18th August 2018 - Back from holidays and catch up

I can't believe how long it's been since I last blogged, I have been very remiss in the last few weeks partly because I haven't been doing much on 85a (it's pretty much looking after itself now) and I've not managed to do much on 86a either!  

Before I went on holiday I bought these watering globes from the poundshop.  They were packs of 2 and are supposed to keep your pots watered for up to 2 weeks.  I had a couple of plants that have been struggling in the hot weather so I was worried about being away for a week without things being watered.  The only downside of them is that they have to be filled from the bottom so you have to take them out to fill them.  I was running them under the hosepipe and then I realised that I could much more easily just dunk them into the waterbutt to fill them - doh!  

They do seem to have helped and my hanging baskets really have benefited from having them.  I'm going to go back and see if they have any more and I'll happily buy another 10 packs (so 20 more globes)!  Next year I'll ensure that all of my pots have a space for the globes to be included when I'm planting them.

I also cut off most of the leaves from my tomato plants before I left to help my tomatoes to ripen.  At this time of year it's good to create as much airflow through the plants as well which helps to guard against blight.  My neighbour was turning on the water in the polytunnel on a regular basis so these plants were still watered while I was away.  

The polytunnel also has a pumpkin plant that I had left over and I just popped into the bed at the far end.  It grew across the path, under the staging, up the side and over the top of the staging again!  I cut off the foliage after the fruits so that the plant could concentrate on the fruit instead of lots of additional leaves and it has 2 good sized pumpkins under the staging.  

The grape has really done well this year as well, I suspect partly because of how lovely the weather has been.  I am impressed that it's really only its second year and I already have fruits and a really healthy plant, I think I need to prune it again so I need to work out the best time and way to do that.

The sunflowers have flowered and are looking amazing but the plants are too heavy and have been blown over in the winds.  I'm going to have to remove them all because they're falling over and damaging the carrot fly netting.

I've been busy harvesting my crops and I've already had quite a lot of lovely tomatoes.  I harvested the potatoes from the bags and they were really good sizes and very tasty.  I've also had loads of autumn fruiting raspberries and blackberries.  Today I harvested a sweet red pepper and some carrots as well so I'm looking forward to having them for my tea tonight.  


Over the summer I've had some lovely flowers blooming both in the beds and in the pots.  I planted a cordyline in the centre of the pot and surrounded it with giant petunia.  I didn't realise they'd get quite this giant but they have looked amazing all summer; they did struggle in the heat and they've gone a bit leggy now.  I did consider chopping them back but I've not been brave enough to do it; they are still flowering and I'm worried that if I cut them back I'll lose all the blooms and they won't recover.

In 86a I have finished painting the shed and I've put it up on a bed of the carpark matting that I used for the shared path which I have then filled with gravel.  I still need to sort out the roof of the shed but I have got some roofing felt now so it's just a case of getting a dry day to get it done.

I also had 8 thirteen foot scaffolding boards delivered to make beds with.  They will make 3 beds, which will be a good start for now.  I need to measure my plot properly and then make a proper plan.  I've put the shed against the fence closest to 85a but in the middle of the plot because that's where the ground was flattest and I also wanted to create some shade so having the shed against that fence means that it will cast shade in the afternoon and that will give me somewhere to hide from the sun when it's warm; something that I don't have anywhere in 85a!

I am going to try and get back in the habit of blogging every week but until next time...

Happy gardening x