It was good to see…

these crocuses Romance yesterday when I looked round yesterday. I just hope they open and don’t flop over as some have already done in the rain and wind.

The heavy overnight rain Tuesday night into yesterday morning hasn’t helped, and the plot is now very soggy again with some standing water down in the far corner.

 

 

 

This year I’m trying two new to me climbing bean varieties.  One is the French bean Fasold which has black seeds and purple flowers.  The other is the runner bean White Lady which has white seeds and flowers. I had problems with germination last year so, as I’m only growing six of each, I’ll be starting them off in pots on the windowsill at home rather than sowing direct.

There’s more heavy rain due later today before turning noticeably colder, but dry and sunny, for a few days.

Have a good weekend!

So far this winter…

it has been relatively mild with few, if any, overnight frosts so it’s not surprising to see the crocuses trying to flower and daffodils appearing above ground.  Even the dwarf tulips have just started showing.

I’ve moved the long planter to provide a shed door stop. As you can see the primroses are providing some welcome winter colour.

I’ve put a covering of wood chip over the stones in front of the shed, then once the grass along the nearby path edges grows and some pot marigolds flower around should look quite good.

Despite the asters being the last plants to flower in the autumn they’re the first to show signs of new growth.

On the left is the white flowering (aster novi-belgii Monte Cassino) and the other is the darker leafed red flowering one (variety not known) that I was given last autumn.

Have a good week!

Tree following, January 2020

Liz – My choice for this year is a white oak (Quercus alba),  as my mother had said in her later years that she wanted to come back as an oak tree!  Last year I went ahead and donated this one to the Wellington park here in Lexington, Kentucky.

     

The left-hand picture was taken earlier this week, and the other one shows it being planted a year ago.

These trees are recommended for planting in this area as they’re long lived, and valued for their hardwood.  Coopers use them to make whiskey barrels, and here in central Kentucky we’re in bourbon country.

Mike – I’m going to follow this plum tree which is at the south-east corner of the adjacent half-plot.  It’s full of white blossom in the spring and later in the year has plenty of small yellow fruit.

I don’t know the variety but hopefully I may perhaps be able to identify it.

Our thanks to Pat, The Squirrelbasket, for continuing to host Tree following.  If you want to see what it’s all about, and perhaps follow one as well, please click on the link over on the right-hand side.

Have a good weekend!

This patch of bright green…

foliage is poached egg plants (Limnanthes douglasii) which freely self-seed from year-to-year.  They’re generally unaffected by cold weather and will one of the first of the annuals to flower in the spring.

Most will be the familiar white and yellow flowers along with some all white Meringue which tend to germinate rather erratically.

 

 

 

The orange California Poppies (Eschscholzia californica) that did so well last year also freely self-seeded.

I’m also going to grow the varieties Alba and Purple Gleam mixed together in a different area this year.

In the top right of this picture you see can also see some of the crocuses Snow Bunting.

 

I’ve been given some broad beans The Sutton, which is a dwarf variety which only grows around a foot (30 cm) tall.  Apparently they can be sown from March right though to July so I’m going to sow a small quantity each month.  I have grown various broad bean varieties, but not these, in the past with variable results and only had a couple of really worthwhile years.  It’ll be interesting to see how these do.

Have a good week!

I hope that everyone…

enjoyed a good Christmas, mine was very quiet and relaxing.

This will be my 13th full year plotting and blogging about it, both of which I’m looking forward to doing as much as ever.

I started the new year yesterday as I finished the old one the day before by rough cutting the grass paths across and around the plot.

It’s a job I didn’t expect to be doing at this time of year.  It certainly looks better, and the compost heap now has a grass duvet to keep it warm over the coming months.

 

 

The crocuses Blue Pearl that I planted in the stone feature are now starting to show so I’ll be able to remove the wire mesh which has kept squirrels from digging up the corms.

The ones out in the ground are all doing well, but the two Romance flowers I showed in my last post still haven’t opened.

 

I leave the crocosmia foliage to die back over the winter before removing but this year I will probably dig them up and replant.

Another job that will need doing in early spring is to tidy up round both ponds, which are now mostly hidden by grass and weeds.

Have a good weekend!

A leisurely wander

This morning I was on my way to the allotments when I met plot neighbour Trevor who was taking his dog Ranger for a walk in the park over the over side of the road.  I joined them and we had a leisurely wander round.  I’d walked through there last Sunday morning when there was a lot of standing water, both on the path and across the field.

It was better today as there wasn’t much rain during the week, although it had been damp and dull some days.

Christmas Day was dry and sunny, which made a welcome change as more often than not it’s overcast and wet.  I took a  look round the plot in the morning and was surprised to see a couple of crocuses Romance not far off flowering!

I received  Chiltern Seeds 2020 Grow something new from seed  catalogue and The VegBook 2020 early in the week, which I’ve been enjoying browsing through when I’ve been armchair gardening some afternoons.

Have a good week!

With Best Wishes for…

Christmas and the New Year, Flighty  xx

 

(Please note I won’t be doing a post on Thursday, 26th December which is Boxing Day)