Springhill Stories

We are mid-July and summer is in full swing… the weather however is not soooo summer like. With temperatures around 20°C we are a bit cool for this time of year and we finally got some rainy periods as well. This is actually great news for the garden and I have to say the garden looks fresh and lush. After two extremely dry summers this is a nice change. Let’s have a look what the garden looks like. As it is full harvest period we will start with that.

The Vegetable Garden

I have to say this year is a nice year for the vegetable garden. It’s not the year with more than normal harvests, but unlike previous years everything is doing well. It was not to dry for radishes, so they worked out fine, the salads did and still do well. Broad beans had some black fly, but since I sowed them already november last year they still gave a good amount of beans. Kohlrabi worked out fine and also the beets and beetroot are doing well. Until now only the carrots underperform. I get big stems and not much of roots…I think it’s because I sowed them in well manured soil, which might have been a mistake.

In the glasshouse the tomatoes are ripening at a good pace and some melons are getting bigger and bigger. Also a lot of hotness is taking shape in the form of cayenne and calcutta peppers.

For berries it was a bit of a mixed bag. The hybrid strawberries were not producing that much on their new spot, the forest strawberries are still giving plenty of super sweet candy. Blueberries are doing great and we had a nice amount of red and whit currants. Cherries were extremely plenty…but the cherry fly struck hard and made big part of the cherries unusable. That’s nature, it gives and takes 🙂

The Perennial borders

The Perennial borders are just looking great. Especially the one next to the pond… couldn’t be more pleased about that. In the newly planted one I had a few plants that didn’t survive, but the loss is not that big.

The Shadow Garden

On the north side of the house the shadow garden is doing fine. The ferns look bright and healthy, the Hosta managed to be snaildamage-free for quite a long time. I think I should try to incorperate a bit more color in this part of the garden. Although I love the different green shades as well.

The rest…

… is doing fine. The pond gives me pleasure every day and keeps on having beautiful clear water. And I am already making lot of new plans for autumn and winter. I will not go into too much detail, but it includes a boardwalk, removal of the lawn and a make-over of the garden house. Stay tuned ! For now I wish you all a safe, lovely summer.