Flighty's plot

The cornus/dogwood tree is showing lots of small black berries, the leaves are changing colour from green to dark red and it’s flowering again. Talk about confusing!

The sedum/iceplant is now in full flower but has grown so big you can now see that the middle is showing so its not looking anywhere near as good as it should be.

I will dig it up either in the late winter or early spring, split it then replant.

 

I picked and ate the first sweet corn cob on Friday, but forgot to take a photo.  I’ve started picking a handful of small red tomatoes, along with a few bigger ones each visit.  The beans, both dwarf French Sprite and dwarf runner Jackpot, have now just about finished.

The sunflowers are still doing well, with more to come.

Have a good week, and take care!

It rained most of last Saturday but has made little difference to the dry, cracked ground as you can see by the carrot patch a few days later.  The cracks are at least 6 in/15 cm deep in places as I can get my hand in from finger tips to the wrist.

There are only a few carrots growing from three lots of seeds I sowed which is disappointing as I’ve done quite well with them in recent years.

 

The cucumber plant (variety unknown) now covers at least 4 sq ft/0.37 sq mt and has produced nearly 20 fruit so far with  more to come.

Since I only eat one or two a week I’m giving the rest of them away.  I picked these at the beginning of the week.

 

The rose ‘Pretty Lady’ has lost most of its leaves and is looking in a rather sorry state except for the flowers that are still appearing.

Have a good weekend, and take care!

The weather has changed this week being noticeably cooler, unsettled and very windy at times probably healding the end of summer, not that I mind as I really prefer autumn.

I’ve only been to the plot a couple of days so far this week, and mainly pottered harvesting plenty of beans and several good size cucumbers.  The tomatoes, both red and yellow ones, are finally beginning to change colour and ripen.

The first of the blue asters/Michaelmas daisies has started to flower,

which will provide some welcome colour into early autumn.

Have a good weekend, and take care!

I’m glad to say that I’ve finished lifting the onions Sturon and they’re now all at home laid out on cardboard on the floor in the spare room.  Once I’ve removed the dead leaves, roots and any loose skin I’ll then check and sort them before storing in plastic crates.  I’ll do a further post about these when I’ve done that, and also counted them.

I’ve also lifted all the potatoes that I can find using a sturdy plastic hand fork.  No doubt I’ll find plenty more when I properly fork the area over, which won’t be until there’s been some worthwhile rain to soften the now rock hard ground.

That leaves the sweet corn still to come, which is doing well with cobs now developing,  and the tomatoes which need to ripen and turn red (or yellow).

I’ve started collecting seeds from some of the annual flowers.  This morning I removed the candytuft (Iberis umbellata) seed heads, and put them in a paper bag to dry prior to sorting.

The two dwarf sunflowers I grew in the stone feature have grown to around 20 in/ 50 cm and flowered.

Have a good week, and take care!

I’ve only been to the plot one day this week so I’ve nothing much to blog about today, and my next post should be on Sunday as usual.

Meanwhile here’s one of the plot sunflowers.

Have a good weekend, and take care!

I was lifting onions Sturon last week and still have more to do.  I brush any soil of fthem, pull off any dead leaves and then bring them home where I’ve laid them out on cardboard in the spare room.  Once the leaves have died back I’ll cut them and the roots off, then check and sort before storing.  As usual I’ll check them periodically.

The big clump of crocosmia, or montbretia if you prefer, down at the south-eastern corner of the plot, is flowering really well this year.   It’s certainly eye-catching with  its bright green swordlike  leaves and fiery red flowers.

I watered all round yesterday morning as there’s been no significant rain and none forecast for next week.  It’s warm today with the temperature reaching 28 C/82 F and tomorrow over 30 C/86F.  Tuesday onwards will see it start to drop, reaching the low 20’s C/ 72 F by Friday.

Have a good week, and take care!

I’ve been picking the first dwarf French beans Sprite, which unlike the runner beans are mostly straight.  I planted quite a lot of seeds but didn’t end up with as anywhere near many plants as I would have liked.

 

I really haven’t been looking after the tomato plants this year as I haven’t been tying them to the canes nor pinching out the side shoots.  Consequently they are a now in a right state, and it’s too late to try and sort them out.  There are plenty of green tomatoes now showing and there is at least one that’s nearly ripe. Let’s hope that they stay blight free, at least until some have ripened, been picked and eaten.

 

So far most of the sunflowers have been ones with yellow flowers and dark centres but I like this one which has two-tone petals.

Have a good weekend, and take care!

but dull so I probably won’t go for a plot potter after lunch unless it brightens up.

I had a good week when I lifted the last first early potatoes Pentland Javelin and second earlies Charlotte. The main crop ones Picasso I won’t be lifting until later this month.

I’m picking plenty of dwarf runner beans Jackpot, most of which certainly wouldn’t win any show prizes as they’re nearly all curly or curvy, not that that detracts from the taste.

As you can see the plants are covered in flowers.

 

I’m pleased to see that Cosmos Corner is now living up to it’s name and there are plenty of cosmos flowers now showing.

They’re all lovely flowers but think the white ones are my favourites.

Have a good week, and take care!