First frost!

I saw the first frost of the season this morning, it looked beautiful:

The green of the grass changed color, I love it with this pale grey frosting color.

Hoy por primera vez en la temporada habia escarcha:

November primroses

The primroses are flowering in our front garden. These are not recently bought (I'm sure they treat them to flower early), I planted them last spring when we moved in so I'm very pleased they are already looking this good. They're not supposed to flower until spring, but with the mild autumn we've had so far we get this extra wave of flowers.

Las primulas se supone que no florecen hasta la primavera, pero el otoño esta siendo tan suave que las nuestras estan dando flor. Estas las plante en primavera cuando nos mudamos, no son recien compradas. Debe ser que les gusta su nueva casa!

October surprises

This year October has surprised me: there's a lot more flowers and colour in the garden than I expected. And I think it's all down to not being squashed between houses any more, there's a lot more light here than I had in London, and it shows. The tagetes I sowed in spring are really coming into their own now, but only the ones plants in the ground, the ones in pots dried up a month ago:

Este jardin tiene mucha mas luz que el de Londres, y hay algunas plantas se han dado tan bien en octubre que no me lo esperaba. Por ejemplo, los tagetes que sembre en primavera, pero solo los que estan en suelo directo, los de macetas se secaron hace un mes.

The strawberry tree has grown and improved so much now it's not in a pot any more. It's full of flowers, I've been eating the fruits as a when they turn red, and the leaves look a lot healthier.

El madroño esta mucho mas contento en suelo directo que estaba en maceta. Las frutas maduran de una en una y estan riquisimas, esta lleno de flores para el año que viene, y las hojas mucho mas sanas. 

The nasturtiums and the alyssum that I sowed in spring made fantastic ground cover, and it's been going for months (and the alyssum smells lovely!). You can see the las of the Californian poppies too, fantastic orange flowers that have been going for months, good for cutting (small) and beautiful foliage too.

Todas estas plantas las sembre en primavera y llevan meses dando flores. Las amarillas de hojas redondas son nasturtiums, las pequeñitas blancas son alyssum, y aun quedan algunas amapolas naranjas.

The tomatoes in pots in the summer were a disaster, so I had empty pots to plant some autumn and winter bedding plants - violas, ornamental cabbages and wallflowers for spring. It looks a lot neater now.

Los tomates en macetas fueron un desastre, asi que los quite y puse flores que duraran (en teoria) todo el otoño e invierno (pensamientos y alelhies para la primavera).

The veg patch is all "finished" now. We bought more soil to raise the level and it's deep enough now to grow anything. I have: spinach under the plastic cover, purple sprouting broccoli, cauliflowers, leeks, and one bed where I planted garlic and peas together. I put some sticks for the peas to grow up in the spring, and to hopefully stop birds from eating the shoots in the winter. The idea is that the peas will fruit in the spring, I can  then cut then to make more light for the maturing garlic but leave the roots that are full of nutrients in the soil. It is an experiment.

La huerta por fin ya tiene mas tierra (compramos mas) y ya tiene profunfidad suficiente. Debajo del plastico tengo espinacas, bajo red de plastico tengo brecol y coliflores, una fila de puerros, y donde estan los palos he plantado ajos y guisantes. Es un experimento: los guisantes salen antes y dan fruto en primavera, luego los cortas a ras de tierra para que los ajos tengan mas luz en los ultimos meses, y las raices de los guisantes fertilizan el suelo. A ver si funciona.

Y por ultimo plante estas macetas grandes con rucula, cebollinos, sorrel y las ultimas de las lechugas. Casi todas son perennes.

These big pots have rocket, sorrel, chives and the lady of the lettuces. Most are perennial and ready to survive the winter.

First sign of autumn

This tree (Rhus, according to the label) is always the first to turn colour in autumn. I noticed the first orange leaves a week ago. Today I put in place the green log mini fence, and now this bed looks so colourful! The small plants at the front are heucheras, in reds and purples, and there's also a purple elder (sambucus nigra) and a yellow-leaved fucshia.

El arbol de las hojas naranjas siempre es el primero en cambiar de color en otoño. Este ya lleva una semana asi. Hoy puse el borde de madera verde y ahora esta esquina esta preciosa, llena de color. Las plantas bajas son heucheras, en tonos rojos y morados, y tambien hay un sambucus nigra y una fucshia de hojas amarillas.

Crop of basil to freeze

This is some basil I picked today. I'm going to freeze the leaves in pots, as they are, and see how it goes. I wish I had even smaller pots, because I am guessing the leaves will get so compacted that we won't be able to pick only a few each time, but maybe this will work. The basil is growing happily in pots in the patio and these are only the tips, I reckon I will get another crop before the summer is over. Maybe next time I will try a different preserving method.

