Cheers again to Mike & Julia for this continuing look into their back garden with some wonderful dahlias (we think they are all dahlias). Thanks again for the pics Julia, they are great.
Towards the end of the growing season pt 2
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Category Archives: Dahlias
From our north London correspondent
A big thanks to Debby H for sending us some pictures of how her garden is getting on now that we are on the cusp of spring. The bluebells (above) look great and the strawberrries (below) are now starting to flower.
We don’t use nets on our strawberries here as we only have a few plants dotted about but it is a great thing to keep the birds and other fruit eating pests off them. Apart from a little big of slug damage to a dahlia in her garden, things are looking are looking good. Great to hear that the peonies in the garden are doing well too. We’ve got one that was overshadowed by a shrub nearby so we gave the offending shrub a good haircut and because of having more light getting to it, the peony is doing much better now.
There’s some good stuff happening indoors as well which is very interesting. The cosmos seedlings we featured here a fortnight ago are coming on a treat!
If you remember, Debby just used the whole dead heads from last year’s plant that were just scattered and covered with compost and the seeds weren’t initially separated. They are looking great! Saving your own plant’s seeds are a great way of gardening on an economical tip.
Also Debby told us “The rudbeckia has germinated although it is still tiny” and “the 12 tomatoes are gradually growing very slowly”. Our tomatoes are the same and have even thought to start another batch off as they are so slow. Usually at this time of year we have a few very leggy tomato plants ready to go out but then again we didn’t start them just after Christmas as we usually are tempted to do.
Thanks for the pictures Debby and we look forward to seeing how things progres
Raking it in
Saturday was a lovely day weather-wise and as part of our “little and often” regime we got on our hands and knees (and on one of those green kneelers) and tidied up the bed by the garage. We still don’t know if the dahlias we left in over winter will be okay but we’ll have to wait and see. The cabbages that we cut just the tops off and left to regrow are still growing and giving us leaves so don’t give them up for dead when you harvest them initially. If you keep a few leaves on the plant they’ll grow again, not massively but enough for some cabbage leaves to go with your Sunday dinner.
Sadly we had a fish fatality this morning so after a quick burial, the pond’s fountain was put back in, the oxygenating plants thinned out and the remaining fish fed. We think we may also have a leak in there so after topping the pond up a little we will be keeping our eyes on it.
And finally we gave the lawn it’s first cut of the season utilising the Westminster Council spring grass cutting (WCSGC) method. Mow it once on the longest cut, then a medium cut and then after that give it a right old short cut. We know it’s longwinded and a pain but it sure beats the mower getting stuck and leaving some nasty looking marks on the grass that’ll take a while to recover. Here’s to some sunshine and a little rain this week to get the grass off to a good start.
An alternative to lockdown lumbago
Last week wasn’t the best this end what with sciatica raising its ugly head followed by a bit of lockdown depression combined with the cold weather. And the dahlia tubers are still in the ground (hopefully not rotting away), their frost-blackened foilage a constant reminder that they have to be dug up. But in this weather? We think not. It’s better to stay in listen to some music and think of what seeds we’re going to be buying very soon as spring is not that far away!
Because of the bad back we’re still catching up on a couple of episodes of the great This is a music show that goes out on the shortwaves. If you click here you’ll be treated to the 100th edition of the show featuring 2 hours of the best in thrift shop classics, across the board genre-wise and some great reggae. A big shout to Your Host for getting the show to the landmark number! Tune in and turn on. And check their new website here and if you fancy donating a few quid/dollars to pay for airtime there please do as it’s a wonderful show!
And still on the theme of shortwave, if you’ve visited a supermarket masked up a few times this lockdown here’s a broadcast (below) that might interest you called KMRT. Listen out at 27.45 for a mix by One Deck Pete called “Buy one get one free” featuring tunes by Tyler Newman, Allen Ginsberg, Anima Universalis, Japanese Sound Portrait, Beatz for Food, Lullatone, Cantoma (Phil Mison) and Z Lovecraft. So break open a big tube of Voltarol and work yourself up into a shopping frenzy. #Supermarketsarethenightnightclubs #shoppingconnectsusall
https://soundcloud.com/user-25048993/kmrt-one-stop-shortwave-shopping-experience-9395-khz-3112021
The weather it is a-changin’
Wow, it’s December can you believe? No wonder it’s freezing out there and the rest of the week looks like it’s going to be getting colder. We’ve heard from our gardening pals in Cincinnati (Cheers Justin!) and Freiberg, Germany (Cheers Jazz’min) where they’ve had their first dusting of snow so I doubt it won’t be long until we’ll get some.
Those dahlias were still looking fine last weekend but we reckon it won’t be long till the frost comes and blackens the plants when it will be time again to dig them all up and stick them somewhere frost free and dry for the rest of the winter, keeping an eye out for any rotting or mouldy tubers while they’re in storage.
We can’t complain as those spikey orange ones have been great this year, flowering right up until we last looked so going to the effort of digging them up and storing them indoors is a small price to pay for a few more years of the same.
And the nice plastic looking pink variety we were given this year was great too (cheers Marc).
