Flighty's plot

This week has been sunny and very warm with the temperature reaching over 3o C/86F yesterday afternoon.  I’ve been going to the plot early, not doing very much when I’m there and not stopping anywhere near as long as I usually do.

Despite that it’s been a good week as I’ve started lifting the onions Sturon, and picking the first runner beans Jackpot along with plenty more blackberries and raspberries.

Looking under the cucumber leaves I found one which was about 6 in/15 cm long and little more than 1 in/2.5 cm diameter. I don’t know the variety but it felt and looked okay so I picked it, and I’m glad to say that it tastes fine.

At long last the first of the sunflowers has appeared.  It’s only around 4 ft/1.2 mt tall with a small dark centred yellow flower.

Have a good weekend, and take care!

for the first sunflower to flower, which looks like being next week.  Meanwhile there are plenty of other flowers to enjoy around the plot.

 Cosmos corner now has some cosmos such as these three red ones. I also noticed this rather unusual  slightly blushing white one.

Mind you a lot of blue and white love-in-mist/nigella have now also appeared in the same area.

There are lots of pot marigolds Flighty’s Favourites, orange and yellow along with some buff and creamy colours, all in various combinations.

There have been a few sunny days when it’s been pleasing to see bees buzzing and butterflies flittering around.  I’ve caught glimpses of one, or more, young robins but they tend to hide in the cornus or roses.

It’s drizzly and dull today so I’m armchair gardening rather than plot pottering.  It’s back to sunny days tomorrow with the temperature getting slightly warmer on Sunday and next week around 25 C/77 F.

Have a good weekend, and take care!

A few months ago I cleared both the leaves and stems from both clumps of rhubarb and covered the areas with compost.

Recently the newer, and smaller , clump has grown again and last week I pulled a handful of good size stems some of which I’ve eaten. This picture shows the plants a couple of days afterwards.

I’ve started picking the blackberries, along with a few raspberries. It looks like I’ll be doing that for a few weeks judging by the amount of fruit showing on the bushes.

The nasturtiums at one end of the strawberry patch are now in full flower, including these bright orangey ones.

Sadly I’ve seen few butterflies on the plot so far this year so I was really pleased to both see, and phototograph, this Gatekeeper fluttering around on the raspberry bushes this morning.

Have a good week, and take care!

I sowed plenty of sweetcorn Sundance seeds nearly a couple of months ago and more than enough germinated and started growing.  However since then I’ve been losing some and now have only got half the number I was hoping for.  If I don’t lose more, and I end up with some good cobs, I won’t be too disappointed.

I’ve been rather lax with the tomato plants and haven’t been pinching them out or tying them up. I’ll have a look at them over the weekend to see what, if anything, I can do before they get completely out of control.

I notice that there are plenty of flowers showing and even a few fruit.

Most of the sunflowers are now showing flower buds and I’m waiting to see the first flower appear, which will probably be this one.

The two dwarf ones in the stone feature are growing well.

There was several hours of heavy rain during Monday night which was welcome.  It’s got warmer during the week and tomorrow it’s likely to reach 30 C/mid 80’s F  before thankfully dropping to the low 20’s C/low 70’s F by Sunday and into next week.

Have a good weekend, and take care!

The dwarf runner beans Jackpot are doing well and now showing plenty of flowers. I’ve put a short cane in next to each of these to give them a  bit of support, otherwise all I’ve done so far is water them when needed.

I’m looking forward to seeing, and of course then eating, the pods.

The onions Sturon are really doing well with the biggest now the size of a tennis ball.  I won’t be starting to lift any of these until the leaves turn yellow and topple.

I generally grow the candytuft Fairy Mix seperately to the other annuals so that they don’t get overshadowed by them but as you can see this year the pot marigolds Flighty’s Favourites are mixed in with them.

It looks like being a dry, and warmer, week ahead so I’ll be doing some summer plotting.

Have a good week, and take care!

I kept wondering why so many, mostly orange flowering, California poppies have appeared all over cosmos corner this year.  Back in the spring this area got very water-logged and when it started to dry out I found it virtually unworkable. I’d normally weed then just lightly hoe across the top but this year I forked it over.  Poppy seeds can, and do, lay dormant in the ground for years then germinate and flower when it’s disturbed as this was.

Now I’m wondering what to do, once they finish flowering,  and for next year.  I’ll probably leave them to self-seed and see what happens.  Either there’ll be lots of flowers again or they’ll lay dormant again for a few years.  Meanwhile I’ll grow the cosmos elsewhere.

The two pictures are from the archives,  the top one is from May 2019 and the other one May 2016.

It’s been another unsettled week weatherwise and I’ve been armchair gardening rather than plotting the past couple of days.  Thankfully it looks like being better, and warmer, over the weekend and next week.

Have a good weekend, and take care!

I did very little apart from potter last week , and it’s been damp and dull the past two days so I’ve been mostly armchair gardening.

I sowed the rest of the Carrots Short and Sweet during the week but I’m not very hopeful as few have appeared from the first two lots.

The Cucumber, variety unknown, is doing well and even has a couple of flowers showing.

I had a good look round the flower patches one morning but didn’t find any Cornflowers. I sowed a lot of these and I’m a bit surprised that none have appeared.  I think that I’ll give them a miss next year.

Among the few Cosmos that are now flowering is this one that couldn’t decide if it wanted to be pink or white.

I’m pleased to see how well the Candytuft Fairy Mix are now doing with plenty of lilac, pink, purple, red and white flowers.

I had a look round the plot early this morning as there’s more rain due later, and the week ahead looks set to remain unsettled with plenty of rain.

Have a good week, and take care!

Yesterday I checked the onions Sturon and weeded all round.

I’m pleased to see that they’re doing well this year with most of them already golfball size.

The tomato plants are also doing okay and I noticed that a couple of them are showing flowers.

This is one of the first cosmos flowers.  It looks like there won’t be anywhere near as many as usual this year as a lot of the seeds simply never germinated.

Thankfully the temperature has dropped back to the low 20’s C/low 70’s F which I find much more comfortable.

Today it’s rather dull so I’m having a non plotting day.

Have a good week, and take care!