“Magical Mystery Tour“ in San Pedro, Ambergris Caye, Belize

Since publishing the last edition a load of people (OK, I’m exaggerating , it’s two people ) have contacted me asking how ‘things’ are going in Q Gardens so I thought I should ‘knock out’ an edition to provide an update for those of you (that’s all two of you ) that are interested.

For regular readers of this blog I’ll jog your memory as to what Q Gardens looked like when ‘we’ left it.

Fairly sparse.

But then the Head Gardener, that’s my wife Rose, got to work and the beds started to fill up and the seedlings began to grow.

A greenhouse is a new thing for us. A long , long while ago (and by that I mean over 40 years ago ) we tried our hand at vegetable growing but never really got into it seriously before I started to give more attention to my career and that ended our brief flirtation. With vegetable gardening I mean , not with Rose I hasten to add !

Rose has shown herself to be very intuitive- but then again she’s always been that way. She knew all those years ago that I was right for her ! But seriously, she’s a natural where gardening is concerned. Me ? I’m a Google and YouTube addict. I research everything.

So, because of my Google addiction we’ve tried :

Composting using the Berkeley method .

And it worked !

Composting using the Bokashi method .

Looks disgusting doesn’t it but apparently it’s full of bacteria. Who knew ? Well I do . And now … so do you !

And ‘planting’ chalk to inject calcium into the soil .

And spraying the plants with baking soda, vegetable, liquid soap and water to keep the aphids at bay.

One of my favourite (favorite for you non -UK readers out there ) ‘bits’ of kit.

To watering the plants with a raw molasses/water mix.

You can see how dark, rich and thick it looks.

And the use of hügelkultur

So, how’s it looking in Q Gardens now (six weeks after the very first photo in this edition) you ask. You did, didn’t you ?

The center and largest bed.

Remember the little zucchini that Charles of Estel’s gave me ? No ? You sure ?

Has that jogged your memory ?

Well, it’s grown a bit.

And it’s got ‘baby’ zucchini. Just hoping that they pollinate OK.

Our sole beetroot. The only one that survived. Next planting we are determined to do better. A lot better.

Our sweet pepper.

One so far. Fingers crossed there’ll be more.

Our cabbages. I’m sure they’ll produce if Rose stops picking and cooking the leaves .

Beefsteak tomatoes. Just – we hope – getting ready to start flowering.

Our cucumber plants.

Just hoping it gets ‘pregnant’ !

One of our eggplants with its marigold ‘bodyguard’.

And our peas.

Broccoli.

Our leeks .

Basil.

And our – we hope – cauliflower.

We decided to see how one of our Roma tomato plants would fare outside and I’m pleased to say that thus far it appears to be enjoying it.

Hopefully in the next thrilling (sic) installment I’ll be able to include photos of vegetables.

The headline for this edition is based on the double EP (who remembers those ?) released in 1967 by the Beatles which reached number 2 on the UK Singles Chart and number 1 on the US Billboard Hot 200 LP chart (additional tracks were added and it was released as a LP).