Grape vine pruning

Hi all, it's been a long time since I posted here. I've been really ill. It took a long time to recover from a triple heart bypass operation and an Aortic valve replacement back in May 2023; while holidaying with my family in Palma Nova, 5 days turned into 6 weeks; then medivac home, I've been busy trying to catch up as my energy allows. Here I am in Feb 2025. Spring is just around the corner, so it's time to get the fruiting plants pruned and ready for spring growth, so here goes. 

First, it is time to prune the grapevine. It needs repotting from when it was bought in early 2023 and has not been touched since then since it needs to go to a bigger pot. I will leave it in a larger pot this year to see what sort of growth it will produce before settling in its final position in the ground later in the dormant part of this year.

Oops, that fence really needs a few coats of western red. Four prominent leaders to start the pruning and see what spring brings forth. More to follow.

Spring has sprung

Earlier today while on my way to my workshop I spotted the first signs of fruit beginning to form on the red currents that I potted into large pots last year, (these can be seen in an earlier post here.).

I immediately took a look around the garden at the rest of our garden fruit plants and sure enough they're all beginning to produce small fruits, spring is well underway.

This year only a few weeks ago we planted three raspberries (below) dormant plants with no leaves at all,  all are now well underway.

lonicera x tellmanniana

It's shaping up to be a good summer, I planted this back in June 2013.

later that year It only grew one flower it was beautiful. 

I never noticed what was behind the flower head it has a complete circular leaf formed around its stem, I have never seen honeysuckle like this before this year it is covered in buds. later in the year it is going to be stunning, I  need to get some more trellis to help support it.

Originally it was at the front of the house planted on the end of a hedge which stopped at the front corner on our carport that we had     ( now long gone ) It just never grew well at all and never flowered.

The hedge was taking all the nutrients from the soil. When I took down the carport and removed the hedge, I dug out the what was left of sorry looking honeysuckle I planted its remains into a large pot,  threw it down the far end of the garden while I built the new fence and completely forgot it till the following spring. 

I then planted it where it now, it's now catching the early morning sun till early afternoon this is the results, bought from a supermarket for a £1  bargain. I am so glad it has survived. 

busy little bee

after the gales of the last few days  I was walking around our garden looking for wind damage luckily found none, but spotted this little chap busily working the apple blossom on my tree. I popped straight indoors grabbed the camera and snap him before he could move on just look at the size of his pollen sack crammed full, nature at its best, love it.

New quality fence panels

Well, it is about time I posted here again, I have a new shed arriving in mid-may. Sorry guys no post on building a new shed. Its proved cheaper to buy one this time rather than build one,  that's a sign of the times hey.  I have to move things around in the garden to make room for a greenhouse later on, (Edwin's fault). Unfortunately for me, the sunniest spot in the garden for the greenhouse is where we have a large tin shed, its too large to be moved and fitted elsewhere in the garden so it has to go, but before that, I have to store its contents, hence the new shed.  The only place for the shed means more work for me first replacing two fence panels.

Started making them today, the garden centre that I usually buy all my garden materials from has now closed down which is a real pity they only sold quality products, I cannot source these panels elsewhere in southern England only cheaper flimsy version, crap.

Luckily, I have timber stored from when we removed one of our decks when we erected our conservatory a few years ago.



Framework all cut and assembled ready for tomorrows featheredge boarding.

Ok, Here we go again,  today lovely sunny day time to crack into the panels and nail the feather edged boarding as seen on the right.

I used 40 mm wire nails you can use ring shank nails if you wish but it is not really necessary for your choice.

First I set up a sliding square to space each individual boarding at the right space to match the existing panels that I already have.

My panels are 2m square you will have to decide what spacing you require depending on the size of the panels you may already have,  or this may be decided if your matching existing panels, or again possible just filling a cap in hedging, or similar.

Shown on the left panel partly completed with the square setup to decide correct spacing for board spacing, with my spacing  I used 18 boards to complete a 2m panel width.

Heres both panels are now completed,  all that left to do is a machine out two capping strips to fit the top edge of panel its main purpose is to run off any rainwater to stop the end of the feather edge from rotting over a period of time.


Now both panels are complete, it is now time to remove the old panels and concrete gravel boards and cut back all the brambles from the side of the panels.  Number one son is not available till Monday night to help lift these panel into position as these are very heavy, I need to slide these panels down a concrete groove in the posts which will take three of us, two to lift these into the groove.


OK  there made,  now its time to lift out the old panels, well lift out maybe a slight exaggeration fall out is nearer the truth.

