One of the positives that I was clinging on to to help stave off the Holiday Blues (capitalised because they’ve felt suitably significant this week) was our garden. Orlando is my happy place outside of this country, but our garden is my happy place here (which is quite lucky really given that it’s just outside the back door!)
Right, how do I narrow down all the progress into six points? Not sure, I’ll give it a go.
I’m going to start with Funky Veg and Chillis and Spice progress.
Prior to our holiday, I had a couple of teeny tiny Red Brussel Sprouts and Rainbow Swiss Chard and the Yellow Courgette was showing signs of life, but now look. They’re all growing. I’ve got two Stripy Tomato plants growing, the Yellow Courgette is well on its way (and the other six that I sowed as back up have all germinated and are actually bigger than this one so will have to be gifted out because seven Courgette plants is really not necessary for a two person household) and the Purple Carrots, Red Brussel Sprouts and Rainbow Swiss Chard are going to need thinning out really soon because loads have germinated. Whoop!
The Chillis and Spices aren’t showing such dramatic progress. The Habanero and Cayenne aren’t doing anything but I’m not giving up hope yet because I think they’re slow growing. I have several Jalapeños though and a couple of tiny Cumin plants and the Coriander is doing really well and is now starting to grow Coriander shaped leaves.
Next up? Raised beds. Nothing at all was showing any sign of life in the veg raised bed before we went away, but now ….
…. baby Peas (lots of ‘em), tiny Carrots (orange not purple!) and, hard to see because I was too lazy to take the netting off, the start of itty bitty Red Onions. Again, I’m going to have to do some thinning out, but I’ll let them get a bit bigger first so I can really see what I’m doing. No Leeks yet, but I think that’s normal.
On to Eupatorium progress. Ah, my beloved Eupatorium, and oh boy Pluto, what progress!
This first pic was taken when I first noticed the tiny shoots poking through the soil back at the end of March when I’d been convinced it hadn’t survived the Winter.
Now look at it. It’s in rude health and I’m so pleased about it.
Dicentra Bleeding Heart is showing me how it got its name. It was from the sale table last year because it had already flowered, so this is the first time I’ve seen the flower on my own plant.
It’s not as impressive as some examples I’ve seen popping up on Instagram recently, but it’s mine and I’m impressed!
My Sunflowers, Sweet Peas, Cosmos and Calendula are all doing well in the greenhouse and I’ve started hardening them off ready for planting out.
I have to go to Italy for work from Monday to Friday next week, but the weather forecast looks reasonably good at home, so I’m planning to leave them out on Monday morning in a sheltered place and keep my fingers crossed that they’ll be ok and then I’ll plant them out next weekend. I’ll leave instructions with hubby to put them away if the weather forecast changes.
I spent this afternoon preparing the ground where I’m planning to plant them, and building the wigwam supports for the Sweet Peas.
Let’s hope we don’t have a hurricane now!
So, there we have it, my latest six. Things are progressing nicely. I need to do some garden planning I think to work out what my next big project will be. We still have oodles of overgrown space at the end of the garden which I need to do something with.
If you enjoyed my six, do pop over to the Propagator’s page to check out other people’s sixes.
Until next time ….
Green Girl Gardener 
My sweet peas seem too brittle, or tender, stemmed to be able to transplant when they are so big. You must have a gentle way with your gardening!
I wish I could grow carrots, but no matter how I try they don’t do well.
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Hmmm … that remains to be seen. I haven’t actually moved them yet so it might all go wrong! As for the carrots, it’s the first time I’ve grown them so it’s all a bit trial and error! Hopefully I’ll get a good yield. I’m keeping everything crossed that I may actually be a half decent vegetable gardener! 😁
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My gosh, the eating in your house must be mighty fine. So impressed, how everything’s come along. I did various chilis last year, & the habanero were very slow. I’d already started harvesting the cayennes & jalapenos before the habanero even bloomed, so I’m sure yours’ll do fine. Your bleeding heart is amazing! Are you sure the ones on Instagram are real? As to your eupatorium (Joe Pye weed, to me), it grew wild where I lived in the States & we’d get thigh high snow, so I think it’d survive the winters here. I never knew who Joe Pye was, but I did surely love his weed. Look forward to seeing how things progress. You will include recipes at the appropriate time?
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That’s good to hear about your habanero – I feel reassured (and ready to be patient!) That’s a good point about Instagram – maybe they’re not real. I’m not a fantastic chef, but I’ll definitely try to document what I do with some of my veg if I’m successful in growing it 😁.
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I don’t cook at all, but I love to hear other folks’ ideas.
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It all looks great! Have a wonderful time in Italy next week! X
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Thank you. I’ll try to get some time away from work to take photos 😁.
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Amazing garden so far! Can’t wait to see how everything does in the ground!
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Thank you – it’s hard work but so rewarding! I’ve just checked yours out – love the rock squares. That’s a great idea 😁.
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Thank you! You’re right, it is a WHOLE lot of work, lol! Can’t wait to see the rewards!
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What is it you like about the eupatorium? I have three seedlings this year, intrigued.
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Its leaves get a really lovely purple tinge to them and they’re a pleasing shape, and once it’s got tallish it sways in the breeze almost like it’s waving at you. Then at the end of Summer it gets pretty white clusters of flowers. The flowers aren’t massively spectacular I guess, but it’s the leaves that I really love. I hope your seedlings do well – I didn’t do anything special with mine other than water it a lot in the hot Summer because the label said ‘heavy drinker’ (bit rude to point it out like that, but still …. 🤣).
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Great, thanks.
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Ok great. I think mine have purple/pink flowers.
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How nice that you got a ‘red’ bleeding heart. That is how I remember them. However, pink has been so popular that the red ones are now rare! I think that red might be more rare than white is.
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