Flower Seed List 2010

Hardy Annual

Calendula-'Art Shades'
Cornflower- 'Tall Mixed'
Poppy- 'Flanders'
Phlox- 'Night Scented'
Sunflower- 'Pastiche'
Sweet Pea- 'Mammoth Blue'
Stock- 'Night Scented'

Half Hardy Annual

Coreopsis- 'Quills and Thrills'
Rudbeckia- 'Chim Chimenee'
Solenopsis- 'Bullet Blush'

Half Hardy Perennial

Dahlia- 'Dwarf Double'

Hardy Perennial

Acanthus: 'Hungaricus'
Anemanthele- 'Lessoniana'
Astrantia- 'Red'
Agastache- 'Honey Mixed'
Delphinium- 'Pacific Giants'
Geranium- 'Orchid Blue'
Hollyhock- 'Double Mixed'
Poppy- 'Fruit Punch'
Polyanthus- 'Large Flowered Mixed'
Potentilla- 'Fireball Mixed'
Silene- 'Shell Pink'

It's a strange time of year. After all the rush and panic of sowing seeds and planting out ther eisn't that much to do except harvest and keep tidy. There will always be jobs to do but not the pressing urgency from before. There is also a sence of impatience waiting for everything to finish so the beds can be cleared and palns made for next year, it's difficult to visualise and plot what needs to go where this year and for next year. I'm not sure where to put these asparagus plants. As you can see they are just starting to produce one globe each, but next year the plants will be much bigger and i have another eight plants grown from seed this year.

These are the first of the onions to be pulled up. They are spanish white and very nice in salads, much milder than normal ones

The leeks and southport red onions are doing well. First time growing them from seed and quite pleased with the results. The proof obviously is in the eating.

Next are the runner beans. I prefare the texture of these over green beans when cooked. The plants and flowers are lovely sight with the bonus of some nice beans to eat



These are some geranium, sweet williams and alpine strawberries in front of the shed to brighten up the place.


And lastly the herb bed. Not to sure what to do next year as they take up a full bed but i havent used any of them this year. There are some mints. oregano, tarragon, sage, thyme, garlic chives and lemon balm with some pot marigolds thrown in. Most of them used to be in pots but tey either outgrew them or kept drying out in warmer weather. They do look really well withn the flowers on so i may pot up the useful one for home and put the rest of them in the borders

Garden Plot August

Just a few views of the garden plot. Plenty of work to do but its nice just to relax and unwind and let nature take care of itself. Most borders need extending a little to accomodate the growth of the plant

Post Holiday Overgrowth

Not just me thats overgrown on holiday, but the allotment is bursting with plant life. All the wildflowers and sweetpeas in the borders fill the pen with colour and fragrance. Whilst away the weather has be quite dull and wet which i suppose is a blessing because it looked like it was going to be anoher hot month after June. It is quite cold and wet at the moment and with so much to do it is a little frustrating. As you can see from these pictures there is plenty to do and pick.

Quite a few of the courgettes have grown too large and are alomost marrow size. I have taken these off to encourage more courgettes to form. The 'bianca de triese' are long and curled but they taste very sweet. The sweetcorn contiue to grow with plenty of cobs forming and the runnerbeans are flowering well and some beans are forming. Hopefully the weather will pick up then i can get things straight

Picked lettuce, courgettes, beetroot, peas, beans, pink fir apple potatoes and radish

A quick view around the garden plot just to record how things are doing

I think some of the beds need extending out to accomodate the growth. I tend to plant too close and they soon outgrow their space and encroach on other plants. The grasses especially need thinning out.

Flaming June Turns into Roasting July

This week has continued to be warm and humid with temperatures slowly creeping up as the week progresses 23-25 degrees most days. One or two thunderstaorms with the worst rain of Tuesday but this had little impact on dry land! Most plants doing ok but a rush to get organised for convention and holidays. Not much in pots now so they will go into any available space. Need to sort out strawberry runners and pin them into pots. No more sowing now until after holidays unless its a couple of rows of radish or similar outside.

This set of photos taken on Thursday morning hopefully showing where everything is and how its growing. This will give a good indicator for next year

Staring at the west facing border I have Broadbean 'bunyards exhibition' (sown 27/2, planted ?)very nice stir fried young whole pods. Next are peas 'oregon sugar pod', kelvendon wonder', 'meteor' (6/4) kelvendon wonder' (4/5)



In the border you can just make out more broad beans (sown 4/5), in the raised bed from left to right runner beans 'cobra' (sown 4/5) peas 'kelvendon' and 'meteor' (sown 7/6) dwarf bean 'valour' (sown 7/6) fennel (sown 8/4 & 11/5) peas 'meteor' and 'sugar pod' (sown 4/5)



Just between the two lots of peas are a row of dwarf beans 'tendergreen' (sown 4/5) next a row of peas 'celebration' (sown 14/4) spinach beet 'perpetual spinach' and swiss chard 'bright lights' (sown 6/4)

Just behind these raised bed some sweet peas in the border, slow to get going but worth the wait. Nice sweet fragrance and hopfully attracting useful insects plus adds a splash of colour to all the green!

