Flighty's plot

the plot yesterday I noticed that I must have missed lifting a couple of potatoes back in August as foliage has appeared.  I’ll leave it to grow and see what happens.  I may be lucky and get some fresh out the ground potatoes for Christmas.

 

The white Meadowsweet is looking good with its golden-yellow leaves.

I’ve not dead-headed it this year as I’ve learnt that goldfinches like the seeds.  I would be well pleased if I saw one on it.

 

 

Here’s another picture of the eye-catching Pot Marigold Oopsy Daisy  in the black plastic half-barrel container by the shed.

Here was some heavy rain during last night and the ground is now rather soggy so I’m not plotting today.  Hopefully during the coming week I can make a start on cutting back the stems on the three clumps of blue asters/Michaelmas Daisies which have now finished flowering.

Have a good week, and take care!

In recent years I’ve dug out, and sieved, compost from the three nearby commual woodchip bays as well as my own heap.  However they got covered in brambles and weeds, and filled with cut down trees so I didin’t think I’d be able to this year.  Last week I arrived at the site to find that they’d been completely cleared, and presumably there may well be a delivery of woodchip sometime soon. Meantime I’m making the most of the empty bays by digging out, and sieving, compost from around the inside edges as I’ve done before.  So far I’ve filled the builder’s bucket five times and will comtinue while I can.  I spread the dug out compost over the  two areas where I’ll be growing the sunflowers Holiday, on the patch where I’ll be growing  tomatoes, and round all the raspberry and strawberry  plants.  I was surprised to see that there are flowers on the raspberries as you can see in this photo.

Have a good weekend, and take care!

during last week  when I stayed indoors I checked the stored onions Sturon, along with the potatoes second early Charlotte and maincrop Desiree, and was pleased to find that all were okay.

I do this periodically as I do occasionally find one that needs to be disposed of on the compost heap or using as soon as possible.

I didn’t go to the plot yesterday as it was breezy and chilly but not very sunny.  This  morning was better, and I’m glad I went for a couple of hours.  I finished roughly hoeing the third, and last, of the vegetable patches. Apart from adding compost and removing any weeds they can be left now until next spring.   I also collected another bag of fallen leaves to add to both compost heaps.

The various blue asters are now mostly past their best sadly, but the white ones are still twinkling.

I haven’t seen much of the robin recently but was glad to see him this morning.  I also haven’t seen any red kites flying around low overhead for a while but there were two today.  I told that there are a pair nesting one of the big willow trees in the park across the road so they were probably these.

Have a good week, and take care!

My only visit to the plot so far this week was yesterday morning.  It was rather damp underfoot so I mostly pottered.

The weather is rather unsettled at present, being chilly, rainy and windy, so it’s not surprising that the now reddish-brown leaves on the cornus (dogwood) are beginning to drop.   I filled an old compost bag with ones I collected from the ground all around the tree to add to both compost heaps.  I’ll be doing that several more times over the next week or two.

 

The weather is also taking it’s toll on the remaining flowers, although looking round there are still  pot marigolds Flighty’s Favourites including this shy one.

The rose Pretty Lady usually continues to flower right through autumn into early winter but this year has already finished, perhaps because it started several weeks earlier  than usual.

Have a good weekend, and take care!

Having now cleared both areas over the past few days I now think that I may continue with cosmos on cosmos corner and grow a sunflower Holiday  on the shed end of the main flower patch (second picture) next year.

The green mound in the above picture has now removed and added to the compost heaps.  This morning I pulled up all the collomia grandiflora stems, top right in the first picture and top left in the second,  cleared the weeds and then forked it over.

The Calendula Oopsy Daisy in the black plastic half-barrel container is about a foot ( 30 cm) high and  has been flowering profusely for weeks.  I’ve been well pleased with both plant and flowers so will grow another one  here next year.

It’s been raining since late morning today, and it looks like being a rainy day tomorrow so  I’ll probably resume seed sorting.

Have a good week, and take care !

When I did the post Sunflowers next year early last month I was undecided if I would try growing the variety Holiday again as I’ve now tried twice without success, however I will try again next year.

The plant grows about four feet (1.2 metres) across so it obviously needs plenty of room.  I’m going to try two, one in the middle of cosmos corner and the other at the top of the plot where the rhubarb used to grow.  Hopefully by next summer I’ll have two sunflower Holiday plants, around four  feet  high, with dark-centred golden-yellow flowers.

Please note the picture above is from the Seedaholic webpage, with thanks.

I’ll still be growing plenty of cosmos as usual but over on the main flower    patch at the bottom end opposite the shed. This was cosmos corner in October 2020.

I’ve been plotting daily as it’s been dry, but mostly very dull and overcast.  It looks like there’ll be some sunshine Saturday then a couple of rainy days.

Have a good weekend, and take care!

think that once the Aster/Michaelmas daisy Monte Cassino, which I call Twinkling Stars, flowers that really heralds the end of the plot growing season.  It’s one of my favourite plants with lots of very small white flowers which don’t generally appear until October.

This picture is from late October 2022.   It now needs lifting, splitting and replanting which I’ll do in the early spring.

Although it’s the end of the season there’s still plenty to do, weather permitting.  Over the past few days I’ve started rough cutting all  round the grass path edges, adding plenty of grass to both compost heaps.

It’s still been surprisingly dry but mostly overcast, which looks set to continue through next week so I may make a start on emptying, and sieving, the compost from the composter now that I’ve partly pruned back the rose Pretty Lady to give me better access.

Have a good week, and take care!

every day so far this week and would have been mostly clearing the flower patches.  However the cosmos and pot marigolds are still flowering profusely and there also plenty of buds visible as well.    This picture was taken on 21 October 2015. 

I lightly pruned the raspberry bushes and will now leave them alone until the spring, apart from adding compost around each plant.  Once new growth appears I’ll then cut out dead and unwanted stems.

It always surprises me how quickly the comfrey plants, the green plants in the picture,  grow again after I cut them right back and add to the compost heaps. It’s not that long since I last did this and in a few weeks I’ll be doing it again, not that I mind.

I’m not going to deadhead the meadowsweet, seen here at the top of the picture, yet as I recently learnt that goldfinches eat the seeds and so I’ll leave to that either late winter or early spring.

Have a good weekend, and take care!

or show, the six lavender plants (? Munstead) I’ve had on the plot for around fifteen years or so.  On Tuesday I deadheaded then tidied up around them.  They’re on the flower patch alongside the grass path, and opposite the dog rose.  They really need replacing as they’re now rather woody, so I’ll be thinking about that over the winter when I’m armchair gardening.  I may plant new ones there or possibly replace them with something different.

I was surprised to find that I only have a few pictures of them in the archives including this one showing a Small Tortoiseshell butterfly on the flowers, which was taken back in July 2013.

I’ve not done much else on the plot so far this week, mainly due to the weather, and with several hours of heavy rain due early tomorrow it’s looks like I won’t be doing much for the next day or so either.

Have a good weekend, and take care!