Friday, June 30, 2017

2-3 spot

Not sure if this is a two-spot ladybird, or a three-spot, but it's not as common as the usual crowd and likes the yarrow 'cloth of gold'.

Thursday, June 29, 2017

Mix and mash

Plenty of food around now. It all needs picking and storing, processing and eating. The first of the summer raspberries are ripe as the strawberry crop dwindles. Making jam with both, separately, together, with blackcurrants. Mix and mash.

Wednesday, June 28, 2017

Miniature bonfires

Appreciated all the more because it wasn't expected to flower this year, but after a good soaking, the honeysuckle flowers unfurl in the dappled sunlight like miniature bonfires.

Tuesday, June 27, 2017

Perpetual brew

Liquid comfrey feed smelling foul but working wonders on all flowering crops.

Monday, June 26, 2017

Frog in the bed

       Always heartening to see a young frog in the strawberry bed

Sunday, June 25, 2017

Smugly

                       Smugly self-sufficient-ish, for a bit.

Saturday, June 24, 2017

Dry and fry

Good bunch of shallots with no sign of white rot, grown from sets from the supermarket.

Friday, June 23, 2017

Olive and Tomato


Intricate olive flowers liking the heat and bursting with pollen. (Tomato plant in the background)

Thursday, June 22, 2017

Wednesday, June 21, 2017

Small poppies

           Heatwave on the summer solstice, poppies tall and small.

Tuesday, June 20, 2017

Sweetcorn shady

The sweetcorn's romping away but it might have been a mistake to allow a self-seeded courgette plant to impose itself.

Monday, June 19, 2017

Tiny jewels


Tiny jewels fit for a summer pudding or storing at the back of the freezer to make redcurrant jelly or to colour and flavour alcoholic beverages.

Sunday, June 18, 2017

Propellerhead jasmine

Bought this star jasmine a couple of years ago as a twiggy stem and planted it in a large pot. This is the first year that it's flowered - thanks to copious watering and feeding - and the flowers turn out to be like little propellers, or fans.

Saturday, June 17, 2017

Geeseberries

           Many about. Giving them away and filling the freezer.

Friday, June 16, 2017

Strawless berries

A handy few bales of straw might have prevented some of the berries from getting mud spattered during the downpours and the grey mould botrytis might not have taken quite a large proportion of the crop. Still, more than enough to harvest and process, what with all the other soft fruit demanding attention.

Thursday, June 15, 2017

Backup beans

The backup broad beans have made it through the aphid infestation.

Wednesday, June 14, 2017

Tuesday, June 13, 2017

Episyrphus balteatus?

 
 A Marmalade Hoverfly - Episyrphus balteatus or is it?

Monday, June 12, 2017

Pea pod


The plants need almost daily watering, but the pea pods are fattening nicely and the first are worth harvesting.

Sunday, June 11, 2017

Pea pong

        The first sweet pea flowers catch the nose before the eye

Saturday, June 10, 2017

Purple sage

                           The bees be loving this

Friday, June 09, 2017

Drip trip

The indoor hoya vine's produced a couple of dozen flowers this year, all dripping nectar and producing a heady scent every evening.

Wednesday, June 07, 2017

Agog again

First of the crop. The ones on the south facing side of the bushes ripen first. Loads more to come ...

Tuesday, June 06, 2017

Spin shady

Some of this year's spinach, transplanted from seedlings to a shady part of the plot (thanks, neighbours with the 20 foot willow ; )

Monday, June 05, 2017

Anty dahlia

This dahlia's in flower early, possibly stressed because it's in a pot.

Sunday, June 04, 2017

Don't call me Malcolm

Virginia stock, aka Malcolmia maritima is "probably one of the easiest of all plants to grow" but these only just struggled through from seed.

Saturday, June 03, 2017

Peak lush

It's all gone a bit peak lush, what with all the recent rain and approaching maximum daylight. Poppies are starting to explode and allium's are threatening to. The wind battered foxgloves have held on to their flowers and are busy producing seed for next year - as is everything, weeds and all.

Friday, June 02, 2017

Sambucus nigra

The elderflowers are in full bloom. Time to stick or twist: Harvest the flowers or wait it out for the berries. Either way, the insects and birds are happy.

Thursday, June 01, 2017

Little green courgette

The first courgette has set. At the rate they grow, this will be on a plate in a couple of days.