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| saw this at the allotments - anyone know what it is? |
Aah, the end of the day. It can be blissful can't it. Children and dishes washed and put away. Peace. A little dish of salted nuts. I have a friend who used to be a model who tells me that with peanuts you count in calorie per nut. Am I bothered? Well, yes, I am a bit, but it's not stopping me.
I've been working hard down at the allotment and in the garden. Not all of the pictures above are my plot - the last five (the pretty ones) are elsewhere on the site. Courgettes and squashes are in. Beansticks are up. The strawberries are looking good after taking a year to get established. I have very high hopes for them this year. I've planted them through weedproof membrane which is a real godsend down at the allotment. Not the loveliest thing to look at, but the weeds are ridiculous and it saves me hours of trying to get them out. Plus it makes the strawberries much easier to tidy up at the end of the season. No doubt it keeps the moisture levels in the soil a bit higher as well.
I spent this morning weeding and then digging out bindweed and horsetail from a patch where I'll be growing cucumbers. I put up bamboo poles for them to climb up and planted them out. They sometimes look a bit miserable growing outside here, so I'm hoping the weather will be fairly balmy while they establish.
I have a spot that is supposed to be two rows of radishes, but they've been nibbled down by slugs, thousands of weeds have germinated, horsetail and bindweed are sprouting and a vast amount of potatoes seem to be growing. I haven't actually planted potatoes for a couple of years now, but they keep coming up anyway. I'm not sure whether to dig the patch over completely and start again or just to let sleeping dogs lie and grow potatoes instead.
In the garden the Worcester Pearmain apple is flowering. The blossom is white and even the buds are hardly pink at all. The Egremont Russet has gorgeous raspberry buds. As the flowers open the pink seems to stretch out and dilute. The scent is lovely. The first rose is open too, more beautiful soft scent. And on the school run I've been stopping to smell the hawthorn blossom. I love these subtle natural aromas. I keep the house fairly free of fragrance, especially artificial fragrance. I think I appreciate the smell of flowers all the more for it.
Does anyone know what the plant in the penultimate two photos is? I spotted it at the allotments, growing in a fruit patch. About 3' high, a small bush. I've never seen anything like it before, I'm intrigued.
Hope all is well in your gardens or pots.
Your blossom photos are gorgeous. It's such a lovely time of year and apple blossom always takes my breath away. Good idea to use weed-suppressant membrane around your strawberries. Good luck with them; hope you get a bumper crop. Could the mystery bush be a mulberry? Sam x
ReplyDeleteI wish we had started using weed control fabric years ago. The black fabric must warm the soil too. Hope you manage to curb the progress of your bindweed and horsetail.
ReplyDeleteSorry the slugs are feasting on your radish plants! Maybe Christiana's slug eating dog can come visit your allotment :) We haven't found more slugs yet or signs of further munching, but one of my climbing rose branches broke off due to the weight of the four buds and one blossom on it :( maybe the rain we had this past weekend had something to do with it, too. Hope your gardening efforts are rewarded with good crops and that you discover what your mystery bush is. xx
ReplyDeletegosh you have been working hard CJ - and it looks wonderful. I love the last picture with the little green cottage in the background - that to me scream 'English' ! it must be joy to work in such beautiful surroundings (even with the weedmatting and slugs)
ReplyDeleteBeautiful photos, especially the blossom and that little shed. Your strawberry plants look very healthy indeed, and the apple blossom has a wonderful scent doesn't it? Ours was mostly blown off last week in a heavy downpour so I felt a little robbed, but yours is heavenly. Sorry - I don't know what the mystery plant is - hope you find out.
ReplyDeleteCathy x
How lovely. I feel you and I nibble on peanuts too every now and then. Without guilt. Life is too short to forbid yourself treats. We have just planted seeds, didn't dare to do it earlier as the weather has been so cold. It is nice to see what we are to look forward to. I love growing a garden. It is truly magical.
ReplyDeleteHave a lovely week.
Annette
There is a different energy to the end of the day, much softer. I like it too. Yesterday was a good day for gardening. I spent it outdoors tidying and tending too. Your patch is looking lovely and I agree about natural scents and flavours too xx
ReplyDeleteI see my slug eating dog is getting (in)famous.... you could always sew some more radishes around the wild potatoes, have it all! I have been stopping to smell hawthorn blossom on my way to work, too. Better than any perfume. Shame the only scent I produce is that of sweat. Have a lovely week xx
ReplyDeleteIsn't this is a beautiful time of year for gardens and countryside? I love it when everything is so fresh and new. Your allotment is looking good. I have put weed control fabric around our strawberries. I think it really does help in lots of ways, not least in keeping the berries mud free when it comes to eating!
ReplyDeleteI'm intrigued too!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful pics as usual. I meant to take some blossom photos yesterday but didn't get round to it. The fruit bush looks like a Saskatoon, I've planted one on my plot...I'll have a look later to compare flowers / leaves.
