How does your garden grow?

[slackster]

Been slogging away on the back yard project. Still plenty to do, but the basic structure is in place (and main expenses shelled out for). I’ll try and put up a few photos.

[slackster]

Went for cheaper lollipop privets against the north facing wall in the end. Think they will get enough light to prosper...

[slackster]

And while I’m at it, here’s the front garden. Need to replace that tarmac at some point.

[San Bernardhinault]

That's really nice. I really like your trough-planters against the back wall of your house. The whole effect of the house and setting looks like the epitome of English rural enchantment.

[Sits]

Yeah it's idyllic and there are some great sun traps. How old is your house Slackster?

[slackster]

We believe the stables were constructed at the same time as the rather grand main house (Finchcocks - you can wiki & google it) in 1725 - so early Georgian. It had been in used as a rehearsal space as part of the Finchcocks Musical Museum, that specialised in historic pianos - from the 70s up to 2016. Ours was converted to residential use in 2005, about the same time as the other neighbouring disused farm outbuildings which were owned by the Scotney Estate (now National Trust). We bought it in 2017.

[ad hoc]

I'd be embarrassed to put my garden on here. Everyone else's is so kempt.

Mrs hoc recently read an article about some kind of vertical way of growing potatoes. So yesterday the two of us constructed a sort of container for this and planted the first layer of spuds. I have no idea if it will work, but frankly the idea and execution is more important than the result.

[San Bernardhinault]

I'm not sure if this is the right place for these pics, because nothing is really growing (and what does grow is tended by landscapers). But we've got the garden/yard looking pretty decent this summer. Ursus, I suspect, might tell me I've spent too long in California...

[ursus arctos]

You know me well.

Though the levitating goose is a nice touch.

[Sits]

I prefer Contemplative Seal.

[San Bernardhinault]

Sits has a better understanding of marine wildlife than Ursus, who bizarrely thinks my swan is a goose.

[ursus arctos]

[San Bernardhinault]

The biggest problem with my levitating swan is that she frequently smashes her nose into the high wall behind her, which has resulted in multiple floppy necks and some work with the puncture repair kit. The previous iteration of the swan had an altercation with a raccoon, and the three long claw tracks in her torso plastic made her unfixable.

[ursus arctos]

If she really was a swan, the raccoon would have known better than to try something.

[San Bernardhinault]

If you think geese are more chilled and placid than swans, I think you've met different geese to me. Also, swans are always white with orange beaks, whereas only some geese are. And geese are scrawny little bastards who mostly sit on the land crapping on footpaths, not majestic beasts who float serenely around swimming pools.

[Sits]

A white swan with an orange beak, earlier. Not in my garden:

[slackster]

On the garden veg front it’s been a very good summer for outdoor tomatoes, romaine lettuce, french beans and courgettes. The peppers and chillies crops have been a bit meh. Loads of leaf but few fruits. Beetroot was rubbish - mainly because I stupidly put them in the trugs behind the tomatoes, which romped away and left the beets in too much shade. And squirrels/birds nicked every strawberry the night before I was going to pick them. Bastards, but serves me right for not netting them.

Still got celeriac, kale and chard to come through the autumn. All looking good so far.

[Sits]

Sounds excellent. We’ve had a plentiful crop of rocket right through the southern winter, and remarkably a small but regular crop on the two cherry tomato plants. And September is the month we plant new tomatoes so they get established before any really hot, dry weather.

Meanwhile, the shed is now fully pimped. This makes it look very wide which is false; I used Pano mode.

[Felicity, I guess so]

Our courgette plants this year have been great. The downside is when you go on holiday for 10 days and come back to giant marrows.

So I spent the weekend making a huge pot of marrow soup and equally huge marrow curry.
For the latter followed an online recipe based on “one marrow 1-1.5 kg” but I had 2 weighing 1.8 so upped the chillies etc accordingly...then couldn’t get all the marrow into the masala, so I think it may bLow our heads off: I had one tester teaspoonful and it was rich and fragrant but hot afterburner.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

I hope my gardner knows what he's doing with my rose bushes. They had got to Virgil Van Dijk height, but in anticipation that this week might be his last chance to cut them back before winter, he's chopped most of the canes down to less than thigh height. More like Xerdan Shaqiri.

[Sits]

Have faith. Well pruned roses look scarily stunted. Mine are coming back nicely now even though I worried I'd overdone them. As usual.

[slackster]

Just spent a miserable hour in the drizzle picking up leaves. It seems the adjacent sycamore and oak trees decided to dump most of them in the last week, but the regular rain has left them all soggy on the ground, which makes them a bigger pain to collect. Filled the garden wheelie bin to the top already, and there’s still half of the leaf-fall to scoop up (and a week before the binmen come to empty the container).

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

We have quite a bit of leaf fall on the weed infested green area that we laughably call a "lawn". I'll pick them up if I have to, but my default mode is laziness. What's the down side in just leaving them to rot? Can that cause serious damage to the "lawn"?

[slackster]

If you leave a layer of leaves - especially once they are sodden - on a lawn the grass will not get any light or air. But they make a good mulch for borders if you can store them in a net basket.

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

Thanks stackster. Another job on my "to do" list then.