And the beds in front of the Dad corner (that has been productive this year thanks to the new raised beds) have been tidied up a bit and now ready for the winter. In the pic you will notice a couple of cabbage stalks that we left when we cut the leaves off them. Not sure if it will happen over the winter but usually when you cut them off like that, the leaves grow back again. Value for money or what?
Spikey tops in September
It’s a lovely day here today in south London as the sun has made a bit of a comeback this weekend. The dahlias in the garden are looking great especially the deep red cacti ones (above). We love this half opened one (below) too which has a bit of a punk rock look about it!
Below are some plum tomatoes that are a bit of a mystery as we don’t even remember sowing them. Perhaps they were left over seed from the ones had a few years ago? The delights of a non-named seed envelope at the bottom of the seed box eh?
The sweet peas were a bit of a disappointment though this year (below) god knows why that happened. The sunflower beside it weren’t that brilliant either, perhaps the soil needs a good bit of organic matter?
Whilst on a jog come fast walk around the area this morning these great cacti dahlias (below) were spotted in a front garden near Catford. How good are those?
We hope the weather’s good your side and you’re enjoying the last little fling of summer!
#septembersunshine #haslockdownendedyet?
Dahlias during the day, Perseids later on tonight
Big shout to our good mate Marc B for passing on a tuber of this lovely dahlia earlier this year. Look at it now! Ok it’s a bit thirsty looking and is a bit droopy but don’t we all feel like that when the temperature’s as mad as this?
Remember it’s the peak of a meteor shower tonight (or thereabouts.) So if you’re thinking of sitting out the back later on (it’s far too hot to sit in or even for trying to get to sleep!) have a look at this site here (and their twitter account here) it’s “Dead good” as they say. We’ve had many a happy evening looking at their twitter feed, looking up at the night sky, looking at their twitter feed, looking up at the night sky (Ad infinitum).
Tomorrow never knows (it’s going to be 34 degrees)
It’s a Thursday night and it was still 20 odd degrees outside a couple of hours ago when we gave the raised beds a watering, not the best time to do it we know but the plants are parched and have you seen the weather forecast for tomorrow? They’re going to need all the water they can get. On the way back and forth to fill up the watering can we passed this sad cabbage (above) and for weeks we’ve been thinking it’s on its last legs but it seems to keep going.
As we keep saying, it’s been a mad old year with the COVID19 lockdown but it’s forced us to grow more stuff in the garden and even given us time to give the plants a bit of TLC as we couldn’t go out anywhere. The raised beds have turned into a jungle and there’s a good bit of garden anarchy going on elsewhere, dahlia’s partnered with cabbages and a courgette/zucchinni plonked next to the silver birch we found in a carrier bag in the street three years ago (here) and more self-seeded nasturtiums than anyone could ever wish for.
The other day we picked a few green potatoes where the sun had got at them thus making them non-edible. We thought we’d throw them on the compost heap then thought of all the times we’ve pulled up sprouting potato skins from the beds and remembered a tip from Bob Flowerdew where he sticks weeds, potato skins and anything that may sprout again into a bucket of water. Then when the stuff is beyond redemption he sticks the mush into the compost bin. We’re giving it a try too, that bucket alongside the comfrey liquid on the go is making it a place of strange smells at the bottom of the garden! #lockdowngardening #dontsmellthosebuckets
And news just in…
https://soundcloud.com/thisisamusicshow/this-is-a-music-show-075
If a picture paints a thousand words
As seen in the Weeds garden this morning just before we got a bit of much needed rain.
#gardeninginlockdown #dontletlockdowngetyoudowntoomuch
Can’t wait, won’t wait, will try
Patience, that’s what you need when it comes to this gardening lark. Sadly we haven’t got any.
This week we took the dahlia tubers straight out from under the stairs (where they’ve been hibernating since late autumn) and into the ground even though there’s still a chance of frost. We also left a couple of them in the garden from last season as we couldn’t be bothered to dig them out. Why do we do these things when we know we shouldn’t?
We have got protection for them and the other plants that don’t do well when it comes to frosts though. There’s the seed potatoes under the black membrane that was used under the decking and lots of DIY plastic/wood contraptions (don’t throw out your jam jars!) over vegetable seedlings that are germinating so it ain’t that bad.
All the gardening books tell you to be aware of late frosts, they also tell you that runner beans seeds don’t like sitting in cold soils and “for god’s sake don’t put out your tomato plants out early as they’ll suffer if it gets cold” but we still do it (we’ve a couple of tomato seedlings in the ground at the moment we’re ashamed to say.) It goes like this, we see a period of lovely sunshine so the hoe is taken out from its winter hiding place and then it’s all systems go after that. We don’t think this lockdown has helped in holding back either.
Talking of lockdowns, there’s a new gardening-related game developing here. At least once a week on our (very) regular visits to the compost heap a gloved hand will be thrust into the mass of rotting vegetables, old ripped up leccy bills and single tea bags to “feel the heat”. That’s not normal behaviour is it? Early signs of “lockdown lunacy” perhaps?
Weeds up to me knees 