Luke gave me these for my birthday. I love them. I haven’t managed to get a crop off them. They had tiny gooseberries on them, and then… lots of caterpillars. I’ve never had this dilemma before – caterpillars always eat the things I don’t mind about. You can’t kill baby butterflies but how am I ever going to get gooseberries? It seems particularly galling that the plant is covered in caterpillar poo…
I moved some of them (on a leaf) to the rose they usually eat but I think it was too little too late.
Last year’s chilli was a disaster – one stumpy chilli half an inch long. I blame the lack of sun. The seedlings look great. As they do this year…. I germinated them all in the growlight. Then I moved 3 of them upstairs and left 2 in the growlight – you can tell which…
I had to move the all upstairs because the mice in the kitchen were eating them. I love how green and bright their leaves are and I guess the mice do too!
Well that didn’t work out as planned. It was a mixed bag.
The vegetables were a wash-out. I ended up with 2 not-very nice looking tomatoes and some chillis which never ripened (and then dried out while we were away).
The scabious never did the business. The sunflowers got eaten! The nicotiana did really well in the Red Cross garden – not so well in ours. I think it needs lots of sun and to be planted out early.
I’m confused about the Queen Anne’s Lace. I thought it was a biennial but it’s flowering here (very small flowers) and has done the business in the Red Cross garden but late.
Next year, I think I should stick to growing Coriander and salad. I always say this and I never do…
Sweet peas: they are spindly & stunted! They have tiny stems. And loads of plump green aphids. And mildew! As predicted in I love Sweet peas and Sweetpeas don’t love me!
I have finally pulled up the poles I put in the back bed as there are no sweet peas growing up there. I am going to give up cutting the ones in pots (too short-stemmed to put in vases) and let them go to seed – if there is any point in having mildew-prone, short stemmed seeds….
PS: August 6th update: got frustrated with them and pulled them up! Will maybe buy seedlings from Sarah Raven next year. But must ONLY get mildew-resistant ones.
Veg: as predicted in I can’t grow veg, I can’t do that either. I have grown beans that we failed to eat and are now so huge and hard I am working out how to save them as dried beans (all 10 of them). I have a trombocino that … well who knows really? And some unappealing-looking Swiss Chard that I don’t want to eat either. I’ve got some pea sprouts that have gone all hairy.
Let it go! Give up thinking you can sneak some in, because you can’t. Try and grow some parsley and don’t worry about the rest.
Sunflowers: this isn’t quite fair because they have grown – but they’ve also been eaten! (Unlike my vegetables). This has been a bumper year for snails – but I need to remember that things need to be really big and strong not to get eaten up as soon as they get planted out,
PS: August 6th update: cut them all down
Scabious: 6th August update: I have one scabious! Pic to follow
Things I know so far: 5+ hours of direct sunlight a day.
January
I got some from Vital Seeds – who I read about in The Garden and who sell organic seed. They came in a lovely package and made me feel green fingered just opening it.
I have planted them in the growlight. I am sceptical they will come up this early but we will see…..
My Xmas present
5th Feb
They have come up! They look all perky. We’ll see.
26th March
I could not love my chillis more. It’s going to get warmer next week so I will put them out then.
August 1st
I don’t think it’s going to end well. I put them in the greenhouse and then hardened them off. When we had some sun in the Spring, I moved them round the garden so they got as much sun as possible. But it has been a terrible summer. Every time there has been a ray of sunshine, they’ve tried to flower but the rain comes in and strips them off. They’ve gone weirdly bushy, and as they haven’t set any fruit, I can’t see them growing any chillis. Maybe next year…
September
Well, that didn’t work brilliantly. I blame the weather.
My Garden 