Cosecha de albahaca, para el congelador. Voy a probar a congelar las hojas en esos botes de plastico, son un poco grandes para una racion, pero con suerte podremos sacar solo una parte de cada vez. A ver. Aun tengo las plantas en la terraza y creo que me daran otra cosecha este verano, la proxima vez pruebo otra manera de conservarla.

Planting out leeks

I sowed these about April. Now, thanks to the pond that I'm digging and a bit of compost from the shop (for the top) I finally filled in these big boxes so I can plant out the leeks. They were ready to move on, you can see the pots were filling up with roots:

Sembre los puerros en macetas alla por abril. Ahora por fin rellene estas cajas de plastico con la tierra del mini-estanque que estamos excavando y compost comprado encima, y ya tengo espacio para transplantar los puerros. Veis en la foto que ya estaban listos para el transplante, las raices empezaban a llenar la maceta.

Visiting butterflies on the budleia

I've spent all morning in the garden today and I got to see a bit of the wildlife that visits us. The most spectacular is this budleia with its two visiting butterflies. They both have these colours (no idea what name), and they've been feeding on the flowers all day.

Tenemos dos mariposas como esta que llevan todo el dia posandose en esta budleia. 

The cottage garden patch

This is a part of the garden that in my head I call the cottage garden bit. I plan to grow a mix of many plants I like, some annuals and some perennials, some edible and some purely decorative. I have found over the years that this style is often described as cottage garden, so there you go, this is my cottage garden corner. 

Esta parte del jardin la tengo reservada para una mezcla de flores anuales y perennes, comestibles y decorativas. He descubierto que es un estilo ingles tradicional, pero yo lo hago porque me gustan las plantas la verdad. En Inglatera el origen lo achacan a las casas de la clase trabajadora, que tenian jardines pequeños y tenian que aprovechar y plantar todo junto, flores y para la cocina. 

This year there hasn't been time for much planning (we moved in in April), but some things have worked very well and I want to take note to repeat it next year.

The only cosmos that survived from the whole tray I sowed is looking fabulous. I will definitely sow more or buy plants next year, I love this plant. It looks good with dots of blue cornflower behind it. And a lovely stand of daisies and purple budleia in the back.

De una bandeja que sembre de cosmos solo me quedo uno, pero me encanta esta planta, el año que viene sembrare o comprare mas. Y centaurea azul por el medio. Y margaritas y budleia de fondo.

The Iceland poppies and the poached egg plant were both a fist for me, and they've done very well - germinated well and now look spectacular. Also want more for next year. And one lone red poppy that appeared spontaneous at the front, it's my favourite.

Las amapolas naranjas y la flor que parece un huevo frito son novedad para mi, pero se han dado muy bien. Germinaron sin problemas y ahora lucen preciosas. La amapola roja (delante) salio espontanea y es mi favorita.

The nasturtiums are also nice and fit well because they fill gaps between other plants. 

Los nasturtiums tambien me gustan, quedan bien entre las demas plantas y llenan el espacio.

This teepee of sweet peas hasn't performed that well, though. I bought the plants to make sure they were as advanced as possible (the ones I sowed took forever to grow), and yet no flowers! Next year I'm planting beans and eating peas instead (those are cropping already, in the veg patch).

Los guisantes de olor sin embargo no se han dado bien. Estos son de tienda porque los que sembre no daban crecido, y aun asi aun no han dado no una flor. El año que viene plantare guisantes de comer, que los de la huerta si que estan dando flores (y frutos).

Another thing I want to change/improve for next year is the border between the bed and the path. At the moment it's covered in weeds or grass that I try to clip small. But I dream of making a mini hedge with sweet williams (the pink flower in the photo) and pinks. I may do it this autumn, or next spring. In the meantime, I'm sowing more sweet williams and taking cuttings of my pink that I bought in May (and smells divine). Here's my potting shed with all the cuttings in the propagator:

En la caseta tengo esquejes de clavelinas, si se me dan en otoño o primavera los plantare en el borde entre el jardin y el camino. Ahora el borde consiste en cesped y hierbas, pero me encantaria que fuera todo clavelinas, y la planta de flores rosas (dos fotos mas arriba) que es de la misma familia. Esa es bianual, y he sembrado varias. Tambien sembre alhelies, estan todas en esta estructura esperando que crezcan y antes del invierno si todo sale bien las plantare para la primavera que viene.

I have sweet williams and wallflowers growing outside in pots, waiting to be planted out before the winter for flowers next spring.