Looking further along the nursury bed lots of cuttings and seedling waiting to be planted out in autumn. To the right are some sprouting broccoli 'early purple', 'late purple' & 'italian'waiting to be planted out but they are sprouting now so i am cutting off and eating the heads as they are ready. Not sure if this is supposed to happen but why waste them. Under the netting are 'green calabrese', dwarf kale and calevo nero (all brassicas sown 25/3) The netting has protected them well with no catapillar damage. The dwarf kale has been especially nice to eat just picking a few leaves per plant and cooked with a little oil and garlic.

Courgettes in tyres! The tyres have protected the plants from the worst of the weather and will keep the courgettes of the floor and protect them. Staarting at the top left and going clockwise are 'kojac', '?', 'dundoo', 'defender', 'zucchini', 'golden zucchini', 'bianca de trieste', 'kojac' with 'butternut squash' in the middle. As you can see the two zucchinis and butternut are not doing as well as the others (all sown 15/3, planted out 13/5)

Here is my attempt at the three sisters growing of sweetcorn (sown 12/3), baby sweeycorn (sown 14/4) bean (sown 4/5?)and squash (sown 25/3)together. As you can see all three are doing well although the beans have grown far quicker than i thought so they will need some cane to support them.


These are the leeks and onions. Not sure whether to grow or not next year, wait and see. I am Tempted to grow overwintering onions to fill the gap next year. Most sets were planted end of March/early April

In these shots its the fruit border. The beans have finally recovered from being put out too early when the weather turned much cooler. Other beans that were planted narly two monthe later are not much further behind. Lesson here i think. Dont sow too early! Not sure of the varieties.

The kid's raised beds are doing well with peas, lettuce and carrots as are the beetroot and chinese cabbages in the next bed

The herb bed is growing well. I think it is more for decorative than useable herbs. There is some lemon balm, thyme, garlic chives, oregan, tarragon and sage which can be used in the kitchen but the others are mints which may need digging out and putting in a border instead!

These strawberries are well protected from the blackbirds and are just starting to ripen

The potatoes in tyres are also doing well, not sure weather to do the same again next year or maybe put strawberries instead.

Another nice weekend with warm and sunny weather. I finally finished tidying up the large conifer next to my shed. It does take up quite a bit of space but provides shade for the salad beds and partially hides the shed from the roadside. Beacause of the dry weather everything needs watering, sometimes twice a day! Some of the mizuna and pak choi in pots i have planted out to give them a better chance. Sunday was another hot and sunny day, too hot to work too hard so i sowed some fresh poppy seeds, pricked out the echinaea seedlings and put up some netting for the kids peas. then it was a rare time to put my feet up and have a snooze in the sun.

All the trees and plants attrct a variety of wildlife from insects, birds, frogs, toads and even rats! They come through from the chicken pens. I dont mind them too much but they do make you jump. There are plenty of birds nesting and feeding nearby. This baby coal tit was taking a rest in the trees

You can never have enough pictures of clouds and sunsets. Nothing more to say. Let the picture speak for itself

Finally, these are 'charlotte' potatoes that were grown in pop up bags. These were planted 8/3, three seed potatoes per bag on 4" of compost and covered with 2" they slowly filled up as the shoots grew. I was very impressed by how many were in the bag when i emptied out though i did notice the soil was very dry. So even with good watering they didn't rot and they grew well.

Charlotte

On Tuesday i emptied the bag of 'Nicola' potatoes and these gave a similar result, 1 1/2- 2lbs of new potatoes. On Wednesday it was 'Juliette' potatoes. The weather turned very wet and windy and they were in danger of damage, well thats my excuse anyway. I love new potatoes! The weather stayed cool and cloudy for Thursday but managed to plant out lupins into nursury bed, fennel and chard next to the peas. Harvested spinach, spring onions, turnips and radich for salads. I needed to build some kind of windbreak around the asparagus as they were in danger of damaging the crowns. The next to be tried was the 'Belle de Fontenay' of all the varieties tried so far these are my favourite. They have a nice old fashioned taste and hold their shape well quite sweet too.

Juliette

Belle de Fontenay

Garden Plot in June

These are a series of photo's taken over the first weekend in June. So far this month it has been very hot which means lots of watering. Some beds are quite shady so they dont need to much watering but the south and west facing beds are drying up and the newer plants need watering well to allow them to establish.

As the spring plants begin to lose their flowers its time to tidy them up and put the flowers on the compost heap. Now it leaves gaps which can be filled in with annuals and repositioning with perennials. The big house and the kids house have now been painted which will keep them lasting longer and looking better. The 'toilet' was in a small shed but has now been moved to a my bigger tool shed! When the weather is nice there is no better place to be with my family. Now that most of the jobs are done their is a little more time to relax. But i cant resist just tweaking here and there when i see something that needs either staking, pulling or replanting. I guess its the nature of gardening.

The grass is growing well and is a good place for the kids to play and for the adults to sunbath. I am always tempted to make the beds bigger as i keep growing too many plants each year and need somewhere to go!

My favourite part at the moment is the newest part next to the pond under the pear and buddleja trees. I have tried to make the ground good for shade and moisture loving plants and so far they are doing well. There are hostas, hucheras and a gunnera.