The Friday Photo: gardening highs and lows

Firstly, the highs. The greenhouse with tomatoes far left, dwarf french beans to the right of them and aubergines at the back:

My outdoor tomatoes have real babies on them!:

My herb garden with, back row left to right, sweet peas, chamomile, flat leaf parsley, the triffid that is my fennel plant, then front frow: chives, mint, more chives and at the bottom you can just see the basil, rosemary and thyme.  Oh and that’s a little bay tree to the left:

And finally, the pumpkins.  Oh dear:

17 Responses to “The Friday Photo: gardening highs and lows”

1. Thriftcriminal says:

   July 25, 2008 at 10:12 am

   Yeah, my butternut squash are doing SHITE. I don’t think the weather is favourable for pumpkins and squash this year. My Chillis have flowered though and I’m hoping for a good crop from them. Fancy a few? Assuming they actually crop that is.
2. English Mum says:

   July 25, 2008 at 10:26 am

   Thrifty: Yes! Tried to get baby chilli plants but no garden centres around here had them – I was too late to grow from seed. Apparently they thrive in greenhouses too. Sent you a mail BTW.
3. nuttycow says:

   July 25, 2008 at 10:41 am

   Wow! Green fingers. I can’t even get basil to grow – that’s how rubbish I am
4. English Mum says:

   July 25, 2008 at 10:57 am

   Nutty: I just keep killing them then buying new ones in Tesco! I’ve gone through three corianders already – I think it’s just too bloody cold here! x
5. Thriftcriminal says:

   July 25, 2008 at 1:29 pm

   Basil from seed is a pain, we did it well once, but the last few have been rubbish. They get glasshouse whitefly v. easilly. Corriander is hard too, I think you are right about the temp, and it bolts if it gets too dry.
6. Karen says:

   July 25, 2008 at 2:11 pm

   Your growing things are looking impressive, very handy for doing flavoursome cooking you’re obviously so good at. Funny thing is pumpkins were the only thing that did great guns for us one year, maybe due to the Aussie climate. Doesn’t seem like long ago that I was laughing over your glasshouse scenario. You are good at telling a story! Had those things been planted before the glass went up?
7. English Mum says:

   July 25, 2008 at 3:41 pm

   Thrifty: All my basil died, as did all my lettuces and all my greyhound cabbage! The coriander did bolt, but at least it’s still alive. And after all that serenading too. Ungrateful buggers.

   Karen: Aw thanks. Erm, I think the herb garden went in slightly before the greenhouse. The herbs have gone bonkers for some reason. And I’ve got quite into mint tea as well. Oh poor Hubby, I know we all laughed but his fingers were in shreds for weeks! *roll*
8. Quickroute says:

   July 25, 2008 at 4:26 pm

   No pumpkin soup in the near future then (
9. English Mum says:

   July 25, 2008 at 5:11 pm

   QR: Er nope. Hallowe’en’s going to be a bit miserable too
10. tracey fenner says:

    July 25, 2008 at 5:30 pm

    well at least you have some growth…we are doing the hard lanscaping in our garden, for my vegi patch ect.well its a nightmare…blisters the size of i dont know what on my hands. you see saga on my blog soon………
    xx
    tracey
11. jennynib says:

    July 25, 2008 at 5:34 pm

    Tomatoes? Basil?

    I can sense a drive to Cavan followed by a very satisfying pasta dinner in my future…

    
12. English Mum says:

    July 25, 2008 at 6:24 pm

    Tracey: Must admit to severe laziness and the hire of landscape gardeners for that one. Don’t envy you those blisters, girl

    Mystic Jen: Your crystal ball is correct once more. I am this very minute working on a cauldron full of pork meatballs, borlotti beans, peppers, onions and aforementioned shop-bought tomatoes. All coming along very nicely….
13. wee jen says:

    July 25, 2008 at 10:37 pm

    Looking great! My friend had trouble getting squashes to grow too – I think she managed to get some baby ones after a couple of years of trying. But she was always giving away courgettes – couldn’t stop those buggers from springing up everywhere.
14. Baino says:

    July 25, 2008 at 10:39 pm

    Ooh I love herb gardens. I grow a small one in my old wheelbarrow but vegies? Too many wascally wabbits enjoying my salads! Pumpkins go nuts here, all you need is chuck the seeds from the Sunday roast on the garden and they’re off! And home grown tomatoes have a totally different taste to shop bought, even the vine ripened ones. Basil’s tricky, you have to pick the flowers off to stop it going to seed but maaaaaan does it smell great!
15. june in florida says:

    July 26, 2008 at 5:46 am

    Big thing in the south here is fried green tomatoes,they are breaded someway and are supposed to be delicious.Recipe could probably be found online.I am envious of your tomatoes, mine were a total failure 2 tomatoes, golf ball size.Basil growing like crazy, i have to keep topping it off.Does basil grow into a tree?
16. English Mum says:

    July 26, 2008 at 9:32 am

    Wee One: It’s funny, they started off really well but then just started to die off. Don’t know if it’s too much water/not enough/too hot/not hot enough… I’ve got courgettes. Or maybe it’s they’re cucumbers. Can’t remember now!

    Baino: Ah, I agree. The smell in the greenhouse is FAB. I’m just waiting for our wabbit population to work out how to climb up onto the railway sleepers. I’m sure the end is nigh… x

    June: I don’t think so – you’ll have to make lots of pesto!! Boo, I wish I lived somewhere warm. x
17. ENGLISH MUM: never knowingly undercatered » Blog Archive » Gardening news, steaks, potato wedges and rhubarb crumble says:

    September 3, 2008 at 8:36 am

    [...] I’ve had ups and downs with my first year of vegetable patch ownership.  For example, the sweet peas went completely [...]