Meanwhile at home…

the tomato Little Sun is nearly 24″/60 cm and has some flowers showing at the top.

The tomato Tiny Tim is about 15″/38 cm and flowers are just starting to appear.

 

I’m pleased that the pot marigold Oopsy Daisy  has flowered, although the petals are rather pale and thin. It  has several more buds showing which hopefully will be better. I also have a second, smaller plant.

 

I’ll probably try growing a couple of these again next year.

 

 

The small sunflower that I kept at home and re-potted has reached 6″/15 cm and now flowered.  Based on the golden-orange colour of them I think that it’s a Sonja, which in the ground should reach 48″/120 cm,  and not a Musicbox.   It looks like this plant is a conjoined twin as the stem split into two at 3″/7.5 cm high, each topped with a flower that’s only about 1″/2.5 cm across.

I wonder if I’ll get any seed from them, and if I do I’ll try growing a couple like this again next year.

Take care, and have a good weekend!

It’s late June

Most of last week was dry, sunny and rather too warm for my liking so all I did was to water when and where needed then have a potter round.  Early yesterday there was some welcome rain and it was much cooler.

 

Despite what I said recently about the raspberries not faring too well they have fruited and I have been picking some every few days.

 

 

 

The nasturtiums are the last of the  annual flowers to show, and should now continue right though into the autumn and the first frosts.

These are the variety Tom Thumb in a mix of orange, red and yellow flowers.

 

 

Some of the sunflowers Musicbox have already flowered although they’re not even 12″/30 cm high.

Next week looks set to be mostly dry and cloudy with a more comfortable temperature around 20 C/70 F.

Take care, and have a good week!

C is for…

Cosmos which is one of my favourite flowers and have always grown them.  I especially like the plain white flowers but always happy to see the pink and red ones, as well as the various combinations of the three colours.

   

It looks like I won’t have as many as I usually do most years but I’ll make up for it next year.  Nowadays I generally try and grow the shorter varieties such as Sonata which only grows to around 18″/ 45 cm.

I dug up the clump of crocosmia earlier in the year and replanted some of it. It’s grown surprisingly well since then and hopefully it won’t be long before it’s flowering as well.

A few weeks ago I planted out two cucumbers which got frazzled in the hot weather. They were a Marketmore, grown from seed in a pot at home, and a Double Yield I’d been given.  I pulled them up and sowed two Marketmore seeds direct which I covered with large clear plastic bottles until earlier this week.   Hopefully these will survive and go on to provide plenty of fruit.

 

Take care, and have a good weekend!

The horticultural society…

trading shed is where I would normally go on a Sunday morning but it’s been closed since late March.  Despite that members have been able to buy and collect goods providing they phoned one of several committee members beforehand.  The arrangements have worked well and the shed is the emptiest it’s been in a long time.  Nearly all the plants that would have been on sale at the cancelled mid-May plant sale were thankfully also sold and over £250 raised.  Sadly, but not surprisingly, the annual show due to held in early September has been cancelled.  Surplus vegetables, along with  flowers and plants, are sold at this event and it’s hoped that alternative arrangements can be made to still do this.

I’ve about finished planting and sowing for this year, and with the weather set to be dry, sunny and warm again next week I’ll be mostly just watering and weeding as necessary.

Take care, and have a good week!

I’m not plotting today…

as it’s been raining since the early hours and now very damp and dull.

Last week I pulled up then composted the broad beans The Sutton which were badly infested with black fly and hadn’t even started to form pods.

The first sowing of dwarf French beans Martini didn’t germinate but the second lot have thankfully,  as have nearly all the climbing French beans Fasold. 

At least one of the runner plants is showing flowers, but I’m not sure which variety it is.

I’ve picked a few strawberries,  but having replanted them earlier in the year I didn’t expect much fruit. They’re all growing well so should do better next year.

Unfortunately the raspberries haven’t fared well having suffered in the dry, hot and windy weather.  Hopefully they may rally round and provide more fruit later on.

In contrast the blackberry bush is covered in flowers with plenty of fruit already forming.

