Sunflowers, snails, slugs and squirrels

The weather has been a bit changeable of late to say the least. Some of the sunflowers have been attacked by snails, slugs or squirrels but there are some that have out outmaneuvered them like the one next to the garage (above). It’s so tall nothing can climb it without a bit of work and is a little way out from the garage roof so the squirrels can’t even reach it from on high. This one above is at least a ridiculous 10 feet or more! We’re going to try and save some seed and if anyone fancies a swap for something just as crazy we’ll be game. We go for anything labelled as “Giant” “Rare” or “Out of this world” so if you have anything to exchange, drop us a message via comments!

Another thing with this changeable weather is it is a breeding ground for slugs and these are the gits (above) we have to contend with in SE23. They’re sturdy old things and we think they’d return if we collected them all in a bag and slung them up the local park. These are not common or garden slugs these are south London slugs and they mean business!

At least the pond has been loving this present weather even though we haven’t. The fish and plants seem happy with the rising waterline and if you stand still for long enough you’ll see mini-frogs jumping about in the areas around it. Let’s hope they gang up all together and teach those damn slugs a lesson!

My leeks are no Usain Bolt’s, let me tell you!

Rakim – It’s Been A Long Time [DJ Premier – Original Version]

It was sunny yesterday morning so I went out early in the back to tidy up the bottom bed, weeds were beginning to sprout there and bindweed was finding it’s way in too. I do like a bit of clearing and weeding as it also gives my headspace a chance of a clear-out too (man)!one clear bedFunnily enough I was going to “rest” that bed this year, but in February I obtained a great selection of stuff from the seed swap organised by Lewisham Gardens and Golightly Gardens (post here.) Then there was that bargain seed job-lot I won on ebay too (post here) and that’s apart from packets bought from the garden centre, so those seeds had to go somewhere!on a cheery tipIt started with some poppies, then it was beetroots, carrots and a couple of salad crops. Then I added a couple of different varieties of sunflower, parsnips, rocket, cornflowers and not forgetting there were some strawberry plants in already. It looked like a garden designer’s nightmare (below pic: the plot in the summer). So much for a “resting” bed with nothing in it!June_2015_2It’s like gardening itself though, once you start it’s difficult to stop. You go out for ten minute’s “tipping around with a hoe” and you return a few hours later after finding “another job I just had to do”.Tarrium and garlicOne thing though, a row of leeks that I started off from seed (above, in the seed tray in the “found in the street” terrarium taken around late February) are just about ready if I wanted to use them small. How long do they take to grow?Back bed leeks

It shouldn’t happen to an (onion) set!

clean out the seedtinI was off all last week with the dreaded lurgy and some lurgy it was! I had no interest in gardening plus no energy so apart from sorting out my seed tin for the seed swap this saturday, last week was a total write-off!

Onions_sproutingYesterday I took another look at the onions that are supposedly stored in ideal conditions under the stairs which should have been put in in the autumn for overwintering. Oh dear!

And finally a quick reminder about the seed swap next Saturday in Deptford. It’s only a quid and you get three talks thrown in as well, so see you there! More details on twitter here.

Seed Swap 2015

I want that, I want that…

happy

I’d love to say a big thank you to Lewisham Gardens and Golightly Gardens for their excellent seed swap in Hither Green last night. I had an idea that it would be a good one when I popped into the great Dig It Nursery in New Cross beforehand as I was a bit early, and the owner Mihaly very kindly donated a carrier bags worth of his happy seed range (how good is that?)

Seed swap hither green

It was a nice friendly atmosphere in the Station Hotel, there were a couple of big tables worth of boxes of various envelopes, seed packets, “dealer” bags, plastic bags and folded paper containing all sorts of weird and wonderful seed.

seedswap in tupperware

I’m now suffering from the “why didn’t I take some of those” or “had a pack of those” syndrome. It was great to meet up with like-minded people who also enjoy rummaging through boxes of seeds and writing on and taping up paper bags. I also met Theresa of Kitchen Buddy (who told us about a foraging walk on May 25th which sounds interesting see ourhithergreen.com) who I done a good swap of mangetout for a pack of cinnamon basil seed who I found out is a good friend of our old musical collaborator Hayereyah, talk about a small world! Viva la seed swap!