Master My Garden Podcast
Master My Garden Podcast
EP235- Garden Update, Overcoming Garden Challenges & Thriving in Unpredictable Weather.
Are you wondering why your tomatoes and raspberries aren't thriving this summer? This week on "Master My Garden Podcast," I share my firsthand experiences and the effects of lower light levels and cooler temperatures on garden growth this year. Despite being away on holiday, I noticed the garden's response to these conditions, revealing slower growth and less sweetness in our beloved fruits. Tune in for essential gardening tips like the necessity of regular feeding, removing side shoots, and maintaining garden cleanliness, all while empathizing with the shared challenges many gardeners are facing due to unpredictable weather.
Our polytunnel and outdoor garden setups have their own stories to tell! Discover the triumphs of harvesting garlic, onions, courgettes, herbs, and more, all thriving despite the odds. The unmistakable flavour of freshly dug British Queens potatoes. Even our strawberries, though smaller, continue to bring joy. Learn about our strategic moves to prevent blight by separating tomatoes and potatoes. This segment is packed with practical advice and heartening successes, proving that even in challenging conditions, some crops can truly shine.
Lastly, let's take a tour of the home garden, where rhubarb, broccoli, cabbage, and potatoes are exceeding expectations with minimal pest problems. However, it hasn't all been smooth sailing. Carrots and parsnips have struggled with germination due to erratic temperatures and heavy rains, compounded by blackbird disturbances. Hear about the transformation of our meadow garden into an ecological haven and the ongoing efforts to control weeds and create new flower beds. Listener interaction remains at the core of our podcast, reinforcing our mission to support and inspire fellow gardeners through shared experiences and practical advice. Join the conversation and let’s grow together!
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Until next week
Happy gardening
John
how's it going, everybody? And welcome to episode 235, master, my garden podcast. Now, this week's episode is actually the first week that I've recorded for a good few weeks because I'm just back from from a little holiday and, uh, yeah, it's uh, weather-wise it's, it's still along the same lines as it was before we went. So we left on the 29th, we came back on the 10th and, yeah, with the wet, wet and grey days on both ends of that, so while leaving and definitely when we came home today, we came home, it was like for for all the world, it was like a day in October. It had that kind of chilly feel to it, wind and a bit of rain. But it's interesting to see after coming back from holidays.
Speaker 1:The changes are, in some cases, the lack of change, since since leaving it's the first time I've gone away that I've noticed that growth. You know has been there, but it hasn't, the place hasn't been overrun while while I was away. Um, you know, the tomatoes in the tunnel have grown a nice bit. There was a good bit of, you know, stringing up and and sight shooting to do, but they're not very far on since then and it really is a feature of this summer, similar to last summer. A feature is that there has been lower than normal temperatures. I know the reports in the papers and all of that say it's the warmest month and so on, but certainly temperatures daytime temperatures are not what we expect for summertime, because daytime temperatures are not what we expect for summertime.
Speaker 1:And the biggest thing and I'm going to delve a bit further into this, not today, but I'm going to sort of have a look and try and get some actual data on this Light levels are still extremely poor. They've been poor all spring and I know there's a world of theories out there as to why this is and I'm not going to comment on them at the moment because I don't have any information to hand. I don't know enough about it, but without a doubt, we are not seeing light levels like you know, like we we should be seeing. Last summer was, you know that feature was there. And this spring, you know we were talking about sowing seeds earlier in the spring and the light levels are just not there and I'm seeing that again. You know evidence of that in terms of tomatoes and you know the plants that like that sun or that need that sun, and you know fruit, for example. So fruit, since I came back my raspberries, there's a lot of ripe raspberries on them. Actually, no kind of good sweet taste in it, because they're not getting that sun, they're not sun-kissed, for want of a better word. They are. You know there's light levels but there is no sun, and it's definitely something I'm going to sort of look into a little bit more.
