The summer has been a bit changeable this year. We've had a heat wave for a couple of days, but also some days with a lot of rain. Now, in mid-july, the days are nice and warm, but not too hot.
I would expect this weather to be perfect for my plants, but that is not the case for every plant.
That also has to do with me being an amateur gardener by the way.
Anyhow; here is my #hivegarden #gardenjournal of the month July!

Raspberry

The raspberry bush is having a high production. Every day I can pick a hand full of delicious raspberries from this bush. It is such a thankful and easy plant!

And the end is not in sight. There are still a lot of tiny, unripe raspberries that will ripen over the next few weeks.

The bush reproduces so fast, that I started selling my cuttings on a marketplace. I used to give them away to family and friends, but over the past years almost everybody who wanted one had received one from me 😀

The bad...

Less successful are my cucumbers. It's my third year in a row that I'm growing them. The first year was quite a success. I've harvested quite a few cucumbers to my surprise.
But there last year the slugs destroyed my crops, they now have another reason why they don't grow. All five of my plants look like this; yellow leaves and no growth. They did form some flowers, but they just don't grow.
I don't know what I've done wrong. I might have planted them to late after growingh them inside from seeds first.

I also have planted some beetroot I had grown from seeds. I was also quite late with planting these in soil, so I hope they will pick up and grow bigger and stronger.

Fruit trees

The fruit trees are doing quite well. The apples on my tree are growing nicely. I need to put a net over it before the birds notice them and will eat them before I can 🤣

The tree that also needs a net is the plum tree. I already see some plums turning purple. After that they become soft and ripe and very attractive to the birds.
I already spotted one of them on the ground next to the tree. I don't know if it 'just' fell out or that it was a bird, but it didn't have bite marks, so I think it 'just' dropped.
I'm going to put a net over it today.

[update]

Tomatoes

Just like last year I seeded tomatoes indoors in spring. I think I've waited to long with moving them outside because they look a bit sad. I remember last year arond this time I had tomatoes that were 1 meter high.
Next year I really need to place them outside earlier in the year.

When I was removing the weeds from the spot where I had my cherry tomatoe plants last year I noticed some weeds with tiny yellow flowers. They really looked like tomato flowers. When I rubbed the leaves and smelled I knew it were tomato plants. It's quite funny that these must have grown from the seeds of the tomatoes that fell off last year since I didn't purposely seed them there. Funny that nature arranges things better than I can 🤣

Oxeye

My lovely Oxeye is withering. The beautiful yellow flowers are slowly turning brown. It has attracted loads of insects again this year.
But the nice big green leaves still are there.

I've collected some seeds from the flowers that have dried out and have the idea to try and grow some new oxeyes from it. The only thing is that I don't know how to do this exactly. Should I wait until spring next year? And how do I keep the seeds until then? Dark and dry I suppose? Or can I just start growing them indoors now?
Is there a gardener out there that can help me with this?

So, this was my HiveGarden Gardenupdate for the month July.
Next week I'll be on holiday for three weeks. It's always exciting to see the garden after three weeks. I'll keep you posted!

Friendlymoose

I'm an amateur photographer with a love for indoor gardening, craft beer, and cycling. As the owner of the Cycling Community and the creator of the Topcomment initiative, I focus on fostering engagement and bringing like-minded people together.
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