Our garden has been suffering from the drought tremendously. We haven't had any rain in at least a month and temperatures are constantly between 32 and 37 degrees Celsius. I'm conscious about environment and don't want to use water if not necessary. I try to keep everything in the survival mode, but it hurts me to see my plants like that when I know that they could be really thriving. We have discussed this situation with many people in our gardening area and we all understand that we need to change the way we're gardening. It's going to be a learning curve next year, but it's necessary to adapt to the new conditions. Let me show you around our garden and this time it's not going to be only beautiful green plants with many fruits. Don't get me wrong, I do always show the reality, and this is exactly what I'm going to do now again.
We don't have many grapes as my husband doesn't want to cut down the bush that it's blocking the sunlight, because it's giving a bit of shade to our terrace too. The ones that we have are delicious, so I managed to convince him to cut it down a bit this autumn as we don't have time to spend on the terrace anyway, so it's better to have more grapes instead. They got ripe a few weeks earlier than usually though.
As I mentioned previously, I only have one eggplant plant even though each year I plan to plant more I somehow end up with just one. This year, it already gave me 3 eggplants and there are still a few flowers, so I believe there will be more. Harvesting gives you more fruit, don't forget that.
After we came back from our vacation I noticed that there are 3 new pumpkins. These are the only ones that I water properly as they need a lot of water. We have tons of small pumpkins and I want at least these 3 to get to some decent size.
Well, mice need to eat too, don't they? Luckily, we have enough to share. I must admit I was surprised that they ate almost entire pumpkin as usually they only take a few bites and go on to the next one. They tasted almost all my carrots a few years back which reduced my harvest by more than 70%. I wasn't very happy about that, but this pumpkin situation made me laugh.
Before we left, I harvested all chillies (which we thought were peppers) and left the plants without fruit or flowers. Now, each plant has at least 4 to 6 new chillies which only confirm my theory that harvesting makes more fruit.
I'm in love with my tomatoes. They keep ripening every day and they taste so good, so we eat bruschetta every day. I know these are not the right tomatoes for bruschetta, but we prefer them. They are somehow perfumed which makes them special.
They are at various stages, so we can consume them without being overwhelmed. I know that overwhelming will come because at some point we will have enough of them, and that's the moment when I'll start making sauces for winter.
Look at how cute they are!
The trees around our house started to prepare for winter and we have lots of dried leaves lying around, so I've started to use them as free mulch. Before I put them around plants I break them down to tiny pieces which prevents mould or pests making it their home. Every day I make a bit of mulch that I spread around the garden. It also keeps moisture in the soil which is crucial at the moment.
Comfrey leaves are great nutrient source as well as temporary mulch. I have plenty of comfrey plants in the green houses, so from time to time I remove the leaves and cut them in small pieces. Then I spread them around tomatoes instead of buying expensive fertilizers. I don't rip out the roots as it only gives the tiny pieces left in the soil more power and I would end up with even more comfrey which I don't want.
This is how it looks like when it's ready. I could cut it in smaller pieces, but I don't have patience for it. It works like this too.
Asters love when they're dry. I only water them a couple of time during the entire season. The leaves close to the bottom dry out, so it doesn't look very pretty, but the blossoms are beautiful.
It's such a low maintenance plant that comes back year after year. I only need to cut it down in spring when I see new growth popping out.
I haven't watered this rose at all. I can see that it gave me less flowers in the second turn, but I'm happy as long as it survives. It must have really deep roots though.
Elderflower berries are on their way, and I hope that this year the birds will share them with us too. We have this garden for 4 years and we haven't been able to harvest 1 berry from this large bush. I could cover it, but I'm still hoping that the birds will be more generous if I let them enjoy the berries.
Love in a mist plants have given me tons of these tiny pods full of their seeds. I could use them in flower arrangements, but I prefer to harvest them and shake them around the garden for more flowers next year.
Well, this is how my bushes look like at the moment. They don't carry any fruits, so I decided not to waste water on them. They are not happy, but I'm sure they will survive.
Phlox is not handling the heat very well and I only water it sparingly. You might ask what difference it makes, but I'm a strong believer that we should start the change with ourselves. If everybody would be doing the same we would never change anything. My plants might suffer and I hope that others will see it too and maybe reconsider next time when they will want to spend litres and litres of water on flowers.
Hydrangeas needs a lot of water to thrive too, but I can't make myself to water them every day. They get deep watering once a week and they have to adjust to this situation.
I've noticed that the flowers are smaller this year...
Even though the plants are in the right position and get only morning sunshine, it is so strong that it burned the flowers anyway. This hasn't happened in the prior years.
Let's end this post on a positive note. A biologist told me that if this spider appears in my garden I must be doing something right. They prefer healthy gardens, so even though I jumped when I saw it I'm happy that it chose my garden. This spider is the biggest one I have ever seen. It's over 10 cm long if I count its legs too. Now I have to be careful while watering as I don't think that it would enjoy the shower 馃槉
Thank you for reading!