ReplyDeleteIt's from Canada but there's a chap up in Scotland that cultivates them....there was an article in a veg mag about them a few years ago and I reckon a lot of people bought them after that (like me!). The berries are a bit like blueberries but the plant isn't as fussy about soil so it's much easier to grow. They're very tasty when fully ripe too.
Yep it's a Saskatoon bush. Mine's pretty much the same size so we prob bought them at the same time. Lots of flowers this year so hopefully lots of tasty berries. They have various names and this is the guy that sells them over here http://www.johnstoa.com/saskatoon.htm
DeleteI just watered my house plants... does that count?
ReplyDeleteI would be tempted just to sow some more potatoes and make life easier for myself. You certainly have a great plot.
ReplyDeleteThose strawberries look very promising! I'm with you on the artificial fragrances - I've become much more sensitive to fake chemical odors as I've gotten older. I have a couple of volunteer potatoes also - I'm letting them do their thing; no reason to ruin good free food!
ReplyDeleteI noticed lots of potatoes coming up in our veggie patch yesterday; I didn't plant them this year but thought I'd leave them as they seem to be growing well. Your strawberry plants look really healthy and I have a longing for a duck egg tool shed like the one in your photos. Love the blossom against the blue sky photo too - ours is fast disappearing (the blossom and the blue sky!); it's sad that it's so fleeting. Have fun. xx
ReplyDeleteI would really enjoy growing potatoes. We eat a lot of them, it might be good to grow them ourselves, though it probably wouldn't be cheaper considering how much water we'd need to use. I think all of our edibles have been preemptively eaten by squirrels so far this season. We got about ten lettuce leaves before they were demolished. It's really disappointing. Your photos are so pretty. I love seeing your plot and your plants. Enjoy those strawberries!
ReplyDeleteYour garden is looking really great.. the strawberries are stunning and I bet you'll get lots of good ones from them. You're lucky the potatoes keep growing.. nothing better than produce you didn't have to plant, eh? You got some really neat images.. thanks for sharing. ((hugs)), Teresa :-)
ReplyDeleteIt sounds as though things are going fairly well apart from the little slugs - I bet they are actually big slugs! So annoying isn't it that they don't eat the weeds, but they do eat the things we are trying to grow. I wish I knew why! Enjoy your nuts!
ReplyDeleteOoh, I wonder if it's a sort of berry-bush? We will have to wait and see. Keep an eye on it for us will you, CJ? The strawberries look promising and it all looks lovely, including the shed. xx
ReplyDeleteCJ your photos are just so green and beautiful, like the essence of May distilled. I heard that it's a bumper year for slugs, something to do with the mild winter, and I have resorted to using slug pellets in the garden (not an option for an allotment or anywhere you grow food I imagine) as I am losing so much to those buggers at the moment. I am with your on house fragrance too - I don't use any air fresheners, just open lots of windows as often as I can and appreciate the odd hyacinth or blossom or rose. I have some jasmine on the hall table at the moment and that smells divine. xx
ReplyDeleteOh Bindweed! you have my sympathy on that CJ. I have lots in once corner of my garden and as much as I try it never goes away. In fact it just gets worse. At the moment I'm letting it grow up canes and then I hope to blast it with weed killer of some sort. I don't normally use any but thats what the RHS site recommends.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful photos. I'm sorry I can't identify your mistry bush.
Jacquie xxx
Oh, it all looks so verdant and flourishing. Shame about the radishes, though. I love the scent from hawthorn blossoms and keep shoving my phizzog into them on the dog walks (much to the embarrassment of the mister and his dog). I'm no expert but could that mystery shrub be a variety of catalpa/Indian bean tree?
ReplyDeleteBeautiful Garden.
ReplyDeletewww.melodramaticadventures.com
Being lazy, I'd stick with the potatoes. They improve the soil. Perfect excuse.
ReplyDeleteI hope your strawberries are a success. We have little Alpine ones growing in terracotta planters and they're quite prolific. I just tear shoots off and stick them elsewhere and they grow and grow.
I suspect we'll head over to the Pick Your Own farm in June for strawberries, They have a huge field filled with them and on a warm day the scent is heavenly.
We don't really struggle with bindweed or horsetails, but we did have the latter in our old garden and I despised them. Apparently my grandmother used to make some kind of herbal remedy with them, but I've no idea what it was for.
S x
everything is looking wonderful CJ. My whole harvest is two stinking tomatoes. I swear I am giving up.
ReplyDeleteHugs,
Meredith
Lovely photos CJ, great to see progress and blue skies! Your mystery plant may be Aronia. A great shrub in it's own right with blossom and fab autumn colour with the bonus of usable dark berries. Have a great weekend :)
ReplyDeleteJust reading about your garden gives me a sense of peace. I wish I knew enough about plats to identify the mystery one for you. At the moment, I really just seem to be best at admiring other people's gardens and I really admire yours. I like how you grow both flowers and food. I personally love potatoes, so if it were me, I would just save myself some trouble and let them grow. Best of luck with it! And happy weekend!
ReplyDeletemy slug traps of yeast and sugar have caught lots of slugs. they are disgusting. but so far I still have courgette plants...................
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