 

The potatoes recovered quickly from last months frost, and as well as growing new foliage some flowers have already appeared.  A couple of the tomato plants are showing flowers.

I lost one sweet corn plant which still leaves me with a couple more than I had last year, and they’re now over a foot high.

Take care, and have a good weekend!

I’m happy to see…

lots of pot marigolds Flighty’s favourites now flowering.  Most of them have dark centres so I was pleased to see this all orange one.  If that’s a bit too zingy then how one with just orange tipped petals.

 

If you prefer there are various yellow ones like these two.

   

I know some people like the biscuit/buff coloured ones best, and I tend to agree with them.  I’ll be showing some of these in a forthcoming post.

Among the other flowers starting to appear there are California Poppies. The vivid yellow ones self-seeded from last year, and the creamy-white Alba I sowed this year.

 

The first cornflowers Polka Dot to flower are pink.

Take care, and have a good week!

Tree following, June 2020

Liz – Early June here in Lexington Kentucky saw temperatures around 90 F/32 C .  As you can see new leaves have appeared on the White Oak alongside the remnants of last months crispy frosted ones.

   

The other picture shows the truck which appears to have lichen starting to grow on it.

 

Here Dulcie and Sophie are closely inspecting the protector at the tree’s base.

The Parks Dept. contract out the grass mowing so precautions have to be taken.

 

 

Mike – I took a close look at the Plum tree last week but could see no sign of any fruit forming. I’m wondering if the all the blossom was blown off before that happened.  As I’ve mentioned this tree really is a tangled mess of stems .  Standing underneath the canopy I took this picture then realised that there was a bird looking down at me.  I’m not sure but I think that it may have been a young robin.

Our thanks to Pat, The Squirrelbasket, for hosting Tree following. If you want to know what it’s all about then please click on the link over on the right-hand side.

Take care, and have a good weekend!

Home grown

Pot marigolds Oopsy Daisy only grow to around 8″/20 cm so I’m trying one at home in a 5″/12.5 cm pot.  It’s grown considerably since I re-potted it a few weeks ago and is now about 6″/15 cm.  I’m hoping that it will flower as well as this Botanical Interests picture.

   

 

I recently took the sunflowers that I started off in pots on the windowsill to the plot to plant out.

There was one Musicbox that was considerably smaller than the others which I decided to re-pot and keep at home .  Even now it’s less than 4″/ 10 cm tall but already it looks like there are two tiny flower buds forming.   I wonder how big it will get and if it will flower.

 

I’m growing two tomatoes on the windowsill  this year.  There’s the yellow Little Sun  on the left in a 6″/15 cm (2 litre) pot which is around 8″/20 cm at the moment and a Tiny Tim in a 5″/12.5 cm (1 litre) pot which is only 5″/12.5 cm.

I’m growing these for fun and I’ll be happy to get any edible fruit off them, let alone lots as shown in the photos that the seed suppliers use on their seed packets.

Take care, and have a good week!

I was surprised…

to find that I was all alone on the site this morning as there’s always been a few others there over the past two months or so.

I’ve been waiting for the primroses in the long planter to finish flowering so that I could lift, divide and replant them. From one each pink, white and yellow plants I’ve now got three of each plus some small ones.  The pink ones have gone into the stone feature replacing a smaller one that I’d planted in it not long ago.  The white and yellow ones have gone back in the long planter.

The gladioli in two containers are doing well.  The red flowering Splendid are the top ones, with the smaller pale yellow Lemon Frizzle below.

Today’s Flighty’s favourite pot marigold is this yellow one, with lots more on the way.

Take care, and have a good weekend!

Today I’m in a…

lazy blogging mood so here are just a few pictures to see the month out.

I took these photos of the cornus earlier in the month then forgot to show them here.

and here’s a close-up of the flowers and leaves.

It’s starting to get a bit big so will need a good prune and tidy up in the autumn.

Unlike last year when the collomia grandiflora grew all over the flower patch I’ve only got a small group of them this year.

This is perhaps the whitest Pot Marigold Snow Princess I’ve grown so far as usually they’re distinctly creamy. It certainly makes a change to the zingy orange and yellow ones.

Take care, and have a good week!