Potting on

So we're in the middle of the growing season at present. Not so bad, considering that what we're growing has reduced somewhat, considering recent events. But we do have some things which are doing really well.

The sweetcorn for example are nearly a metre tall.

And the Cape Gooseberries and Carrots are doing well. (You can just some of see the carrots at the back, whilst the other carrots are in separate pots.)

And the Blue Berry bushes are weighed down by the amount of fruit forming.

The Strawberries are coming in thick and fast now.

But we still have some stuff in the greenhouse that we've kept protected. Now it's getting pot-bound and needs potting on. So most of today was spent doing just that.

More Cape Gooseberries, Chinese Lanterns, Fox Gloves (grown from seed from last years flowers), Mint, Tomatoes, etc. We're getting rather crowded in the greenhouse these days. As such, we have asked the Committee for permission to build a second greenhouse.

The floods have necessitated a change in thinking and layouts. We want to re-build the flower bed, but make it easier to access and raised up. So we're planning on building a large 'U' shaped bed that's 3m long and 1.8m wide. This will extend from the leading edge of the current greenhouse, back to the boundary line. We'll have to dig up all the Daffodils, but they'll get re-planted in the new bed anyway. So thats one project for the autumn/winter.

Adding a second greenhouse, will add an indoor growing bed, where we can grow protected crops. We want to focus on things like Chillies and Pak Choi, which are often susceptible to damage outside. We'll have the two doorways facing each other, and move the table out of the first green house and use it in between the two as a work bench. I might build a simple lean-to shelter up the path side and up to the roof gable as protection.

But it's not all rosy... the flood followed by the warm weather has allowed the spores to take hold and re-introduced the dreaded BLIGHT.

I've now chopped all the foliage off the spud bags before it get too invasive. The spuds should still be OK though. Well at least I hope they are. The last lot were just blobs of mush in the ground. But the bags avoided the flood. Guess from now on, all of our spuds will be grown in bags.

The 2016 Courgette Tally:

8