Around My Edible Garden

June 2015

It is always sad when a perrenial plant that one has relied on for many years goes into decline. But, as I remarked in a comment a little while ago, perennial does not mean perpetual. All living things must come to an end at some point, although some have shorter life-spans than others. My thyme bushes (10+ years old) are looking rather pathetic and twiggy with a few (a very scant few) new green leaves. Part of me wants to nurse them along, and another part tells me it is time to hoick them out and perhaps replace them with a fresh new specimens. I suspect I will replace them, even if I won’t be around much in the next few years to enjoy the new thymes. Something will need to fill the gaps in the herb garden or those darn weeds will colonise the space in no time.

It seems that June is the month when the excitement of the spring garden’s first flush turns to concerns of a more mundane nature. Weeds. Pests. The monster rhubarb is still a monster, but the leaves are looking a little like Swiss cheese. Snails are the culprits, but for some reason they only eat the poisonous leaves (to humans, that is) and avoid the edible stalks. Something to be grateful for, at least.

However, not all is doom and gloom. The berries that were flowering last month are beginning to form – loganberries (right), blackberries (top left) and blueberries (bottom left).

And, some critters are beneficial. We seem to have attracted quite a few bees. I was luckly to catch two atop the chive blossom.

Many of them are hovering around the raspberries, too restless to settle for long. Once these berries start forming, there will be a steady supply. One of my favourite fruits.

And, yes, I’ve potted up the raspberry escapees – the spreading rhizomes. Hopefully they will produce a good root system for transplanting. And, the same goes for the new potted loganberries, created from tip layering. I’m also waiting to see if the blackberry tip I anchored in the ground produces a new plant. The currants and gooseberries are slowly taking on colour. In fact, I’m beginning to harvest the black currants – some to be converted into cassis which I made last year from a recipe by the French artist (and gastronome), Toulouse-Lautrec. new fruits on the grapevine and the trees are slowly growing.

And, the mad kiwi vine has produced plentiful blossoms. Who knows? I might even get a kiwi or two.

Tasks to be done:

1. Replace thyme bushes with new young ones.
2. Continue harvesting black currants.
3. Trim the unruly tendrils of the mad kiwi.
4. Clip excess foliage from the grapevine.

Around My Edible Garden is my monthly diary entry detailing what is happening in my garden this past month, part of the Garden Share Collective (GSC), maintained by Lizzie@strayedtable (click on the “links in collection” icon below to view all participants). A chronological listing of my garden blog posts is listed Diaries in the Menu bar.