Pests, Exploration and a New Toy

The pest battle intensifies and I make some fantastic discoveries in the garden.

It seems that now my plants are established and consistently yielding lots of great tasting produce that the bugs of the garden have noticed too.  I’m pretty sure it’s snails or slugs that have been having a go at my oriental vegetables. The vindictive portion of my brain is considering putting a ring of salt around the bottom of my pots but I know in my hear t of hearts that my conscience wouldn’t allow indiscriminate gastropod murder. I have resolved to pick any up that I see and relocate them to the hedge. The radishes too are a little on the holey side but I’m not sure what’s eating those. I think I will be asking agony plant again. 

I have transplanted the one bean that survived my clumsy attempts at sowing to the wine box that it was originally supposed to inhabit. I am pretty sure I won’t get any beans off of it this year but it was at least a useful learning experience. Also it has highlighted that I really ought to go out and get a few basic gardening tools. I can’t keep transplanting things with spoons.

Further exploration of the garden has yielded some incredible discoveries though. I have discovered a compost pile, two apple trees and a bumper crop of blackberries. Unfortunately the blackberries are located about 9 feet up at the back of the hedge so some ingenuity will be required to get most of them down. However the few I did manage to acquire made a delicious crumble. 

Also, due to the tragic demise of my old camera (It unfortunately took an almost unbelievable dive from the arm of the sofa into a pint of water) I have finally invested in a brand new camera which I must say is utterly glorious. Also on the technological front, don’t forget you can follow me on twitter @GreenSideUpEle

Happy Gardening,

Ele

The squirrel, the has beans and the little chilli plant that could

My first little setback.

I have been doing so well with my little patch that I guess it was only a matter of time before there was trouble in paradise. Unfortunately the beans I planted haven’t come up at all. Initially, I blamed the squirrel that I have seen in the garden and unjustly stalked the poor thing with my camera… possibly with the view to making a wanted poster. But, upon closer inspection I found most of the beans still in the soil but they were rotten. After some research I found out that beans cannot germinate without oxygen and in the Norwich monsoons the soil had gotten too wet to allow them to breath.  

However, the Carbon Gold compost in which they were planted has been brilliant for less finicky seeds and my plug plants. They have grown up almost unbelievably quickly. I am already planning a vibrant stir-fry for the oriental vegetables and some of the chilies from my incredibly productive little chilli plant. Fingers crossed for my next batch of beans, Ele

p.s In utterly unrelated news, I managed to change the inner tube on the back tyre of my bike completely unassisted and am inordinately proud of this fact.  

So, with slight guilt of my drowned beans on my conscience I have sowed the remainder in an old margarine tub and left it on a sunny windowsill. I think this way they won’t get waterlogged if there are more downpours.