Maybe this deserves a new blog, but I’ll keep it here, coming soon …
Andys Secret Garden pictures shortly…
Archive for the ‘fruit’ Category
Andys Secret Garden
Sunday, November 7th, 2010Pestilence & Disease
Sunday, August 16th, 2009This is why we don’t see many plums each year, the birds start to peck at my plums, and then the wasps come and finish them off!
wasps eating my victoria plums
click for a closer high resolution view - if you dare!
another close-up of wasps on my plums
and then my tomatoe plants got struck by bl**dy blight!
tomatoe blight
My tomatoe plants have been doing very well this year outside, but in the last few five days, with the cooler, wetter weather, it looks like all my cordon varietys have been struck by blight!
Damn it!
Oh well, there’s always next year!
Summer Harvest
Sunday, August 16th, 2009Un-earthed some more potatoes for tea this evening, this crop is from two tubers, planted in different bags.
more potatoes
and I thought I better pick me plums off the tree, we have an old victoria plum tree in the front garden, it’s very old, some people in the village think it was planted before the house was built, and the house was built in 1862! The plum tree is now crooked and hollow, and the number of plums it delivers each year dwindles now!
victoria plums
Some I’m surprised that this year, I’ve manged to save as many as this.
Automated Water Irrigation System
Sunday, May 31st, 2009I had hoped to plant-out my tomatoe plants today, but I spent much of the hot afternoon installing my Hozelock automatic water irrigation system, now that the frosts have gone (fingers crossed), I don’t leave them out all year, and store them in the shed, after October to protect from frosts.
The Hozelock AC4 and AC1+ have since been discontinued, (probably available new and used from eBay.), but newer models are available which do the same thing. I have two different models which automatically water the plants at the top and bottom (greenhouse), early morning at 7am and late evening 8pm for an hour. It takes me a while to setup, because I have to drape the water dripper pipe around the base of the blue berry and goji berry bushes. I use two drippers per 18″ pot for my blueberry bushes, I’ve noticed that blueberry bushes “drink” alot, and it’s very important to keep the plants moist in this hot weather to avoid crop loss.
The new style Hozelock, quick water irrigation system is much easier to install with potted plants, I also have three of them. I’ll post some pictures, when I set them up, in the greenhouse.
You can see the drippers in this photograph.
Hozelock 4mm pipe around the base of tomatoe plants
I’ve used a John Guest on/off ball valve (yes, John Guest fittings work on this pipe as well!), to turn off the water if I need to. Oh I think these tomatoe plants have had it, I planted them out early under glass cloches, only problem is over the last two days, with the heat, I think it’s killed them!
Cheap Multi-purpose compost
Sunday, May 24th, 2009When you use as much compost as I do, (I’ve already used 500 litres of homemade from the compost heap and now it’s empty) it’s always nice to be able to find a cheap bulk supply of multi-purpose compost. I’ve been visting the local independant garden centres, chains and DIY stores, the best deal around seem to be 3 (three) 75 litres bags for £12, of one brand of the other. I then notice this offer from Wickes, 4 (four) 75 litres bags for £11.74 (which makes me think, I think the garden centres are ripping us off, because the bags would have been marked up with £12 before the VAT cut to 15%!. So four bags were dumped into the back of the car. I thought it was a good deal anyway.
Wickes Multi-Purpose Compost
Gravel Pit Allotments Association
Sunday, May 17th, 2009
Gravel Pit Allotments Association Home Page
I’ve been a bit busy recently with the development of a new website for the newly formed Allotment Association in my parish. The allotment association calls itself Gravel Pit Allotments Association because it’s hoped the site will be developed on a field called Gravel Pit field. You can read what we’ve all been up to here on the website Gravel Pit Allotments Association.
Time to fertilise the Blueberry Bushes
Saturday, May 16th, 2009It’s that time of year to feed my Blueberry Bushes, they will also need feeding again in early July, (do not feed well rotted manure). I’ve never fed them before, blueberry bushes must be given a ericaceous, fertiliser (rhododendron / azalea fertiliser). It’s taken me a few years to research what to feed them with. They are plenty of commerical dry and liquid feeds available for acid loving plants e.g. Miracle Gro Ericaceous Plant or pelleted chicken manure but both of these contain the incorrect balance of Nitrogen (N), Phosphates (P) and Potassium (K) for use with Blueberry Bushes. So I’m going to use Vitax Conifer & Shrub fertiliser at 1/2 recommended dose. This recommendation came from David Trehane, The Dorset Blueberry Company which is where my bushes came from five years ago. It’s not that easy to find Vitax Conifer & Shrub fertiliser in the garden centres, most seem to favour other brands of ericaceous plant fertiliser, although I have seen garden centres selling other products by Vitax , so you may be able to raise a special order for some.
So this is what the pack looks like should you need to find it.
Vitax Conifer & Shrub fertiliser
For my size plants, that are in 18″ pots, I’m using about two teaspoons around the plant base. Vitax Conifer & Shrub fertiliser is organic but not certificated! It comes in pelleted form, so I’m going to measure out the 12 teaspoons, because I have 6 plants, and then using a pestal and mortor, crush the pellets into a powder and sprinkle around the plant base.
I had a teacher at schools who’s nickname was FERTILISER, I never found out why! But’ that’s another story…
Warning Frost Alert!!!
Saturday, May 9th, 2009and because Jack Frost is coming to visit this evening (so says the weather forecast), I thought I better wrap up the potatoes, Blue-berry and goji-berry bushes. The problems with late frosts this time of year, is it damages the flowers on the Blue-berry bushes, and no flowers, no berries! It’s the moisture in the air around the plants that causes the problem when the temperature drops, and frost appears, so if you cover up the plants before darkness falls, this traps in the warm air - well that’s the theory!
Way back Then :- How Does Your Garden Grow?
Monday, April 20th, 2009When the term blog wasn’t invented, I was “blogging” of sorts here with How Does Your Garden Grow? It was a few years ago, when a friend told me he was captivated by my blog, that he started to grow his own vegetables. (Thanks David!) I said “what blog?”, that’s not a blog, well I suppose it was!!!! If you not seen it, it’s still here How Does Your Garden Grow? (please be patient, it’s not bandwidth friendly and badly coded!)
So I’ve really been blooging of sorts since 2003! Which reminds me to why I posting…..
In Memory of Esme & Charlie, this is a piece of video footage I found on a DV tape, down the back of my desk. Where better to archive it, but on youtube!
It was shot in June 2003, what we didn’t know at the time this video was taken was that Charlie would fall seriously ill and die in September of that very same year. Esme died 3 years later in July 2006 of aspirated pneumonia. Esme is the soggy cat, that has just fallen in the pond, and Charlie is the white cat in the background that comes into frame.
Blueberry and Goji-berry bushes
Sunday, April 19th, 2009
Blue and Goji berry bushes
I’ve been neglecting my blueberry bushes over the past few years, and just reaping the benefits, lots of fruit from May through until September. Last year, the first time in five years, the crop wasn’t as good, I’m not too sure if this was seasonal, birds eating the fruit, or time to prune, top dress and fertilise the bushes. In the five years I’ve had them, apart from potting them up and investing in an automated water irrigation system - I’ve just eaten the fruit! So in the last couple of days, I’ve weeded, and top dressed, and washed all the hydroleca on top of the pots. I’ve also purchased some fertiliser to feed them in May.
Blue and Goji berry bushes
The other plants in the smaller pots, are my Goji Berry bushes, and hopefully I’ll have some fruit this year from them. In the background, is my potatoe farm, covered with frost protction fleece!
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