August already...

...Gardening is cheaper than therapy and you get tomatoes. ~Author Unknown.

Lacey hydrangea and rudbekias in my flower bed.

You might get tomatoes.   I haven't had much success with tomatoes since living in UK.   Maybe this year I'll be lucky.   There are tomatoes on the one tomato plant I have, Gardener's Delight, I believe it is labelled, I don't know if it is or not, I bought it as a seedling....   They are a long way off being big tomatoes, or ripe tomatoes...but still, maybe they will suddenly swell and redden .   They are supposed to look like this...

...mine are similar in shape but only the size of walnuts.   Not looking promising for a big crop of red tomatoes before the cold weather comes.

Weather means more when you have a garden. There's nothing like listening to a shower and thinking how it is soaking in around your green beans. ~Marcelene Cox

This weekend the weather is set to deteriorate.   There is an ex-hurricane, Bertha, heading towards us that is going to put an end to the beautiful summer weather we've enjoyed for a while.

This means that it is time to do a bit of housework.   What gardener wastes time with house work when the weather is fine and the garden calling?   Now house keeping in the garden, that's different...I have a few bags of dry cuttings back and weeding to take to the tip in the next day or two...and now is the time to start thinking of what next to plant in the garden...and where ...greenhouse or outside?

I read a really good idea about using old grow bags for winter salads.

• Life in the old bag.

What you do is take an old growbag you have used for tomatoes, or whatever.   Remove the spent plants and give the bags a good shake, or thump, to break up the compost in them that has got a bit hard and impacted.   Then cut out a couple of large squares exposing the compost, add some fresh compost and organic fertiliser, farmyard manure or blood, fish and bone meal.  Top up with fresh compost and give it all a good mixing.   Voilà ...a new growbag ready for some winter salads.  Perfect in the greenhouse.

Double deep red hibiscus given me as a baby plant by A-K in Sweden last summer
 - now flowering and flourishing.

• What to plant in August

I should really say, what I intend to plant this month.   Each of us will have favourites.   Cabbage is a good one to plant now, but I don't want to grow cabbage, I find I have too many of them for just one and I find they get eaten by all kinds of pests too.

But I will try Swiss Chard again and Kale, Cavolo Nero.   I've grown both before, they are good to eat, pretty easy, pest free and they look good too.

Cavolo Nero Kale

 I am going to try, for my first attempt ever, to grow turnips and spinach.  Also winter lettuce.  Maybe garlic, just for fun and I was impressed with D's garlic crop in Sweden.

• A new use for a pesky weed.

You all know how I fight a war with dandelions.   Actually I love them in the wild, but they are a thuggish pest in my garden.   But not all bad.  This week I read about using them in a novel way.   Apparently them make a good good massage oil for aching limbs and muscles after digging and weeding all day.  Collect a lot of flower heads, no stems or leaves, put them in a jar with some olive oil and a dash of vodka, to stop mould forming.   Leave on a sunny windowsill for a month to infuse before using as a muscle relaxant, on rashes or to prevent scars forming.

• Raspberries or Crab apple?

I've been thinking of dry root ordering again.   It is getting to that time of year.   Buying fruit trees and roses in dry root form is a much cheaper way of getting the plants and they invariably do grow vigorously in the spring.   Don't be afraid to try it.   I have had great successes with it.   This year  I am tossing up choosing between some raspberry canes or a crab apple.   I don't think I can afford both...so which shall it be?   Or should it be that sour cherry...oh dear, the choices we have to make in life!

Cranberries

• Why not Cranberries?

Another plant that came to mind to try is Cranberry.   Probably not, it likes boggy acidic soil ...boggy is one thing I might replicate but acidic is not really what I want...no, I think I'll buy them at the supermarket again this year.

So that is all for the future...what has been happening at Molokoloko Garden this week...

Quite a bit of harvesting aided by Leah and Jonah, for one thing.

Checking for and picking berries.

The jubilant harvesters.

They have really enjoyed finding fruit and vegetables in the garden this week.   Squeals of delight greet every juicy berry.  It's so much fun to teach children where food comes from like this.   Here is what they managed to glean in a very short time.

Cucumber, tiniest ever butternut squash, beans, berries.

I have managed to cut back the growth on The Mound, mostly Marguerites, now all bundled, bagged and stored in the dry to take to the tip or add to compost heap.  I added 4 rescued Veronicas from the 50p range of plants at the garden centre round the base of the mound.

Tomorrow is the extra big full moon night...gardeners do say it is the best time to plant at various stages of the moons cycle for different crops. Planting by the Moon is a great way to help plan your above and below ground crops.

Plant flowers and vegetables that bear crops above ground during the light, or waxing, of the Moon: from the day the Moon is new to the day it is full.

Plant flowering bulbs and vegetables that bear crops below ground during the dark, or waning, of the Moon: from the day after it is full to the day before it is new again.

I'm not sure I would believe this though a lot of the old time advice really does seem to work...they knew by observation what a lot of science is now confirming. Click here for Video.  However...an extra big full moon...well I am not at all sure it will be visible here in Wales if we are having the last of the rain emptying on us from a dying hurricane!

Supermoon  10th August Click Here for details

Chat to you again next week, meantime happy gardening.

An optimistic gardener is one who believes that whatever goes down must come up. ~Leslie Hall