Flighty’s plot – Page 161

It’s been two years…

since I did the first post here, and it’s not really surprising that when I wrote this one yesterday the weather was just the same!

It wasn’t until September 2007 that I made this my main blog since when I have regularly done at least two posts every week. I’ve actually done nearly 300 of which 115 have been Flighty’s plot ones. I also notice that there are over 400 images in my media library most of which are photos that I’ve taken on the plot and shown here.

I have to say that I’ve throughly enjoyed plotting, pottering and pondering on the plot and then blogging about it afterwards. Rest assured that I fully intend to carry on doing both for a good while yet!

I’m most grateful to everyone who has read this blog and especially to those of you who’ve commented.

I recently revamped my rather neglected Flighty blog changing, yet again, the title and header picture, and deleting previous posts! There’s now a link to the blog under Lawn loungers as I intend to do occasional posts there from now on.

There’s nothing on TV next week worth mentioning here, except Springwatch which continues Monday through to Thursday on BBC2 at 8.00pm.

Have a good, lawn lounging, weekend!

A look round

Both the Pretty Lady and Valentine Heart roses have lots of buds on them, this will be the first of the latter to bloom DSCN1193

Bees drink from the pond and take nectar from the creeping buttercups that surround it DSCN1195 Incidently the pond looked like this a month ago when I saw a pigeon drinking from it!

The first Love-in-a -mist will be starting to flower soon DSCN1196

My Swift early potatoes have been in the ground nine weeks so I’m leaving it another week before I have a gentle firkle! DSCN1199

A few days of warm sunshine and I’ll soon be eating some strawberries DSCN1200

Both the green Buttercrunch DSCN1202 and red Lollo Rossa lettuces are looking good DSCN1201

The broad beans have flowers on them, these are the variety Masterpiece Green Longpod DSCN1203

The Jerusalem artichokes that plot neighbour Mary gave me are growing well DSCN1204

On Friday afternoon in the warm sunshine the bees were buzzing all around, especially on the comfry DSCN1205 I shall leave it to finish flowering before cutting it right back. It’ll soon grow, and flower, again. The spent foliage will be added to the compost heap.

I hope that you all enjoyed a look round the plot!

Plot plants ~ Poached-egg flower

The Poached-egg flower (Limnanthes dougasii) is a quick-growing annual, and one of the most free-flowering, from California which I think is a delightful little plant. DSCN1190

The flowers are apparently delicately scented and certainly beloved by bees. DSCN1187

These photos were taken on a dull day last week, and as you can see I’ve used another one for my new header picture.

Plenty of plotting

I’ve been making the most of the continuing good weather by doing plenty of plotting every day last week.

Part of the vegetable area now looks like this with the potatoes, onions and broad beans all growing well dscn1168 I shall be sowing more beetroot, carrots, lettuce and spring onions soon, then the runner beans and sweetcorn around mid-month and the courgettes and cucumbers towards the end of the month, but not transplanting my two Gardener’s Delight tomatoes until early June. By then my first early potatoes may be ready to start harvesting! The yellow flowers at the top left are my plot neighbour Lesley’s wallflowers.

Much of last week was spent preparing the flower area then sowing lots of packets of seeds. It looks pretty bare at present dscn1172 but the aquilegias have started flowering including one with white flowers, unlike its parent which you can see is purple. The yellow flowers around the pond, and towards the top right hand corner, are creeping buttercups which are weeds! Incidently honeybees use the pond to drink from so there’s always some buzzing round it.

Here’s another view of the flower area dscn1169 The grape vine, just visible beside the log seat, seems much happier in the ground and I shall run it across the side of the compost bin at mid-height and along the top.

Brian, who has the adjacent plot, gave me some rhubarb which I’ve not eaten for ages. Much as I like crumble I made do with simmering it, making sure that it didn’t go mushy, then eating it with just a sprinkling of demerara sugar. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. Next year I should be growing and eating my own as Joe has several clumps of it one of which he doesn’t want and will give it to me when he digs it up later in the year.

