Entries categorized as ‘Flighty's plot’
My week started well enough last Monday as the sun was shining and I spent the morning working on the plot.
A couple of weeks back over on Allotments 4 All Betula had made this suggestion and the idea of donating to my good cause Thrive was agreed on. On Tuesday morning I set up this JustGiving page for her, and as you can see we’ve raised £120. With the extra donation that I ‘ve promised and added GiftAid amount that will take the total to over £150, and needless to say we’re well pleased.
Wednesday was the real down day! I spent much of the time on the phone on various personal/family/business matters and basically got nowhere. On Allotments 4 All a member who’s an internet troll decided to try and cause mayhem with endless pointless topics and offensive remarks. I ended up going to bed early with a headache, then woke up in the middle of the night realising that I’d not only not done a draft for my Thursday entry here but also lay there wondering what the heck to write about anyway.
Thursday morning I walked to the library and on the way met Tyson who’s a wonderful fluffy white, blue-eyed Huskie just like this one. He’s a youngster but getting noticably bigger every time I see him, and as his owner said thankfully less boisterous as well.
That lunch time Daffy phoned me to see if I was okay as she’d noticed that I not been commenting on blogs, including hers, for a couple of days nor done my Thursday entry!
Yes I’m okay I told her…I’m just having one of those weeks with too many minor niggles! No, niggles not giggles! Chatting with her always brightens up my day.
Yesterday was a so-so day but the real plus point was that Allison@a tasteful garden has given me a honest scrap award! You’ll see that she says that I’ve got gardening prowess which made me smile somewhat quizzically.
Glo (Porcelain Rose) emailed me and listed several of what she thought were my minor niggles. I would quibble with her over the suggestion that my running out of tea and biscuits is one as that would definitely have been a major catastrophe!
Today was a beautiful sunny day so I spent a very pleasant and productive morning on the plot. More about that in a forthcoming post. Whilst there Joe kindly picked and gave me this bunch of chrysanthemums
So it’s been a bit of an up, down and up week, and please don’t remind me that it’s Friday the 13th next week!
Categories: Flighty's plot · Lawn lounging
The relatively good, and warm, weather lately has certainly provided a final flourish thanks to some pot marigolds
and the rose Valentine Heart blooming again! 
Plot neighbour George likes growing flowers such as these Michaelmas daisies
He’s very kindly given me a small clump which I’ve planted near the shed.
The pallet patio window box has been planted up with mini daffodils and white crocus, and under the wood chips is wire mesh to stop any wildlife having a dig!
As you can see the hydrangea is now looking somewhat faded.
As I walked towards the site gates during the week a grey squirrel scampered across in front of me and climbed up the willow tree. That’s the first one I’ve seen there although Trevor at the other end of the site has had problems with them in the past. Glo’s not the only one with a mouse as twice recently I’ve turned back the compost heap cover to see one scoot out of sight! Both bird feeders were hardly touched for ages but the one with peanuts has started to be used again and I stood watching a magpie pecking away at it the other day.
I’m sure that you’re all wondering how I got on with the Jerusalem artichokes. Well I have to say that I’ve eaten a small amount twice and I really found them rather bland. Thankfully I wasn’t blown away by them either! I think that I’ll just dig the rest up, keep some of the tubers to replant next year and enjoy the plants and flowers.
Categories: Flighty's plot
as last year it was my 4th birthday!
Thanks to Glo (Porcelain Rose) my birthday celebrations started a month earlier than expected, and if you want to hear the frogs singing Happy Birthday then click here.
The past year seems to have flown by despite, or perhaps because of, me nearly being a full-time man of leisure. Much of my time is now spent allotmenteering and blogging which give me a great deal of pleasure and satisfaction.
Thanks to my friends here, especially Daffy, Glo and Nikki, recent birthdays have been especially enjoyable and it looks like being the same this year!
And if you’re wondering about the picture above it’s not young Flighty!
Categories: Flighty's plot · Lawn lounging
is what this clump of plants on the bottom, southern, edge of the plot were
intent on doing all summer and they’ve ended up around 9 feet tall!
They bear yellow flowers which being way up there
can’t really be appreciated.
This is what they look like, and yes they are sunflowers!
They’re actually Jerusalem artichokes (helianthus tuberosus), and now that they’ve started to die back I’ll lift some of the tubers to cook and eat.
That should be an interesting experience as I’ve never tried them before!
Categories: Flighty's plot
There was some much needed rain for a few days early last week which meant that the ground was easier to dig when I was plotting last Thursday. My main task was to transplant the clump of rhubarb that Joe had kindly offered me earlier in the year.
