Middle of May

Cant believe it has now got to the middle of May , and the middle of another week. Yesterday it was pretty hot here, getting up to 18 degrees and wasnt surprised when Jack came into tell me my bees had swarmed and were hanging on a post off the deer fencing. Would love it if they swarmed when it was a bit cooler as with a bee suit on it is pretty hard work with the sun beating down on you. I managed to get most of my 'pots" out into the garden which had been cluttering up the summerhouse since back end - back end is what we hear in North Yorksire call late Autumn. I havent got a green house here at the moment so bring them all inside to keep the frost off them . With my infrequent watering they all seem to have survived.6 large fuschias are already flowering well. The Olive tree has been out all winter and looks not very blooming, so I thing it will probably have to be taken from its pot and dug into the ground and a good feed of Tomarite. I give Tomatite to eveything, even my lemom trees which I have 37now of varying sizes and about 60 which are about an inch high ones .I must start to think about selling them or not planting any more pips -they grow like rattle . Or maybe I could give them away to guests.I even managed to get the Bird of Paradise out too. It is so big the pot it is in has to be rolled rather than lifted out. It has one flower on and another in the making .Last year it had 4 on . All the plants seem to love going outside. They were moving their leaves about and I dont think it was a wind causing it .I often says isnt nature marvellous. My chocolate mint is coming on great guns and I am pleased to see the tomato plants which I planted so late will be giving me a late harvest. I seem to have little plants all over. But nothing beats bluebells growing in our woods. It takes forever watering them and as I run out of space I even have some in the bedroom on the window sill. I think my dad will be keeping his eye on me I wonder if he has got the Head Gardener's job up in Heaven yet.

The birds are singing their hearts out and the woodpecker is still around and coming more frequently so guess it has a nest somewhere in the poplar trees. Last year it hatched 5 off so there was quite traffic flow of wood peckers in the garden when they started to fly . I have 8 artichokes and hope they do better than last year so popped them in down an aspargus bed . The asparagus will be ready next year so how about scrambed egg and asparagus for guests breakfast . And I have apricots too,lets hope they dont get into the squirrels mouths like the peaches did last year before we have time to pick them The flowers are not the only ones enjoying the sunshine. Cows and calves are enjoying it too.

September is here.

Jack was off first thing yesterday morning back on the shoots. It was the first day of the partridge season. The day sets off just like sending your child to school, but for me it is sending the husband off. Clothes already laid out ,so no last minute rush.  Sandwiches, flask, more clothes in case the weather changed. Even wasp spray incase a dog got attacked. And goodness knows what else he had with him.

It is always strange the first day he is away after having him here since the beginning of February but with no lunch to get ready I was able to crack on with plenty of jobs. I was blanching  and putting beans into the freezer. Skinning tomatoes and putting them in too . I am nearly at the end of my tomato harvest, so started raiding my Dad's greenhouse.

The days are shortening, but with it brings those lovely Autumn smells and colours of the countryside.  Harvest is  a busy time in lots of ways for us .My dad is disappointed he can't go to the sheep sales as he is over 70 . On the 25th, he will be 98 and is still as wise as an owl and as cute as a monkey. He was having beetroot sandwiches for his tea last night as he likes to boil them and says I don't cook them long enough. He has grown enough to keep him in beetroot sandwiches for the winter.

Hope you all managed to watch the first in the new James Herriot series last night. It is great to showcase the area, but coming from a farm I think I could have done a better job of calving that cow. But certainly the best hours viewing I have watched for a long time .

The Harvest Moon was full last night and will shine for 3 nights at least . Marvellous how nature helped the farmers light the fields before tractors were thought of .

Roses are yellow

Just a little update on what is happening in my Dad's garden. I have been hoeing between his onion rows which was a harder job than I thought with one hand as I had an ice cream in the other. The rose bushes that were pulled off the trellis in the strong winds last weekend don't seem to look any the worse .In fact he counted over 50 blooms on it . The fuschia is looking glorious too . It has been there since  the year dot and however hard he hacks it back it always put on a good show .
We then went down into the green house and I dug some potatoes up for our dinner tomorrow. Yes it's Sunday again tomorrow and so it will be Yorkshire puddings.
The grapes are coming along nicely and all the fruit is formed in not much more than pin heads but it looks like a good crop. they tend to get mildew some years for whatever reason. My dad likes to dry a few bunches of grapes too so he can eat them in the form of raisins . I have yet to put some in a cake but maybe if I remember I will have a go later in the year.

It was a bit cooler this evening but my tomatoes at home are growing in leaps and bounds and so I have been busy staking some more up and tying them to the handles on the summerhouse windows .It is only as I type this now I wonder if I need a window open I will have to change the ties but it is dark now as it is gone 11pm.
But look at my first tomato, it is about as big as a marble. They are a bit leggy as I started to feed them with tomato feed as soon as I planted them. Father being the expert ,he  said you only feed them when you get fruit formed on them .. oh well ... . I also gave a splash to the lemon tree which after it's visit to Brown Nursery at Wiggington on the way to York  for professional guidance I am relieved to say it is sprouting new shoots

How does your tomatoes grow...

My Dad is the professional ,when it comes to growing tomatoes.  This year as we have all this extra time to do the things we used to do .When we were young we pack so much into a day. We worked hard, played hard and still found about 4 hours to sleep .This years I set out to grow some tomatoes and see how they compare to my Dads.
 Tonight as I was setting my lemon tree straight in a new pot and some John Innes No 3 instead of citrus compost as it didn't seem to like that. I went across to look at my tomatoes. They will soon need rodding so they dont fall over. My dad said yesterday he had flowers on his .In fact he had rung up to tell me the flowers were on his Shirleys . Now proper gardeners talk about the plants by name but not by species. When I called today he was still on about his Shirleys having flowers on . I know what the flowers look like, but mine were lucky to be growing and no yellow in sight .
We have had a busy day. We went to see a tractor that Jack is wanting, so he can top the grass in the dog field and extend the garden making another part of the field for us to make us even more self sufficient . I wonder, will it just feed the rabbits and deer who come on a night when we are in bed.
Then we are sorting out having the drive concreted . The bad weather in the winter and heavy rains has taken its toil on the drive and so we are taking advantage of not be able to  having guests here that we can crack on with it . We have decided to go for concrete instead of tarmac as we had the entrance done a few years ago and it is just more resilient than tarmac .
The first stage is to have a drain put in on the high side of the drive to take in the water that drains off the field and what runs down the road.
So just before I turned in for the night I took a closer look at my tomatoes and lo and behold my 4 largest plants have flowers on them...Now the race is on to see who has the first formed baby tomato or Shirley as my dad would refer to them as .