So far so good. It would seem the boffins found the summer switch and turned it on. One week we were wrapped up warm in beanies and socks with overnight lows of 9C and then the next week it was 26C in the house and too hot to decorate the Christmas tree. Now it is starting to feel like Christmas. That blast of heat you get as you walk out of an air conditioned shopping mall laden with gifts and goodies, that’s the festive spirit we need more of.
The garden is also enjoying the heat. Things have begun to pick up and flourish finally, instead of sitting there sulking and refusing to move in any direction. The tall peas have stretched up to fill the netting. But they did it with stealth and I didn’t notice how big they were until I looked at a photo from a few weeks ago and got a bit of a shock.
The flowers have settled in nicely and are starting to bloom. I have to remember why they are there though and actually harvest them for the vase. If they are anything like peas then the more I pick then hopefully the more I’ll get. But there is such an elegant grace about them that it feels wrong to harshly decapitate them for my own pleasures. I will need to strengthen my resolve – flowers are to be bought inside.
I do remember having this kind of dilemma with veggies when I first started growing them. I couldn’t bring myself to actually eat them. I went to all that trouble to grow them and I wanted to admire them for a bit, have friends notice them by my not so subtle positioning in a basket on the table, in a shameless attempt at seeking praise for my efforts. By the time we ate them they were ever so slightly past their best. We are much better at it now. Food is on the table within minutes of harvesting, and it tastes so much better that way!
You may have noticed an increase in audio visual activity lately. This is because I have begun a weekly garden round up on my You Tube Channel, which is in turn being shared with an English You Tube Channel website – The Horticultural Channel bringing a bit of sunshine to gloomy northern winters, so I thought I’d share this with you too. I hope you don’t mind.
The harvest is beginning to make its presence felt and my trugs are getting filled often. The irrigation system plans are coming along but I’ll explain it in more detail soon. I have done some succession planting and I’m so proud of myself because I am normally terrible at this and leave it too late or just completely forget. The beds are mostly weed free and I feel this strange sense of control. Although we know this is just an illusion. Gardeners are never in control.
Come again soon – I think my beetroot might be ready… already?!
Sarah the Gardener : o )
Such abundance – even tho it’s snowing on your site 🙂
Hi Jill. The snow is to go with all the usual festive stuff we have like snowmen tree ornaments, red breasted robins on Christmas cards and carols loudly declaring “let it snow!” I love how most of the Christmas imagery is completely out of sorts with what we actually have! But without it, it wouldn’t seem like Christmas at all!
Cheers Sarah : o )
Of course – it’s perfectly Christmassy! Your garden really does look fabulous
Great post Sarah! Wow potato onions? Sounds interesting .. Love those peas .. I have beetroot nearly ready too. Yay! Also I’m being particularly good at succession planting. Loving my garden 🙂
Hi Julie. I got potato onions from TM and they are more like shallots, although it would seem there are varieties out there that can get quite big. I just want some to pickle.
Gardens are flourishing now so its hard not to love them!
Cheers Sarah : o )
Even though it has been wet and cold here, I set foot (most bravely I thought) inside Sanctuary yesterday and everything had gone mental in there! The netting all over everything seems to create it’s own little climactic nirvana and my little tiny seedlings that I planted last week are standing up and wearing their big plant trousers this week. My new kiwiberry that we haven’t had the time to plant out yet (or the weather) is firmly attached to my poor long suffering bergamot plant and the passionfruit vine (same deal as the kiwiberry) has decided that it can’t wait any longer and is heading out across the grass to find itself something to climb up…Summer might not feel like it is here (more rain forcast) but it apparently is. I don’t mind the rain, I love not having to water as we get a very long season with precious little rain whatsoever and the longer we can stall this “long dry” the better in my mind and all of this extra rain is filling up my great big new water container ready for rainwater cocktails for the plants in the heat of summer. We might not have “proper Christmases” when it comes to food but I can’t think of a better way to approach Christmas than being able to head out and harvest your own fresh veggies to grace your Christmas table and even I am going to have spuds on my Christmas table that I grew this year (only thanks to my lazy hunting last year and my compost heap peelings that went mental early 😉 ). Your potato onions are lovely. Mine are just leaves at the moment but give them time…Your beetroot are ready? I only just planted mine! ;).
Hi Fran. We have wet and hot at the moment. It is so muggy. This weather is so all over the place. A few nice days wouldn’t go a miss.
I ran out of time to prune my passionfruit this year so it is mostly on it’s own and kinda looks half dead. Lets not speak of it again.
I planted more beetroot recently. This is something I can grow year round. Which is cool.
I hope it warms up for you soon,
Cheers Sarah : o )
Still cold here but I am NOT complaining as I know what the alternative is ;).
I had no idea zucchini plants were so beautiful 🙂 Fabulous photo.
Hi Mel, it is a gherkin plant, but zucchinis are just as wonderful!.
Cheers S : o ) xxx
excellent post, very informative. I wonder why the other specialists of this sector do not realize this.
You must continue your writing. I’m sure, you have a huge readers’ base already!
Thanks for the kind words.
Cheers Sarah : o )