Now to attack the undergrowth next door and chop back all the massive brambles.   Corner post which was concreted into position some ten years ago when I put up the original rear fence. Now it is settled and has gone out of plumb as can be seen in the photo.  I drilled a 10mm hole through the top of the post and into the other post as well just out of shot in this photo I then bought four 125mm eye bolts and pulled it back plumb again with a straining wire.


The existing panels were only 1m high with about four 150mm concrete gravel boards under each of them in this corner many years ago I had a small compost heap hence the concrete boards to stop early rot of the panels, one still clearly seen in this photo these were all removed, they will be used elsewhere in the garden later.

Ok, it now Monday night myself and my son Ian lift the panels up and straight into position with no struggling at all, both panels fitted with ease first time as well which was very nice.


Well here they are fitted finishing the back fence off properly, now the composted area has now gone and it has become a completed full 2m high fence which returns around the corner, ready for when I  remove the last hedge,  but that another post.

Now they're finished and fitted its completed this corner nicely, next   I have to remove and store this pile of timber and concrete gravel boards elsewhere clearing the decking area ready for my new shed to arrive in mid-may. enjoy.

End of season veg

Well, here we are mid-October, Were just back from our Holidays in Holland, been back a few days now so today it was time to gather in the remaining harvest, next week  I'll start prepping the garden for the winter clear all the old runner bean plants old tomato bags  De-weed the garden from the last three weeks growth etc, then.

Its that time of year to get decorating again, bedrooms this year, plus back into the workshop to start a  complete refurbishment of an old Elu Mitre chop saw you can follow this refurbishment over on my blog the workshop parts are ordered so in about ten days OK, in the meantime its back to the garden.

The last of the overripe tomatoes, if we had been away from any longer they would have been past use.  These will just about be enough to make a small bowl of tomato soup, six plants done really well this year, but not as good as other years.

The green toms were all that was leftover, not sure as yet on what ill use these for probable some diabetic sugar-free chutneys.


Golden delicious the last of this year's fruits these have done especially well this year, the best  for about four years, we've  had two other picking a few weeks ago  some went to a friend nearby and the other went to Holland to Louise's.

I always leave the windfalls to nature birds and bees you know that sort of thing, the apple is shown here will be sorted carefully into eaters and the others boiled down into apple sauce, and the remaining ones made into apple tarts etc, yummy.

last but not least the remaining stringy runner beans now long past eating, as shown here to dry and shrivel out over the following months, yep you guessed it next years planting beans hopefully.

This year's disasters, all the red and yellow pepper plants, all the basil plants, total disasters,  four of the twelve rosemary cuttings never made it, but the others seem to be doing fine, all four clematises are doing fine and so are the three honeysuckles doing well.

This only leaves my first attempt at growing  Celery still to be cut as when needed, what do you think?.

All the above was grown without any chemical assistant, no fertilizers pesticides etc and no water from the mains either, all water came from my water butts, any recipes that may come from the above will in time appear over on Simply Organic.

Enjoy.

late, first pick of the year

It's the first pick of the year albeit a small pick 290g  just big enough for a small feed for the tomorrow evenings meal.  My first attempt in just over forty years.  This year is a pure experiment these runner bean plants were purchased from the local garden centre rather late in the season as I never had any bean seeds of my own...

After getting the garden back to somewhere near normal the removal of a very large hedge,  the construction of the new fence and the building of our conservatory we decided to go totally Organic. We have lived here for nearly seventeen years with no chemical being used in the garden in that time and with out growing any vegetable at all.

Now that we are organic we decided to grow only a few vegetables this year to start with without the use of any chemicals to make the plants produce more the only water used was from water butts no water at all from a hosepipe, to see what the ground could yield.

As can be seen, the ground has produced a good healthy plant, plenty of flowers still left to turn into bean pods,  hmm but very late in the season,   I do hope not to late in the season to give good fruiting results.

I have noticed a neighbour several doors up the road also has runner beans in flower at about the same stage as mine perhaps it is a late-season this year and the bean is not too late to produce a good crop.

Time will tell on that one   I suppose as the season progresses.

yet again more herbs

Well, it started this week with transplanting my coriander seedling. The results it is still a little early to criticise they don't look like there going to make it but, let us wait and see.

Out and about looking for Lemon verbena plants, we found a couple of plants but their sort of end of season conditions, but that doesn't matter as were not expecting to get any use out of these plants this year, give it chance to get established ready for next year with all new growth.

Seen here with the two remaining honeysuckles we bought last week,  we have decided to pot grow these as well still awaiting a pot that why we were out searching the garden centres looking for the right sized pot to house both of them in one container.

