Hello Lovely Gardeners

Gosh where does the time go?   Now that gardens are planted out or still being planted out, we find ourselves with a little bit of a lull in the garden.  There is no more juggling small plants in little pots and during this month the small seedlings grow quickly to take their place in the garden.  They look great – orderly and in control.  Give them a few months and it will be a jungle out there!  

November is one of my favourite months because, once I get the garden planted I can actually enjoy it and maybe even take on a few projects before the craziness of the festive season and holiday seasons kick in.  This is the month to catch our breath before the harvest starts and we are up to our eyeballs in tomatoes and zucchini!

November is a great month to waft about the garden of an evening, with a glass of your favourite tipple, checking for pests, nipping out weeds before they get too big and getting to know the plants as they grow.    

It is also an important time to think about water in the garden because depending on where you look some of the experts are suggesting another long hot summer.  I did see one report saying it was going to be hot and humid, which is a worry for things like blight and fungal disease.  Hot and dry is a tad more manageable.  My ideal summer would be hot dry days with rain at night!  But with some areas still under water restrictions and others likely to have restrictions during the summer, gardeners need to think ahead.  There is a great article on the Yates website > 9 ways to save water in the garden < that should be a great help to all of us this summer.    

In my garden, I’m still planting out.  I may have underestimated the size of my garden, the time it takes to plant out and my capabilities – there is only so much that can be done in a day.  I do this every year, thinking it is all possible in a day!   I need some kind of sign in my office – like the one you see in rear vision mirrors –  “Caution objects in mirror are closer than they appear"  I need it to say “caution things in the garden take longer than you think”.  But I think the original quote needs to go over my calendar – with the word ‘mirror’ replaced with ‘diary’.

The good news is finally I’m using my own compost!  I set up a three bin compost system at the last place – one where you just leave it to do its own thing and then we moved before the three years were up and I left loads of almost ready compost behind.  In the new garden it was one of the first things to be set up and I have loads of lovely well rotted compost in the first bin, the second one is breaking down nicely and the third one is full to brimming so I need to use the compost from the first one so I can start filling it up again.

Hopefully, this will be another wonderful week in the garden for everyone.

Happy Gardening.

Sarah the Gardener  : o)

Image:  It is hard to imagine these plants will totally engulf these beds in the coming weeks.