Saturday 16 July 2011

Must try harder



It's school report time and there'll probably be a quite a few with 'must try harder'.
A remark I often got on my reports was that I was inconsistent, although one time a teacher said I was consistent in my inconsistency, which I took as an improvement!


If I was getting a report for my vegetable growing this year then it would definitely say I must try harder!
The only thing to eat so far has been spinach, and that had carried on growing from last year so doesn't really count.  There is the red orache of course which there's loads of but I still haven't tried that.


Remember this from March?

Well this is what it looks like now
It looks quite lush but you'll notice there's not a lot growing up the trellis.  There are beans on the right hand side but they're only about a foot tall.  I decided to grow morning glory flowers up the other one but they're about the same height, and in between is a courgette.  The courgette and another two that I planted at the front of the house were really battered about by the wind when I first planted them and they've only just started growing again.  Behind the left hand trellis are some potatoes which are doing really well, but I can't take credit for them because my daughter planted them.

This was supposed to be my main veg patch back in March

and this is it now
under the white grille were peas, which I sowed twice but they didn't come up so I'm now using it as a nursery bed for some perennials which I sowed yesterday.
The twigs at the front were to keep the cat off radishes and lettuce but I think they probably died due to lack of water.
The grille in the background is keeping the cat off my broad beans, here's a closer look at them         
I don't think I'm going to get many beans off them do you?
I've sown other things as well which haven't materialised.  
I think my problems have been that some of my seed is years old and is probably not viable, I have neglected the watering a bit, and we had weeks of really windy weather.  I think the soil could do with beefing up a bit too but I've plans for that.


Have you noticed though that you need to water seeds that you sow, but self sown seeds manage perfectly well on their own?


What I have been successful with, is keeping on top of the weeds.
Can you remember this bed before weeding?
 and after


The following two photos are it now

Those pink poppies and the borage just appeared from nowhere.  I think the seeds must have been lying dormant under a conifer hedge that was cut down last year.


This was in March
and now

14 comments:

  1. Your garden IS lush! I bought 30 packages of English seeds and only a few ones survived to the hot and dry Italian weather, soooo disappointing!
    Could you please tell me the name of the plant with dark leaves in your 2nd picture?..it's infesting our garden and we had to plant sticks (apparently my mum didnt' read very carefully the package..)
    x

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  2. I think your garden looks gorgeous. Even though the veggies may not have materialized, the flowers and the beds in general look beautiful. And that's what I'd write on your report. Definitely not must try harder... And I'm a teacher so I should know! :)

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  3. Your garden is beautiful, it certainly puts ours to shame.
    We've got heaps of borage, don't know where it's all come from but my friends who are beekeepers are very pleased to keep digging it up and taking it back with them. x

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  4. Wow ! I can't get flowers to grow at all but I have an abundance of salad leaves.
    My school reports had teachers wishing that I would speak more. Now they would say, " Talks too much and gets distracted ! "

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  5. Oh wow, look at those beds! You've worked wonders with them. The flowers are gorgeous.

    I think veggie growing is a bit hit and miss at the best of times. We had a plot at work a couple of years ago and despite the help of the gardeners there we could not make the carrots grow! Onion, spuds, peas, all brilliant but no carrots.

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  6. I think your garden looks gorgeous! So lush and green.
    Maybe you hit the nail on the head about old seeds. But I don't know about that. I'm never sure if you can use old seeds or not.
    Take for example your beautiful poppies and borage. I wonder how long they were lying dormant before you pushed them about, they saw daylight, and hey presto! Natures beauty :o)
    Before we moved last year, for 3 years in succession in tried to grow corgettes. I'd get a few flowers on them, a few baby courgettes, then off they'd drop :o(
    But since moving here, my plants are beautiful and lush,my courgettes are growing instead of dropping off, and I'm hoping for a glut ;o)

    Your first paragraph cracked me up, and I'd have taken it as an improvement too ;o)

    Have a great week Georgia, and take care.
    Donna x

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  7. I think you've worked really hard and your flowers are gorgeous! Our peas didn't come to much this year either! Perhaps we'll blame it on the weather!

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  8. I wouldn't worry LBM, my Broad Beans, Runners and Courgettes took aaaaaages to get going due to the lack of water earlier in the year.

    The weather is sure making up for it now though. You'll just have to wait that little bit longer for some snap!

    The rest of the garden looks fab, and what a treat for the bees!

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  9. I think your flower beds look wonderful! Vegetables seem to be struggling this year in our garden too - courgettes which normally do ok are way behind and other stuff just hasn't grown at all. Must be the strange weather we have had this year. I had to smile - I used to get 'must try harder' or 'could do better' on my school reports too:)

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  10. Your garden looks beautiful! I (and my honeybees) love borage, and I have those same frilly pink poppies which self-seed every year. Yes, what is it with the self-seeders always doing well? :)

    You're doing great and deserve an A+, actually!

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  11. Hey Georgia, what an abundance of plants in your garden, it looks so lush and the flowers are lovely. Beautiful Poppies and I must plant some Borage, love those blue flowers, specially if they attract bees.

    I think you're doing well, battling the winds, soil, seeds and watering they all take their toll.

    And yes, 'consistent in your inconsistency' is definitely an improvement, what a giggle. I'm sure if my teachers had thought of it, they would've written it on my report too.

    Claire :}

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  12. Lovely garden. And a lot of hard work, too.
    We've only got a tiny garden and have put in a few perennials this year, which will hopefully survive and spread.
    My biggest surprise was a beautiful blue aquilegia which self-seeded from somewhere. Hopefully it will rampage around my garden in years to come!
    X

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  13. I think your garden looks marvelous :) We are having a neat wave at the moment so we try to water in the morning. The only things that seem to be thriving are my tomato plants.

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  14. Wow. Your garden is fantastic! So lush - as is your chook pasture. No wonder they are settling in well, they think they've landed in paradise. cheers Wendy

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