Believe it or not, the doors of destiny have finally been
painted. There they stand gleaming white
like an advert for Colgate. All that’s
left now is to tart up the rest of the house but that’s a project for another
day (or decade!).
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| Finished at long last - doors of destiny |
Whilst my doors have achieved their destiny, my flower beds
almost morphed into deep, cheesy-bug ridden pits of despair. Nothing germinated!!! No peas, dwarf beans, carrots or
beetroot. Not a sausage – although I’d
be surprised to see any of those growing in the garden.
So what happened? I
dutifully planted everything out at the end of April during that warm post
Easter weekend and waited. Weeks later,
still no sign of vegetation. A bit like
Spain and their recent world cup performance – not a goal in sight! But unlike Spain, I’ve had to resort to
cheating by buying a few fresh packets of seeds and ready grown mini plants in
a bid to reap a veggie harvest later on in the year. Just because I haven’t grown my own from seed doesn’t make
me any less green fingered than Carol Klein does it?
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| Mini beetroot plants from B&Q |
Lesson learned though, however thrifty you may be it doesn’t pay to
hoard seeds. Old seeds lose their flower
power and obviously don’t do so well.
Better to splash out on fresh ones or save your own from a previous
crop. Disaster averted - peas and beans
have now sprouted under the plastic tunnels and the mini beetroot plants appear
to have taken well.
Unlike the veg patch, the flower borders have pretty much
exploded this year thanks to the alternating sun and rain. Pretty soon, I’ll need a machete to tame them
into submission.
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| Blackberry plants have gone bonkers this year |
Feast your eyes on our
cardoon. Standing at least 4 feet tall I’m
sure it’s on the verge of flowering, those tell-tale artichoke-like clusters
topping the plant being the prelude to something spectacular (I hope). I'll be keeping a close eye on them in the coming days.
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| Cardoon towering above everything else |
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| Artichoke like flower heads |
MORE ABOUT:
Carol Klein - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carol_Klein
Why Seeds Don't Grow - http://www.thompson-morgan.com/where-did-i-go-wrong
