Update

The garden is in full swing now; not many updates recently because of the dreaded revision monster but I've had a stash of photos waiting to be posted so here they are:

The cherry tree is the surprise star at the moment;  I was expecting to wait many years before it gave me any fruits but I think at the moment it actually has more cherries than leaves!  They may be cooking cherries but I still haven't been able to resist nibbling a few and whilst they're a little tart they're also totally delicious :D

The strawberries are in full swing at the moment; nearly all ripened now and oh so delicious; so many more fruits than I had last year and the flavour is just divine

It doesn't get much better than this !

 On the healthier side of things I've definitely decided that growing lettuces is much, much easier when you buy baby ones from B&Q!  I haven't had much luck with either sowing direct in the garden or raising seeds inside and transplanting but my £1.69 selection pack from B&Q is thriving and delivering wonderful side-salads for dinner; they're all cut and come again varieties so I can just keep snipping bits off and then they grow me more... perfect!

And finally my tomato forest is rapidly getting denser; I'm beginning to think that I may have been a tad optimistic with my spacings  but on the plus side the tomatoes seem to have developed some really sturdy stems so I'm hoping that they'll be better able to bear the weight of their fruits than last years batch were.

It may not be the prettiest garden on earth but there is definitely something deeply satisfying about looking out over all of this and knowing that I nursed all of these plants from the tiniest little seedlings right up to the big, green monsters that are thriving today (except the weeds... those managed to tend themselves ;p)

Weekend Photos - Fruits

Some photos of the garden this weekend:

The small blueberry bush

The large blueberry bush

The large blueberry bush - closer to being blueberries

 

First Strawberries to be seen

And some weird looking rasberries-in-the-making

Cherries!  Years ahead of schedule but no complaints :D

Cherry Tree

I love this time of year; it seems that every time you go into the garden something new has happened - yesterday there were just a few sparse blooms on my cherry tree - today it's covered in them.

Don't they look more 'arty' when I zoom in ;p

These little wild flowers have managed to make a home for themselves in my ugly concrete steps... I know that in theory I should be tearing them up and sticking them in the trash but they're just too pretty to harm - I've decided that this year I shall love my weeds (or at least the colourful ones)

My strawberries have definitely started to flourish again, they're putting out new leaves and, just spotted today, starting to set flower buds.

Someone was very interested in my camera but not amused that it was the plants getting all the attention

Outdoor Plant Update

 
I went to the garden centre today to buy yet more compost to pot out the strawberry runners - they were beginning to look a little cramped in their pots so I've moved them all into larger ones (thank you uncle Nick!) where they will hopefully be able to see out the winter.  There are three plants in each of these pots/tubs so they have approximately the same amount of room as the ones I grew this summer - I'm thinking that I may try and make some sort of raised bed for them next year but commercial kits are looking very expensive so they may live in the pots for a while first!

 I also picked up these curved bamboo canes for the raspberries - they've been suffering a little when the wind gets up so when Rob spotted these I knew they'd be perfect.  They're a little more decorative than straight canes and they should be more likely to stay upright too (also no eye-poking out!)

An Update

I spent most of the afternoon out in the garden today tidying up various plants and settling in a new one. 

This was an impulse purchase from Thompson & Morgan with Tesco Clubcard vouchers; the vouchers were due to expire and needed using up so I purchased a new blueberry bush (and some winter potatoes but they're due later) to use them up.  This little fellow turned up in the mail and is now settling in beside its big brother

I also have some 'new' strawberries - the existing plants have started putting out runners which I have been trapping in little pots around the big one and these fellows have finally grown big enough to strike out on their own (and make way for even more new runners!)  Jake unfortunately seems to consider 'strawberry runners' close enough to 'string' to be worth chasing round the garden.... I may have to keep an eye on my little ones!

The agapanthus is doing very nicely in it's pot by the stairs and looks like it's thinking about flowering soon

The rhubarb is also continuing to grow well, occasionally one of the smaller leaves seems to wilt and die but they always get replaced by new ones so i'm not too concerned about it!

This raspberry plant has got me totally confused!  I had read that the type of raspberry I had would fruit on last years canes.... but it's fruiting on new growth so I think I need to do a bit more reading!  Still... it looks like I might get 4 whole raspberries to eat this year so there's an unexpected treat!

The strawberry plants seem to either be doing very well or very badly; some of them (like this one!) are putting out beautiful crops of tasty strawberries whilst others have broken their stems and the fruit has rotted :(  I think I will need to modify these bags if I use them again next year or maybe look for a better pot with more rounded edges to give the fruiting stems a little support.