My wildlife highlight of the week happened yesterday. I could hear a lot of quacking and looked up to see four mallard ducks, a female being pursued by three males, landing on a nearby plot. They then waddled off along one of the grass paths before taking to the air again heading straight for me at little more than head height continuing overhead and on towards the ecology park pond.

Just six!

Six plants I can’t live without is, as I mentioned last week, a meme that I read on Maureen’s A View from England blog that I’ve obviously got to do!

I’ve actually chosen six that I like to grow, and indeed do with one exception.

Daffodils, or narcissus if you prefer, are the flowers that I think really do herald the arrival of spring. Much as I like the traditional yellow ones I also like the all-white ones and the various mini varities.

I grew up with roses as my mother had lots of them in her garden, mostly red ones and my own favourite Icebergs, and always had some in vases. Although I only have three roses on the plot I’m also lucky enough to be able to look at Nikki’s wonderful collection whenever I like!

I like poppies be they the familiar red ones or the small Californian ones. I had lots on the plot last year which hopefully self-seeded to do so again this year. Just in case I’m also sowing more including Iceland mixed colours.

Sunflowers are such a wonderful smiley flowers, especially the tall singles with their big sunny faces peering down! I wrote this post yesterday morning, which was dull and wet, when the post arrived which included a lovely card from Beginninghere. She also sent me a packet of Vanilla Ice seeds which look to be a wonderful variety to grow.

Blue is my favourite colour but I often feel that blue flowers don’t always have the impact that they should, perhaps because of the lack of contrast with green foliage. However last year I grew cornflowers which I loved for their intense colour, long flowering season and the contrast against the biscuit-coloured grasses among which they grew.

The one plant that I would like to have is a hydrangea. For me there is nothing that matches its sheer, but not too showy, presence. It is a wonderful plant that provides all year round interest. What more could you ask for!

PC, Plot and TV

I got another, second-hand, PC and monitor yesterday morning along with a new, for free, mouse. After lunch when it was all tidied up and reconnected I sat down and spent the rest of the day setting it up and down loading various programmes. Anyway it’s all working fine and it’s good not to have it keep freezing up on me.

I was on hut duty this morning when Mary, a plot neighbour, came in for some eight foot bamboo canes. She mentioned that she had something for me so I carried the canes across to her plot to see what it was. She said that she hoped I would like it, which I do, and would find it a good home on my plot, which I have. So meet Fox Junior dscn1153 who has taken up residency by the log pile.

I’ve been plotting every day last week, mostly sowing flower seeds, so today I just pottered. Whilst doing so Margo, another neighbour, gave me a couple of clumps of forget-me-nots dscn1155 and some day lilies, all of which I planted and watered in.

That’s all I did except to mulch around the strawberries which now have lots of flowers on them dscn1160

There are two interesting looking programmmes on TV next week. On BBC2 Tuesday at 9.00pm is Cruickshank on Kew: the Garden that changed the World and on BBC2 Wednesday at 9.00pm is Rain, a documentary which explores the science and significance of rain.

I hope to do my meme entry on Six Plants I Can’t Live Without on Tuesday, that is if I’ve decided which ones they are by then!

The rest of the plot

This post follows on from last Thursday’s Just vegetables.

The soft fruits – blackberries (back), raspberries (middle) and strawberries (front) – are all growing well dscn1127 and I’m hoping for a few more berries than I got last year!

The grape that my good plot neighbour Joe gave me hasn’t been growing well in the container it was in so I’ve replanted it in the ground by a corner of the compost heap where it’s sheltered and will get plenty of sunshine. The mini-daffs that were also in it I’ve replanted with others by the stone feature.

The container has been moved and I’ll probably grow a nasturtium or two in it. The bird feeders, which have hardly been touched recently, have been moved across to the other side of the compost bin.

Beverley, a long-time hardware store colleague , kindly gave me this primrose dscn1086 She’s promised me a couple more, one of which will join this one by the new pond and the other go by Frog’s pond.

