A good plotting week

Apart from Wednesday, which was damp and dull following overnight rain, it’s been a good plotting week.  I roughly dug over much of the vegetable patches which will now be left until late winter or early spring, cut most of the grass round the edges/paths and did some general weeding.

On Monday I saw three butterflies on the sedums, and on Tuesday a very friendly robin kept me company for a while when I was digging.

It’s lovely to still see so much colour with the various annual flowers and I’ve been really pleased with all of them, especially the sunflowers MusicBox like these.

Next week looks like being another good plotting week weather-wise so I hope to be planting out the crocuses Romance and daffodils Sweetness and Thalia.

Have a good week!

Advertisements

Tree following, September 2018

Liz –  As we head into fall (autumn) here in Lexington, Kentucky the leaves on the black walnut are beginning to change colour from green to yellow.

    

I think that this may well be an Eastern tent caterpillar nest on the tree, which also shows a cluster of fruit and the leaves changing colour.

 

Mike – The medlar trees are still full of fruit, and a few leaves are showing signs of starting to change colour around the edges.

I picked a couple of fruit to show them cut open.  They were both really hard and it took a bit of effort with a sharp knife to do that.

These fruit are small,  a couples of inches (5 cm) across and not much more than an inch (2 to 3 cm) deep.

 

    

I noticed that one of the entries in one of the fruit classes at the show was medlars, and I heard the judge quietely mutter a distinctly unfavourable remark about them!

Our thanks to Pat, The Squirrelbasket, for hosting Tree following.  If you want to see what it’s all about, and maybe even follow a tree,  please click on the link shown over on the right-hand side.

Have a good weekend!

During last week…

I transplanted the perennial cornflowers (Centaurea montana), from the top right to bottom left in the picture, to make room for the yellow crocuses Romance that I’ll be planting later in the month.

 

The grape vine is doing really well this year and has more brunches of grapes of it than I’ve probably ever seen before.

As I’m not that fussed about them I expect I’ll end up giving most away or will leave for the birds to enjoy.

 

 

Last weekend I was given two house plants that I’ve since tidied up and re-potted.  One is a houseleek Cobweb (Sempervivum arachnoideum), which is now in a small clay pot, and the other a spider plant (Chlorophytum comosum).

Have a good week!

Now that it’s cooler,…

but still dry, I’m glad to be plotting again.  Yesterday I picked and ate the last sweet corn Lark cob, which have done really well this year.

The climbing beans have really taken off in the past couple of weeks with plenty of runner beans Red Rum and French climbing beans Sultana being picked every few days.

I’ve started forking over the area where I grew the potatoes to find the ones I didn’t lift the first time round, and as expected I’m coming across a fair few.

 

There’s still plenty of colour with the California Poppies,  cosmos and sunflowers all of which have been flowering profusely over the past couple of months.

The charming candytuft is still flowering. 

Have a good weekend!

Yesterday it was…

the Newton Park Horticultural Society‘s Annual show held at the local community church hall.  I was there all day helping and stewarding, and generally enjoying the event.  I also entered six classes which won four firsts, all vegetables, and two thirds for flowers.  That’s not quite as impressive as it sounds as three of the firsts were in novice classes with only one other entry.  Having won these I can’t enter them again next year so will have to up my game so to speak if I enter in other classes.

This picture shows some of the vegetable classes, including potatoes and tomatoes, with some of the dahlias along the back.

Despite everyone saying what a challenging and difficult growing year it’s been there were still around three hundred entries.  What was particularly pleasing was how well two new-comers, both women, did.  One entered about thirty classes which won her plenty of prizes and two cups.  The other entered just three giving her two firsts, including the runner beans, and a second.  Both were surprised and delighted as the well deserved results.

The serious growers and showers showed just what can be achieved as exemplified by this  vegetable collection.

 

As usual the flowers classes were dominated by dahlias including these three raspberry coloured pom-poms and this colourful  one.

     

There were some fascinating cactus and succulents on show including this well marked and shaped aloe.

Entries in the domestic classes, shown in a smaller hall,  were noticeably down this year as two of the usual entrants were absent.

The day passed by all too quickly with the morning  spent setting entries out, then judging before lunch. It was open to the public for a couple of hours in the afternoon before the prizes and cups were awarded. By five o’clock there was no sign that the show had been held.  It’s all thanks as usual to several dedicated society members headed by show secretary Christine that it’s held at all, and is as good as it is.

Needless to say I hope to be there again next year helping and stewarding, and entering a few classes which may perhaps win me a prize or two.

Have a good week!

I’ve hardly mentioned…

the pot marigolds Flighty’s favourites this year, and only shown a few pictures, as they didn’t fare well though the dry, hot summer. Thankfully the recent cooler, damp weather seems to have revived them and are now flowering again.

  

There’s the full range of colours –  yellow, orange and biscuit – in various combinations, along with a few of the creamy-white variety Snow Princess. 

    

It’s the horticultural society show on Saturday and this year I’m really struggling to find anything suitable so it looks like I’ll only have a handful of entries at most.  Once again I’ll be there all day helping and stewarding, which I’m looking forward to.

Have a good weekend!

I grow plants…

I meant to take some photos yesterday for today’s post but got side-tracked chatting with a plot neighbour and I forgot. It’s raining today, which is typical for an August Bank Holiday Sunday, so I didn’t even have a quick look round the plot on my way to the horticultural society trading shed.

I came across this recently which I like, both the picture and words.

Have a good week!