 All the tomatoes are fruiting now but the hanging baskets are definately leading the way - I can't believe that such a small plant can be so liberally covered in fruit - salads are going to awesome this summer.

And finally  my beautiful beans are thriving - this one is now going so well that i've given it a 'trellis' onto the roof of the shed!  I should probably have cut it down but its got flowers on the 'overflow' now so it seemed a shame to take them off.  I did think about tying on another cane but realised that there was no way I would be able to support it so left it at 2

The Mystery Plant....

It's getting more mysterious by the day!  The mystery plants have started flowering and I still have no idea what they are... but they're very pretty :D

I wanna know what it is already!

The green beans are also starting to bloom and putting out some gorgeous red buds

The strawberries are being cursed by their own success; unfortunately as the strawberries get plumper they weigh down the stems supporting them and several have bent over the edge of the plastic pockets damaging the plant so that nutrients aren't getting through and the stem (and strawberries :o) die.  I think I need to rig some curved protectors so they don't damage themselves but for now this cunning arrangement of canes will have to do!

On the plus side they're putting out runners like crazy and as long as I can keep them healthy I should have a truly ridiculous number of strawberry plants next year!

All grown up

My little plants are getting all grown up now and showing signs of fruiting. I imagine I'll get used to it over time but at the moment I still get a lovely sense of wonder when I look out of the back door and see my drab stone patio covered in lovely vibrant growing things!

Just a quick post today but here are some photos of the growing that's been going on:

No sign of fruit yet but it's definately getting 'bushier'

These little guys are growing so well I had to tie on extra canes to keep them going... if they get much taller I'm going to need a ladder to harvest them tho ;p

Apparently Rhubarb does just fine in pots - that leaf at the bottom is easily 3 dinner plates in size!

Even the latecomers are getting on well - this is the Raspberry cane that used to just be a stick!

It's growing well... and I still have no idea what it is!

I think 'Yummmmm' about covers this one

The tomatoes seem to have recovered from their brush with the frost but I think I need to seperate them out a bit more; at the moment they look rather like one mega-plant!

Oh Dear.... My poor indoor tomato had a nasty run in with the wind - it was a lot more spindly that the outside tomatoes and got knocked over :(  It's now tied to the fence and shortly after this picture I removed all the broken limbs... poor thing looks a little bare now but I'm hopeful it might make it through as the top is still growing nicely.

It seems I forgot to take a photo of the potatoes but they too are thriving - bushy greens are now springing out of the top of the grow bag and i've banked it up with compost to the top. Tasty taties are anticipated!

We Have Strawberries!

Okay, so they're not exactly ready to eat yet but how awesome do they look!

The neighbours flowers seem jealous... these little ones have crept under the fence to come and join us and, if I am not mistaken, they might be additional strawberries for us!

Fruity Update

Nothing much to say about these guys - just happily getting along and growing bigger by the day:

It has one more leaf than it used to!

Also much more leafy

Look at all those flower buds

Planting - Strawberries

Strawberries were the first plant I decided on whey I started thinking about what to grow; they're one of those luxuries that I can very rarely justify buying at the supermarket 'cos they cost so much and never fail to disappoint!  I rember the beauties that we used to bring home from (okay, eat at) the pick-your-own-fruit farms when we were little and would just love to recapture that flavour.

For my foray into strawberry growing I have chosen a selection of different strawberry plants housed in this very stylish planter from Lakeland.  It has handy side drainage to prevent me waterlogging the plants and lots of little pockets on the side for them to poke out of.  The pockets could possibly use being a little larger but with a little help from my scissors the baby strawberries nestled comfortably into their new home.

My crop will consist of:

• Honeoey: Early Season -"Fine bright red, firm fruit with superb flavour.  Heavy-cropping plants with easily picked fruit.  Good for dessert and freezing."
• Hapil: Mid Season- "Very large orange-red, conical fruit with delicious flavour.  Vigorous, heavy-cropping, lush plants"
• Cambridge Favourite: Mid Season - "Medium-large, pale pink/red conical fruit with good flavour.  Vigorous heavy-cropping, disease resistant plants. Good for jam making"
• Rhapsody: Late Season - "Large, glossy red fruit with flesh that is juicy, firm and flavoursome"

Obviously with only 10 plants I won't be gorging on strawberries all summer but I'm hoping that these will take well and provide me with runners to tend through the winter resulting in even more delicious fruit next year!