Today let’s head back to last August and take a look at what was going on in my garden. Even though it’s a few months ago, these photos have brought the memories straight back to the surface - funny how photos can do that isn’t it?
In the greenhouse I remember being so proud of my chillies, yes they’re small but boy were they fiery. In truth though we didn’t have a great veg-growing year, so every success was welcome. Our lack of success was I think due to the amount of shade in our garden - we need our trees cut for a better return. That’s not happened yet, so I’m considering my options for this year and plan to grow things that stand a good chance of producing a yield worth the effort required.
Our beans had nabbed one of the sunniest spots and did well, the broad beans which had been there before them less so.
My challenge for 2021 is to prevent MOH picking the borlotti beans when they look like this, the idea is to let them dry on the plant - wish me luck.
The weather was good though and so we took plenty of opportunities to be in the garden, for ice creams, cocktails and meals outside.
But there was also work to do. In the rear corner the jasmine had taken over and so we spent an afternoon cutting it back. I know it will grow again, and probably be better for a good trim. While doing this we discovered the vine which had come over the fence from next doo - it’s the thick stem that’s growing horizontally. And yes, it’s clearly been there for a while.
Not only was the stem thick, but it had fruited - and we had many bunches of grapes in our cherry tree, which the vine was using as its framework. This is the cherry tree that we had a bumper harvest of cherries from too, so they looked as if they were happy to share the space. We weren’t quite so happy, and cut out what we could, though we couldn’t get all of the vine out of the cherry tree - when we have that pruned, it’ll come out and we’ll be keeping an eye on preventing that happening again.
MOH tried a few of the grapes, which were sweet enough - I tried one, and it was ok, but there were almost as many pips as grapes so for a negligible return I was happy to pass.
Back closer to the patio a garden lights plan was being hatched. I’ve struggled with lights as if they go along the sides of the garden, to me, it makes it look more like a runway. I’m not sure how it took me so long to come up with the idea of stringing them across the garden, but it did. This string of solar lights were there as a trial, and were just about high enough for us to walk under.
The trial was a success and we bought several strings of lights, which typically arrived just as the weather turned. If our plans work out, by the time this post is live, they’ll be up and sparkling just when we want them to be. I’ll let you know.
The warmer evenings meant we spent a fair amount of time after working at home in our garden, with both the barbecue and candles being key features. And the odd bottle of wine too.
The evening light was good and the agapanthus continued to flower, and enjoy the evening sun.
We definitely enjoyed the evening sun, and the morning sun too with breakfasts in the garden as well as dinners - now that’s a real treat.
Let’s hope for the same this summer!
