know with certainty what the cause or combination of causes has resulted in the less-than-normal yield.

DOOLEY-- Thanks again for that great apron. I use it for toms too, I just leave that central button open so as not to squeeze them. Luckily I don't have a large tummy pushing from the back-side either. hahaha.
DR probably knows best about you weeding. Hit or miss--the helpful kid can better be left to his chore for the moment, don't you think?

 

Hi Sjoerd,
its a lot of hard work,..but as i remember its so rewarding,..i used to love looking back to the plot seeing all the beds nice and neat with veg coming along at different stages.

I like the way you changed the vines around from one side to the other,..saves time taking it away right off and also serves a purpose where it remains.

I know you said that the Marigolds were,..just for looks,..but are they any help as an insect deterrent?.

Calabrese Broccoli was a species i grew as well.

I just wish i was offered the chance of the veg plot earlier in the year,..you have me hooked, .

Well done the work!.

 

Hello Philip, I believe that marigolds do help keep aphids at bay, although I have never read a proper scientific study proving that.
My own experience; while not scientific, does make me think that they can be a deterrent. For instance--for years I have always had them in my greenhouse where I grow toms, paprikas and sometimes cues. The only year that I did NOT plant the marigolds in there, my toms and the paprikas were eaten up with the aphids.
The following year I went back to planting the marigolds and the aphids have not returned.
However, the marigolds in this situation would have little preventative effect I believe, as the primary problems that I have with leeks are slugs and rust--the marigolds would do nothing to prevent or minimalize their onslaught. They are there just as a playful decoration, something I do not often do in the production gardens.

I hope that you can find a plot for next year, however, it isn't too late to plant some crops still.

 

Looking good Sjoerd!
I have planted some parsnips for the first time this year. They are just a little smaller than yours, but my thoughts were that they were doing poorly because the were so small. Now I'm really wondering if they aren't doing OK. Any tips for a first timer?

 

Well Netty--in my experience, parsnips are a very slow-germinating and growing veg.

The fact that your 'snips are still small wouldn't be something for me to worry about if they were mine. Mine have been the ground since may and they are only this big so far. I still think that I will be lifting them in october/november (if I want). Some folks just leave them in the ground and harvest them p.r.n. through out the winter.
You may need to thin them out (as I perhaps should), to give them lots of space to expand.

I just hope that the soil that you are using doesn't have any pebbles or other things that might hinder the downward growth of the root.

You know, Netty--I find parsnips one of those odd plants that you can treat exactly the same year after year, and each year it can behave differently at one or more stages of its life. I don't think that I would call it a 'difficult' veg, but rather an unpredictable one.

 

I think that I forgot to tell you how lovely your garden is now. It's so green. I'm glad you are having some good weather now. You will have much to last you through the winter. Do you usually have anything left when the new veggies start to come ready to eat in the spring? I've been packing our freezer with new things but still I find some things that I need to use that slipped down or behind something else. Thanks for the pictures!
dooley