Category Archives: Gardener
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Grass/weed cutting time
12Monday 25 April, 2016 by Uncle Spike
Very soon I’ll be heaving the gas powered grass cutter onto my back for two solid days of tackling the …
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Last of the winter veg
2Sunday 17 April, 2016 by Uncle Spike
Temps are a climbing… up to the early 30s again now (that’s touching 90F), so time to rip up the …
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Broccoli plants
9Saturday 12 March, 2016 by Uncle Spike
A little while ago we saw these beautiful flowers, and Joanne from My Life Lived Full mentioned wanting to see …
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Cabbages…. my five year wait is over
16Sunday 28 February, 2016 by Uncle Spike
Never had a lot of luck or the right weather conditions for cabbages, but finally, I have some – yay! …
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Wot No Cabbages?
5Wednesday 06 January, 2016 by Uncle Spike
The sudden cold snap (aka, winter) dissipated after five-six days, and we are back to mild weather, with a mix …
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Last summer produce
6Sunday 25 October, 2015 by Uncle Spike
It’s been a weird old year…. we’ve seen lemon trees decimated and some killed off by very rare severe frosts …
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Last Peppers
3Sunday 18 October, 2015 by Uncle Spike
Drying the last of the summer peppers before the rains start…
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Last of the summer crops
10Tuesday 15 September, 2015 by Uncle Spike
As summer proper recedes and we move into early autumn, the thermometer drops to below 100F (40C) for the first …
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Recovery over time…
2Saturday 12 September, 2015 by Uncle Spike
This bush was one of those pretty much decimated by last winter’s unexpected freeze. Whilst we don’t have ‘real winters’ like many …
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Jujube or not Jujube
7Saturday 05 September, 2015 by Uncle Spike
Ziziphus jujuba, commonly called jujube, red date, Chinese date, Korean date, or Indian date is a species of Ziziphus in …
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But mom said “No Smut In This House!”
18Wednesday 26 August, 2015 by Uncle Spike
When I was a lad, my mom always told me this… but I guess that’s a different story altogether (and …
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Summer weeds
3Tuesday 25 August, 2015 by Uncle Spike
Summer brings many things…. For us, here in the southwest of Türkiye it means continual hot weather, which is around …
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Summer roses…
4Thursday 20 August, 2015 by Uncle Spike
Roses in summer are almost unheard of for us! Admittedly the weather is far kinder than normal this year with temperatures, …
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Good year for grapes
6Sunday 16 August, 2015 by Uncle Spike
We always get a good crop from these black grapes – they come from a hardy and strong vine. Mostly …
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Splashes of colour
7Thursday 13 August, 2015 by Uncle Spike
Lilies like these now cover all sorts of areas around the farm. Having started out as one small bucket load, …
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Using all the spare land
7Sunday 09 August, 2015 by Uncle Spike
There are always places to plant something I’ve found. And this year I’ve utilised a spare area at the back …
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Pink tomatoes – maybe
14Tuesday 04 August, 2015 by Uncle Spike
Raising pink tomatoes, or any non-cherry tomato, has always been a bug-bear for me. I’m really not a fan of pesticides, …
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Greenhouse: Before & After
9Wednesday 29 July, 2015 by Uncle Spike
Before (2007) . After (2015)
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Black bum tomatoes
13Tuesday 28 July, 2015 by Uncle Spike
Ok so here’s a strange one for ya… black bum tomatoes! This weird phenomenon is actually very common for us on larger fruit tomato plants. …
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Cherry tomatoes
9Tuesday 21 July, 2015 by Uncle Spike
Of all the types of tomato that we have attempted to grow, dwarf cherry are the most successful by far. …
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Impressive weeds
3Saturday 18 July, 2015 by Uncle Spike
These large yellow bush things are in fact just weeds that appear all over this part of Türkiye. Most of the time …
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Basil
9Wednesday 15 July, 2015 by Uncle Spike
One of the better crops this summer, so far, has been the small leaf black basil plants. First planted out …
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Sweetcorn: Progressing well
13Tuesday 14 July, 2015 by Uncle Spike
Moving on one month after planting, and the corn plants are growing very well indeed. They certainly love the heat …
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Cucumber
8Tuesday 14 July, 2015 by Uncle Spike
Simple, organic, tasty, free, mine 🙂
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Grape vine escapes
3Sunday 12 July, 2015 by Uncle Spike
This grape vine went a little mad this year!
