Mangetout peas
I can’t believe it has been so long so I last posted. I’ve missed blogging but it has all been rather hectic here. My book deadline was today so the last few weeks have been spent writing, checking, writing some more, stressing about the weather and having photos taken. I have discovered a subconscious ability to predict rubbish weather. If anyone has a big event planned in the future but the date has yet to be confirmed you could ask me to pick the date and then go with the following day. So far every photo shoot has been cold, dull and decidedly not spring or summer-like. But as soon as Jason, the photographer, has left the clouds part and the sun comes out. It could have been worse, so far we’ve yet to be rained off but I’m touching wood as I write this, as I still have one photo shoot left. So fingers crossed July is wall to wall sunshine.
Yesterday I sent off the final draft of my book to my publisher. It was a strange feeling. With sweaty palms I spent quite a while rechecking and going to press the send button but not doing. A bit like when you’re a teenager wanting to phone up the boy/girl of your dreams but you can’t summon up the courage. It’s not as if I won’t see my words again. I now face the quite scary prospect of the editing process. But between now and October it should all start to come together and I’m really excited. Hopefully soon I should be able to say a bit more about it but for now I still have to keep it secret.
As well as the book it has been busy, busy, busy with plants. I’ve just about managed to keep up with the allotment. Of course there’s nothing like the prospect of having photos taken to spur on a weeding frenzy. My lettuce supply so far this spring and summer has been bountiful. I have more baby leaves coming through so I’m hoping for the holy grail of successional sowing this year . . . well with salads at least. I’ve been picking mangetout for the last few weeks and my broad beans are looking really healthy and are tantalizingly close to picking.
The first courgette
I’ve even got round to netting my blueberries and tayberry. Last year the blackbirds stripped 2 blueberry bushes dripping in unripe fruit. We didn’t get any, not a sausage. Much as I love birds and they do a good service in ridding my plot of slugs and snails I wasn’t planning on providing them with such fruity delights. I had looked into proper fruit cages but was taken aback at how expensive they are. So with Wellyman’s help we used some coppiced hazel poles and bamboo canes and made our own constructions for a fraction of the price. It was a bit of a faff and like any DIY job it always takes so much longer than you planned for. Hence us still being at the plot at 10pm one night wrestling with fruit netting.
Blueberries protected from rampaging birds
Not everything has worked quite so well. The topsy-turvy weather has meant some plants have sulked. The courgettes are finally looking happier but my squashes are still sitting there doing very little. The ornamental hops that I planted to grow along a trellis panel have not taken kindly to the gale force winds that battered the plot in mid-June when the weather resembled November and not the start of summer. Still, there are always winners and losers. We all dream of that perfect year when everything grows well, but I’m coming to the conclusion that it’s just a pipe dream, the dangling carrot that brings us back for more each spring.
I always think that this is a strange time of year. It feels as if the summer has only just got going, in it’s typically British unpredictable way but in so many ways the garden is what it is now for the rest of the season. The cold spring this year really compressed that short window of opportunity we have to sow, plant and divide. I catch myself thinking ‘oh I wish I’d grown that this year’ or ‘why didn’t I think of that?’ Then curse myself that I’ll have to wait until NEXT spring now to carry out those ideas. Still that’s what it is all about. I really must find a notebook though and write down those ideas.
wellywoman 
I was thinking about you today, and wondering how the book was going – exciting to have pressed the “send” button! Fingers crossed for, as you say, wall to wall sunshine in July for your final photoshoot not to mention some heat in my ol’ bones! 🙂
K
Thank Karen, we’ve had a taste of summer but it never lasts very long. Still I’d only be complaining if we had a heatwave about the epic watering I was having to do. 😉
I think gardening is a continual learning experience, whatever our knowledge – but perhaps that is why we enjoy it. Good that you now have had time to breath and notice what’s going on – even if it’s only to start thinking about next year! Glad that the book is progressing on target – well done!
Thank you Cathy. I love the thinking about future gardening plans. It’s what gets me through winter. 😉
Congratulations on getting that book sent off. All looks wonderful down at your allotment. The weeds are winning on mine! Hope you have a lovely weekend.
Thank you CJ. The weeds are winning on mine now so I’ll be up there later today with the hoe.
I dread pressing the publish button on my simple blog for fear there’s a massive typo somewhere-so well done for sending in your draft. How long before we see the title and get our hands on a copy?
I think it’ll be out in March. I’m just hoping people like it. It’ll be quite nerve-racking.
