Our garden is starting to come together again. We had a lot of rain, but there was one day when it was hot and sunny, so I managed to plant some potatoes, lettuce and beans. I didn't plan to plant any potatoes, but our neighbour had some left and gave them to us. There is nothing better for barbeque than fresh potatoes from your own garden.
This is the beauty of the allotment garden. There are many people with the same passion helping each other. Last year, we got some cucumber and beetroot seedlings, corn, lettuce, fennel, and beans. Let's see what we'll get this year 馃槉 However, you should not think that we're only getting stuff. We had plenty of tomato and pepper seedlings that we gifted to our neighbours as well as lots of rhubarb and zucchini.
Yesterday, I cleaned the greenhouse because I will plant the tomato seedlings tomorrow, so I removed all the leeks from last year. We'll have some leek soup and stir fries in the coming days.
I planted two types of beans for now and put them in 3 rows (1.5 row each). We won't wait until they mature, but will harvest young and tender pods. In a couple of weeks, I will plant another kind of beans and maybe a couple of rows of these ones again, so that we will have them for longer.
We love dill and I would normally plant it only on the balcony, but it never survives the winter in the container. This year, I'm trying it in the garden and I hope that it will survive the winter like this. Slugs love it, so I plant it inside of the ring. So far, so good, and I can't wait to see how big it will grow this year. Gardening is a waiting game and requires a lot of patience that I normally lack, so it's a great school for me 馃槉
We have lots of lettuce in the raised bed, but we eat it every day for lunch, so our tactic changed to 'the more, the better', and I planted 10 plants directly in the ground too. I put them in the rings as well as slugs can eat such small plants in one night.
Our peas looks great after those rainy days. It just doesn't listen to me and climbs in all directions. I keep trying moving the vines towards the support, but they just do whatever they want.
And they started flowering already!
This year I noticed that slugs are not so excited about peas, so next year I will plant much more around the garden, and maybe it will deter them and we'll have less slugs overall.
I talk about slugs a lot, but they are a huge problem here. People kill them with pallets, but we collect them every day and bring them to the forest. It's a full time job!
The mint is happy too!
The tangerine sage changed the colour from green to purple which surprised me. Last year, it didn't behave like that and I wonder if it's because of the low temperatures or lots of rain. So far, it doesn't look like the plant is suffering, and I will keep observing it to act if necessary.
We have an old sage bush that starts flowering now. Those flowers are beautiful and I can't wait to show them to you once they open. The bees love them!
Yesterday, we noticed teeny tiny grapes - they are so cute!
Elderflowers are about to bloom too. I may have to gift the flowers as we still have it preserved from last year. I've read that you can also coat them in some batter and fry them, so we might try this too.
I usually don't collect any flowers, but I needed some to show you my ceramic vase 馃槉
It took me some time to create a tiny bouquet, but this is what I took home in the end and it's also what you saw in my pottery post.
The allium plant opened up completely and I'm in love. I have noticed some of them are growing in different parts of the garden and I couldn't be happier.
The roses are opening up too. When you get roses from a shop they have no scent. These ones smell so beautiful. Every time I walk by them I smell them - smell the flowers they say, so I do.
Another one opening up...
Those peonies take years to open (it's weeks, but it feels like years)...
I'm surprised to see an iris that will open up. The slugs absolutely love them, and they ate most of them already, so this was a nice surprise.
These look beautiful, but they are very invasive. As soon as they wilt I need to remove them as the flowers will change to pods with seeds that will spread quickly and take over the garden in no time.
Hydrangeas are getting tiny flowers too. I love watching them grow.
When we were working in the garden yesterday, we found this stone. We were making jokes that we need to start digging deeper to get rich 馃槉
Tonight, we will start building another green house, and I will also plant kohlrabi, cauliflower, Swiss chard and eggplants if I have enough time. I will try to document the process to share with you too.
Happy gardening and see you next time!