Speaker 1:I've been looking at kind of weather and weather trends a bit and I want to kind of get, I suppose, a more detailed look at the light levels, because I know that is something that's measured as well and you know it's 100% a feature and it is it's affecting growth in a big way because, as I say, it's the first time that I've come back that it's been very noticeable that the lawn needed cutting, but nowhere near as as badly as other times. Now I was away for a slightly shorter period of time, but not much, and you know, just generally, generally growth is poor. So I suppose I kind of do a run through, run through the garden as to what has been happening, how things are going, some really good successes on certain things and some things that are struggling, and uh, yeah, that's kind of that's kind of going to be the. You know the theme of this week's episode. It's interesting as well to to hear what what you know the rest of you are struggling with. It's interesting as well to to hear what what you know the rest of you are struggling with. And I've got some emails.
Speaker 1:When I'm away, uh, we'll chat about them at the end. Actually, there's a few reasons I want to talk about that and, uh, you know, it's the, it's the same, it's the same thing that most people are seeing. So I'll sort of run through virtually run through, you know, both the polytunnel and the garden outside and, uh, you know, chat about, about what is has been going well, what's struggling, what I am struggling with and and so on. So we'll, we'll, we'll start in the in the polytunnel and, as I said, uh, reasonable growth on tomatoes while I was away, but we're still quite a bit away from from having ripe fruit at this stage and you know, that's that's definitely something I noticed.
Speaker 1:Now I obviously been away, I like to give them a good feed. When I was going with seaweed and when I got back, I gave them straight away. I give them a good, a good feed again, and when I got back, I gave them straight away. I gave them a good feed again. Obviously, you know doing all the removing the side shoots, stringing them up a bit better, and I've been doing that and growth has been good, you know. But, as I say, still, I would say, three to four weeks away from having, you know, ripe tomatoes, and that's a long ways behind last year. Certainly, the colder spring meant that things just sat for a little while, but I think a big part of it is the sunlight levels that I'm talking about.
Speaker 1:But from your perspective at home, just to give you a few tips around those, it's hugely important to keep feeding. So feed your tomatoes on a regular basis. You know, at this time of the year, deadheading and or not deadheading, removing side shoots and lower leaves, is important as well. Keeping the area really clean, opening tunnels, you know, opening doors, getting air movement through that, especially on warm, clammy days. Getting air movement through the tunnel is good in terms of disease prevention and but in terms of, you know, getting these to fruiting stage and to continue them fruiting up into later into the year. They're going to need a good bit of feeding at this time of the year. So more help you can give them better and light levels. Light levels, hopefully, will improve. You know today is a good sunny day here and that, will you know, help speed things up.
Speaker 1:So tomatoes have been growing well, but still a little bit away from from having you know harvestable crops there, things like peppers in my polytunnel again I know I mentioned it a good bit but my polytunnel again I know I mentioned it a good bit, but my polytunnel is quite a bit cooler. So peppers still a long ways away from having you know peppers on that, chilies maybe a little bit earlier. So they're coming along OK, but not wonderfully. I have cucumbers. They're kind of almost ready to go, so that has been reasonably good. And then obviously all the usual salads still coming from the tunnels.
Speaker 1:I still have, you know, still have lettuce, mixed leaves, radishes, spring onions, and one of the biggest wins has been garlic from the polytunnel and onions from the polytunnel. So planted them from sets and from cloves of garlic last October and they've been hugely successful. So the garlic was particularly good really big, strong, healthy, clean, really clean bulbs, and they're harvested now, initially just harvested and dropped onto the ground. I let them to dry out a little bit for the first few days and then I've moved them up onto a bench since and continuing the drying process. They'll get turned a couple of times, they'll be fully dry within a couple of weeks and then I'll just string them up inside in the shed in, I suppose, a dark area. That's quite cool and all going well.
Speaker 1:Then what I'd be looking at is getting adding to the harvest which which will come from outside. I'll be doing that this week, doing the same process of drying those out, and we'll be looking at potentially, you know so I'm using them fresh now and the last of last year's ones I would have finished probably a month ago, five weeks ago, and so we're looking at, you know, garlic pretty much right through to next year's harvest and that's, I suppose, what you'd love to be having. With a lot of the crops I'll be able to do with no problem with with garlic. This year I'll get a long ways through with onions. So, yeah, that's that's kind of one of the successes that the tunnel grown onions and garlic have been really, really successful on the on the garlic absolutely no disease whatsoever on them in the tunnel.
