June 21st, the longest day of the year! Pretty damp day today all told and although the trees and plants
will appreciate the water especially at this time of the year, it stopped us from doing anything much outside in the gardens.
That being said, there were other chores to be getting on with. Loraine has been spending time pricking out seedlings and potting on those who are outgrowing their present size pots. Careful checks on the polytunnel plants need to be maintained at this time of the year with pinching out the tomatoes and checking that the pots are not drying out.
Paul was busy today getting the balustrade made up in the workshop. It will be made from metal with twisted horizontal bars and boxed uprights. He has to weld on the base plates and drill the holes for the twisted bars to pass through. The tops of the box section will be finished with a metal ball to give it a more fancy feel to the build. When welded to specifications, the parts will be brought up for assembly on-site, the twisted bars will be fitted to the stanchions which are to be screwed down to the 3-inch decking and then welded to provide strength and support.
The whole thing will be given an anti-rust coating before receiving its top coat of black metal paint. The decking will be given a coat of anti-slip paint to finish it off.
The flowers are now making an appearance in earnest and are looking good. Over the years they will get better as the
bulbs and tubers get settled in.
Work is also continuing inside the hut and the sink and worktop have been installed and are plumbed in with just the outside waste pipe to fit. The guttering also needs to be installed at the back of the hut and we are considering 2 feeds for this rainwater. We wish to have 3 water butts placed on the Southside of the hut in a row to provide plenty of water during the summer months. This is easy to accomplish but we also wish to have the excess water once the butts are filled to be channeled to the pond when it is built across the road from the west side of the hut. That will take some thought!
This last week also saw the completion of the water feeds to the patio, the polytunnel, the vegetable gardens, and a feed to the hut. The previous system was a little wanting and had been cobbled together with a mish-mash of different sizes and untidy pipe-laying. Paul has re-laid new pipe where required, replaced leaking valves, and built-in proper standpipes to enable easier watering when needed.
There are more plants to go in the ground when we have the time to get them planted and these will eventually provide
more windbreaks which are needed.
Above are a few more plants we picked up to add to our ever-increasing stock. We have two different Azaleas, a new Hydrangea, a dome type Hebe which grows to a big height, and 6 hedging plants. Loraine has planted more Lavender plants near the Asparagus bed to provide a little wind shelter and to look great of course. She has also been very busy doing all of the vegetable garden chores such as planting, weeding, picking, and watering whilst Paul gets on with the building works.
Although the Orchard has produced some blossom this year, it was not great due to the strong, cold winds that came in around blossom time. There are a few fruits appearing on some of the trees and maybe more will appear later but it seems unlikely now. To be fair we were not expecting good crops from the orchard as it is still in its early days.
The trees are growing in the orchard but are still too young to produce much in the way of fruits. The White flowers on the
trees are Elderberry flowers which Loraine has already made this year’s Elderflower Cordial for summer use.
Once the hut is up and running properly and we have kitted it out with all of the tools and other garden paraphernalia that is required for running the gardens Paul can then turn his attention back to the North wall which is waiting to be built, that side along with the South wall to the cemetery wall is all that is left upon the garden levels. Once complete this will give us a fully contained and walled garden. Hopefully, this will be rabbit-proof and other critters will be deterred by the new walls too.
Just installed the first part of the metal balustrade on the deck outside of the hut.
Paul has just finished the first part of the balustrade which will surround the decking on the South and East side of the hut. Made from metal it is very strong and should last for many years with a little TLC now and then. The uprights are made from a box section and drilled to accommodate the twisted steel rods with a central Panel for decoration. Plates were MiG welded to the feet of the uprights and solid metal spheres were welded to the tops and finished in gold paint.
Flowers and Vegetables are now storming ahead and growing at a fast pace. Here are a few photos that Loraine took of
some of the plants that are doing so well.
We grow our potatoes in bags now as they are so much easier to harvest and give
excellent crops as long as you use a good growing medium and keep them moist.
In between the building works and the tending of the gardens we also plan and plant the various trees and shrubs that we purchase to install in the gardens. Whilst the Orchard is now thriving and the trees are growing well, we have also put in other trees and shrubs to act as windbreaks and give further interest to the gardens and as they grow they should be stunning to say the least.