Morning Light: The Fetchland Gardening Wire

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MarkyMarkMark (3M) Jul 2021 10:14am, 24 Jul 2021 15,742 posts	0 MarkyMarkMark (3M) Courgette harvest has begun, and French beans too. And a couple of cucumbers from the greenhouse.
Eynsham Red Jul 2021 10:45am, 24 Jul 2021 7,774 posts	0 Eynsham Red As we are going away for a week I’ve bought a solar powered automatic waterer for the veg planter. It seems to do it’s job well. Ironically it’s forecast to rain for the next week, but I guess that it never harms to have a bit of supplemental watering in a container.
MarkyMarkMark (3M) Jul 2021 6:43pm, 24 Jul 2021 15,747 posts	0 MarkyMarkMark (3M) Oh, and I've renetted my brassica cage with a slightly more stiff net with no joins in! The old one sort of worked, but I've evicted a few cabbage whites and squished a few eggs.
gardengirl Jul 2021 8:59am, 25 Jul 2021 399 posts	0 gardengirl I’ve built a netted cage for my gooseberries & strawberries (the birds had them all last year) and another for some of my brassicas. Looks like being a bumper gooseberry crop!
Flatlander Jul 2021 3:39pm, 25 Jul 2021 2,143 posts	0 Flatlander My veggiemesh "tents" are protecting my brassicas very well, with no CWBs or aphids , so I am getting a healthy crop. My runner beans refused to germinate after 3 sowing attempts so I am going to be without for the first time in years . However, my broad beans were good, as were my blackcurrants. On Thursday I dug up my first 3 plants of Suttons Early potatoes and had a good yield, so it looks as if the rain, sun and warmth since the cool spring as suited them, after the poor growth of the previous two years.
Hanneke Jul 2021 6:00pm, 25 Jul 2021 76,788 posts	0 Hanneke I am fighting my way into the fruit cage to be able to pick and freeze berries for winter use. I have also been pruning, shaping, pleaching etc All shaped trees need to be summer pruned to rrstrict growth where it is not wanted. Also hacking back my wisteria to encourage bud forming, not growth. For that, I had to deadhead my way into self seeded wild and garden flowers! Just surveyed the mess I made in the process: will have ANOTHER bonfire tonight, a smokey one again...
gardengirl Jul 2021 7:27pm, 25 Jul 2021 400 posts	0 gardengirl I’m going out later when it’s cooler to get some plants I was given for my birthday into the ground. Crocosmia x 3, rudbeckia x 3, a geum, a rose and a campanula. Busy evening ahead!
Ocelot Spleens Jul 2021 7:52pm, 25 Jul 2021 31,473 posts	0 Ocelot Spleens The Geums I bought last year have been great, might be next summer when you see them at their best.
Hanneke Jul 2021 8:48pm, 25 Jul 2021 76,800 posts	0 Hanneke I have planted a few things. It keeps being hot and dry so I am now watering 4 hours a day and just realised I am running very low on water! I need to start saving the water from my showrrs, i.e. shower with the ug in the bath.
Fragile Do Not Bend Jul 2021 8:48pm, 25 Jul 2021 8,595 posts	0 Fragile Do Not Bend I need to get on and finish picking my currants and gooseberries. I keep having to evict juvenile blackcaps from my fruit cage. I haven’t been able to find where they are getting in, but they certainly can’t find their way out again until I open the door for them.