Speaker 1:So I think that's something that you know a lot of people are struggling with outside. A lot of people have rust issues on their garlic and typically when you get rust it means at that stage that your garlic is not going to get much, if any bigger. And it's you know, it's. It kind of means that whatever stage they're at, that's it. You're not going to get any further with them. So the fact that they're so clean in the tunnel has has made them that you're getting a really good size bulb of garlic and, as I say, spotlessly clean. I don't do too much shaking off of clay or anything like that. I just pull them, let them dry and then when they're going inside, if there's any like loose clay, obviously I'll take it off, not have it falling on the floor or the shed. But generally speaking I don't do much cleaning on them at all. I just hang them up as they have dried. So that's been a really really big success.
Speaker 1:Courgettes I'm sort of running myself virtually around the tunnel here. Courgettes are growing really well. I have some harvest there, smaller ones at this stage, but yeah, there is some harvest there Herbs all still doing well, harvesting all of those. And then I have dwarf french beans which I'm harvesting now, and I have some climber beans and they're. They're doing well, but they're not ready for harvest yet, so they're flying or they have flown up since I went away. Squashes are really well, a little bit away from having anything there, but they're flying along. So that's good. And you know beds of. I have a bed with basil in it, with lettuce in it. It has actually a bit of a mix of flowers in it as well sunflowers and marigolds and so on, and that's you know. It's a nice harvest coming out of that. I'm hoping the tomatoes catch up so that we'll have basil and tomato together.
Speaker 1:Strawberries have been phenomenal from the tunnel and the strawberry crowns are into their. This will be their fourth season, so definitely this year it was, you know, in terms of size of the of the actual strawberry, they were quite a bit smaller, but in terms of taste they've been just beautiful and really, really sweet. Normally I'd be taking strawberry crowns out after, after the fourth year, but I'm actually thinking, because these were still quite good, and I'm going to leave them for one more year. They are still, as I say, producing a smaller fruit, but the taste has been phenomenal, so I'm going to keep them going for another bit. I will plant in some new ones, just to have you know a freshness coming. I'll harvest the runners at this, you know, in a month's time or so, two months time, and I'll plant those in and that'll give me, that you know, fresh crop for next year as well. So, yeah, that's the strawberries. What else are we in there? Oh, sweet corn is flying up, absolutely flying. All of those got planted just before, just before I went. Uh, yeah, all of those are doing really well outside.
Speaker 1:Then I have potatoes that were started in large pots in the polytunnel are now lifted outside british queens variety, and I've started harvesting those first. First harvest was quite small, but I knew that would be the case. Uh, but absolutely delicious, so, so good, and that has been something that I've noticed. The the potatoes that we're getting generally at the moment you know the shop bought ones are not that good, not that taste either. So it was really nice the other day to to start getting into them. Even though they were small, there was a lot of them eaten and they were, they were absolutely delicious. So, keeping an eye on them. The reason I have them out of the tunnel is because the tomatoes are in there now. I don't want to have tomatoes and and potatoes in the same place want to try, and, you know, particularly with blight. I want to try and you know, particularly with blight. I want to ensure that I don't have any issue there. But I'll definitely harvest any of those, you know, once I see any sign of blight on them and while they might be small, they'll still be very, very tasty. So happy with those Rhubarb, which is into its second year now, so they were planted as crowns last year.
Speaker 1:Didn now. So they were planted as crowns last year. Didn't harvest at all of them. I have started harvesting small amounts now and they're doing extremely well. So looking forward to, you know, some rhubarb towards the back end of this year but mainly going into next year. They're going to be fully fledged big, strong crowns now and we'll be able to harvest the way off.
Speaker 1:Those outdoor garlic is ready to go. So that's a hardneck variety. There haven't produced as big a bulb as last year, but they generally don't produce a big bulb anyway. So forget the variety. But it's a lovely pink variety, really strong and pungent. So they have done really well and again they'll get harvested and dried off.
