GrowGirl August 2018

Wednesday 8th August 2018

A splendid morning at my flower site where I water and weed for an hour followed by a tying-up session with my flower support canes for the borage and ox-eye daisies.  The canes were mostly all in place, thankfully, although I had to search for two full-length ones for a huge clump of borage.  Once you grow this bee-popular plant you have it for ever.  Seedlings spring up everywhere and they are very easily transportable to other sites.  Use the young leaves for a cucumber addition to squidges or salads or freeze the brilliant blue flowers for adding to your summer drinks.  You must stake them however, or else your growing plants will flop over everywhere and knock-out other favourites.  They also require a great deal of water to do well..

My marrows, courgettes and tomatoes are thriving - brilliant xxx

GrowGirl.com 

1 hr 

10 August 2018· 

After all this morning’s rain can you imagine how thrilled I am to have gathered in all our wild flower seeds growing in Adderbury on areas I manage. All that rain would have washed out the remaining harvest and
I should have Missed out on the next stage of my leisurely learning curve ie getting good with plants, cuttings and seeds and all those other gardening joys x

I mean , just like passing ones driving test, then finding out you begin learning how to drive the next day well....completing your gardening course does not guarantee your abilities as a highly knowledgeable gardener.

You have to get your gloved hands onto a pair of secateurs, recognise a plant or two or double-dig even single-dig a plot, before you may begin to think of yourself as a gardener !

Just get going and enjoy the ride.
Gardening is absolutely wonderful.

You may even eliminate much of the digging if you follow Charles Downing who believes that digging just upsets all those friendly micro-organisms, your in-House help-mates just waiting for your input!

Last night I worked on my harvest completing 10 individual seed collections - all dated, ID and locationed - so now there are just two remaining seed collections to work on. My winnowing is done by foot - like grape pressing - or hand agitation, rolling-pin crushing, even finger-squidgy pressing and squashing, as I sneeze my way thru’ the whole process. It’s my best-yet ever harvest work-out and it’s very thrilling to be right here, right now xx

Happy gardening folks xxx

A bouquet of knapweed, Achillea and cornflower picked when seed gathering this week xxx

GrowGirl.com

Margaret Halstead  © Copyright Margaret Halstead 2018