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