Fill your butts
21.08.2023 - 11:53
/ theunconventionalgardener.com
/ Emma Doughty
It’s horrible this morning – windy and very wet. But there is a silver lining to these clouds; the rain is filling my water butts, courtesy of the new guttering Ryan and his dad fitted onto the two sheds yesterday morning. Ryan chose white guttering and fittings, which fit in nicely with the colour scheme for the sheds, although the paintwork is looking a little grubby now and could do with touching up!
On Saturday Ryan and I (mostly I, since planting is my department) finished planting the front garden that we started planting last week. There are now more than 50 plants sharing this space, almost all edible. I will add some flowering bulbs in due course, but for the moment the list of front garden plants is:
I did the bark chip mulch while Ryan and his dad were working on the guttering. The idea is that, over time, the strawberries will take over as ground cover. The mulch is just keeping down the weeds until that happens.
I’ve also potted up the fuchsia berries, and brought them out into the garden from the cold frame. They’re probably hating me for that right about now, but they won’t be suffering from drought….
At least now the front garden plants can take care of themselves for a while, and I can concentrate on the back garden. There’s a lot that needs doing, and a lot of plants in containers that need permanent homes (although we emptied a lot of containers planting up the front).
One thing I must get around to doing is seeing if I can give my plants a helping hand. I have been sent some envii products to review, probiotics that are meant to help plants grow, and to protect them against stresses such as heat or slug attacks. I don’t think I’ll have an opportunity to test ‘Chill Out’ this week, but I have plenty of