Welcome back, fellow gardeners. I am going to continue with this update, so those of you have shown great fortitude and stuck with me I will show a couple of things other than plants or sad disappointments. Lets begin with this broken tool—one of my Bride’s favourites: Jane had a thread a few weeks ago now, about what we call a “boot servant”. We know them here too, but typically we don’t buy, we make our own out of scraps. Then the flip side: We completed our canal-water-for-garden-use project. Finally, we got the agua no potable sign for the poles. We needed these because would not know if it were city drinking water or canal water. We did a little experiment this year. We tested old and new parsnip seeds. Can you guess which row had the old seeds? Then mates, it was time to prune the apple and plum trees which are now burgeoning with fruit. Here you can see where I prune the waterloot . I just can’t think of the english term for these energy-sapping twigs. It is time for the “june drop” and to help the trees, we remove excess fruits to 2-3 fruits per grouping. It was also time for harvesting the Swiss chard again...annnnd the broad beans. Oh yum ! I am coming to the end of this posting now, but I do want to add that we have suckered and pruned the tom plants four times, made two containers of comfrey fertiliser tea and turned the compost seven times already. And once again, after all the work, I want to end with food, a well-deserved burger, on our new little tea water boiler that can double as a barbi. Whatcha think?
Uh-oh Mart— heads will roll. Sean, that is not a back yard, it is an allotment garden. Chuckle. Thanks for your nice comment. We have been having some real challenges here this season.
Thanks for the photos of the apple & plum trees. I'd forgotten you had them. Shouldn't have forgotten because I've seen the delicious photos of freshly made applesauce! Interesting experience with the parsnip seeds. That'll cure me from using old seeds. I call those straight branches on fruit trees "water spouts". Don't know if that is correct. Thanks for your photos. Really a gorgeous lottie. Oh, and what's wrong with the Brides favorite tool?
And here I was guessing the old seed produced the two vibrant rows! I think your onions look super healthy. All in all, the entire lottie is beautiful.
Hiya Growing— ha, ha...nah, those oldish seeds just turned out not to be reliable. I am getting away from using old seeds. I still try them if they are no more than a year old because if I plant them and they do not work, then I am way far behind in my planting schedule. Playing catch-up is difficult in our climate. Hey there, Cayu— I am glad you liked the foto’s. Yeah, I just cannot for the life of me recall the english term for those waterloten. You know what is crazy—the apple and plum trees are already trying to send up more of those useless twigs. Ah, yes, the Bride’s tool. I somehow forgot to tell what was wrong with her fork. The wooden handle of this antique had broken off ( for the second time ), so we went over to visit my bee mentor. He was convinced that he could drill through the steel rod that was in the new handle. He had bits for metal and after a long time trying and breaking two bits, he did make a hole through the wood and steel. Then his drill froze-up. That old thing just could not take the abusive treatment that he was using. Well, I thanked him and took it home, the next day I went to place s bolt through the hole that he had made, and the hole was a hair too narrow. I used a bit of violence myself with a hammer and got the bolt through and slapped a nut on it for good measure...not that it needed it, as the fit was quite snug.
Sjoerd, I understand about seeds. I ordered some from a reputable company and we're having a dickens of a time getting them to grow. How great the Bride's favorite tool is back in action. I have a small shovel which had to be redone.
Too right Cayu. She was well chuffed with the repair job. She uses that tool to min-till with, lift spuds, and to turn the compost among other things. She is a happy camper now.
