Garden Update | August 2020

My August update will be my final gardening update of 2020 - not only because the growing season is coming to an end but we are also moving in two weeks! If you missed it I wrote a post all about the week we sold our flat. 

I've enjoyed writing these blog posts - they started out as a little project during lock down to keep my blog going but I've also enjoyed looking back on how everything has developed. Not a lot has changed since my July update and in the past week or so there have been some really chilly, autumnal days in Scotland already. Todays post will more focus on some of the highs and low this year and something for next year too. 

There will never be a glamour photo of me in the garden because that just isn't my style but earlier in the month I pulled up my beetroot and there are some cracking ones in the bunch. I also pulled up my onions which are pretty small but I'm sure will be delicious anyway. I've not done a lot of reading about growing onions so maybe I should do some more research before next year. 

I've also been getting some courgettes but most have been rotting - from what I understand it's because the flowers have been getting too wet but I'm not sure what I can do to protect them more in the future. However, they are still growing and we might move before I get to harvest more.

While most of my flowers, including those bought from Hope Organic Garden, have thrived and given some much needed colour to the borders my favourite flowers, Dahlias, still haven't flowered. Maybe because I planted them in the ground too late or maybe it just hasn't been the year from them. They might still flower so I haven't given up hope but I'll be digging them up and taking the tubers with me to our new house because they have sentimental value. 

All the orange calendula you can see in the photo above self seeded from last year. I'm wondering if I can take some heads with me for next year too. I'll have to do some googling because I love the bright colours they bring. 

One of my biggest successes will be the sunflower seeds for the birds I planted as an experiment because I couldn't get to the garden centre during lock down. All six came up and they were so pretty - I'll definitely be doing that again next year and for very little money. 

Finally these Celosia - I bought the seeds in Lidl near the start of lock down but they haven't been a great success. They were so slow to come up and then didn't really grow in the months I've been taking care of them. Now they have flowers but they are nothing like the photos I've seen online. It just made me even more determined to try again next year.

The house we've bought already has a lovely, well established south facing garden. We will need to take out the stones and lay some grass in the spring but I don't think I'll make any further changes. I'll have all winter to work out what is already in the garden and plan out what I'd like to add in the spring. Plus we have patio doors so I can sit inside in the warmth and still enjoy the garden.

I'm also excited about having a front garden that I can make really pretty. I'm think lots of peony's and rhododendrons to add volume then some bright summer bedding. More exciting than the front garden is finally having room for a green house. I'll feel like a proper gardener with my own greenhouses and it's one of the purchases I'm most looking forward to making. 

Even though I'm kind of sad we are now entering autumn next year has so much possibility!