Waiting to be planted as soon as it stops raining: verbena bonariensis (a friend gave me ten she had too many) and parsnips that I sowed. 

Verbena bonariensis (una amiga me dio diez que le sobraban) y chirivias que sembre, esperando ser plantadas en cuanto deje de llover.

Mulching pot tomatoes with grass clippings

This is an experiment I did last weekend, because my pot-grown tomatoes we're wilting even if they got watered almost every day (the patio area were they are is very sunny and quite windy). So I thought mulching them will slow down the wilting. I've never had a grass to cut before, so this is a first for me!

Los tomates en macetas me daban señales de falta de agua casi de dia en dia, la verdad es que estan a lleno sol y bastante viento en la terraza: asi que voy a probar este experimento de cubrir el compost con el cesped cortado (¡ahora que por fin tengo cesped!) a ver si se evapora el agua mas lento.

Before: 

And after:

Summer at last

After three months (like felt forever) of semi-bare ground, summer has finally arrived and the garden is looking full and colourful: 

¡Por fin llego el verano! Flores y frutos. Estos comiendo ensalada de la huerta todos los dias.

We're wating salad from the garden every day:

And cucumbers to come. Los pepinos llegaran pronto.

My patch of Mediterranean/ South African (ish) plants:

And the cottage garden style patch. Lots of colour, a bit chaotic looking, but all carefully contained within the boundaries. 

Las dos ultimas fotos son mi rincon de plantas mediterraneas y de Sudafrica (mas o menos), y la zona de "cottage garden": este es un estilo ingles de plantar flores y verduras todo junto. De momento tengo casi solo flores. Me encanta que tiene mucho color, y esta todo junto pero no revuelto.

The 2014 vegetable growing list

Following the golden rules of "grown what you enjoy eating" and "if short of space/time, prioritise what is expensive or difficult to find in the shops", these are the vegetables and fruit that I'm growing or planning to grow this year. And those which didn't make the short list.

YES:

Lettuce and salad leaves

Rocket

Sorrel

Herbs (parsley, thyme, rosemary, basil)

Chives 

Spring onions

Spinach

Beetroot: yellow and pink-striped

Radish

Courgette (but only one plant)

Cucumber

Romanesco

Purple sprouting broccoli

Climbing French beans, but next time I'll plant them in a wigwam among the flower beds, and leave the raised beds for smaller plants that need closer weeding.

Tomatoes (7) and chillies (2)

 

ON THE WISHLIST (as soon as I save the cash, they're going in - I already found them a spot):

Raspberries 

Blueberries

A quince tree 

NO:

Too much space and easy to buy: cauliflowers (with the exception of romanesco), cabbages, onions, potatoes. Strawberries (expensive fruit, but you need masses of plants to get more than a handful of fruit).

Because we never eat it: runner beans, broad beans, kale.

ON PROBATION:

To see if they grow well: Garlic: you can eat it fresh and it's nicer than the dry garlic from the shop, apparently. And Leek: they won't grow big but apparently they are very tasty harvested small.

Peas. Because they take space for months and are easy to buy. And we don't eat them enough to appreciate the mythical flavour difference between fresh and frozen. I have some in the ground already, but once these are gone I don't think I'll bother again. Might try growing pea shoots with the leftover seed, perhaps.

Parsnips and swedes. Because I had the seed and felt sorry for it and I was in a sowing frenzy and not thinking straight. I may put parsnips in the Yes list if they grow well because the bunnies like them. I might grow them as foliage in between the flower beds.

Pak choi: this is an experiment, I'm growing it for the first time. If it grows well and we eat it, I'll keep it on the list. The purple leaves look amazing in the seed packet.

(By the way, the photo is only a section of my vegetable patch, about half, the whole list above wouldn't fit in just this bit!)

Esta es la lista de frutas y verduras en las que me voy a concentrar este año - son cosas que a) nos gusta cocinar, y b) son caras o dificiles de encontrar en la tienda:

Lechugas de varios tipos, rucula, perejil, hierbas aromaticas (tomillo, romero, menta, albahaca), cebollinos y cebolleta, espinacas, remolacha amarilla y rosa, rabanitos, calabacin (pero solo una planta), pepino, coliflor pero solo la variedad romanesco (la de los "pinchos" verdes), brecol pero solo el que da floretes peqeños, puerros, tomates y judias (pero solo las que dan vainas estrechas. Ademas, la proxima vez las voy a plantar entre las flores, y dejar las jardineras de la huerta para plantas mas pequeñas que necesitan mas atencion).

Y tengo sitio reservado para plantar: frambuesas, grosellas y un membrillo. Fresas no, porque para un bol de fruta se necesitan muchas plantas y no tengo espacio.

