I have two lots of broad beans growing. One lot in the garden and one lot in a pot. The ones in the pot were by far the best, but the ones in the garden appear to have caught up.
Both lots have lots of beans on, and I have already used some.
My son, who usually only eats carrots says he loves broad beans. I’ll believe it when I see it. (I usually shred them up and use them in pasta sauce.)
Broad beans in a pot
The pot blew over quite a lot. I had to put a brick on it to weigh it down! It takes about 4 pints of water a day.
Broad beans in the garden.
This year we have had a lot of rainfall. Usually my water butt is empty by now, but here is a photo of in, taken in the least week of July 2011.
I usually decant the water into other containers, so there is room in the water butt for future rainfall. However most of my storage vessels cracked or split during the severe winter.
The water butt, as you can probably tell, is an old dustbin. When the Council gave us wheeley bins, I recycled the plastec dustbin into a water butt and the metal dustbin into a compost bin (Which dries out far too quickly and doesn’t work very well!)
On May 5th 2011 I posted a blog showing some rather small cabbages which had been out all Winter. The cabbages have now been in the ground over a year and are huge. My cabbages have suffered badly with caterpillars in previous years, so I netted them this year (The box of netting was my Mother’s Day present – Better for you than chocolates!) The highlight of my day if watching a cabbage white butterfly fluttering round the netting and then flying off. (Maybe I need to got out more!)
Cabbages under net
Modern art sculpture?
I do think my cabbage netting should be in the running for a Turner Prize!
Lat year I bought two packs of pansies from a DIY store. They had been reduced, as they were in a poor state. I planted some in pots and some in the garden.
I took seeds off the pansies and ended up with a good crop this year. Some went in pots and some have gone into the garden.
Spanish Pot
I bought the pot shown above several years ago in Spain. It was the only one left in the Garden Centre. It has a hole in the back and hangs on a nail (Which was already in the wall). I sowed the pansy seeds directly into the pot.
The pot has one drainage hole at the bottom and in previous years it has suffered from drying out too quickly. However this year there have been no such problems. The pot was well soaked before it went out (I keep it inside over Winter as I’m sure it’s not frost proof) and we have had so much rain it hasn’t had a chance to dry out. I still try to water it once or twice a day. The pot is on a West facing wall, which is where the majority of the wind comes from, but the pansies look healthy, and I’m hoping some different colours flower before the end of the season.
I also have some pansies in a hanging basket.
Perennial Hanging Basket
Being a person who doesn’t like to part with money, this is a perennial hanging basket. Everything in it is either grown from seeds or cuttings. This year it features mostly pansies and nasturtiums. It did have an ivy in it, but that didn’t survive the cold winter.
I have 9 gooseberry bushes, 3 each of 3 varieties. Most of the nine have fruited this year. The best croppers have been a red variety which I can’t remember the name of! I have now picked the gooseberries and I probably have enough for a small pie. (If anyone can direct me towards a recipe for a small gooseberry pie, I would be most grateful).
The gooseberry bushes are planted too close together, but this was the only available space in the garden at the time they arrived. I will have to give them all a good prune later in the year, as they have grown into wierd shapes over the past two years.
Hopefully next year I will have enough for a whole pie!
Red gooseberries - They taste lovely.Bald Gooseberry Bushes.
Caterpillars ate the leaves off the bushes earlier in the year, but this didn’t stop them fruiting. The bushes are planted behind a thick hedge, so need watering a lot.
A branch blew off the neighbours tree earlier in the year. It landed on the fence (At the side of the hedge) but no damage was caused to the gooseberry bushes.
Fallen branch. May 2011
May 2011View from upstairs window
I have had two cherry trees for 4 – 6 years, and this year have finally got some to eat. The cherry trees are both Dwarf Cherry ‘Stella’. Only one has produced cherries this year, but it’s better than none in the previous years. Last year there were two cherries on the tree, but the birds got them before I did. This time I netted the tree, and this has ‘netted’ success, as I have the grand total of 13, yes, thirteen edible cherries.
Although the net stopped the birds going off with the whole cherry, I think some were able to peck through the net and damage some cherries. There has also been some insect damage to a few cherries.
On the whole, I am thrilled. I have tasted some of the cherries and the taste just like ones bought in the shops.
Cherries under the netDwarf Cherry 'Stella'
As well as the two cherry trees, I also have a plum tree and a dual pear tree, but have yet to fruit. I also have two well established apple trees, both were already in the garden when we bought the house.
Plum (Far left), Dwarf Cherry 'Stella', Mini Fir, Dual Pear (Far Right)