Speaker 1:Onions have done really well. They were seed sowing one sown once and they're ready for harvest now as well. So that's another really good harvest outside broccoli or calabrese harvesting off that at the moment. Really good harvest, really clean actually, which is very surprising because I planted them before going on holidays. They were quite strong going in a couple of weeks before going on holidays. They're quite strong going in and they have done extremely well and I'm harvesting off it straight away here, probably be able to harvest off it for another week or two cabbage. The same thing doing really well. And the biggest, the biggest thing has been that there has been absolutely no damage on those from you know, the, the caterpillars, or from slugs, which has been brilliant. There's no, absolutely no damage and they've been really successful.
Speaker 1:Thing about them is those I've said before, particularly you know they. They take up a lot of space and it's only a kind of a small, small harvest. So I kind of pick and choose. Sometimes I'll have cabbage, sometimes sometimes I won't. I'm not trying to have continuity there necessarily all the time, so have some at the moment. Same goes for the calabrese, but the harvest has been really good.
Speaker 1:Then I've done a couple of sowings of carrots and success hasn't been brilliant. So there is some germination, some good germination in certain parts, but there's other parts without any germination and I think I have two problems. Number one I think the temperatures generally just haven't been consistently high enough for germinating seeds really well outside. Secondly, we've had these sort of heavy delusions of rain and that's causing some issues around, you know, washing seed and moving seed a bit after being sown. So that's kind of two of the issues. The other, the other thing that I'm finding a big problem I know that some others are struggling with it as well, I've mentioned it before is blackbirds just have really, really, uh, in the Nordic garden particularly, a lot of issues with blackbirds just rooting, rooting, rooting at the compost and they're definitely causing disruption on the top and knocking out some of those seedlings. So I'm going to have a sporadic patchy carrot crop and the same for parsnips, but they are growing and I will have some harvest there. So that's pretty good.
Speaker 1:I have a nice harvest, the carrots actually out of polytunnel at the moment. So they're early sown ones, an early variety, and they're, you know, quite nice at the moment. They're relatively small, kind of the thickness of your big finger and a little bit longer. Decent, decent carrots, and I get a little bit of time out of them and hopefully by the time finish them I'll be able to start harvesting on the outdoor ones and, yeah, they're kind of all doing well Fruit wise, the raspberries, as I said, they're fruiting really well, but you just love them to get a bit of sun so that they would sweeten up. They're nice but they're not gorgeous. So I'd like to see a little bit of sun to sweeten those up. Apples there's some nice apples. Now these are all young trees, they're all only planted into their second year, so some nice apples on those. But over time that'll increase and get better as we go along. But the trees themselves are doing well and there is some nice fruit on them. So, yeah, looking forward to those.
Speaker 1:Then, up in the other raised beds that I have, I've put my potatoes blight-free potatoes up there this year and they are absolutely flying it. So potatoes, generally speaking, while they were late getting into the ground for most people, you know, and commercially they were extremely late getting into the ground potatoes have been doing really well, really well here, and there have been loads of moisture in the ground. Temperatures, while they haven't been really high for things like tomatoes and peppers and so on. They've been high enough, generally speaking, for potatoes to grow quite well. So I'm really happy with the potatoes at the moment they're doing really well.
Speaker 1:I have I'll do the first harvest of them, hopefully in a couple of weeks time, probably middle of middle of august or thereabouts, and that's kind of a secondarily variety and they're they're the blight free ones. Again, I'm being quite vigilant around slugs there and I hopefully and I'm not looking like I have any issues at the moment. So you you'll remember me saying that it was a complete wipe out last year. It's not the case this year. So it's looking, looking quite good at the moment and then as soon as they come out, I'll be getting some leaks into the ground there and some you know, some winter, winter, spring crops at that stage. So yeah, that's, that's um sort of what's growing here. Obviously this time of year it's all about salads and I've loads of them. So that's great, but I'd like to see the tomatoes hurrying up a little bit because um just seems, seems and feels like it is. It is later with it, with the lack of temperature and lack of sun elsewhere then in the garden. I suppose we spoke I've spoke several times in relation to the wildflower meadow and that's one that has, you know, I mentioned that initially I grew that for the you know, for that look to reduce the size of the of the lawn and to have that high, high color, you know, floral, floral type look in the lawn and I'm certainly getting that at periods, you know, the may wildflower meadow has been phenomenal, just beautiful, beautiful, dominated by ragged robin, ox-eye daisies then following through after that and just amazing colour in it.