Slug-protected petunias, and dahlias

I like petunias but I've never really grown them before. Now I now why everybody puts them in baskets, the slugs destroy them otherwise! I learnt it the hard way. I planted some in the open ground (fool!) and overnight about half the plant had disappeared. Completely vanished. Luckily there was some plant left, so I could move them today to this hanging "basket" (along with some verbenas that suffered the same fate). Hopefully the slugs won't attack them here:

Estas petunias las plante en el suelo antes, solo para descubrir al dia siguiente que son la comida favorita de los caracoles. Me habian comido la mitad de la planta! Por suerte quedo algo de planta (seis fueron atacadas, solo dejaron el tallo principal y poco mas), asi que las he puesto en el aire, junto a unas verbenas a las que les paso lo mismo, a ver si ahi no llegan!

And I also bought two red-leaved dahlias, which I've wanted for years:

Llevo con ganas de estas dalias años, por fin hoy compre estas dos.

Annual flowers and first crop ever from the new veg garden

The tray of annual flowers I bought yesterday in my local market, to help put some colour into the garden (next year, with more planning, it won't look as bare in June!):

Ayer compre estas flores en el mercado. El jardin todavia esta poco establecido y hay muchos huecos sin nada, asi que las flores son para poner algo de color este verano.

Neil painted the bench, and with a few pots of flowers at the bottom and the rhododendron in bloom it's one of the best corners of the garden at the moment:

Neil pinto el banco, y con unas macetas de flores y el rododendro en flor, es una de las zonas mas bonitas en este momento. Entre el banco y la huerta tengo esta esquina con alguna flores y arbustos perennes. Los astilbes estan a punto de abrir. He puesto unas petunias y una lobelia (del mercado), para completar, y espero que durante los meses del verano crezcan y llenen mas el espacio con hojas y flores!

This flower bed is in between the bench and the veg beds. It's got some perennial plants and shrubs I really like, but with still a lot of gaps. I put some petunias and lobelias (from the market), and I hope they will fill up the space a bit in the coming months with leaves and flowers:

But it's not only about the flowers: I also had my first ever edible crop from this garden!! It's only a few lettuce leaves, but they made the burger from the barbecue all the more delicious.

Mi primera cosecha comestible de este jardin! Porque no solo de flores vive el hombre (o la mujer)...

Foxgloves in the front garden

The best thing in the garden at the moment is the front, which was all planted up when we bought the house. The only thing I've done to this is weed a little. I do like a lot of the plant combinations (the foxgloves are particularly nice right now), and since I've never had a whole flower bed like this to play with, I'm trying to learn as much as I can to make sure I can replicate this myself in the future!

El frente del jardin estaba plantado cuando compramos la casa, lo unico que he hecho aqui es quitar alguna mala hierba. Estoy intentando aprender como funciona un jardin en suelo directo a esta escala, porque es nuevo para mi, a ver si puedo repetir un efecto tan bonito.

Behind the flowers there is grass and a few plants by the low wall. I made the strip wider and planted two yellow roses. Next to them I am going to sow some beans (pretty and edible and will improve the soil).

Aqui he ampliado el espacio para plantas y he puesto dos rosales amarillos. Al lado voy a sembrar unas habas, que ademas de ser bonitas y comestibles condicionan el suelo.

Next to the front door we have this. I think it's a climbing hydrangea. It smells very sweet!

Junto a la puerta de casa tenemos este arbusto, no se muy bien lo que es pero las flores huelen de maravilla!

Finished raised beds

The raised beds where I plan to grow (mostly) vegetables are finally ready! ¡Por fin terminamos las jardineras donde voy a poner la huerta!

The topsoil got delivered in this big bag. We carried it all to the garden at the back of the house in buckets between the two of us, and it only took a few hours. 

La tierra nos la dejaron asi delante de casa, y entre los dos la transportamos en calderos al jardin (sarna con gusto no pica).

These are the beds with anti weed mat, ready for the buckets of soil. Las jardineras con membrana anti-raices, esperando la tierra.

And this is how they look now. It's still work in progress (it's always work in progress, you never finish gardening) bit looking a lot more finished now. I had trays of little plants I sowed 4 weeks ago, with which I've filled the beds on the right: three types of lettuce, spinach, rocket, parsley, sowed spring onions, and some flowers: calendula, cornflower and sunflowers. With green netting because there are lots of pigeons around, and local cats in search of a toilet.

To the left I've got two cane structures for peas and French beans. In the middle I've got two trays where I keep pots of stuff I'm propagating. Still to fill are two black planters (in the middle) and the bed in the front left. Still to plant are the courgettes, cucumbers, radishes, carrots and parsnips.