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Sweetcorn: Sowing the seeds
12Thursday 09 July, 2015 by Uncle Spike
Terry said to plant the seeds 6″ apart…. Yes, the advice from my all American farming friends in Colorado, who …
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Sweetcorn: Ground preparation
9Tuesday 07 July, 2015 by Uncle Spike
Ok, now growing sweetcorn has always been one of my lesser achievements. We had one half decent year some seven …
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A dash of yellow
1Thursday 02 July, 2015 by Uncle Spike
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Our extraordinary new hedge!
16Wednesday 01 July, 2015 by Uncle Spike
Quite a few years ago now, Uncle Baldrick and I bravely moved a rather evil single cactus plant from our …
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Triffid migration
16Wednesday 24 June, 2015 by Uncle Spike
A few years ago we acquired some bulbs, and/or seeds; not sure which. Anyway, each summer they bloom, as you …
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Plums & Sloes
5Sunday 21 June, 2015 by Uncle Spike
Also very late this year are the plums. Here in Türkiye, they are often eaten unripe, and with salt(!?) when …
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Apples are growing…
7Saturday 20 June, 2015 by Uncle Spike
Growing apples here is bit ‘hit-n-miss’ we’ve found, mainly due to the incessant heat of our normally prolonged hot and …
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Who loves a Blackberry?
11Thursday 18 June, 2015 by Uncle Spike
If one were to mention a Blackberry to 93.48% of the under 25 year old population, what do you think …
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This evening’s snack: Apricots
7Wednesday 17 June, 2015 by Uncle Spike
Having stated my Ramadan fasting a few days early, as you do, my focus for iftar (breaking of the fast), …
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My favourite pepper
8Tuesday 16 June, 2015 by Uncle Spike
We grow a few types of peppers each summer; basically because it’s the easiest veg to produce in this hot/dry …
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Black Figs – Late but still welcome
14Saturday 13 June, 2015 by Uncle Spike
The green figs never happened at all this season, which is strange as they are a native crop that grow …
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Flower of the day
6Wednesday 10 June, 2015 by Uncle Spike
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And finally, the tomatoes
12Thursday 04 June, 2015 by Uncle Spike
With everything so late this year, we are even ‘waiting’ for the tomatoes, whereas we are normally scoffing them freshly …
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New season – new grapes
6Tuesday 02 June, 2015 by Uncle Spike
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Dill seed head
4Sunday 31 May, 2015 by Uncle Spike
Dill is such a small and delicate herb – and which I’m about to chop back for summer and cut/freeze …
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Garden in bloom
13Tuesday 26 May, 2015 by Uncle Spike
Spring and the start of summer is a colourful time here is southwest Türkiye. The temperatures are high enough to stimıulate growth, but …
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Mulberry time
4Sunday 24 May, 2015 by Uncle Spike
It’s a race between humans and chooks…. Why? …coz it’s mulberry time ! .
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Strawberries – yay!
12Saturday 23 May, 2015 by Uncle Spike
Last autumn I took the decision to move all the strawberry plants. Where they had been for a few years …
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Roses are red…
7Wednesday 20 May, 2015 by Uncle Spike
Every girl loves their red roses, sure, but even us mortal males can appreciate their simplistic beauty. I love these …
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Salad stuff
8Tuesday 19 May, 2015 by Uncle Spike
Took these a couple of weeks ago, but the temperatures have since ramped up (33C, 90F and above), so that …
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The delicate orange rose
11Sunday 17 May, 2015 by Uncle Spike
Another day, another colour rose…. and today we feature a dusty orange coloured specimen, with hints of lilac and yellow …
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Pure white
11Saturday 16 May, 2015 by Uncle Spike
Oh go on then… here’s some more roses…. There are many colours that I love in the garden, but how …
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Friends of the Cacti
9Wednesday 13 May, 2015 by Uncle Spike
It’s that time of year when our various cacti have their babies. We have three species, but these large cacti, which grow …
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Broad bean harvest time
20Tuesday 12 May, 2015 by Uncle Spike
Having planted the broad beans over a month later than in previous years, I am chuffed to see that it …
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Ten images of late springtime…
16Saturday 09 May, 2015 by Uncle Spike
Springtime is a time of big changes and long hours of hard work. In the orchards it has been a …
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Uncle Spike's Adventures 