Spring update.

It’s difficult to remember that it’s actually still spring. The weather has been tropical and we haven’t had rain in weeks, with none on the forecast horizon either. The ground is dry with cracks appearing even in the more fertile areas.

In the summerhouse the temperatures have been silly but this has allowed me to quickly germinate and grow on some of the more unusual plants. Lemongrass is a first for me. I only tried it because Miss C saw it in a local hardware store at the beginning of the lockdown. I would have assumed it was to specialist for home growing and have never cooked with it before but it’s always good to try new things.

Asparagus peas grew fairly well in the tunnel last year but due to the triffid like qualities of my tomatoes I couldn’t get to them to harvest. Having saved the seeds at the end of the year I’m trying again.

Chinese Lanterns were also picked by Miss C on the hardware store visit. I’ve had three attempts at germinating them, including using the propagator, so this time looks hopeful.

Oca is a plant I grow every year. Small tubers, that always seem to grow, get left in random places all over the garden as well. Unfortunately we just don’t really eat it. It tastes quite nice and grows well but the tubers are tiny and very knobbly and I’m just to lazy to prepare them. This year I’m growing it for the leaves which I’ve read taste interesting in salads. We will see!

Chillies are staying in the summerhouse this year. Last year I grew a number of varieties and one mixed packet had two plants in that could only be described as killer. Brother-in-law had never been beaten by a chilli but to see him and his drunken friends on their knees crying over some tiny red and orange ones was funny but quite concerning. I freeze most of my peppers and dry the chillies. So far everyone we have tried to eat was clearly cross pollinated by the killer chillies. I’ve had to throw them away for fear of ruining any more dishes. This year all chillies are segregated and nothing has been grown without careful packet reading.

In the Polytunnel the cucumbers look healthy. I wanted to use up some free seeds from a magazine so am growing Telegraph. It has good reviews but needs the male flowers removed so that will be a challenge. I have left myself lots of space in front so that I can get to them a bit easier.

I’m hoping the whole tunnel will be better organised this year, I’ve changed the tomato layout for what I hope is easier picking. My coriander has gone straight to seed but I guess that’s not a problem when it’s seeds I’m growing it for.

Melons grow in the bottom of the plastic indoor greenhouse frame. They seemed to like the extra heat when I was growing the seedlings on so I’ve left them in there. I plan to take the plastic off next month, once temperatures are consistently higher during the night.

The sweet peppers are growing a bit better now. Having been unable to get any multi purpose compost I made my own. I used a mix with a high proportion of household waste compost. This is available for free at our local tip but it is a poor quality product and when watered it clumped together and was not free draining enough for some plants. I was able to buy multi purpose at the hardware store last week so I tipped out all the plants that looked to be struggling, teased off the compost and repotted. The chillies and peppers have romped away since so that was clearly the problem.

Squashes had no such problems with the waste compost. My spaghetti squash loved it and now seem just as happy in the top of the compost bin where they already have small squash forming.

Happy days!

Hostile takeover.

Last winter I had a hive vandalised.https://acquest13.wordpress.com/2019/11/27/apiary-disaster-part-1/?preview=trueThe bees spent the winter in my Polytunnel and became quite friendly. They were never able to store much honey though and just ate the food I gave them each week. As soon as it felt warm enough I moved them outside and although they initially started collecting pollen (a good sign the queen is laying) they never really seemed very busy.As soon as it was warm enough I opened them and gave them a check. The queen was there, quite happily wandering about and the bees were calm and busy. As they were quite small in number I moved them into a nucleus box so they had less space to heat.I hoped this would perk them up but it has become clear that the queen had stopped laying and the hive was dying out. In general at this point a beekeeper would kill the Queen and unite the bees with another hive. However, my other hives are all huge and don’t need more bees, it is nice having friendly bees flying around the garden and mainly, I like the queen. I couldn’t bring myself to kill her.I decided to leave it to nature and let them die out naturally.I had heard that swarms sometimes takeover a weak hive but having never had a weak hive I had no idea if that was true, until today.While planting a few herbs in my new raised bed I realised I was surrounded by a lot of bees. I was in the middle of the tail end of a swarm that were literally swarming into the nuc box.

I have no idea how it started, whether the original bees were evicted or just surrendered but I’m guessing my lovely Queen has been dispatched, which is sad.So now I have another hive of bees.This is 2020, the year I decided to reduce my bee numbers. The year I decided I’m to old for the heavy lifting and commitment. It’s 2 days after I sold a full hive of bees to a local new beekeeper. I now have just as many as ever, a promise to support the new keeper and a need to buy new equipment.I wanted to be a keeper for a number of years before I got bees and I can’t help feeling that I will be a keeper for a number of years after I decide to stop!

An early harvest.

It’s not our first harvest of the year. Lettuce, spring onions, chard and perpetual spinach have been picked all winter, but it is our first harvest of this years growth.

Marjoram and oregano look very similar. Its unfortunate that the labels faded in the sunshine but we love them both so I’ll try to decide later.

Thyme and savoury have also grown large enough to harvest. This is a variegated variety of thyme with some lovely white shoots. It’s got a rogue lysimachia growing through it so I’ll avoid that bit!

They hang in bags, made from Miss C’s old voile bedroom curtains, in my summerhouse to dry.

The mint is also growing nicely. We have spearmint and chocolate varieties. I’ve promised I’ll make some mint sauce this year but for now it’s Miss C who picks it all. She is happy to just snack on the leaves as she wanders around the garden, funny child.

Lilac.

When I was a child we lived in a city with a small garden so typical of housing estate homes. In our tiny garden we had 2 huge lilac bushes. I’ve no idea where my dad picked them up but by the time I remember them they were as tall as the upstairs windows. My mother complained about them constantly, ‘bugs came into the bedroom when the windows were open’ , ‘they blocked the light’ , ‘you have to hang out of the window to see the blossom’. It was a yearly battle but dad was the one expected to do the work of cutting them back and he never did.

Years later I left a number of pots under those same trees while I was between house moves. They sat there for some years before mum, on one of my visits to the house, gave them all back. She opened my car boot and loaded it with pots of soil, many with only a few weeds, a few with things worth having.

A few seeds had obviously fallen from the lilac and grown into saplings in one of the pots. I planted them in the wildlife garden at my house and they have been there ever since.

We lost dad, unexpected last year and it seems fitting that this is the year the lilac is at its best. The smell permeates the whole bottom end of the garden and the flowers are thick and beautiful. There are three plants, two are around 5ft tall, perfect for seeing the flowers, but one is romping ahead and stands head and shoulders over the others.

Dad must be smiling down to see that one!