Saturday started rather dull but by mid-morning it was sunny and warm. I continued digging over the area I’m going to use for next years potatoes. There were plenty of bees buzzing round making the most of the still flowering nasturtiums and the tall clump of michaelmas daisies (aster novi-belgii)(photos right and below) which are in a large pot next to the shed. I was given the latter at the end of The Show and decided to leave them in the pot until they finish flowering when I shall cut them back and transplant them out on the plot.
This morning was sunny again, but slighty cooler. I transplanted one of the perennial cornflowers (centaurea montana) and some of the crocosmia , both of which were in the area I’m going to grow vegetables on next year.
These three good days mean that I’ve now done the bulk of what I wanted to do before we head into late autumn/early winter and the weather changes as it undoubtably will.
Starting tonight on BBC1 TV at 9.00pm is a new ten part wildlife documentary series Life narrated by David Attenborough. Tonight’s programme 1/10 Challenges of Life is being shown again on Saturday BBC2 at 7.30pm.
Categories: Flighty's plot · Lawn lounging
Last week the first of the 2010 seed catalogues landed on my doormat and at least one on-line supplier has updated their website.
I’ve checked what I still have in my seed box and listed the ones that I’ve collected from some of the flowers I grew this year.
Needless to say that I’ve already done wants lists for next year, which have been continually added to and amended!
More of the plot will be taken up by vegetables so I’m having trying to restrict myself somewhat to flowers that I really want to grow. However they will include the annuals calendula/pot marigolds, helianthus/sunflowers ( only five different varieties!), lathyrus/sweetpeas and tropaeolum/nasturtiums. I’ll be buying mine via the Horticultural Society shop, which gets all it’s seeds from King Seeds, who I notice lists linaria maroccana Fairy bouquet which didn’t regrow this year so I’m going to have to buy another couple of packets.
I’m planning on growing the same ten or so vegetables from seed that I did this year, but trying some different varieties. Once again I’ll be buying them from MoreVeg as I can get all I need for around £10- .
Yesterday on the Allotments 4 All forum I noticed that Helen was offering some nasturtium Moonlight which I couldn’t resist, so I’m swopping them for some of my calendula Art Shades/Sherbert Fizz. I didn’t join the first of the new pass-the-(seed)-parcels that’s starting up but I’m sure that there’ll be others and plenty more giveaways/swop offers as well.
All I have to do is keep saying that I am not a seedoholic!
Categories: Flighty's plot
I’m sure that you’ll remember that I mentioned in Up, up and away that Flighty’s plot had been included in the post More Gardening Blogs We Love on the Dobbies.com Gardening Blog.
Even more gratifying is that it was the Gardening Blog of the Week there nearly three weeks ago! I read it within a day or so of it being posted, made a note to comment later to say thanks and then completely forgot about it!
Yesterday I was sorting through some paperwork, found my note and realised that I hadn’t done, nor mentioned it here!
As I’ve now commented I’ve always tried to make this a light-hearted, and informative, blog and judging by Ian’s kind words I’ve succeeded, which I have to say I find highly pleasing indeed!
Just a reminder that Autumnwatch starts tomorrow at 9.00pm on BBC2, followed by Autumnwatch Unsprung at 10.00pm. Both programmes are being repeated Saturday at 6.15pm and 7.15pm on BBC2.
Have a good weekend!
Categories: Flighty's plot · Lawn lounging
it’s been thanks to the glorious sunny weather, so I’ve been on the plot most days making the best of it.
There’s been plenty of wildlife to be seen including butterflies such as this Painted Lady on Monday
and a Speckled Wood on Thursday
I saw a fox, presumably Digger, wandering down an adjacent path and yesterday a mob of magpies were being very raucous at times.
I’ve said several times that the flowers are all but finished but there’s still some to be seen including an annual mallow, some pot marigolds and a few sunflowers
Even the rose Valentine Heart is in leaf and bud again!
Happy gardening!
Next Wednesday 30th September is National Microcephaly Day and Fraggle’s son Robin has asked that we wear something yellow in support of this good cause. I don’t think I’ve got any yellow clothes but as I’m likely to be on the plot I’ll pick and wear one of the yellow flowers, probably a pot marigold. 
Categories: A good cause · Flighty's plot
It’s a really beautiful morning here, the birds are singing and so are the frogs!
I know that nowadays time seems to fly by but I need to check that it’s definitely September, not October, 24th as I’ve been wished a happy birthday!
Whoops, but never mind as it’s now my unbirthday and it has certainly got off to a hilarious start thanks to Glo and the singing frogs!
Have a good day!
Categories: Flighty's plot · Frog ponderings
is a lifelong lawn lounger, sofa flyer and book buff
