What I love about my vegetable garden at this time of year is that it is almost as full of flowers as it is with fruit and veg. Alongside the rows of beans, kale and lettuce, beds are edged with marigolds or zinnias, and there are obelisks of sweet peas at either end of a bed (or sometimes in the middle). I also let a hollyhock or two seed around, as well as opium poppies, toadflax, ammi and verbena. Growing flowers alongside vegetables – or companion planting, as it is known – is something I’ve always done. There is no particular science to it, but the flowers attract more pollinators, which will in turn help the pollination of your crops. They can also lure the less beneficial aphids and other pests away from the vegetables and fruit; blackfly, for example, will colonise Ammi majus, lessening the chances of an infestation on your broad beans. And, more than anything else, letting flowers creep around the edges of your vegetable plot makes it look so much more attractive.
After the summer solstice has passed, you can sow Florence fennel, which tends to bolt if you sow it too early. I also like to sow another batch of chard at this stage, which I will plant out in early autumn to take me through the winter, as well as winter salad leaves such as mizuna and lamb’s lettuce.
The main task at this time of year is to keep up with harvesting, because if you don’t pick regularly, a plant will stop producing and go to seed. This also applies to sweet peas, which will soon dwindle unless you pick the blooms two or three times a week. If it is very dry, watering is really important. I capture as much rainwater as I can in water butts and use that before I start using the hose.
The website greengrove.cc is an aggregator of news from open sources. The source is indicated at the beginning and at the end of the announcement. You can send a complaint on the news if you find it unreliable.
Hey GPODers! Today we’re back in the flower-filled garden of Heidi Weirether. We first saw her garden a little earlier on in the summer (you check check out that post here: Heidi’s Colorful Garden in Fairfield County) and it’s incredible to see how much has changed in a month’s time! As with much of the northeast this year, Heidi is experiencing incredible hydrangea blooms—but that is just the tip of the floral iceberg in her sensational garden:
Vicks vaporub is a popular household name manufactured by The Procter & Gamble Company. It is quite effective in clearing out the nasal passages thanks to its camphor, menthol, and eucalyptus oil content. However, its uses are not limited to this, and there are a few Vicks VapoRub Uses in the Garden, too! Let’s have a look!
There's perhaps no flower that's inspired more poetry, art, and prose than a rose. From formal rose gardens surrounded by boxwood hedges to cottage gardens overflowing with roses, foxglove, and native flowers, these layered blooms are held up as the star of the garden. They're carefully pruned into formal arrangements and allowed to climb and cascade over charming trellises.
Created by a local craftsman using Eyam stone pitchers, the cambered path winds between beds planted with pollinator friendly, cottage garden favourites, including a froth of tall white Artemisia lactiflora ‘Elfenbein’, crimson Knautia macedonica, silvery Stachys byzantina, white Silene fimbriata and lofty, pale yellow Cephalaria gigantea. These tolerate the exposed location and move beautifully in the wind.