Lemon verbena on the left the others honeysuckles. While we looked for the right size pots, we found some lovely young  Basil seedlings.

My two previous attempts to grow Basil from seeds failed miserably. I  bought two small trays, this started me potting and planting, Not just the Basil seedling but,  I also cut a load of rosemary cutting for next years plants and potted and planted both on at the same time.

 These are to be grown on as Indoor pot plants.

These  I will grow on Outdoors to be transplanted later to the garden once established in early spring next year.



My present rosemary plant is getting a little big in its current position. While we are sitting in the garden, it blocks a good view of the lovely roses behind it, so before I rip out the old plant, I have taken a load of new cuttings which I want to get established before I do so.

pink roses on the left, red roses directly  behind

last week-this week

Nice increase in size for weeks watering we have had some heavy rain this week on the days we didn't  I only use rainwater from my water butts, no chemicals used or liquid feeds, purely Organic. 

last week

this week

these take me "way" back

I've not grown these now for many years, in fact nearly forty.  My last attempt was just after we got married we had just purchased our first house with no garden, we lived in  Governor road Portland Dorset.

I was given the use of a garden a few streets away off of an old lady her husband had died  a few years earlier  and the back half of her garden was left barren about the size of an allotment. The agreement was  I could use it providing she could have some of it's produce, hmm, I thought how much can one little old lady eat, ha ha. I was to find out the hard way. 

Unfortunately she  and her  friends  helped themselves  constantly to my  vegetables and we  had very little from it over that season.

It was getting beyond the joke I was doing all the hard work and only left with the smallest bits and pieces, left overs.  

I remember I had some lovey cauliflowers one in particular I thought  that will be just right for next weekend  Sunday roast, my runner beans were getting near ready for picking, I had planned to pick them also for  Sunday lunch.

However mid week we suffered a really terrible storm  totally out of season for the time of year as it was the last weekend of August  it was  a real bad one with very very  high gale force winds which burnt all the runner beans beyond being edible totally destroying them all, yes you guessed the rest when I  went round a few days later  she had cut my last cauliflower.

That was the end of my gardening using someone else s garden.   I simply took all my gardening tools and walked away and never returned not even to tidy up after the storm.

It's been really nice watching these grow this year knowing there all going to be ours.  Anyone tries to pinch them I'll pin there foot to the ground with a garden fork, ha ha.

Red currents

These are new to my garden mainly due to friends in Holland. Karelle and Eelco who are a friend of my daughter Louise and Edwin they were making red currant and mint jam and posted on Facebook,  it looked fantastic and  I commented so, To which a reply came back next time you are over a pot will be waiting for you to taste.

As our lifestyle is changing to entirely Organic I thought, hmm why not grow more of our own fruits, this way we get control, no chemicals, sugars if any, we can if we want to add other fruits to make it naturally sweet from natural sugars.

We had a good look around the garden centres and finally bought these two Red current plants which I decided to grow in pots for some strange reason rather than a plant in the garden. Luckily we already had two identical pots ready and waiting for just these plants.

There names.
On the left Roland.
On the right.  Red lake. 

I understand the birds like the buds during winter and the fruits in the summer,  plenty of time to get some canes and netting.


I'm looking forwards to seeing these grow over the next year and made into jam.

These along with our home grow mint will be the first of many fruits planned to be grown organically without the use of chemicals in our garden.

scented honeysuckle

Just popped out to check on the weather after yesterday deluge.  hmm, It,s a very slow drizzle at the moment not to bad, I'm out now so just as well get the new honeysuckles in,  The first scented one I want in a pot its called Regina.  We found the right sized pot yesterday at our local garden cent-re to fit snuggle into the obelisk that will help support the honeysuckle as it grows.

Plenty of stones in the bottom of the pot and then filled with new garden soil from the same garden centre special offer  4 bags £10.

Pot is held firmly inside the obelisk as seen here from different directions or, if you like the pot is helping to hold the obelisk firmly.     

That's one sorted now,  just as I was positioning the other two honeysuckles getting ready to dig out there holes for planting down it came again.
 

I'm not complaining about the rain. I planted out my coriander plants two days ago some of the poor plants are floating in there troughs. give them a chance please.

3 little gems

Well, we searched all the local gardens centres that we know of around Weymouth and surrounding areas, we searched for just one decent scented honeysuckle,  wrong time of the year I suppose all we found was the leftovers and damaged plant from the summer season that no one else wanted to buy, all ranging in price from £8.99 - £12.99 well-established plants but all manky. 