Speaker 1:But again, as of last year, there's still great colour in it today but obviously it is starting to go over a bit. The wet weather and the wind and rain has flattened it in certain points and it doesn't look as vibrant as it would in May and up until sort of mid-June. But the big thing and the thing that has been really has been the real, I suppose, challenge, I won't say unexpected benefit, but initially I sold it primarily to have this beautiful meadow in the front and that was my main, primary focus. That has since changed and it's all now about the, I suppose, the ecosystem that it has become and particularly the birds. I mentioned it last year we got bullfinches in. They're back again. I hadn't seen them since the meadow was was cut back last year, they're back again pair of bull finches and it's just.
Speaker 1:It's really nice to see the the bird activity, particularly on it. So obviously it's alive with insects. You know the usuals not seeing so many bees, butterflies are definitely not not out yet and that's again down to heat and and sunshine. Just just not a lot of butterflies yet here anyway. And bees there are some, but not a, not a massive amount, but generally insects.
Speaker 1:The, the meadow is alive with insects but the bird activity is phenomenal. It is. If you looked out through it and kind of look, put your eye across the top of the meadow, you will just everywhere there's birds in it. So loads of goldfinches, um, bullfinches, as I said, which are beautiful to see and and not always in this garden. So it's great to see those. But the? The meadow is just alive. You're looking at them jumping onto the top of a, you know of a flower head and the flower head or the stem of the plant bending down like a fishing rod, and this they're just picking away at it and it is phenomenal. The amount of activity in there is phenomenal, so that that's something that you know hasn't hasn't been affected in a bad way by, you know, by our, our weather, with lots of rain and and less sunshine, and certainly, as I say, the benefit, the ecosystem that has become, is hugely satisfying to see that. And, yeah, it's been, it's been phenomenal and still is. It'll definitely get cut at some point in the coming months and then it'll be not much to look at for a good while after that, but lots of bulbs going to go into it again, so a lot went into it last year. Camassias went into it last year. They were really nice and I'm just going to add to that this year with more Camassias. Bluebells are phenomenal in it, the yellow rattles start to get going in it and so, yeah, the meadow is evolving and changing and it's just, it's become a phenomenal ecosystem and that's something that I'm really, really happy with within the garden.
Speaker 1:Um, elsewhere in the garden, I have mentioned before that there were certain areas in the garden that I suppose my focus remained on the, on the edible garden, because time wise I was just wasn't getting the time to spend in other areas. But, yeah, I've started to try and tame one or two of these, and tame is the right word. I have weeds nearly as tall as myself in one particular flower bed and that needs to get, as I say, tamed and tamed and reclaimed I suppose. So I'll keep you posted on that one. But it is literally it's a mass with weeds. Some lovely plants in there, but you can hardly see them with the weeds, and that was it's a bit embarrassing actually Someone running the garden podcast and and I have to have that sort of a struggle, but something you know, something had to, had to give, I suppose in terms of time wise, I just didn't have all that time.
Speaker 1:So you need to focus somewhere, and we focused where you know where we're getting the most benefit day-to-day, which is in the edible garden. So need to do, need to do better there in terms of getting it more manageable for next year. Get it back clean and tidy and then get mulching into that area, get a lot more plants into it and let the plants sort of dominate out and mean that next year there wouldn't be much weeding on a bed like that anyway. So that's kind of the aim. That's kind of the aim over the next couple of months is to sort of tame all these areas. I've created a few new flower beds for various reasons. One around, you know, um, the dog's house. Basically, there's an area which is just was gone untidy. It was an area which needed something done with it and I was creating a new flower bed around a patio area at the back, so created that and then continued on and did the one around the doghouse, and so that needs to be planted up now as well. So, yeah, there's lots going on, but definitely growth has been slow, I suppose, or slower than other years.
