It feels like it's been years since we've seen some sunshine for the last time. In fact, it's only been one week, but when it's foggy and raining constantly it feels much longer. If you read my former gardening posts you won't be surprised to hear that we go to the garden even when it's raining because we collect slugs twice a day. I thought there were many slugs last year, but I quickly learned that it was only a fraction of what we have to deal with this year. I'm even thinking of posting some of them, but I'm not sure if people are willing to look at them.
It's becoming frustrating as I haven't managed to plant all my seedlings yet. I have around 60 chilli peppers and 4 sweet potatoes waiting patiently at home for the right time to be planted in the garden, but it doesn't seem to be coming soon. I haven't managed to sow carrot and parsley seeds yet either as I can't sow them in mud.
Furthermore, the rain is already affecting our produce as we had to harvest all our onions because they started to rot. Here, you can see a few of them, but there are many more that we had to clean before taking them home. We couldn't cure them, so we will have to somehow use all of them in a short time period. We also harvested the only cucumber that we have so far, sweet peas and some lettuce. I will take out the cucumber plant because it didn't manage the cold well and changed to yellow.
This season is testing our patience. We have decided to accept it as the nature will do whatever it wants to do and we can only do that much.
I planted one big cucumber seedling and three small ones. Small ones adapted to the weather well and they are growing nicely. Yesterday, I noticed some leaves were rotting, so I removed them, and I hope that the plants will recover.
And our famous and expensive cucumber! I say expensive because the seedling was the most expensive of all the plants that I planted (because of its size), and it only gave us one cucumber before it turned yellow.
Zucchini are growing so well! Don't be confused with the sunny photo as I took it a week ago.
Current situation is more like this - still growing well, but you can see how wet it is.
Cauliflower enjoys a lot of rain too. It has more than doubled in size since I planted it. I've been checking it for the cabbage moth worms, and soon will cover it for better protection.
Pak choi recovered from the flea beetles attack, but right now it's suffering from slugs that leave those small holes in the leaves. We keep collecting them, but there are so many new ones coming every day. At least it is lush and green.
Swiss Chard doesn't seem to be interesting to slugs at all and it just lives its best life.
On the other hand, you can see that onions were not so happy.
My corn babies are coming out...
Not all of them survived, but it's ok as not all the seeds that you plant will germinate.
Potatoes are almost ready for hilling, we just need the weather to help us a bit...
I have planted some iceberg lettuce in the greenhouse which looked like it was going to die straight away. But it perked up and grows fast now...
Tomatoes more than doubled in size since I planted them. I can see a huge difference in how they grow in the greenhouse to how they grew outside. Many of them grew some flowers already.
Look how cute! I'm self pollinating this year because there are no pollinators around (too cold for them) and there is no wind in the greenhouse, so I need to help the plants a bit.
Green peas before the rain...
And after...
Some of them started to rot, so I harvested every single one that was on the plants. Well, I've tried, but they really enjoy playing hide and seek with me, so it is possible that some of them are still hanging there. The regular harvest should encourage new growth, so we'll see if it really works.
Basil is doing so well in the greenhouse...
But the same can't be said about the basil growing outside. I'm sure it will grow much better once the temperatures go up a bit.
Last year we had an abundance of red currants, and this year doesn't seem to be different...
Many of them are ripe already...
So I harvested some for breakfast...
Raspberries are getting ready too!
This doesn't look like much, but I harvest this many every day, so we have a delicious snack now and then...
Our grapes looked great last year until something happen (no idea what) and they stopped growing. This year I will consult their growth with an expert to make sure that we will harvest something.
Calendulas grow slowly, but once they pick up they are unstoppable. I'll show you the difference in a few weeks 😊
Love in a mist has become my favourite flower in the garden. We got them from our neighbour, and once they go to seed they will replant themselves and we will have many more next year. Pollinators love them, so the rule is: The more the better.
The water drops make them look even more beautiful...
And we have them in two colours. So lucky!
Peonies didn't love that much rain and this is one of the last ones surviving. I'm happy that I saw it blooming...
I wonder which colour of hydrangea flowers we will get this year. Last year, we had blue, pink and purple - all on one plant.
What do you think: Do we have enough oregano? 😊
Even though we're facing some difficulties in the garden at the moment I still enjoy going there every day. At least, I've been using my expensive raincoat that I got in the Netherlands last year 😊
Happy gardening!