Thyme To Garden - August 2019

[ABSpareEditor]

Last month's thread is here.

We are mid way through the summer season. There has been a lot of heat, light and rain this year especially compared to last year where we experienced quite a few dry spells.

Surely this weather has caused your gardens and allotments to grow profusely?

[woofgang]

ooo yes! early peas are done and mid seasons (purple podded) are almost ready to pick. One squash has set, there were two but the slugs got one. The cherry plum harvest (like mirabelles) has been good considering they are not heavy croppers and I have got a few bigger plums growing fast. Its looking like an excellent year for crabs (apples) too, have no idea what I will do with so many as I still gave got jelly left from the last glut year....maybe an apple syrup, they are much too sharp for cider. annoyingly someone, I suspect birds, took my miniscule cherry harvest and the redcurrants. next year nets!

[melv16]

Bumper crops of soft fruit. Bucketfuls of redcurrants and blackcurrants. Still picking raspberries, strawberries were abundant also.
Big mistake this year was using own brand compost from garden centre, it was rubbish.
Decided to grow squashes differently this year. Got some 12" pots from Morrisons, chopped the bottom off, sunk them halfway into the soil and planted them in a mixture of compost, soil and manure. They're like triffids, with loads of fruit on them.

[Old_Geezer]

As a newcomer to gardening my results are quite mixed. Many plants seem to grow slow and late, or, like the potato shoots and leaves, disappear to what I am sure must be the snails (speaking of which, I got some ediblt plant safe blue pellets about a week ago, now see the label mentions slugs but not snails: do you think they will they work on snails too ?) The pineberries were also attacked and small in crop. We had two, pne each, and the half eaten 6 to 8 I shoved in a container of compost hoping they'd do something next year, but forgot I was leaving them out (no drainage holes) and the darn thing was full of water on my return :-(. However the sweetcorn is about 18 to 24 inches high, so here's hoping.

[Old_Geezer]

PS the only thing that grows profusely are weeds. Especially long meadow-like grass in the borders, and tough plants on the "lawn".

[Old_Geezer]

EDIBLE !!!

[Old_Geezer]

ONE

[rowanwitch]

Mixed planting on the balcony, picking beans and a few tomatoes, cucumbers nearly ready, corn is plumping up nicely, morning glories trying to cover the pigeon mesh and petunias ,pelargoniums and begonias providing loads of colour.
Garden project one looks amazing like a mad cottage garden full of bees. need to move to pond to a sunnier spot but this will create a bigger wildflower space at the expense of the bulk of the veg. Keeping the rhubarb though

[Chipchopper]

You sound like a busy bee Rowan!
I'm just doing a few garden jobs to keep things looking good.
My Buddlea is in need of dead heading at the mo, to keep the butterflies and bees coming in but its been a pretty poor year all round.