Eva's space

I won’t bore you with complaining about the weather, we all know it’s not how we would like or expect it to be for this time of year. I also won’t go on and complain about the 7 plagues of Egypt that seem to have been visited on my allotment this year either (snails, invasive plants, weeds, grasshoppers, mice, pigeons and summer storms). Because if I’m honest the thing that has had the worst impact on my garden this year was my lack of time and effort on it.

Sure I can blame the weather and the other things that have attacked my plot, but all in all it’s not looking too bad. The vegetables have been worst hit, if I’d been on top of it more this year I could have turned it around.

The flowering borders though are just booming, they’re loving this weather and showing it. To be honest I’ve needed to support them much more than previous years and the flowers are much more intensely coloured. So hey ho, you win some you lose some. And I know my neighbours will be trying to get rid of their beans and courgettes soon enough so it all works out.

One of the things that caught my attention this year has been plants that self-seed or spread through other means. Less said about the diabolical horseradish the better! The purple Loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria – Pink Spires) has finally started to live up to it’s reputation as a prolific self-seeder, it’s coming up all over the place and I’m not complaining! Last year it was the Verbena (I have 3 different ones) which this year is not just popping up all over my plot but all over the entire allotment grounds! I’ve seen people dig them up and give them pride of place on their own plots. 🙂

I’ve managed to not tred on the Borage plants that have also self-seeded; I’ve got a couple of really nice specimens now, bring on the cocktails and cucumber salads! I’ve had two weeds that I enjoyed having in my garden very much. The first – eventually identified as Valerian – started off with a tight crop of leaves and all of a sudden burst forth 8 or 9 tall flower stems of fine, lacey flower heads. The insects loved it and so did I, not just for the flowers but also for it’s scent.

The other weed is the wild teasel (or Dipsacus). It’s a beauty that keeps admirers at bay with its sharply serrated and thorny stems, leaves and of course the flower head (the teasel) is as cuddly as a hedgehog. Beautiful though and very architectural. And amazingly well adapted to drought; where the leaves connect to the stems little pockets are formed that catch and save not only rainwater but also little insects that drown and are digested for nutrients. The delicate lilac flowers are now starting to form, whirling out from the center of the teasel. Gorgeous!

One annual visitor is the angelica (Angelica Archangelic) which takes up a lot of room with its large hollow stems that end in huge umbrella-like flowers that later go to seed. I’ve cut that one down now that it has gone to seed.

What else, the fruit plants are doing really well, I’ve taken at least 3 kilos from the red gooseberry bush, the white one wil be harvested this weekend and made into jam or jelly. Cucumbers and figs are cropping like crazy. The tomatoes are a bit slow this year but might pick up soon. The mini-aubergines are doing really well, perfectly formed glossy fruits are coming off it in quick succession. The peppers and basil in the greenhouse are struggling. I think it’s because of the figs and my not watering them enough.

Not this weekend but next weekend the job I’m not looking forward to but have to get done is to clear the field bindweed out of the bramble hedge (and everywhere else it’s snuck into). It’ll be a tedious sticky job but if I don’t get on top of it it will take over everything else.

But I have another week, so I’m not going to dwell on it. This weekend when I return from a visit to friends there’s just a bit of light weeding, digging up the spuds (yeah!) and hopefully snoozing in the sun on the agenda.

Happy gardening!

Persicaria in the front and I-have-to-look-it-up in the back.

The great teasel reaching for the heavens, I love how the little flowers start from the middle and slowly cover the comb in delicate pink flowers.

Colour colour colour, love it!

This year’s cucumber plant is part Triffid; it’s throwing out new suckers in every direction and they grow like a meter each week. I picked over 22 cucumbers off it this weekend.

The vegetables may not like the weather but my flowers are out of control and full of colour.

First almost ripe fig – 150 more to follow in it’s footsteps.

The border is really looking good this year. Things are flopping over a bit and I’m working in extra supports.

The messy border, this weekend I hope to get to sort that out.

The tall flowering stem of the hollyhock has gone over the 3 meter mark towering over the persicarias, phlox and all the other lower levels bloomers.

The fig plant in the corner needs to be cut back hard this year, it’s getting too big for the greenhouse and shading out the pepper and aubergine plants. No peppers this year.

Borage, some of these will be going towards a nice cucumber salad this week.

Yes, I know, you’ve found the messy side of the allotment. Needs work, hopefully this weekend.

Sad, this bed should have been full of beans and mange-touts. Damn mice…

The view out to the landscape around our parking lot. Not too shabby.

No beans this year and it looks like the squashes will fail soon too if the weather doesn’t shape up.

It’s not a bad haul, but very low compared to last year. Then again, not a single aubergine last year. You win some you lose some.

Ox heart tomatoes slowly coming along.

An overload of figs, I’m seriously thinking of thinning them out. There’s over a 150 on the one plant.

The bramble hedge will be heaving with fruit again this year.

The verbenas are loving this weather and towering out over everything.

A nice mix of purples and pinks blooms and foliage against the rusty copper of the honeysuckle that’s trailing the fence.

Not my garden, just the lovely border on our parking lot. I love how that tropical yucca looks against the very dutch background of willows and reeds.

The original Purple Loosestrife clump is doing well as always. Its finally living up to it’s reputation for self-seeding. It’s coming up all over the place.

Out of the 30 seedlings I sowed only 4 or so made it through the onslaught of pests this year.

By carefully stepping over the borage plants in the paths they’ve come up all over the place, even one in the middle of the path here next to my quince.

My view from my little terrace 🙂

As always my artichokes are getting on with things ignoring the weather and pests that seem to affect every other mediterranean vegetables.

The curry plant (yellow) and the Japanese wineberry are romping away. Can’t wait to harvest the berries for the first time!

Dramatic Yucca against the willows.

Sweetcorn is the only crop that doesn’t seem to be affected by the weather.

26 cucumbers all ready on the same day.. some are will be cut up and put out for the toads in my greenhouse, the rest, who knows…

We’ve come into the more “ladylike” part of the year as far as the work involved at the allotment is concerned. No heavy digging in the sleet and rain, no more getting stuck in and covered in the mud. From here on the only digging I will be doing is for new plants and herbs.

The plan to go to my favourite nursery of new plants – Kwekerij De Werkplaats in Katwijk – was dropped because the met office predicted frost for this week. My wallet did get a bit of a workout though: some new herbs, and some other veg plants and plug plants came home with me. Not everything is bought in; I sowed spinach, mizuna and a mixed bag of (old) lettuce and beet seeds. They’re comfy under fleece in a raised bed which mellows out the effects of the weather. They’re coming up well too (last time I looked).

I also got a great aubergine plant, with little aubergines already on it. A friend gave me a little tomato plant, it’s supposed to get pink tomatoes on it, intriguing! There are also 2 mini pepper plants, an ox heart tomato waiting to be planted up and some softer herbs like the fennels are hiding out in the greenhouse. And of course I also have a small collection of cabbages of various types (red, kale, broccoli, etc).

Until I get the new plants in and the weather turns more stable there’s not much more to share really, other than these photos…