Tiresome

I do not want to come across as tiresome and like a lot of you I really do not  love looking at others holiday photos but I had to show you the photo of the vegetable garden. It is a space that is closed in on three sides, the fourth opens out into a field where horses do what horses do with jumps. Within this area are not only vegetables lined out but areas of flowers for cutting and plants lined out for growing on, they will either go into the garden or the compost. It is such a perfect scale. the effected it has on you is a space that has a lot of love and joy, with fun added in.

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De Wiersse

I have just got back from a long weekend in the Netherland’s. It is going to be Laura’s birthday soon so I was asked over for a weekend. I have to say it is such a special place. There is something so true about its style that a lot of over done gardens could lean from. And for me the pure joy is the vegetable garden, it is the garden that melts your heart and reminds you of the joy of gardening. Thank you Laura and family for such a special weekend and for Jonny who changed the car tyre on the side of the motorway outside Gent.

Conifer

I am a bad parent. I did not remember that it was Conifer’s 6th birthday until the kind Adele and Simon wrote to wish her a Happy Birthday. I love this dog so much, she gives true joy to my life. Happy Birthday dear Conifer xxx P.S Conifer is on the right of the photo.

Prune

Well it really is summer over here, it is hell hot. It does remind me of my winter trips to see my sister in tropical Australia….it was not the reason I moved to England. But I have made the time to do some of the summer jobs that I do not always get around to, summer pruning the fruit. Jonny had a friend down yesterday who has spent a year working on fruit with the RHS so I got her up to the fruit cage to sort out the gooseberries, we gave them a late summer pruning. I was reminded of something Christopher said to me, the best time to prune something is when you can get to it. They have since had a good watering and weed.

Rat

Miscanthus has developed an interest in the two-year old compost heap. It is fair to say that there is a very high chance that a rat family has moved in which is great for me as it will give the dogs a reason to get out of bed this winter, they will spend a lot of time  digging out the rat family. I just hope that the rats are not going to start to eat the gourds on the heap to get enough fat for the winter…..a new war has begun I fear.

 

Climb

There is a crop up there now trying to take my attention away from the pumpkins, it is the climbing spinach and I have to say it is looking great. This is the first time that I have grown it and now that I have sen what it can do I will use it in a more interesting way next year. The seed comes from Johnny’s selected seeds in the U.S and you need to look for ‘Red Malabar Spinach’. I am sure the seed can also be found in the U.K.

Support

I was remind today by a dear friend about giving support to others, not something that I am always good at but something that I can change and work on. So to make a difference and support something today I decided I had to do something with the pumpkins. My two big boys needed some support. I came up with the idea of a knee pad and post. It is the kind of thing that one would see in New Zealand and as they say you can take the boy out of New Zealand but you can not take New Zealand out of the boy. I am very pleased with the lessons of the day, thank you dear friend.

Up

It looks like I am a day out seeing my full moon with the full moon but I was still able to get up to the vegetable garden and do what I needed to do and say good night to my white pumpkin with the light of the day after full moon.

Full Moon

We have a full moon in the sky and a few on the compost heap. My big orange boy has a friend, a big white guy. I tried a new pumpkin seed this year call ‘Full Moon’ and I am very happy with the results. It is a big round pumpkin that can get up to 90 pounds. I have read that the flesh is very good for making pies, it does seem like I may be making a lot of pies if he keeps growing….I am going to go and look at him tonight in the light of the full moon. I just hope I need to pee at the same time, kill two birds with one stone, or badger. I may need to send some of these seeds over to Kosta to try.

Tart

There is a reason for growing some fruit and vegetables and the reason to grow tomatoes is the making of tomato tart. It does seem to come at the end of a good summer, some years the tomatoes are not up to much but this year we have had a good summer and now the badgers are eating the fruit. I have had to make the tart with fruit from the shop to see that it works for people who do not grow them, the recipe is going to be in the book.