Speaker 1:This year that's kind of all I wanted to chat about this week in terms of the garden and in terms of gardening. The other thing I wanted to mention was while I was away. I've been kind of thinking a little bit recently about the podcast, the direction that the podcast goes and, I suppose, where I see the podcast going into the future, and the reason the podcast was started was to help people in their own gardens, and I've mentioned this a few times. Sometimes you know you're doing it as a podcast. I'm here, I'm in my recording space, I don't have huge contact with you guys, the listeners, and that's something that I really love when that happens and I was, I suppose, feeling a bit disconnected from you guys as an audience recently and while I was away I got some brilliant messages from listeners of the podcast and, yeah, that was really nice to see.
Speaker 1:I you know as, as I say, I've been questioning where the podcast goes over the next couple of years and directions and and so on. So it's really good to get these messages from people who are listeners and how these, you know, how the episodes have helped them. And it was one particular one particular person who has had a huge success with a wildflower meadow off the back of listening to, to the episodes on wildflowers and has begun gardening for the first time off the back of learning from from all the episodes that come true. So that's really heartening to hear. And I have another one coming up, siobhan, who's been gardening for a while but has learned so much over the last year. She tells me from the podcast and has asked me a listener's question to answer which will be covered in next week's episode.
Speaker 1:So on that there's, there's a few ways to try and I suppose increase the contact and the. I suppose the interaction and the. I suppose the interaction Podcasts, by their nature, are you know, you're listening somewhere. You're listening when you're gardening, you're listening when you're driving, you're listening, when you're out for your walk or whatever the case may be, and I'm recording it somewhere on my own and I'm talking to you directly. I am, you know, giving you advice in your garden directly that you can benefit in your garden, and.
Speaker 1:But there's a sort of a sometimes there can be a disconnect there in that I don't know all of you guys. I have, you know, upwards of a thousand people per week listening to this and I probably have contact from a lot, but definitely not not a thousand people. So it'd be great to hear from you and and in that now there's a way of doing that through, there's a thing called fan mail and if you go into your show notes, there's a message at the right at the top of the. There's a message right at the top of the show description and if you click on that, you'll be able to send a message directly and we can, you know, start a conversation. You can be able to send a message directly and we can start a conversation.
Speaker 1:You can ask a question in relation to your own garden. You can tell me what you like about the podcast, tell me what you'd like to see about it, and that will help me form. You know how, how we continue the podcast, how I continue delivering advice to you that can help you in your own garden, because that has always been the. You know that has been always been the aim of the podcast in your own garden, because that has always been the. You know that has been always been the aim of the podcast. And, as I say, when I get messages from people saying that they, you know, didn't fully understand how to do x, y or z, and then I cover it on an episode and it gives them the sort of steps to do it and that has been really heartening to see those messages while I was away.
Speaker 1:You can also review the podcast. You know, if you're listening on Apple podcasts or Spotify, you can leave a review of the podcast, give it a five star rating. All of those things help. They're great for me to see as well, because I know that what I'm doing is actually having the impact that I wanted to have. But also it helps more people find the podcast. So you know it helps everybody. And, yeah, that's something if you can at all, be sure to send me a message or leave a review or you know anything like that. It's great to connect with people.
Speaker 1:So the Carlow Garden Festival that was mentioned on last week's episode, that's kicking off in, you know, the next weekend. Actually that's kicking off and I haven't picked the ones that I'm going to yet, but there's certainly some fabulous speakers at that and and really work going to. So, yeah, anyone, anyone interested in that, you get your tickets on carlowgardentrailcom and yeah, that's uh, definitely some, some fabulous, fabulous speakers across all types of gardening there, some free events within there as well, some, as I said, top class paid speakers as well. So it's a really, really good event and we're checking out. Next week's episode, as I say, will be one which is answering a listener's question, and it's an interesting question and one that I know others will have queries on. So, as I say, a listener's question next week and then some really good guest interviews coming up. But for now that's been this week's episode. Thanks for listening and until the next time, happy gardening, thank you.