My Garden is a Mess! It’s Official!

It has been a week of rain interspersed with two days of fine weather. I have ignored the garden for this week apart from picking courgettes. The result is that I now have a messy, overgrown garden.

Many of the herbs had finished flowering so I cut them back nearly to the ground. With herbs such as thyme, marjoram, oregano and lemon balm this is essential as otherwise if left they would become very woody and the foliage would  become straggly. Now I have an untidy bare herb patch. The lollo rosso lettuces have gone to seed. The cut and come again green lettuces are bearing up and still taste sweet although they are well on the way to bolting! The beetroot is doing well too so altogether this bed has been on the whole successful.

Like every year the courgettes are growing out of hand. To a certain extent they aren’t too bad due to the vertical growing I have made them do but in the last week due to my lack of attention they have worked a fast one on me and grown out at the rate of knots and are now all over the lawn. The picture is blurry as there was a fine mist of rain when I took it.

The borage is all over the place and the tubs with bedding plants in them look sad. They have an autumn look about them even though it is only the beginning of August. The tomatoes have browned off leaves and very few ripe tomatoes. Fortunately I have a good recipe for green tomato chutney! So if they don’t ripen that is what it will be.  The fennel is covered in flowers so I am hoping for a good harvest of seeds. The lawn needs mowing and I need to weed and tidy up. The dill that was doing so well is now defunct. I have a horrible feeling that when I dig into the soil in the tub I’ll find vine weevils. That is tomorrow’s job! 

I don’t like this time of year. So often the promise that shows in May and June hasn’t come to fruition and now there isn’t time! It is all a tad disheartening. I have picked lots of blueberries but found that 30% of them had been invaded by small worm like creatures. The grubs of some moth I would presume. They are so small though that it is hard to see them until they have done a lot of damage!

I have got lots of courgettes though and several cucumbers which continue to grow even though the leaves look terrible. So all is not lost!

Sorry the pictures are a bit blurry but it was drizzling and overcast! I obviously didn’t focus well! But you get the general idea I hope!