Obviously not everything I've chosen to grow likes these conditions, Marigolds in particular seem to wither and die pretty quickly. 'How can you kill Marigolds' asks a friend, 'they're impossible to kill'. Evidently not! Radishes go to seed pretty quickly and the coriander stands no chance, although I have found better success by moving it to a balcony round the back that only gets a bit of evening sunshine. I might try another batch of radishes round there as well. My strawberries have all died now so I definitely need to site them elsewhere next year.
Other casualties have been the Pak Choi where the white fly and cabbage white caterpillars have gorged their way through it. I have found that Neem oil works a treat so hopefully the next batch won't suffer the same consequences. The cucumbers fell to Cucumber Mosaic Disease and sadly my blueberry bush was done for by the wind, so a more sheltered spot next year me thinks.
The flowers however, are going great. Our front terrace looks really pretty now and will look even better next year when everything is better established. Summer took a while to really get started this year so as a result everything has taken longer to come into bloom. However, this means that the everything is looking really spectacular now.
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| As you can see, early June and no flowers but now look at it! |
Other things going well include the lime tree, it has lots of flowers on it and several little baby limes so I'll be looking forward to having a wedge in a gin & tonic soon. I've several containers on a downstairs balcony that contain baby carrots, spring onions, spinach, chives and cut & come again lettuce leaves which are all doing well. The back terrace upstairs has pots of rosemary, mint, thyme, basil, sage, cherry tomatoes and chillies which are all loving the blazing heat.
Up at our guesthouse I've procured a little spot for a vegetable patch. I bought some plug plants from the local co-operativa and despite me not planting them until June they are going great. The tomato plants are huge and should keeping fruiting until October if I'm lucky. The courgettes are producing lots of lovely fruit, although the mice keep getting in there before me! I've purchased some mousetraps to put down although I am sure I will need t'husband to deal with them, being the big girl's blouse that I am! There's also basil, onions, aubergine and pepper plants in the patch with green beans growing up the fence.
Once the weather has cooled down a bit, I am going to make a couple of raised beds and plant my winter veg. The co-operative will supply me with plug plants of Cauliflower, broccoli, onions and cabbages and I've bought my broad bean seeds ready to sow along with sugar snap & mange tout. Spring should hopefully see a bumper bounty.
