Oh You Pretty Things

Aah, it's that lovely time of year when everything is beginning to flower! I thought Spring was my favourite time, but I remember now that Summer's the best :-) Here are some of the flowers that have burst into colour.

This is the first pot marigold to flower, there will be many more to come later in the year.

Calendula self-seed and can take over a whole plot, but they're so beautiful, who cares?!

 

This is a Corncockle flower.

There's a whole bunch of them which self-seeded from a wildflower mix we sowed last year.

This dog rose (that's the only name I know it by) may have been planted when the hedge was first planted, but the roses are spreading along the border now.

They're short-lived but very pretty.

And here's a little pink bud from further down the hedge.

So delicate.















This is Nigella - Such a complex flower and so pretty.

Love in a Mist because the flowers appear to emerge from the mass of foliage (apparently).

It's an annual which readily self-seeds and I'm so glad that it reappears every year in the corner of the plot.











And there is this slightly mauve-blue, with different looking stamen - even more complex.

There are some near the allotment site's front gate - in pink and white as well as this lovely blue.

This is a flower on the purple mangetout Shiraz. 

There are a few more buds so not too long till I've got some mangetout in my lunchtime salads!

I was most surprised to see that my new "yellow poppy" also produces white flowers!

What an unexpected and welcome sight!

I do love poppy flowers, they are so delicate, but that's why the flowers only last a couple of days...

But there are plenty more buds to follow that one.

This is clearly another white one, I wonder if there are any more colours to come...?


I love how tightly crunched the petals are in the bud.

And finally, here's another from last year's wildflower mix which will apparently return year-on-year.

It's a red campion.

So pretty with the blue nigella in the background.





And of course the song is provided by David Bowie - aah

Who Will Buy?

An early start this morning (for a Saturday). I had to collect the plants from our allotment and take them to the Fairfields site  other plotholders had left their donations in our greenhouse so I made two trips with our little Ka.

While I was doing that my allotment buddies were putting up banners, balloons and posters advertising HAHA and the charity which plotholders nominated Wiltshire Air Ambulance. We aren't in Wiltshire, but we pretty much touch the border.

We had a great morning! We had lots of visitors who appreciated our bargain prices and quality vegetable and flower plants. All the flowers including sunflowers, cosmos, sweetpeas and geranium were sold out before the vegetables. People happily went off with beans, brassica, tomatoes, cucurbits and more - I couldn't resist buying a globe artichoke plant myself.

Thanks to all the volunteers, visitors and plant donations. You helped raise £91.65! Well worth the effort and a musical flourish to sing-along to from Oliver! (There was no singing at the sale :-) )

Little By Little

The clouds heavy most of the afternoon. It was extremely hot and when we finally got a little shower it was a relief, though the ground could do with a bit more of a soaking.

We were using Jamie's new Kelly Kettle for hot drinks. It's really good. It only needs bits of dry sticks, grass and paper to get the flames roaring up the chimney and the water, which surrounds the chimney, is boiling in a few minutes - saves making up a flask whenever we're expecting a long session on the plot.

And it caters for the natural urge to burn things when we're not allowed a fire!

Jamie made up two brassica cages on Plot 3 so little by little the gaps are filling up: the runner beans and Brussels sprouts (2 x green Nelson and 1 x Red) and a Goldmine courgette is planted on Plot 7. I was potting on geraniums for the plant sale tomorrow for much of the time and then I planted the two Speedy dwarf french beans into a bag in the greenhouse - we'll be sowing/planting more outside in a few weeks time.

Both the Lark and the Glass Gem sweetcorn have nearly all germinated so it won't be long before they're planted out too.

Lark

Glass Gem

I'm pleased to say that the flowers are growing ok so far, still 14 sunflowers and look at the bargain poppy - beautiful!

Oasis provide the title track.

Rain

We weren't intending to stay on the plot long this afternoon but the visit was cut even shorter by torrential rain. We hid in the greenhouse for a while - we really must fix that leak! We sowed the Rocky mini cucumbers and the Jack-Be-Little mini pumpkins and have taken them home to the warm to germinate.

The earth looks so much better after the rain. The plants look happier even if not all the soggy plotholders agreed as we all (except Kerry and her kettle!) moved swiftly to our cars!

Saves us doing a lot of watering!

Title song provided by The Cult - wow, I so loved these in the 80s!

Moving On

Aah look at those feathers - so beautiful, but sad. I'm thinking this is what's left of a kingfisher. I'm not sure what would have killed it, I've only seen them flying very fast across the site; never sitting in a vulnerable spot where the cat would nab it.

I went to my sister's yesterday to collect a load of seedlings (Cosmos, foxgloves and tomatillos) for my mum's garden and some for the plant sale. Thanks Joanne!

So I spent some of the time in the afternoon potting on foxgloves, so many left though! What I don't plant at my mum's I'll just cut into blocks for the sale.

I couldn't resist having a few of the cosmos myself, so I've planted five in the flower bed behind the mangetout - I'm expecting the cosmos to outlive the mangetout and it should fill an empty spot a little later in the season. They're lovely and tall already so they've certainly cheered up that part of the plot.

My sunflowers and asters survived their first couple of nights out in the flower bed, but I'm not going to count my chickens (although I have counted 13 sunflowers at this point..).

We dug the holes for the pumpkin, squash and courgettes. They're filled with a mix of manure and home-made compost. That should keep the hungry plants happy. So far all the seeds have germinated so there are plenty to grow, sell and share.
The title song is by James - love the video.