Snap, snap and snap (without the book, of course)! I’m just coming out the other end of piles of college work (and have just signed up for another 2 years), have also been looking regretfully into my seed box (no beetroot, tall beans or carrots this year) and have spent a disproportionate amount of time diy-ing against foxes, cat poo, etc and building more raised beds which will also need more netting … oops, here I go spinning around in circles again! As we passed the summer equinox, I thought how spring/summer had only just started and now we’re counting down to dark evenings again. I’m clinging to the hope that we’re a month behind weather wise and maybe I still have time to grow a few things…
Well done for keeping on track with your book; it will be lovely to sit back and enjoy the fruits of your labours! Have a happy summer – good weather permitting!!
You’re obviously enjoying college. Good to hear you’ve signed up again. The only problem with college is that all the work comes when the garden is at its neediest. Not a great combination for a gardener. It is a little demoralising to have to spend so much time covering stuff up or protecting the ground from cats. You have my sympathies. The warmer night time temperatures have been a big difference here and in the last few weeks plants have finally started to grow. Was in St. James’Park in London yesterday was very envious of the Echiums. Shows how significant the warming effect of the city can be.
It’s always nice if one pressure is taken away…so enjoy! Now we’re looking forward to your book 🙂
Thank you Annette. It’s good to have got to this stage. Although had a meeting with my editor yesterday and still lots to do. Really enjoying it though. 🙂
Congratulations!
:))
How exciting, pressing that send button, you must feel quite close to the finishing line now. I’m excited to hear more about it. It’s nice to have time to breathe at last, I think it’s been quite hectic for us all this year, having to play catch up after the cold start to the year.
Still a way to go but that big step is at least done. It has felt much more hectic in the garden this year, hasn’t it? Such a short or non-existent spring made everything hard to fit in. The recent warm sunshine has been lovely though.
I use a notebook, WW and it would be invaluable if I ever remembered to actually act on what I have written in it. Summer has been a long time coming and yet now the end is almost in sight. And still so much to do. I could work double the hours at the Priory and still find plenty of things to do. But I love that carry-over, that “oh well, next year I’ll plant this, I’ll get rid of this and this over here will look fabulous … next year” – like you say, it’s what it is all about. Very exciting about your book – well done for eventually hitting that send button! Dave
🙂 Ah the notebook. I spent an hour on Sunday night searching for a notebook I bought for Chelsea with no joy. I have already lost it once with my Chelsea notes in it and found it and then have subsequently lost it again. Really don’t think a notebook is the way forward for me. I once saw someone pull out a black book filled with plants notes, ideas, plant names etc.. I dream of being that organised. I’m pretty rubbish at remembering the names of plants in the garden. I try to keep the labels but I think they end up in the same black hole as the notebooks.
I so often feel overwhelmed by small garden and allotment so can appreciate how much work there must be at the Priory. I agree I love that sense of hope and thinking of the future that plants and gardening brings. Thank you about the book. 🙂
You’ve certainly been busy one way and another so it’s little wonder that you’ve not blogged much lately.
I’m looking forward to learning more about the book.
I so agree with your last paragraph as I’ve now done planting and sowing and even had a few thoughts for next year! xx
Thank you Flighty. I like being busy but it’ll be nice to have a bit of a breather.
Share your frustration at losing berries to the birds. We have some strawbs in our polytunnel, but they just do not taste as good as the ones grown outside (suspect it’s to do with too much condensation in the polytunnel causing a mouldy flavour!). Our first courgette in the polytunnel also went mouldy, so I think we’ll need to cut the irrigation in there). Your courgette plant looks very well by comparison 🙂
It strange isn’t it? I would love a polytunnel but I guess they come with their own problems.
The very best of luck with your book. Hope you get your wish for July. In Ireland the weather has been quite good this year so things are growing well. Lots of fruit has set too.
Thank you Bridget. Think it might be a good year for fruit here too. My espalier apple has quite a lot more fruit on it this year and they are swelling nicely. Good to hear the weather in Ireland has been lovely. It makes such a difference to see the sun.
Well done for finishing the book on time! ah! the weather! the weather! my window of opportunity to do most jobs of planting, dividing etc. is autumn, and that can be unpredictable too.
Thanks Christina. Sounds like autumn is a busy time for you. I’m hoping to do some redesigning this autumn so fingers crossed the weather is good for that. It’s jobs I should have done this spring but the cold weather we had meant I never got the chance. Hopefully it’ll give me the chance to perfect my plans though. 😉
Congratulations on the book, looking forward to seeing it when it comes out. xxx
Good to hear from you again. I was wondering how the book was doing. So glad for you that you have got it sent off, its all very exciting and can’t wait to hear what the main idea of the book. Sun due back again this weekend.
Hope everything goes according to plan!