Sunday 5 August 2012

Rain rain go away (oh, and some chilli pictures)

The sunny weather which tempted me out into the garden yesterday morning lasted until about 8pm and then the thunder arrived and with it, the downpour.

The rain literally bouncing off the carport roof.

Rods of rain lashing down in the back garden.

Eventually however the rain cleared.

A rainbow after the rain finally cleared.

Unfortunately the broken cooker was not fixed in time for me to cook my fajitas with onions and chillis grown in the garden, and lettuce on the side from the garden. So the "cookery guide" addition to this blog will have to wait til next week when the cooker is fixed.

The chillis ready for eating now on the plant on the bedroom window sill.

The downstairs chilli plants are now finally fruiting too, and this flower is still hanging on, despite the fruit developing at it's base.

I am going to start a section on this site about what I've learned, and techniques I'm going to use going forwards... I would be very happy for anyone to contribute advice and ideas via the comments section so don't keep that knowledge to yourself.

Cheers for reading.


2 comments:

  1. I've been reading a lot about companion planting lately. I tried it this year with french marigolds and my tomato plants and all seems well (haven't had any whitefly or aphid damage).

    Since potatoes are deep rooted, I'm told that they're perfectly suited to companion planting. Especially with shallow rooted companion plants. I gather, that if you use shallow rooted companion plants you don't need to worry about setting aside extra space, and if the companion plants are also crop plants you can also increase your yield per unit area.

    This page has some hints on good companion plants for potatoes (http://organicgardening.about.com/od/vegetablesherbs/p/potatocompanions.htm). I'm particularly interesting in growing some of the more colourful varieties of mustard as companion plants to my brassicas and potatoes next year (http://www.realseeds.co.uk/mustardgreens.html). With me opting to grow my potatoes in those potato bags, I think I'll sow the mustard in trays and transplant (after earthing up) 2-3 times a year. Get a couple of harvests of mustard leaves in (young leaves are hot and good in salad. Larger, older leaves are apparently VERY hot and best cooked as greens) with the added benefits of companion planting.

    Some food for thought. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. AH! I forgot to add this nifty resource http://www.gardensablaze.com/Companions/. There are a couple of different grids indicating good (and bad) companion plants for increased yield, pest control and attraction (presumably pollinators like bees).

    ReplyDelete