My Garden in July 2024

There's so much work to be done in the garden, mainly tidying, moving soil, bricks and wood. Most of it is being used in the construction of raised beds, compost bins and a cold frame. It hasn't stopped us using the garden and it hasn't stopped us growing a few things. What has slowed us down has been all the rain in terms of getting the work done and with the rain all the slugs and snails that have eaten their way through most of the things we have grown.

Most of the wood has been stored down the side of the house.

Not much to clear from here now the raised beds are built.

Peter will build a slated fence behind the raised beds to provide a screen for the water butt, the BBQ and the cushion box.

The raised beds are now in, so this soil is being sifted, the weeds will fill the council waste bin, the stones will be used in the paths and the soil will fill the beds. Once cleared this will be the area where the compost bins will be built and the cold frame will be assembled.

The garden has been used as a work station and there won't be any improvement here for a while yet, while the rest of the work takes place.

We're going to have to rethink when we dig this fir tree out and re lay the path as we've now where to put the soil other than levelling off the front the lawn, but we won't be doing that until the spring time, so for now, it's going to stay put.

I've repotted some herbs

I need to sort out drainage, the pots just filled with rain water and the seedlings were drowning.

I bought these trees at The Gardeners's World Show, they're doing very well in the pots by the shed, sheltered from the wind and they get a lot of sunlight and just the right amount of rain.

The front garden will be next years project.

The shrubs are really slow growing. I want to level the lawn off, there's quite a slope here, thinking of using bricks left over from the extension build and the soil from the soil from the back garden which will give the shrubs more nutrients and should help them grow quicker.

I'd like to continue the fencing down this boundary as the neighbour drives me mad with her plants over hanging our garden as she takes little care and the plants kill our grass, it'll have to be a lower fence so we can see to get off the drive, we struggle at the moment as she has let her shrubs grow quite high, it's a hazard as the school entrance is next to her house and kids are coming and going at times when I leave for work and arrive home.

The daisies have gone over now so they've been dug up and made room for the hydrangea and other plants.

The hanging basket is doing well, it will be restocked with winter plants when these ones finish flowering.

The Hollyhocks aren't very tall but at least they've flowed this year. I grew them from seeds I collected from ones growing wild during covid.

I seem to be growing more weeds than actual plants, there are climbers in here to cover the gates so I need to weed carefully and can't take the pots down to do it properly.

I need to replace this pot before the climber takes hold properly. Eventually we'll replace the gates with solid ones.

The cold frame has protected the chilis from the slugs and snails and we even have cucumbers growing.

The pumpkin has been lost though.

The herbs are growing well, as is the chard, that keeps reseeding itself.

The tomatoes are also doing well. They like being out the front of the house where they get the sun in the mornings and the evenings.

How is your garden doing in July?

 

In an English Garden - July 2021

My friend introduced me to the PlantNet app. For a gardener like me who has no idea what they've planted, despite having good intentions to label the seed trays, it's been easy for me to identify the plants as they've grown and whilst I'm supposed to sow seeds in the place where I want them to grow, we don't have the right garden design at the moment to allow that. 

Turns out these are cabbages. I thought I'd bought cauliflower seeds, the app identified them for me.

I planted them out next to the rhubarb, the one beet and one carrot that have seeded, sadly something is eating them now.

I had several pumpkins, also identified by the app. I grew them from seed from a shop bought halloween pumpkin from last year. only this one has survived, I think it's because it's in a pot that the slugs and snails can't climb up.

We also had more tomatoes last year than we could shake a stick at and this year only 4 and a handful of flowers so far.

All the potatoes, rhubarb, onions and peas cropped at the same time and the freezer is now full of potato bakes and stewed rhubarb, along with wild blackberries which will be added to the apples to make many crumbles for winter, from our DIL's tree once they're ready in abundance.

The washing has been on the line most days, which isn't something we could do in Dubai as it was too hot to be standing outside pegging it up.

We've got the outdoor furniture and patio umbrella up now and I'm outside as much as I can be, even when it rains. If it's heavy rain then I sit in my shed and Peter has a large enough shed he can work in. He's currently making a birthday present for our almost 2 year old grandchild.

Peter's shed

My shed

The dog and the cat are enjoying being outdoors also, but often fight over the bed, currently the cat is enjoying my chair pod that's in the conservatory, but as the garden is North facing it keeps quite cool, but we do have to heat it in the winter. 

Work wise there isn't much to do in the garden right now, other than some weeding and mowing the lawns. So I'm doing some garden design and scrapbooking gardening tips and 'things to do' with my Gardeners' World subscription.

My Spring garden, summer plans and goodbye to my Dubai garden.

I left the UK in the middle of April. I prepared the garden, mowed the lawns and planted out seeds that I thought may stand a chance of survival without my input.

I arrived back in the UK the middle of June. The garden had faired well with the added bonus of the neighbours mowing the lawns, however some of the grass turned yellow, but it is slowly recovery. 

Everything was out in full bloom, the potatoes and onions had grown and the peas, beans and tomatoes were doing OK.

Onions, potatoes and rhubarb now harvested, very few peas and beans, but I've sown more seeds for a later crop and bought a couple of established tomato plants, reduced at the supermarket.

I thought the garden was ready for my absence, seeds planted, lawn mowed, plants uncovered. April 11th.

April 12th

We returned to the sun. June 14th.

We're planning to build a new shed and seating area in the opposite corner and creating raised beds and gravel paths as well as introducing a green house. The conservatory will also be replaced with a full one being built along the back of the house.

We also had to say goodbye to our Garden in Dubai this summer. It was interesting Creating a garden in the desert and surprising what we were able to grow over the years.

After getting back to the UK, we mowed the lawns, repaired the borders, repotted the olive and bay tree and harvested the potatoes, onions, peas and rhubarb.

Sweet peas and wild flowers.

Compost bins, potatoes and herbs.