LAZY DAYS
Apart from dead-heading, weeding, and watering, there is little to do at this time of year. I am always happier when there is something to occupy me and so I am thinking of taking some lavender cuttings. I have two plants (lavandula angustifolia) and they are so beautiful and compact that I think it worth while having more. It would seem that this is a good enough time to do that - see link.
http://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/projects/lavender-cuttings/
Meanwhile, I'll keep on cutting the sweet peas to make them flower even more, and picking the tomatoes which never cease to amaze me. When I read about others living in warmer parts of the country and all their tomato problems - the disease and the lack of flowers - I wonder what I am doing right! Something, I guess.
I often pick the tomatoes just before they are ripe because there are so many growing, that the mature ones are crowding out the little ones. My thinking is that if I pick off the big ones, it gives the smaller ones a chance. Seems logical to me.
Meanwhile, the yellow courgettes (Soleil F1 hybrid) are bountiful. I don't think I will ever grow another type after this! I love the colour and I pick them very young so that I don't end up with too many. I like them sliced in my salads. The plants are not running rampant all over the garden as I had expected they might although I have had a problem with the leaves. They are very big, as I kind of expected, but they are casting shadows over other plants and that cannot happen! so I have chopped quite a number of leaves off - not all, not by a long way all. When I cut off the leaves, however, I did not chop off the stalks. I have this notion that if I cut the stalks at the narrow end, just below the leaf, there will be less chance of disease getting into the plant. Possibly that is wrong but I shall soon know.
http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/vegetable/pruning-zucchini-how-to-prune-zucchini-squash.htm
http://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/projects/lavender-cuttings/
Meanwhile, I'll keep on cutting the sweet peas to make them flower even more, and picking the tomatoes which never cease to amaze me. When I read about others living in warmer parts of the country and all their tomato problems - the disease and the lack of flowers - I wonder what I am doing right! Something, I guess.
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| Cosmos, Unwins Special Mix Sweet Peas, and carrot tops! |
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| Tumbling Toms |
I often pick the tomatoes just before they are ripe because there are so many growing, that the mature ones are crowding out the little ones. My thinking is that if I pick off the big ones, it gives the smaller ones a chance. Seems logical to me.
Meanwhile, the yellow courgettes (Soleil F1 hybrid) are bountiful. I don't think I will ever grow another type after this! I love the colour and I pick them very young so that I don't end up with too many. I like them sliced in my salads. The plants are not running rampant all over the garden as I had expected they might although I have had a problem with the leaves. They are very big, as I kind of expected, but they are casting shadows over other plants and that cannot happen! so I have chopped quite a number of leaves off - not all, not by a long way all. When I cut off the leaves, however, I did not chop off the stalks. I have this notion that if I cut the stalks at the narrow end, just below the leaf, there will be less chance of disease getting into the plant. Possibly that is wrong but I shall soon know.
http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/vegetable/pruning-zucchini-how-to-prune-zucchini-squash.htm