It looks like I’ve missed out the whole of May! I mostly spent it completing final uni assignments and studying for my exam, which is now done, and I am officially done with my degree! 6 years or part time study, I don’t know what to do with myself now, but I’ve definitely reached my limit for academic prowess, I can’t cope with any more. Just 6 weeks to wait for my final grading but I know I have already passed. I now have a huge stack of nerdy plant textbooks to get stuck into!
May was a month of more dry weather. Here in Cheshire we had a total of 10 weeks with no significant rain, then we have had a wet day here and there at the start of June, and it’s now super dry again. I’m having to water my veg plot, which isn’t usually necessary due to it’s no-dig, heavily mulched nature, but I’ve realised the down side of a heavy mulch. If the ground has become very dry, and we only get a sprinkle of rain, it’s just not enough to penetrate the mulch into the ground, so deep watering is required.
Everything is coming on very nicely, I’ve just pulled my first early potatoes, Red Duke of York. They were planted in early February as the weather was so good, but it was such dry conditions they looked terrible and never really got going. However I managed a moderate harvest, and discovered that the seed potatoes that hadn’t sprouted in spring had sprouted nicely where I had abandoned them in the pink baling string basket, so they are going in now for winter potatoes (weather permitting!).
I allowed quite a few bread poppies to grow in the veg patch, as I had a complete lack of poppies last year, so I was glad to see them back! I thought they would be over and done by the time I needed them to go, but I was beginning to regret it when they got to 4ft high and started to crowd out the tomatoes, until this morning when I walked down there and saw all of the hoverflies dancing around them!! So they can stay for now. Speaking of insects, I had a wonderful sight in a customer garden of 30+ ladybirds pupating on a wooden path edging, I’m taking it as a sign that we are restoring a healthy ecosystem in that garden.
It seems to be a great year for roses, mine are looking outstanding, and many of my customer gardens are looking great too. I finally after 3 years have got my customers wisteria to flower properly!! She’s an awkward white wisteria whose leaves come on before the flowers have opened up and hide them completely. I got many more flowers this year with correct pruning and some sulphate of potash in February, and have taken to removing leaf sprigs that obstruct the view of the flowers, with great success, but she is high maintenance!
I have grapes coming along nicely for the first time ever, my largest ever crop of strawberries after rooting many runners over the last couple of years and building up my plants. It also seems to be a great year for ladybirds, my wildest nettle patches that I call my ladybird farm are absolutely teaming with larvae. I have relocated some into a customers greenhouse to help deal with aphids on their chilli plants.
Now that I have finished Uni I am meeting with several new customers to extend my rounds, helped greatly by my wonderful new work van! We were looking for a high top van (so I can fit in it as I am very tall and didn’t want to be hitting my head daily any more than I already do!) and long wheel base, and we found a lovely, little used post van for sale, and my husband has done an amazing job racking it out for me, so now I can carry everything I need to jobs. With an additional cooler box so I always have a cold drink on hand, great for the blazing hot weather we are currently having! I have been busy with my sticker machine to livery up the van and make it look less like a post van, and it’s already bringing me work enquiries!
