WHAT ARE WE DOING IN THE GARDEN TODAY 2023

New lamp post installed today. It looks funky. I think Len my neighbour is jealous

 

I'll bring the dog round, if I had one.

 

28C today, so watered the pots and deadheaded those that really needed it.

 

Do we get a funky pic of the funky post...then we can all get jealous.

 

Picked a lot of gooseberries, 6lb so far and did some watering.

 

Not much today apart from watering the hanging baskets for a second time in 10 hours! Most of the other plants on the balcony got a watering as well this evening. The newly planted out tomato plants were looking a little droopy so gave them some water as well. They obviously will need more time for the roots to spread out but for the time being they look to be growing!

As we are forecast possible (though very unlikely for us here) thunderstorms from mid morning to midday I may have to move some plants off the balcony railings - but I've no idea where I will be able to put them as there is hardly standing room on the balcony now - even after I have been playing "musical plants" again!
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Hosing off my peppers.

Whitefly atacked one greenhouse and I have the plants spread around the deck to receive a good rinse off at least once a day. I had sprayed them all with various things and think I killed the little so and so's but Im going to keep up the followup hosings to blow off anything trying to reestablish .

My Ring of Fire, Jalaapenos and most importantly, Shineybrids were not in that greenhouse and so far are clear.

 

Finally washed all of the pots used for this year's sowings (tomatoes, cosmos, lobelia, asters, sweet peas, a bit of others). Here is the scope:

 

Still have that task to do....I don't want to think about the mountain of pots tucked out of sight in the nursery area.

 

I will be spraying/hosing down my peppers a time or two more. I've been looking at all the leaves and don't see any invaders but I still don't trust that the plants are "clean" enough to put back in the greenhouse.

@Alisa and @Upsydaisy I don't care for the job of washing out the little seedling pots so every time I empty a flat, I clean and refill them and put them back in the cellar. That way the job doesn't build up on me.

@shiney you have reminded me to harvest some of my rhubarb. Strangely enough, I've got a fair amount of it even though I just transplanted the three small plants in April. I'm quite astonished because this is the first year they have not been stingy in producing good stalks!

 

Strange you should say that, my broad beans were badly attacked this year and I decided to hold off spraying and let nature sort it out.

The beans are now finished and I got rid of the tops yesterday, not any blackfly at all left on them and full of ladybirds.
Pity the ladybirds are about 2 months too late.

 

I spotted masses of aphids on my beans this week and groaned at the thought of dealing with them. When I went to look this morning a colony of ladybirds had settled in and picked the beans clean. I'm delighted!

Now to transfer them to the dahlias which are getting hammered.

 

I find it amazing that you have so many ladybirds over there. Even when I was a kid and before global warming/climate change were invented, I rarely saw one of those. As kids we were delighted to come across one, even if only once a summer! They apparently still sell them in breathable bags for release in your garden however they are deadly expensive.