Category: Flighty’s plot

I hoed and  weeded through the raspberry patch yesterday and was rewarded with a handful of ripe raspberries.  I then looked to see if there were any more hidden out of sight under the leaves but sadly there was no sign of any.

Several weeks ago I removed the remaining rhubarb  leaves and stems, which I added to the compost heap,  then covered the area with a  few inches of compost.  However it doesn’t seem to want stop growing as this picture taken today shows.

The pot marigolds Flighty’s Favourites have liked the cooler weather we’ve had over the past few weeks and have been flowering again.  Among the many orange and yellow ones I noticed this nearly white Snow Princess.  Usually they’re more creamy and I don’t see ones as white as this very often.

Have a good week, and take care!

Over the weekend I finished the rough forking over of the three vegetable patches, having dug up the last of the maincrop potatoes Desiree during last week.  I also tidied up the strawberry patch and cut the comfry down to the ground then added it to the compost heaps.

Since then I’ve done no plotting as the weather has been unsetttled and very variable this week.  Monday it was very windy all day and gusting to well over 40 mph.  There were also a couple of really heavy downpours during the late afternoon.  Thankfully Tuesday was dry and sunny and when I got to the plot after lunch I was relieved to find that all was okay.  It was good to see a few butterflies fluttering round the Michaelmas daisies.  This archive picture is from October 2010.

Yesterday it rained for a cuple of hours before I got up but although it had stopped by breakfast time it remained dull and overcast all day.  Surprisingly tomorrow the temperature is going  up to the mid 20’s C / high 70’s F then getting much cooler over the weekend  and will only be around  16 C / 61 F next Monday.

If it stays dry, and isn’t too windy, then I’ll be making a start on clearing the flower patches.

Have a good weekend, and take care!

that all my plot vists were as good as last Monday which was calm, dry and sunny.  The temperature was comfortable, being ideal for digging.

I lifted some more main crop potatoes Desiree, with most of them being a good size, and showing no sign of any damage. I then carried on roughly forking over the area where I’ll be growing potatoes next year.  The robin was around, mostly perching in the rose Pretty Lady waiting to flit down to where I was when he spotted a worm.

He also made my day when I watched him taking a drink from the mini-pond, the small plant saucer partly hidden behind the compost bin and under the rose. That’s the first time I’ve seen any wildlife drink from it, although I know it’s used as I often have to top it up most days I’m there.

 

The pot marigold growing in the black plastic half-barrel looks like an Oopsy Daisy judging by the height and the vivid orange and yellow colour of the first flower.

Have a good weekend, and take care!

Yesterday morning I picked the last good tomatoes then cleared the plants, cutting them up and adding to the compost heap.  I’ve been giving most of them away as I usually do, but have enough at home for a week or so.  As I’ve previously mentioned it has been a good year, with no sign of blight.

This morning I picked the last runner beans Moonlight then cut the plants down to add to the compost compost.  I’ve got enough at home for a few meals and have also kept some for the seeds to use next year.  I cleaned the bamboo canes and put them away, standing them upright behind the shed in the pallet that’s one side of the compost bin. I then roughly forked over the ground  where they’d been, which pleased the robin as I was finding a few worms for him.

That just leaves two rows of maincrop potatoes Desiree to lift which will end the season for this year.  Once I’ve finished roughly forking over the three vegetable patches I’ll clear and dig over the flower patches.  Two jobs I’ll be doing over the autumn and winter is to give both roses, Pretty Lady and the dog rose, a major prune and to empty out, and sieve, the compost in the plastic composter bin.

There are still some cosmos flowering like these.

Have a good week, and take care!

I tried some ox-eye daisies in both the stone feature and large half-barrel black plastic container this year but although they flowered they didn’t look happy so I removed them a couple of months ago.  I’ve grown various plants in both with varying success, and I’m now wondering what to try next year.

 

I left the stone feature empty as I didn’t think anything else would have grown well this year.

Perhaps I’ll try again with Pot Marigolds Flighty’s Favourites or dwarf Sunflowers Big Smile which did well last year, as shown here.

 

 

After I’d cleared the half-barrel a few Pot Marigolds seedlings appeared so I left one to grow.

This is it now, and there is a flower bud showing.

 

The weather has changed noticeably since last weekend and over the past few days it’s been much cooler, around 20 C / 68 F, and unsetttled with plenty of showers.  That  looks like continuing  next week.

Have a good week, and take care!

It’s been a good year for tomatoes  and I’ve been picking plenty of fruit all month.  I’ve grew three red Outdoor Girl, which I mentioned and showed in my post I hope so at the beginning of the month, and three yellow Yellow Perfection, which were slower to ripen.  Since I planted them all out in early June I’ve done nothing except water rather erratically, which probably accounted for a few having blossom end rot or split skins.  I’ve probably picked twice as many red ones as yellow, but all have been a good size.  I’ve found that some have had rather crewy skins which was almost certainly due to them being cooked in the periods of very warm weather.  Not surprisingly there’s been no sign of blight, but with it now being damp and humid it’s likely to appear.

Here are the sedums, looking much better than they did last year.

Have a good weekend, and take care!

I’ve always grown onions Sturon on the plot and generally done well with them.  This year they’re a bit so-so as many are rather small, being only golfball size at best (the middle one in the picture).

It’s not that surprising as there have been four periods of very warm weather and no significant rainfall for months.  Also I should have watered them more often than I did. By the beginning of this month all the foliage had already completely died back and since then I’ve been lifting, cleaning  and storing them.  I generally have enough to last me through to Easter but this year they’ll probably only last early into the new year.

This is the plot sunflower I mentioned in my previous post.  It’s only  30 in / 75 cm tall with a single small dark centred yellow flower 3 in /7.5  cm  across. I’m hoping to save some seeds  to sow next spring.

 

Have a good week, and take care!

I’ve got twenty main crop potato Desiree  plants on the plot which I haven’t touched yet as I’m waiting for the foliage to die back. They’ve had plenty of water, and I’ve weeded round a few times.  This week the foliage of one of them has died completely back so this morning I thought I have a dig round and was pleased to find a handful of good size, undamaged potatoes.  This is the biggest one.

I’ve only got three runner bean Moonlight plants but they’ve been providing me with more than enough slim,  6 in / 15 cm or so, pods for some weeks now with plenty more to come.  There’s been no hint of stringiness so far which is a definite bonus.  I have to say that they’ve been excellent, probably the best I’ve grown, so I’ll be saving some seeds to grow again next year.

I was wrong when I did a recent where I said that there were no sunflowers on the plot this year.  Earlier in the week I noticed this one nestling almost under the cornus/dogwood where it’s partially hidden.  It’s not even 3 feet/ 1 metre tall, looks like it has a dark centre with yellow petals, and should be fully open by the weekend.

Have a good Bank Holiday weekend, and take care!