Flighty's plot

As forecast it’s been sunny and warm this week with the temperature reaching around 30 C/85 F yesterday.  I’ve been going to the plot earlier than usual, doing (a lot) less and coming home earlier.

The first early potatoes Pentland Javelin have finished flowering but the foliage hasn’t yet started dying back but whilst checking the two rows I found this potato just under the surface.  As you can see it’s surprisingly big for a first early.

I wasn’t going to start looking and lifting any for a couple more weeks but I’m tempted to see if I can find another one this size  for Sunday dinner.

It’s been a really good year for strawberries and I’ve been bringing home more than I usually do, as well as eating a few whilst I’m there and giving some away.

Thankfully it’s cooler today and next week it will be in the low 20’sC/low 70’s F which is much more to my liking.

Have a good weekend and take care!

It’s got sunnier and warmer over the past few days, and looks like reaching over the mid 20’s C/high 70’s F by mid-week.  That’s too warm for me so I’ll be going to the plot earlier, mostly pottering and then heading back home earlier than usual.

Further to my last post the annual flowers have also had mixed  fortunes.  Sadly few, if any, of the candytuft and cornflowers I sowed have appeared. Cosmos corner is rather sparse but in view of the numerous California poppies (Eschscholzia californica) which have grown and flowered there this year it should, perhaps, be renamed.  I’ve not sown or grown any of these flowers for some years so I’m surprised to see them, and so far they’re all orange like these ones from September 2017.

Have a good week, and take care!

Earlier in the week I sowed yet more carrots Sweet and Neat as neither of the first two sowings germinated or appeared.

The cucumber (unknown variety) I was given which I planted out a couple of weeks ago hasn’t grown much but it’s doing okay, and thankfully hasn’t been got at by slugs or snails.

In the next few days I’ll be sowing more dwarf French beans Sprite as only six have appeared out of eighteen I sowed three weeks ago.

In complete contrast all nine of the dwarf runner bean Jackpot germinated quickly and are growing well as this one shows.

I planted out a tomato Golden Sunrise this week which I’d started off from seed two months ago, and I’d almost given up on a couple of times.  I’ve now got ten tomato plants out on the plot, all except two having been given too me.  They’re all okay, and hopefully sunnier warmer weather will encourage them to grow.  It should do the same for the sweetcorn Sundance.

Have a good weekend, and take care!

This week I forked over the compost heap before I cut all the comfrey,which had finished flowering,  back to ground level then added it to the heap.

This will also give me a chance to reach the raspberries this side.

If the onion Sturon leaves are anything to go by then it looks like being a good year for them.

That will hopefully make up for last year when most were only golf ball size, rather tennis ball, and had hard cooked skins.

The potatoes first earlies Pentland Javelin and second earlies Charlotte are both showing lots of flowers.  These purple ones are the latter, and the former have white ones.  It’ll be a while before I start to lift any, which I won’t do until the foliage starts dying back.

Have a good weekend, and take care!

I was pleased to see that the first few dwarf Runner beans Jackpot have apppeared which I sowed a week ago yesterday.  There was no sign of any dwarf French beans Sprite which I sowed at the same time, but hopefully they’ll start showing within a day or two.  Even more pleasing was seeing about twenty sweetcorn Sundance seeds, sown at the same time, have also appeared.

I’ve now got nine tomatoes planted out, as I was given another one during the week.  They’re looking okay but could certainly do with some warmer sunny weather.

I’ve got one more, a Golden Sunrise, on the windowsill at home which needs to get slighty bigger before I take it to the plot.

The lovely collomia grandiflora are now flowering.

I’ve been picking and eating a few now ripe strawberries.

Have a good week, and take care!

any Love-in-a-Mist (Nigella damescena) seeds for a couple of years but plenty of flowers have appeared this year. They’ve mostly grown through the Poached Egg plants which have now finished, and I’ve left to self-seed.

The above picture is from June 2010 , and I’ve certainly sown and grown them most years.  This year they help to make up for the candytuft and cornflowers which I sowed but never showed.

It looks like it’s going to be a good year for blackberries if the amount of flowers is anything to go by.

When I took this picture earlier this week it was buzzing with bumble bees.

Over the past week or so as many as ten mallard ducks have been perching along the top of the roof of the nearby flats some days.  They normally reside in the park across the main road in the wetland/pond area, with two or three occasionally seen flying around low over the allotment site quacking noisily.

Have a good weekend, and take care!

It was chilly,drizzly and windy on Friday to see spring out, unlike today which is summer sunny.

Yesterday I sowed two short rows of dwarf French beans Sprite along with one of dwarf runner beans Jackpot. I also sowed the sweetcorn seeds Sundance. I planted out a handful of tomato plants, and will do the rest in a few days time.

That’s about all this year’s planting and sowing done apart from another three rows of beans towards the end of this month. This coming week I’ll be spending most of the time working my way through the flower patches, mostly weeding.

I’m growing a couple of dwarf sunflowers in the stone feature as I couldn’t decide what to grow in it earlier in the year.

I’m not sure if they’re the variety Bambino or Big Smile as I can’t find the note I made when I sowed them.

The adjacent plot, which is being worked, has a large sprawling clump of Ox-Eye Daisies (Leucanthemum vulgare) which are mostly on the shared grass path and are certainly eye-catching.

Have a good week, and take care!

I see that when I did the first post here back on Sunday, 27th May 2007 it was a grey, wet morning but I didn’t actually have the plot then. A month later on Sunday 29th June I joined the local horticultural society and detoured on the way home to have a look at the plot but it was another damp and dull morning.  It seems like nothing much changes as it’s the same again today.

This picture, taken yesterday, shows the potato patch.  At the bottom are the strawberry plants with some nasturtiums on the left, and over on the top right is where the sunflowers are growing.

Looking round the flower patch I can see that some of the pot marigolds Flighty’s Favourites are showing buds which I’m pleased to see.

With the weather as it’s been I’ve not done much plotting again this week so I’m still waiting to sow the bean and sweetcorn seeds.

Have a good weekend and take care!

As well as the tomato plants I was given, which I mentioned on Thursday, I was also given this cucumber plant as that was something else that failed to germinate.

I don’t know the variety but was told that it’s a common ordinary green type, so I would guess that it’s probably a Marketmore.

Yesterday I earthed up all the potatoes, then hoed and weeded all round the patch.  All I planted are showing and doing well so far.   I also prepared the areas where I’ll be direct sowing dwarf French and Runner bean seeds, as well as the sweetcorn, which I hope to be doing during this coming week.

There are lots of sunflower seedlings in the patch where I’m growing them, along with various other flowers such as cosmos and pot marigolds.  I’ll have to work my way through the area to pull up and discard some of the latter.

Today it’s damp and dull, typical weather for a Bank Holiday Sunday, and the week ahead is looking unsettled.  Let’s hope that the summer and autumn make up for what has been a disappointing spring.

Have a good week, and take care!