Yesterday, we enjoyed a few hours without rain, so we took the opportunity and went to the garden to see what's happening there. It's almost ready for winter (at least the part where we grow vegetables), and I couldn't wait to see my ground cover plants. I was afraid that I planted them too late and that they wouldn't come out, so I was happy to see that I was wrong. And we also got some other surprises!
We have two sorts of raspberry bushes and we've been enjoying raspberries since May. I had no idea that I will harvest raspberries until November, and there are still a few left on the bushes.
I have planted the second batch of beans at the beginning of August with our neighbours shaking their heads and telling me that there is no way that I would be able to harvest the beans this year as it will be too cold for them.
I proved them wrong! We had much better harvest from this batch and every time I harvest them I think that this is the last time until I see another surprise and more beans! I think that yesterday I harvested the last ones but who knows? 馃槉 There are still some flowers, so maybe I will have a few more...
I planted the lamb's lettuce a couple of weeks ago and it's growing nicely. It is however a very slow grower, so we might be able to harvest it only in December. We will also cover it on Saturday as there is way too much rain. I have also noticed that three of them are gone, and I believe that mice have visited my bed. I'm happy to share as long as they leave some for us too...
My onions are coming out too. The yellow ones are the fastest, followed by the red ones. The white onions haven't even started to sprout yet. I have no experience with white onion, so don't know if it's normal or not, but if it doesn't work out I will plant something else there in spring instead.
The African basil is still attracting bees and other insects, but its leaves are yellowing a bit already. It grew so much! This photo is from yesterday...
And this one is from June...
The tangerine sage is flourishing too. It's not a hardy plant, and I will try to cover it for winter, so I hope it will survive.
Look how tiny it was in June!
I have planted some lamb's lettuce in our greenhouse. It looks so pretty, but yesterday I noticed that it was damaged. Then I found the culprits - slugs! In the evening, my husband went back to the garden and collected 16 slugs in the greenhouse. It's good that we noticed the damage as otherwise they would finish our lettuce before we could even lay our hands on it. Before you ask, we release the slugs in the forest.
I've seen on the Internet that slugs don't like lamb's lettuce. Well, really? I think that when they're hungry they eat whatever they find...
I have two sorts of ground covers. This is a mix of various grains, such as buckwheat, rye, etc. In spring, we will add it to the soil instead of compost when we prepare our beds for planting. It also works great against weeds as its large root system pushes the weeds away.
And this is mustard. I have planted it in places with deeply rooted weeds. It will grow tall over winter, then we will cut it down and add it to the soil in spring.
This is my largest bed with the ground cover. They look so pretty!
When we took over the garden I thought that the rosemary bush was large. It doubled in size this year even though I harvested plenty. I will have to cut half of it as it will soon cover our entire garden house.
It also started to flower again. Those tiny flowers are delicious as they are not as strong as the branches, so you can also use them to decorate your salads.
Sage is enjoying the last days before I prune it down for winter...
And the raspberries! The leaves are yellowing, but berries keep coming...
My roses refuse to go dormant. Now, they started to push red leaves. I have never seen that before, but I'm also no expert on roses as we have never had them at home. I have no idea how to prune it, but one of my neighbours knows an expert who will come in spring to help me do it properly. The roses are beautiful and I don't want to damage them.
And this is how the weather looks like today and probably in the comings weeks. It keeps raining and it's so dark. At least we had those few hours in the garden yesterday 馃槉
I didn't expect to share updates from my garden in November, but it looks like that there will be more updates to come. I haven't even planted garlic yet! And I will also show you our 'jungle' behind the garden house when I will try to clean it and somehow manage its growth.
Until next time...
