Delights and surprises

I really am delighted at how well the hydrangea has done given that it was badly frosted at the end of April.  The foliage regrew and it now has three flower heads.  The buds appeared white but gradually changed to pink as they opened and got bigger.

 

Earlier in the year I thought that the crocosmia wasn’t going to do very well as the leaves were turning brown due to a lack of water and both clumps were sparse in the middle. However much to my surprise they’re now looking as good as they ever have with lots of bright orange-red flowers.  They really need lifting and replanting but it’s a job that I’ve keep putting off.

 

 

As well as the yellow gladioli that I bought I was given a handful of corms but the colour and variety were unknown.  I planted them in a bucket sized container rather than in the ground. They’ve all now appeared and have white flowers.

 

 

In early June I was given a tomato plant by my plot neighbour Trevor who said that the fruit were black but he didn’t know the variety.  I posted a picture of them on the Facebook group Allotment Life page early last week and got around 200 responses!

I’ll let you know what they look inside and taste like after I’ve picked and eaten one.

There was plenty of rain last week with thundery downpours overnight on Tuesday, showers on Thursday and wet most of yesterday so I didn’t get to do much plotting. There’s more rain on the way after lunch but the week ahead looks like being mostly dry.

Have a good week!

Still looking around the plot

Most of the nasturtiums so far this year have been red flowering ones.  Here is the variety Tip Top Mahogany.

The sunflowers are now all flowering, including the variety Holiday.

 

I’ve started lifting the second early potatoes Charlotte as the foliage has already died right back.  I will store the bigger ones to use through the autumn into the winter.

 

 

 

 

None of the climbing French beans Borlotti that I sowed germinated so I sowed more of the variety Sultana and runner beans Moonlight which  did.  The earlier ones have reached the cane tops and are flowering.

 

 

Have a good weekend!

Looking around the plot…

during the week I really am delighted, and just a bit surprised, at how good it all looks full of flowers, soft fruit and vegetables.

The cosmos patch has started flowering with a mix of red/white Velouette, white Purity and an unknown variety which is white with a hint of pink.

The gladioli Cha Cha are providing a wonderful display.

The onions Sturon are looking good with many of them being around tennis ball size. 

I’ve lifted a few beetroot Baby Beat that grow no bigger than golf ball size, so are easy and quick to cook, and picked the first cucumber Bush Crop.

   

The climbing beans are beginning to reach the top of the canes, the sweetcorn is looking good and there’s fruit forming on the tomatoes.

Back to flowers and the nasturtiums, sunflowers and viscaria are all flowering which I’ll show here next week.

I’m still still picking a few raspberries along with the first juicy, sweet blackberries.

There was some welcome, and much needed, rain overnight last Tuesday and yesterday there were plenty of light showers through the day.  The coming week looks like remaining dry so I’ll be having to water round again.

Have a good week!

Tree following, July 2017

Apologies for another rather brief post from both of us again this month.

Liz’s Tulip poplar – This tree in my garden over here in Lexington, Kentucky is doing well, looking good and has grown another foot taking to around seven feet.

I’m considering removing the lowest left-hand branch to give a strong leader and to make it look more balanced. Any advice here before I do so would be much appreciated.

 

 

 

Flighty’s Dogwood (Cornus) – This tree is now in full leaf which mostly hides the green berries that have formed from the white flowers shown last month. These  won’t get much bigger but will turn almost black as they ripen.

Our thanks, as usual, to Pat (The Squirrelbasket) for hosting Tree following.

Have a good weekend!

It’s always nice when

… I get to meet an online friend as I did on a Sunday morning at the end of May when I met Liz who regularly comments here and guest writes on the Sofa reading and Tree following posts. She was over from Kentucky, along with her daughter Mary, on a garden tour and before going home the next day I showed them round the plot then we went across to the horticultural society trading shed for a cup of tea and a few biscuits. It was a lovely morning and a real pleasure meeting Liz.

…other bloggers mention, and link to, this blog as Rich did a few days ago in his Sharpen your spades blog in the post 10 highlights from the grow your own blogs: June. His kind words are much appreciated.

…I see that Elaine over on The Rosebank Diaries has posted again after a break of several months. It’s always been one of my favourite blogs with wonderful pictures.

…I come across a new allotment blog that I really enjoy reading as I recently have with Faye’s Look what I dug up today. Her plot is in south-east London, and has a snazzy shed.

…I get home from the plot to find that Karen, who has a colourful sky garden on her 17th floor flat balcony, has sent me a delightful little gardening book. Her note said… I saw this and thought of you.  I’ll be doing a gardening books review later in the year and will include this one.

…I see that the weather forecast for the coming week is looking ideal for plotting.

Have a good week!

(My apologies for the lack of pictures in this post, and probably the next few as well. I’ve loaned my desktop PC to a friend for a couple of weeks so I’m doing this on my Chromebook where I’ve got to get reacquainted with Google Photos.)

Pottering rather than plotting

 

It’s been a dry and sunny week, and has got rather warm again.  I’ve been mostly pottering rather than plotting, and yesterday I made a start on dead-heading the pot marigolds.

 

 

 

This morning I went there early to water all round. I’d opened up the shed and when I turned round saw that Foxy had been resting under the nearby dogrose.  She stayed there quite unperturbed whilst I got the watering cans out.  I think that she was hoping to see my plot neighbour Fran who feeds her tasty titbits.

As you can see the knee-high sunflowers Music Box are flowering well.

 

 

It’s been good to see quite a lot of butterflies fluttering around during the week, and included Small Skippers,  Speckled Woods and Large/Small Whites.  This was the only reasonable picture that I managed to take, it’s a Small Skipper on the lavender.

 

 

The gazania Daybreak that I mentioned and showed in last Sunday’s post has been opening fully in the sunshine and is an amazing silky orange.

Have a good weekend!

Double delights

I acquired a nice china plant pot during May and then wondered what to put in it.  A couple of weeks later I was at the horticultural society trading shed looking at the charity sale plants where I noticed some gazania Daybreak.  I bought a few which I repotted, with the best plant going into a five inch plastic pot which fits perfectly into the china one. It’s grown well since and flowered yesterday.

A frost in late April  affected several plot plants including the hydrangea, but thankfully since then it has recovered. However I was resigned to having to wait another year for it to flower for the first time.  It’s partly hidden by cornflowers and pot marigolds so on Friday when I had a closer look I was delighted to see that it’s showing some flower buds.

 

It looks like being good plotting weather next week so I’ll be making the most of it.

Have a good week!