July 20th - not very imaginative - but factual!

Quite a busy day today - though mostly spent on my knees weeding (again). Anyway there are quite a few piccies this week so on with the show. As usual here is this weeks pic of the borders from the potting shed

This was yaken first thing this morning and since it was taken, I have pruned the cherry tree, apple tree and one of the roses that are on the south facing wall, so the wall looks a bit tidier now with most if not all the outward facing growth removed.
To start with this week lets have a look at the veggies. If you recall I dug two 8' x 4' beds in the area reclaimed from the wild and these were planted up to take the spare veg that wouldn't fit into the temporary veg bed along the west facing wall. Here is what we have now

If you take a closer look (click on the photo and it will enlarge) you can see that the spray I applied recently is starting to take effect. Anyway, I weeded both these beds  and although the brassicas have suffered a little bit of pigeon damage, it's nothing that the plants can't handle now that they are bigger. The Runner Beans are climbing away and are starting to show their flowers, the bCrimson Flowered Broad Beans have nearly finished flowering and have begun to set beans and the beetroot is almost at an edible size. Elsewhere, the leeks are now settled in their home in what will eventually be the fruit bed

And the PSB that was absolutely stripped back to the leaf ribs by the flying rats is making a very healthy and speedy recovery

In the main bed, the onions continue to bulk up, although one had bolted today so I removed it to stop any others getting the same idea. The Tenderstem broccolli continues to produce side spears though maybe not as many as had been hoped for. The Petit Posy look really healthy though there one plant that is definitely a throwback to the parentage and is very close to (if not actually) 100% kale. The potatoes are okay but nothing fantastic in terms of yield for earlies, and the carrots are looking good too. Unfortunately, the three courgettes are really struggling to get going and the recent spate of really cold nights are not helping it at all.. In the greenhouse, the tomatoes are in the rudest of health, the capsicums are beginning to busg out, the aubergines are still flowering and there are lots of cucumberettes on the Pepita cuke.
So onto the rest of the garden. As I mentioned you can start to see the Glyphosate working on the centre area of the garden

I reckon another dose in about three weeks should see us okay and then we can start to get cracking on the vegetable beds along the bottom of this area. And whilst I might not always think that rotavators are a good thing, I shall definitely be speaking to Richard and Sally about either borrowing or hiring one for this task.

Now I hope someone out there can assist me with  this next one. There is a tree by the end of the Rose Bed which doesn't really do anything exciting but it is home to a lovely old climbing rose. Thr trouble is this - it is riddled with the pox!!

I am not a fan of this tree ( not sure but I think it may be a viburnum of some sort) and if it going to be home to 1001 pests and diseases then I shall be happy to let it say hello to Mr Husquvarna!. So can anyone enlighten me to as to what this tree is, and what is causing the deformed leaves - there are no aphids or scale or other beasties visible on either side of the leaves. The sweet peas that were put out in the border are all looking helathy and are climbing up their natural cane supports and have started flowering now

However the ones that I planted up in a large pot to climb over the potting shed arch along with the runner beans (which are doing really well) were not looking too happy this week so I have now transplanted them into the border in the hope that they will start to pick up.
Elsewhere in the garden, we have the folowing new faces

Phlox Paniticulata

Hypericum

A large and original rambling rose (variety as yet undecided!)

Ipheom



The last of these is a bulb and is planted under the Garrya elliptica tree by the summerhouse. Due to the excessively heavy rains and strong winds the tree seemed to drop it branches lower and lower and the Ipheom is growing almost horizontal with the soil in an effirt to get to the light! Some pruning of the Garrya may be necessary to let the light back into this bed. On the other side of the summerhouse, the honeysuckle has started to grow away again after being chopped right back.
That's about it. I staked some more plants that had taken a beating from the recent rains and there are sevaral plants just on the cusp of flowering, including the Verbascum hastata, Verbascum bonariensis, Centaurea and the Eryngiums.
The two long borders have now been weeded, dead headed and the soil miller has tidied them up so next week I should be able to get back to reclaiming the fruit bed.
That's all folks - see ya next week.