I don't know why I didn't think of it before as seeing it was only a few months ago we bought five lovely clematises from our local supermarket so off t we trot, hey presto three lovely healthy plants added bonus one is scented as well, bargain to boot as well £2 each.

I think next time we want plants to make the supermarket our first port of call definitely.

Tomorrow I'm going to pot the scented one, and place a climbing obelisk over it,  the other two in the garden to climb the fence.

Add caption

additional herbs

As I mentioned in my earlier post of more herbs are to be added to my garden this year,  As a pure experiment  I'm planting most of them in a pot this year, mainly to see how well they do.

At the end of the autumn if they look like they have been successful  I intend to bring all I can indoors in the conservatory or, In the gardening shed to see if I can extend there growing season hopefully to carry through till next spring.

Today I purchased these new one's front row, all sage plant, back row from the right are garlic chives, far left a new Rosemary plant to replace the one shown directly behind the table as Its smothering a rose bush that came from  Pam's late mum house, which we very much want to survive.

I bought in the new Rosemary plant as I intend to take a cutting from the old bush,  just in case they don,t take root.  I at least have one new one.

Pots are shown alongside table and bags of soil in the background.

Japanese anemone

The latest plant to join us, all the way from Exeter in Devon, a  little gem,   it came from our friends garden Janet and Dave some five weeks ago.

Japanese anemone

Dave was worried it would not travel well,  or even transplant at all.  Well, how wrong can you be?

After planting, I  have puddled it in water every day since. Early last week  I notice new growth which I left to grow to what you see now,  now trimmed of all old leaves and dead stems to allow the new growth to take over, it's doing fine, what colour the flowers  I have just been told are pink.

Cheap super market plants

In our local supermarket, summer plant was going on sale, we notice a full tray full of various clematis plants they were cheap all in small packets only about 200mm in height.

After a good rummage, we bought five different ones for dotting around the edge of the garden, to help coverup the bareness of the new boundary fencing.

Three at a £1 each and the other two at £0.69p each .  Were they to be a bargain, or a load of rubbish,  well here they are now two months on.  You judge them for yourselves.

Hears the other two both in pots outside my workshop door on both sides being trained to climb up the archway.

blue berries

 Two new additions to our new garden design that will fit in well with our herb and fruit garden.

Blueberry Duke

Blueberry Blue crop

hmm, I feel a nice chocolate cake coming on with lashings of cream and chocolate with a heavy blueberry and icing sugar topping.

Starting over

I have restarted my herb garden again this year for the second time, due to my operation and long convalescent period, this is mainly due to the so-called gardener I employed he didn't know weeds from plants, I have a few mint leafs just showing above ground at the moment scattered all over what was the herb batch, all my thyme, lemon balm along with all of my lilies, planted after Lil's death and all of my tulip brought back from Holland on numerous trips, plus many other valuable plants.

One of the three mint selections

Anyway this time, all of my herbs are going into pots just in case of any other possible illness, so I don't have to lose them all again.

The herbs that I have bought in from local garden centres, I thought if I put them all in pots they can't go walkabout, can they ?.  I did think hmm maybe they won't do too good in pots well judge for your selves, I seeded two lots of herbs one being the Coriander and the other Basil the basil failed miserably when nothing sprouted.

Seen here below the other two mints  in the background   while  to the middle and lower photo two of the three choices of thyme.

Two Mints  & two of the three thyme

The second batch of  Basil is now seeded in its tray now awaiting results. 

All of the herbs   I have planted in pots and old buckets have really surprised me with how vigorously they are growing, it is still early in the year, see how long they last, I  will leave over the winter to see what sprouts again next year.

The third choice of thyme with its first flower just showing It is growing rapidly it was about a third of that size when bought less than a month ago.   I bought an old herb book off of e-bay a couple of years ago stuck it on the bookshelf till it was needed.

Thyme

I have learnt so much these last few days about Herb's things I never knew you could do with them especially in the culinary line, edible flower, roots for vegetables etc.

I only paid a couple of pounds for the book, money well spent.

This book  is filled on  every page with all known herbs  what it doesn't cover is not worth knowing, the back third of the book  is going to be far and away from the best for me, the  culinary recipes,  ooh  delicious

Coriander

Those of you interested in  cooking with herbs  please  keep popping in, I fully intend to increase my  garden with a huge amount of herbs  all to be used in cooking  recipes, follow them here in  Simply Organic



Last for this post  my baby coriander transplanted yesterday appear to be doing well, hopefully, in about a week   I may see  some  green specs poking through in the basil seed tray.