Hey friends,

As easy read this week on the garden - my favourite room of the house. Topics include: managing the pond, growing veg, our new trampoline, pool chat and making pizza.

The Pond

It's looking good! The mesh I installed last year has held up well and keeps the kid safe. The biggest issue this year has been blanket weed as it takes the water lily some months to cover the pond and block the light that encourages the weed to grow. I tried a water treatment which didn't really work so next year I may give barley straw or water cress a go to soak up the nutrients which promote the algae's growth. This is the downside of having fish unfortunately though they do seem to have controlled the duck weed issue of last summer.

The pump finally gave up the ghost so I replaced that and also installed a new outlet 3-switch box. Pump is on 1, UV light in the filter is on 2 and I have a spare outlet should I wish to install lights or something else.

Last year's fish babies have all started to turn gold.

And I'm teaching the boy about frogs and newts which is nice.

Food & Flowers

The work I put in renewing the soil and canes in the greenhouse has paid dividends with everything growing well. In here we've got cucumbers, tomatoes and bell peppers.

I'd forgotten that cucumbers don't really climb very well by themselves so I've used string from above to get them to behave.

With tomatoes the advice is to pinch out the shoots that grow at 45 degrees between the main stalk and the leaves which gives you a nice straight growing plant, though I'm not convinced it produces more tomatoes. Remember when your trusses (yellow flowers) come in to feed weekly with Tomorite or similar for increased yield.

The pane on the top right of the photo had broken in high winds but rather than getting a new pane cut I bought some perspex instead which I cut to shape with a jigsaw.

As an aside, I used the rest of the perspex sheet, along with my leftover frosted window film, to cover the round window in the garage. Now I don't scare the postman with the contorted faces I make when working out.

I noticed that dozens of you clicked on the under-desk walking pad link from last week. You can get an idea of the size of it here. Pretty compact but I've done a bunch of 5k runs on it comfortably. Abi uses it a lot too. The remote is small and lightweight so you just stick it in your pocket or possibly in an arm band if you're partial to wearing lycra. Once you've got the belt running straight it just requires a smidge of oil under the belt on each side once in a while. Downsides: the cable is a bit short (not an issue under a desk) and the display seems to overestimate calories burned and distance covered, at least compared with my Apple watch.

Back to the garden, the rest of the veg patch is doing well and I've already harvested some lettuce and kale. I've also added a goji berry bush in the soft fruit zone.

My water butt system is working well, though I'm all out for now. The star jasmine I planted to replace the clematis that died is thriving and hopefully will cover the trellis I made in the next year or two.

A new garage window to replace this rusty one is now on order. Update soon.

On the other side of the garden I finished widening this border so it just needs filling with plants. The soil quality is poor though, especially where I removed the turf. At least 50% stones.

I stacked the turf upside down which should break down over time and can be put back on the garden.

The Fun Zone

At the back of the garden we now, excitingly, have a trampoline to fill the space left after taking out the leylandii. Kindly given to us by our neighbours. I had to dig out the ground a bit to get it level but it went together very quickly.

It's a performance trampoline so you can get some serious air.

There's no ladder so it's safe for the little one for now. As a reader explained to me you can put above ground trampolines in the ground as long as they are made of materials that won't rust. This one is good for it and would be the safer option in future as I don't think I can add netting to it. Unless I could find replacement pads that have vents in to allow the air to escape from the underside the bounce may be reduced somewhat but perhaps that's no bad thing for the lad.

I'd move things around so the trampoline is nearer the house and the swings and slide further back. That way I could put some trees in to hide next door's lorry 🙄. Maybe fruit trees so I can have my orchard as well. It's the kind of project that goes on the bottom of my list and may take a while to rise to the top. It's good to have a plan though.

Initially I thought it was a choice of trampoline OR pool but turning the camera 180 degrees I think this area of patio would be good for a swim:

It's 16' x 8' so we could get something as big as this. Look how happy they look. I'm sold!

It's a good spot for one because:

• It's flat and there's no grass under it to kill.
• It gets the afternoon sun from about 2p.m. right through to sunset in summer (East facing gardens aren't all bad you see).
• I can plant a small hedge in front of it to hide it from view from the house
• There's power in the garage for a pump/filter system.

Only downside of this location is twigs and things fall from the trees above.

Pros:

• Can teach the kid to swim in it rather than paying for swimming classes.
• We're not on a water meter.
• If I move the pond I can use the pool to keep the flora and fauna in temporarily.
• We have very free draining soil so can just dump the water in Autumn without water-logging the garden.
• We'll have a pool!

Cons:

• Might not get as much use of it as I'd like to think.
• Might be too cold without using a heater.
• Probably only get a maximum of 3 months use of it each year and only on hot days.
• Hassle putting it up/taking it down every year.
• A potential danger.

I notice prices come down in winter so I'll wait either way. Anyone got one? How much use do you get out of it?

Making Pizza

Since getting our oven-like gas BBQ last year I've been learning to make pizza. I found a fantastic Italian supermarket near us (link for you locals) that sells pre-made bases. For now I've been using a circular oven tray and the pizza comes out beautifully. Obligatory *Chef's kiss*.

My next steps are to learn to make the dough myself, invest in some baking stones and work on my Italian accent, but more broadly, what's the need for a dedicated gas powered pizza oven which have become so popular? I can imagine a wood-fired one being superior but maybe I'm missing something.

My Tropical Plants

You may remember we purchased three subtropical plants last summer:

So how are they doing? Well, the palm has died, the tree fern has just one leaf but the hardy banana which died back at the first frost has come back well so that would be my pick of the three if you want a tropical vibe in your garden.

It's never going to grow as high as I'd like unless I dig it up and bring it indoors over winter or I cut off the foliage and insulate the stalks. A job for Autumn.

👋

Occasionally I snap a photo which comes out far better than expected. I particularly like this one of the lad having a paddle in the Thames on a recent excursion.

Hit "reply" if you've got any comments on this week's newsletter – otherwise I'll see you next time. Have an epic week :)

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