Flighty's plot

Further to my last post I’ve been approaching the plot rather stealthily in the hope of photographing a ring-necked parakeet chomping on the sunflowers.  No such luck so far but yesterday this one that I disturbed only flew off to a nearby tree.

This morning’s feathered highlight was a grey heron flying, rather sedately, around overhead the allotments on its way from or to the adjacent ecology park pond.

I’ve been plotting every morning again this week and when I’ve stopped for a break I’ve been enjoying some blackberries to go with my mug of water.  I’ve also been bringing plenty home as well, and as you can see there’s still more to come when they ripen.

Fingers crossed I’ll soon be enjoying some grapes as well which are just starting to ripen.  The one plant I have has grown really well this year covering as it does the back and one side of the shed. There are at least several bunches like this that I can see.

Surprisingly I’m still picking the Golden Queen tomatoes, like this one, as they ripen. There’s been no sign of blight on these and I wonder if the fact that I haven’t watered them for weeks has anything to do with it. Anyway I’m definitely growing them again next year.

After three dry, and mostly sunny, weeks it looks like the weather is about to change as there is rain, heavy at times, forecast for Sunday and Monday.

Have a good weekend!

Thanks to the weather staying dry I spent every morning last week working on the plot.  On Monday I had to pull up the Gardener’s Delight tomatoes which had finally succumbed to blight. However as of yesterday the Golden Queen ones were still okay.

On Thursday and Friday mornings as I arrived at the site and was walking towards the plot I saw a parakeet chomping on one of the sunflowers.  They’re rather skittish so there was no chance of taking a photograph before they flew off. I’m not the only one who see’s them on their plot as Sam mentions them in her post Parakeets and Seed Saving.

The dry weather looks set to continue through next week so one of the jobs that I’ll be doing is revamping the two planters.

The rose Fragrant Cloud in the square one is going out on the plot and I’m replacing it with narcissus Pacific Coast which will flower in March/April after which I’ll be sowing pygmy pot marigolds.

The white lavenders in the long planter are likewise going on the plot to be replaced by crocus Blue Pearl and Cream Beauty after which I’ll be sowing the same pot marigolds as above.

There are a couple of asters still to flower, the purple one is just about to and will be followed in a few weeks by the white one.

Have a good week, and happy gardening!

I was only going to make a few changes for next year, apart from rotating various vegetables as usual. I’m going to move the rhubarb, and probably the strawberries, but over the past week or so the list has grown. I won’t go into details now as, needless to say, I keep changing my mind so will detail them as and when I do them.

I was tidying up around the rosemary, which is in the stone feature sitting just about in the middle of the plot, when I noticed that there were lots of rosemary beetles on it. As you can see they are colourful but not good news.  Rather than even try to get rid of them I’ll wait and see what happens, then if need be replace it with something else next spring.

Another dahlia flower has appeared on the same plant as this one, which by the way is not Zingaro but Caribbean Sunset, but is a noticeably different colour!

Apologies for getting the name wrong, and this one is Zingaro which I grew last year. I think that I shall grow a few more dahlias next year.

Happy gardening, and have a good weekend!

[Click on either picture to see a larger image]

I looked at the sweetcorn Swift F1 cobs during the week as the silks had turned dark brown and I could feel the kernels through the sheaths.  I decided to give them a few more days in the warm sunshine but yesterday morning I succumbed to temptation and picked the one off the plant that was leaning somewhat.

There’s always a sense of anticipation when stripping the sheath back to see what it looks like.  In this case I’ve probably not grown a better one, and needless to say it was delicious!

Clearing up a somewhat overgrown corner I came across this young oak tree. Like others that I’ve previously found growing I shall leave it be for a while as it’s out of the way.  I guess that birds or squirrels bury acorns and these are ones that they forgot.

I’ve not mentioned the other, larger plot trees for ages mainly because there’s been not much to tell.  The hawthorn didn’t blossom nor has it produced any berries, perhaps because I’ve been pruning it at the wrong time. Next year I’ll leave it be and see what happens.

The plum tree is growing well, had lovely blossom and has two two tiny marble sized fruit on it.  Maybe next year there’ll be a few more and a bit bigger!

Links to other Tree Followers, and their latest posts, can be found over on Lucy’s LOOSE AND LEAFY blog.

Last week’s glorious weather has continued through the weekend but next week looks like being mostly overcast and cooler.

Happy gardening!

[Click on any of the tree pictures to see a larger image]

has more than made up for last weekend. The weather has been glorious so I’ve been plotting every morning when I’ve been busy mostly digging, weeding and collecting seed.

Whilst doing that I’ve been pondering on some changes I hope to make in the coming weeks, especially with regard to the flowers that I’ll be growing, and where,  next year.

Around about now is the ideal time to sow hardy annual flower seeds, but no worries if you can’t, or forget, as you can always leave it through to the spring. Although if you sow them then they’ll start flowering slightly later.

It was Sara over at In and Out of My Garden who reminded me about this with her Planning for next year – introducing the ‘synchroseedsow’ post that she did last week. Do have a look to see what she’s doing and if you grow flowers then perhaps you’d like to join in.

This morning the new plot robin kept me company for much of the time. This youngster was really close at times, and also perched on the handle of the fork I was using.

Have a good weekend!