Joe cut a couple of his plum trees right back last year and I took one of the branches and stuck it in the ground at the end of the log pile, hoping perhaps that a robin would use it as a perch. If it does I’ve never seen it do so but recently I’ve noticed that the branch is showing signs of growth! dscn11251

The alder and hawthorn trees, now both around two feet tall, are growing well with plenty of leaves on them.

The three roses – Iceberg, Pretty Lady and Valentine Heart – have started growing new foliage and I’m hoping that they’ll produce plenty of blooms during the summer. The Iceberg didn’t flower at all last year so it’s on notice to do well or else!

The weather is looking good for the coming week so I’ll be concentrating on the flower areas. That will include sowing sunflowers Tall Single and Pastiche, and sweet pea varieties Bouquet Blend and the white Swan Lake.

I’ll also be sowing packets of Wild Flower Mixture, Field and Hedgerow Flowers and Annual Ornamental Grasses.

Many of the other flowers I’m going to sow are traditional garden favourites. More about them another time.

Just vegetables

Although I’ve been digging, weeding and tidying up all over the plot it’s the vegetable areas that I’ve been concentrating on.

I’ve now planted all four varieties of potatoes, of which the first earlies Swift * are all showing dscn1123

The onions are showing signs of growth, as are most of the broad beans Masterpiece Green Longpod dscn1115 which grow to 120-150cm and mature July onwards.

Another broad bean Witkiem Manita* I planted later, and which are just starting to appear, only grows to 60cm and matures June onwards.

Yesterday I sowed a row each of beetroot Cylindra and Burpee’s Golden, carrots Little Fingers and Tendersnax F1 Hybrid, and spring onions Summer Isle. I’ll sow another row of each in a few weeks time. I’ve also got lettuce Buttercrunch and Lollo Rossa to sow.

The runner beans White Emergo won’t get sown until around this time next month. As last year I’ll use a wigwam of eight canes and a double row of eight canes. The sweetcorn Golden Bantam will be sown then as well.

Still to come are courgette All Green Bush, cucumber Bush Crop and tomato Gardener’s Delight.

I’ve also got some other vegetable seeds, including pumpkin Hooligan F1 Hybrid and butternut squash Hunter F1, which I may try growing.

* Georgie, in her Little London Garden, is growing in containers a few of the same potatoes and broad beans, which I sent her. It’ll be interesting to see how they compare given such different growing conditions.

Mostly mooching

Not surprisingly I’m not really in the mood to do an entry as I would normally do on a Sunday.

It’s been a typically wet Easter so far, although it’s not actually rained today so far, so I’ve not been plotting since mid-week. I had a look round this morning and was pleased to see my first lot of potatoes now showing, as were some onions and broad beans. Hopefully I’ll be able to do some work there tomorrow and then I’ll do a plot entry telling, and showing, you how it’s all doing and looking.

I’ve been mostly mooching the past couple of days drinking too many cups of tea and having eaten all the chocolate biscuits. I watched, and enjoyed, Finding Nemo yesterday.

I’ve also been reading Empire of Sand by Robert Ryan, which is proving to be an absorbing story.

One item of sad news is that something, a fox I would guess, clearly took exception to Daisy Duck as I found her on the plot with her head chewed off!

On the plot most of the daffodils have now finished but the window box is still looking good, and I particularly like the mini-daffs down in the left-hand corner dscn1109 I think that I shall move most of these bulbs out onto the plot later on and go for more mini-daffs and some hyacinths next year.

I want to thank everyone who commented on my last entry. It’s one that perhaps, on reflection, I shouldn’t have done but I’m grateful to you all.

Plot plants ~ Aquilegia

One of the few flowers that I found on the plot whilst clearing it during the latter half of 2007 was an Aquilegia, or Columbine if you prefer.

My mother’s garden always had lots of them as she happily left them to self-seed all over the place, and I’ll do the same with mine!

Being a perennial they die back over the winter then grow again in the spring. I took this photo recently and like the way water droplets sparkle on the leaves. dscn10391

Last summer it looked wonderful in full flower dscn0231

and I’m hoping that it’ll do the same this year.