Fact Sheet 41
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THE GARDENERS DIARY
WEEK 41
10th July 2005
THE DIARY
THE FLOWER GARDEN: Herbal entertaining!
Barbecuing and entertaining can become the highlight of summer gardening. Cooking over the glowing embers of the charcoal your steak sizzling away on the grill you may suddenly think, I NEED SOME HERBS! Before you head for that freeze dried stuff why not save the legs and place some herbs into containers at the side of the barbecue. With the variety of herbs available, a mixed planter of your favourite flavours can be placed into almost any container from a strawberry pot to an old saucepan. Try and resist placing quick growing herbs like mint in these containers as members of the Mentha family should be grown in a separate planter as they can soon smother and strangle the other plants. These culinary delights can soon add flavour and scent to what can sometimes be rather plain food. You can also add a different flavour to your summer drinks. Place leaves of Bergamot, Chamomile, Lemon Balm, Mint or Scented Sages into your beverages to add inspiring and enticing flavours. Also why not finely chop leaves and mix them into ice cubes slowly releasing the flavour into the drink. By growing herbs at the side of the barbecue it will make life a lot simpler when cooking over the glowing embers. One thing to remember is to have a bucket or bowl of salted water to wash the pickings and leaves and to remove any unwanted bugs. Do this before placing them on your food or your vegetarian friends may end up with some added meat they didn't anticipate.
THE GREENHOUSE: Daily water checks!
Keep checking the soil of your plants and crops through the coming months. Do not allow your prize plants to dry out otherwise you may be looking at an increase on the height of your compost heap. Regular and frequent watering will enable your plants to survive the coming months. If you are going away and you have no-one to look after your plant maintenance then it could be the ideal opportunity to add a self-watering system. If this is beyond your purse strings then why not get a water butt filled up with water. Place a length of capillary matting into it then place all your pots onto this. This will hopefully keep them watered enough until you return off your hols.
FRUIT & VEG: Feed peas.
Peas should be top dressed with a general fertiliser. Scatter the feed over the surface of the soil and then lightly hoe in. Once applied water the feed in. This will allow the plants to grow well and encourage the pods to develop. Through the coming months keep well watered when the weather is dry.
PEST PROBLEM OF THE WEEK: Beetles with a hole!
If you have noticed irregular holes appearing in the foliage of your mint crop and at closer inspection you notice some iridescent emerald-green beetles and their rotund black larvae you could have mint beetle. The adults can grow up to 10mm in length. Usually their attack is not enough to hinder the growth of your prize Mint plant but can make it look unsightly. Control is easy and the manual organic method of placing the Mint Beetle on block A and then pelting it with block B is sufficient you can use an insecticide to eradicate the infestation. Listen to The Gardener's Diary with Luke Ashmead on BBC Three Counties Radio every Sunday afternoon at 2.00pm Contact The Gardener's Diary Here BBC Three Counties Radio 94.7, 98, 103.8, 95.5 and 104.5FM | 