We won't be self-sufficient (maybe lettuce, but nothing else) but I'm having fun and we'll get a few special meals out of it.

De momento he plantado: a la derecha, lechugas de tres tipos, espinacas, perejil, rucula, cebolletas, y flores: girasoles, centaurea y calendula. Las sembre en el invernadero hace cuatro semanas y ahora ya estaban listas para el transplante. Les he puesto red encima para que no me las piquen los pajaros, ni vayan los gatos del vecindario a usarlo de retrete.

Atras a la izquierda tengo dos conos de cañas, uno con guisantes y otro con judias. En el medio tengo plantitas creciendo en macetas para transplantar mas adelante. Aun me queda por llenar las dos macetas negras grandes del medio y la jardinera de la izquierda delante. Y por plantar me quedan: calabacines, pepinos, zanahorias, chirivias y rabanitos.

La produccion sera pequeña porque el sitio es limitado, pero por lo menos ¡para un par de comidas especiales so que dara!

The 2014 tomatoes are out

I planted my tomato plants this week. And because it's still quite chilly at night and could even frost (which kills the plants) I've protected them with these screens improvised with plastic bags. My greenhouse is too small for anything bigger than seedlings and these plants were all squashed there. 

I bought them from my new local garden centre last weekend, and I was very pleased to see they had a big choice (at least 9 varieties of tomato that I could see!). I'm not bothering with growing tomatoes from seed anymore: I only need a few plants, and I'd rather buy one of each variety, for less than a packet of seed, than end up with too many of the same type. This year I'm growing: yellow, plum, big boy, sweet cherry and gardeners delight tomatoes.

Mis plantas de tomates ya estan fuera. Aqui aun puede helar por las noches, asi que los he protegido con estos plasticos por un par de semanas mas. Los compre en mi nuevo vivero/garden centre, que por suerte tenia gran variedad. En otras cosas ahorras dinero sembrando directamente, pero con tomates yo creo que no compensa. Solo necesito unas pocas plantas y prefiero comprar distintas variedades - un paquete de semillas cuesta mas.

In the smaller pots I'm going to plant marigolds and basil (currently in a seed tray in the greenhouse). En las macetas pequeñas voy a poner tagetes y albahaca, que tengo en el invernadero en semillero.

Raised beds ready for topsoil

Today is a very special day, for we finished building the raised beds! All the woodwork is done, the only things left to do now are: lay down the rest of the weed membrane, buy topsoil to fill them in, and plant them up!

La huerta ya esta casi lista! Hoy acabamos de constrir las paredes divisorias entre las cuatro paneles en las esquinas, que es donde va a ir la tierra. Me falta por acabar de poner la membrana anti raices de los arboles, comprar tierra para rellenar, y plantar!

The narrower strip in the middle is going to be the access path. The purple tray with plastic on top is my improvised cloche, with my lettuce seedlings underneath.

La bandeja morada tiene mi semillero de lechugas, cubiertas con plastico de momento porque aun hace frio por la noche. Esa parte central va a ser el camino de acceso.

Week three progress: greenhouse and flower beds

Between last weekend and this one I have got as far as this:

New plastic greenhouse. Some seedlings from last weekend have already sprouted! Others I started indoors two weeks ago and I've now moved outside to the greenhouse. 

Mini invernadero de plastico. Algunas de las semillas de la semana pasada ya han germinado! Otras las empece en la cocina y las he pasado afuera al invernadero.

I planted a lavender hedge in my Mediterranean/herbs bed- they came as little green plugs from the shop, you can just about see them in the gravel line.

Las bolitas verdes en la linea de gravilla son mis plantas de lavanda. Cuando crezcan haran un seto pequeño delante de las plantas aromaticas.

And I continued down the garden (it's in a slope). I started the next bit with some plants I had already: the lilac on the left and the philadelphus (the green bush in the middle). The yellow plant is cytisus 'all gold', a fragrant broom, I love it. In the middle I'll sow something for the sumner, but I'm still not sure what it'll be.

Y empece con el siguiente trozo de jardin. El lilo de la izquierda ya lo tenia, la planta amarilla de la derecha es nueva y me encanta: es una xesta de olor!

All the boards are up in the future vegetable raised beds . The bits of broken paving were holding down a weed mat under the decking, I plan to recycle them in a new path to the entry to the new "allotment area".

Ya levantamos todas las maderas en lo que sera la huerta. Los cachos de baldosas estaban debajo, los voy a reciclar haciendo un nuevo camino a la entrada de la zona de huerta.