As forecast last week…

was rather wet, especially on two days,  which meant that I only got to do some plotting a couple of mornings.  I planted out the rest of the tomatoes and cucumbers Marketmore, and sowed more dwarf French beans, which means that I’ve now just about finished planting and sowing for this year.

The annual flowers that I don’t dead-head or save the seed from mostly flower from year to year such as the Love-in-a-Mist (nigella damascena).

I wonder if any rose coloured ones will appear among the white and blue ones.

The collomia grandiflora have certainly been a talking point with various people asking about them as they don’t recognise the flowers.

Several ordinary poppies have appeared this year although I haven’t sown any for some years.

Yesterday was breezy and dry so I dead-headed the rose Pretty Lady and rough cut the grass paths. I’ve been picking plenty of strawberries, and it looks like I’ll be doing the same with the raspberries before too long.

It looks like being warmer next week, but with more rain on a couple of days.

Have a good week!

Advertisements

Tree following, June 2019

A brief post for both trees this month.

Liz…The witch hazel in my garden here in Lexington, Kentucky is alongside the path to the front door and arches over it to provide a shady canopy, which is most welcome in hot weather.  The right-hand picture shows the leaf colour and detail.

     

Mike…The apple tree has been dropping lots of small fruit to allow the remaining ones to grow on to full size over the coming months.

The biggest one in the picture is about the size of a marble and as you can see already has a partially red skin.

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

Have a good weekend!

I didn’t do much plotting…

last week, and none the past couple of days which were wet and windy.  On Monday I planted some climbing beans that I’d been given last Sunday.  I decided that I wouldn’t bother sowing any more seeds and make do with what I’ve now got for this year.   I also took two cucumbers Marketmore and a handful of tomatoes Gardener’s Delight and Golden Sunrise that I’d been growing on the windowsill at home to the plot where I’ve yet to plant them out.

Apart from that all I did was to rough cut the grass paths around the plot and do some weeding.  This morning I picked the first few ripe strawberries, with plenty more on the way.  These pot marigolds Flighty’s favourites are growing by the blackberry bush. The all  yellow one is perhaps the least common of the various colours/combinations that I grow.

It looks like being a rainy day tomorrow and unsettled for the rest of the week with more rain at times so I may well end up doing very little plotting again.   If I do it will include sowing more dwarf French beans Borlotto Di  Vigevano Nano and  nigella damascena Persian Jewels.

Have a good week!

Why Flighty?

Many thanks to everyone for your comments on last Sunday’s post, they’re all much appreciated.  Andrea, who I don’t think has commented here before, said…I really enjoy reading your gentle blog, a bit of sanity in this mad world.  Thank you.  Such comments  really do make it all worthwhile.

Gill, at Off The Edge Gardening, asked…Now tell me, why Flighty?  I replied saying that I would do a post about Flighty, my avatar and Sofaflyer.

I started blogging at least a couple of years prior to starting this one, and before I did  I had been looking at various blogs for some months.  I finally decided to start one which would be mostly about aviation as I was a longtime enthusiast.  I called the blog Looking skyward and decided to use the online name Flightbuff.  It wasn’t long before fellow bloggers started calling me Flighty, which I suppose was inevitable.  I didn’t mind and have used it ever since.

To go with the name my avatar is a picture of my favourite film actor James Stewart, who served on active duty as a bomber pilot in the United States Army Air Force during the Second World War.  I occasionally think about changing it and this one might be popular, although it’s not me!

 

When I’ve not been able to use Flighty I use Sofaflyer, as I do on Twitter.  That name originates from mum who called me that whenever she found me on the sofa reading a Biggles book.  The author of them was W.E. Johns who once said…One of the most delightful things about a garden is the anticipation it provides.

One final point about this blog is that I’ve long puzzled as to why I made the URL flightplot rather than flightysplot as I’m sure the latter wasn’t already in use.

Have a good weekend!

Twelve years ago…

last Sunday I started this blog in advance of  taking on the plot, which I did a few weeks later.  Since then I’ve plotted and blogged about it almost continuously, and I still enjoy doing both as much as I did back then.  Thankfully there have been numerous successes and few failures over the years.  I’m grateful to everyone who stops by here, and especially to those of you who kindly comment.

I took this picture yesterday which really epitomises Flighty’s plot showing as it does flowers, soft fruit, vegetables, the shed and, hidden behind the rose Pretty Lady, the compost heap.

The collomia grandiflora, which I mentioned a few months ago,  have now started flowering.

This picture shows the reddish-brown stems  each with a crown of small flowers that  change colour as they fully open.

Rather surprisingly the blackberry bush is also starting to flower!

Have a good week!

Yesterday afternoon…

there was some welcome rain for a couple hours, but it wasn’t anywhere near enough.  As an indication of how dry it is the large willow tree just outside the site gates is already shedding leaves.

It’s always good to see the first pot marigolds Flighty’s favourites , and this tiny cosmos Sonata White is only a few inches tall with a flower no bigger than my thumb nail.

   

This morning bees were busy on the comfrey flowers and, more importantly, the adjacent raspberries.  Earlier in the week I planted out some tomatoes and one cucumber, and sowed more beetroot and bean seeds.  The first sowing of both didn’t appear so fingers crossed that these ones do, especially the beans.

This is a main crop potato Cara flower.  The second earlies Charlotte have purple ones, and the first earlies Lady Christl don’t flower.

 

The rose Pretty Lady is as floriferous as I think it’s ever been, being covered in blooms. 

Have a good weekend!

It’s almost the end May…

and I’m well pleased with the plot so far.

 

I generally try to grow the annual flowers in separate areas but there are  both California poppies and Love-in-a-Mist growing among the Poached Egg Plants.

 

 

 

 

This year I’m only growing a few gladioli in a container.  I think they’re the frilly, yellow variety Lemon Frizzle.

 

 

 

The potatoes are doing well, with flowers starting to form on the second early Charlottes.

This coming week I’ll be planting out the tomatoes that I bought or was given.

The ones I started from seed are still on the windowsill at home, as are the two cucumbers Marketmore, where I’ll give them another week or two.

 

Have a good week!