Dorset lifestyle
Walter and his horns just about visible in the upended arc with Digby watching from outside. Had a lovely walk through hayfields to The Plough at Manston, unfortunately arrived just after ‘last orders’ so had a thirsty walk home! Planted another courgette plant, all the others have been eaten by snails, first flowers on the runner beans, removed side shoots from the tomatoes, picked a cos lettuce. A sunny cloudy day with rain later.
After filling the raised beds and mulching the borders I needed somewhere to create an ideal place to grow next years courgettes and pumpkins where it won’t matter if they grow in all directions. This structure is the old sheep pen, now lined with dumpy bags and almost full with donkey poo and grass cuttings. It’s getting quite hot in the middle and already rotting down so I have to keep topping it up, fortunately there’s a constant supply of raw material, at least two full wheelbarrows every day. The Magpie moth was resting close to the water butts, they like living in the hedges especially if there are brambles, which there are! A cloudy start to the day, the view soon disappeared in thick fog followed by persistent light rain; good for the garden and the paddocks.
The yellow Tumbler tomatoes are growing in the same pot as the sunflower and a few red Outdoor Girl have ripened in the border, all different shapes and sizes. The sun and wind has been so hot today that some tomato plants have shriveled in the greenhouse, I hope they recover, will let a sideshoot develop if not. Picked more runner beans, they’ve been thrashed by the high winds so tied a few back to their poles. There’s been a real variety of weather conditions that the plants have to withstand – both varieties of courgettes are doing OK, the drop in the level of compost in the raised bed means they’re protected. A few drops of rain evaporated as soon as they touched the ground so more watering.
Grown from a seed taken from a ‘help yourself’ pot that was in Ledbury Church. It had been kicking around in my purse for a couple of years before I finally planted the last remaining seed last month. Hope to be able to grow lots more next year – and share the seeds with friends. The Gardeners Delight tomato plants in the greenhouse are sprouting new stems from under the soil as well as further up the plant, and they’ve really thick and strong stems which must be the result of being wind damaged in the spring. Picked the first cucumber and courgettes. Fixed the stock netting to protect the vegetables, sunnier and hotter today than yesterday, no rain, so watered the veg and the hedging.
I snipped off all the stalks without flowers on the runner beans, 6 or more per cane, this is the temporary deer protection as I like runner beans a lot! Fencer coming this week so I will have stock fencing to put on the trellis, then I’ll need to add a couple of gates. Think I may have found where the deer is coming through the hedge, a couple of pallets and some bailer twine have filled that gap. Time will tell whether this works, good to see that the courgettes are starting to wander in the raised bed. More rain this morning and then the day warmed up with late sunshine. Iceberg lettuces need planting out, hopefully get round to that tomorrow.
