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hobby_gardeningAugust seems like a practice run for autumn. Several things are over and will need pruning now. Not the clematis, though. That has flowered all summer long and is still going. By this time some plants are running out of steam, so I give them a boost with Blood Fish and Bone, high in phosphate and potassium, but not nitrogen. That promotes flowering and steady growth, not the crazy burst of leaf growth that you get with nitrogen.
There's so much to do and both the weather and my health get in the way. I was quite ill yesterday but I pushed on and harvested the last of my grown-in-the-bag potatoes. Another good crop, especially the pink fir apples which are not so nobbly this year. I don't know why. We plan to make potato salad with some of them using Deb's recipes, either Bavarian or Westfalian. This method of growing potatoes has been a success and I have learned a lot from it.
I made a start on clearing up the weedy patch beside the shed. I let it go last year for the insects and birds but it is an extension of the border and I need the space. I'm using the garden weasel for this job, so much more effective and easy than using a digging fork. There are Pulmonaria and bluebells there. They'll have to come out along with the weeds unfortunately. The bluebell bulbs will be replanted but I doubt that the Pulmonaria will survive. I do love them and will rescue them if I can. Failing that, I'll buy more.
The weed removal is mostly buttercups though there's a little grass. There are self-seeded St. John's Wort there and I may leave one or two. They're not cultivars, just the wild species. I like their yellow flowers.
That will be the first job and it must be completed thoroughly with not a weed left. I'm thinking of covering it with cardboard over the winter. Maybe. The main thing I need the space for is my dwarf apple. It isn't doing well in a pot and I think it was a stupid idea in the first place. I will release it from its confinement and plant it in the ground. It will be happier there.
There's so much to do and both the weather and my health get in the way. I was quite ill yesterday but I pushed on and harvested the last of my grown-in-the-bag potatoes. Another good crop, especially the pink fir apples which are not so nobbly this year. I don't know why. We plan to make potato salad with some of them using Deb's recipes, either Bavarian or Westfalian. This method of growing potatoes has been a success and I have learned a lot from it.
I made a start on clearing up the weedy patch beside the shed. I let it go last year for the insects and birds but it is an extension of the border and I need the space. I'm using the garden weasel for this job, so much more effective and easy than using a digging fork. There are Pulmonaria and bluebells there. They'll have to come out along with the weeds unfortunately. The bluebell bulbs will be replanted but I doubt that the Pulmonaria will survive. I do love them and will rescue them if I can. Failing that, I'll buy more.
The weed removal is mostly buttercups though there's a little grass. There are self-seeded St. John's Wort there and I may leave one or two. They're not cultivars, just the wild species. I like their yellow flowers.
That will be the first job and it must be completed thoroughly with not a weed left. I'm thinking of covering it with cardboard over the winter. Maybe. The main thing I need the space for is my dwarf apple. It isn't doing well in a pot and I think it was a stupid idea in the first place. I will release it from its confinement and plant it in the ground. It will be happier there.
