Shine On Me

Got several capsicum plants like this - ta Mr G - but they all need a bit of sun to ripen.



At 35p per seed, about the price of a shop bought cucumber, I'm happy that this plant's got several small fruit on it.



Not much chance of these olives ripening, but one year soon, who knows ?



The tomatoes in open ground at the allotment have grown well but not ripened, ones in a greenhouse at home haven't cropped as well, but have ripened earlier.Natch.

Frogwatch

Saw two frogs today, but only managed to photograph this tiny one by the pond. The other was in the garage at home, of all places, looking a frightening grey/black colour and startling me as I picked up a bin bag on which he was sitting. I'm guessing that he was the healthy green one I'd seen in the garden last week and he could have crept in there when the door was left open recently (though it's a bit early to hibernate) and changed his appearance to suit his surroundings. I put him outside in the undergrowth and hope he might get his colour back and pop up again soon, bored felines permitting.

A pity my carrots haven't done as well as the beetroot, even though they're just thinnings, they all seem to have some degree of carrot root fly damage. Loads more beans, chard, kale and spinach and the first ripened tomatoes too.

Showers & Gusty Squalls

Showers, gusty squalls and sunny intervals. Found myself humming 'Four Seasons In One Day' by the Finn brothers, as I pottered around the plot this morning. All that free wind energy going to waste.



One moment I was taking my shirt off in the hot sunshine, the next I was running for shelter in the shed.



Harvested kale seeds. It was a while before I noticed that they have two channels of seeds on each side of the pod. I've saved myself a packet - of seeds : )



The first of the autumn raspberries to ripen - so large that at first I thought it might have been a loganberry.

Harvested more peas, kale, a few small carrots and the first of the climbing beans. Tied up some of the giant sunflowers which had either fallen over or were in danger of doing so.

080808 State

I harvested a couple of buds from each artichoke to eat earlier in the year and now the remaining flowers are all open, still attracting bees and comments from passers by.



Gladioli don't last very long, especially if they're thrashed around a Top Of The Pops studio by Morrissey, or in the rain, so I took nearly half of them home to enjoy indoors.



Way too many runner beans to cope with at the moment and the freezer's filling up.



Sunflower season's here - some single and giant, some multi headed. The big uns are reaching 10 ft.

Il pleut encore

Flippin' 'eck Tucker ! It's set to rain every day for the next couple of weeks - and beyond. At least I won't have to water anything up at the allotment, except for the cucumbers and tomatoes in the mini greenhouse.

Les Fleurs

Identify This !

OK. Your starter for 15 points : Identify this moth.
(The answer is not 'onion moth')
I thought it might have been a 'Silver Y', but it doesn't quite match.
Perhaps it's a 'poplar hawk moth', which research tells me should possibly be called a 'popular hawk moth'.

UK moths site

Peas & Beans

Think I got peas and mangetoute mixed together - whatever, I've had a good continual harvest for a couple of weeks now & am giving them away.



Harvested bundles of runner beans, gave some to my neighbour, froze some more & left some outside the house on the wall, with a note that they were free to take : They'd gone within the hour.

Avant le déluge

Just time to grab all those things that were drying in the sun, before the heavens opened. The allotment loved it, but at home I had 10+ litres of water cascading through the roof in several places.



Noticed evening primrose plants for sale for 95p today - that must make my lotty worth, ooh, at least £30, just for starters.



The celery is coming along very slowly. It was looking a bit yellow, so I fed it with some comfrey.



A shame that the pompom poppies don't last more than a few days, before the lightest breeze tears them to shreds.

Long Hot Days 2

Heard on GQT that artichokes like clay soils, which is perhaps why all mine have done well this year. Good bit of 'architectural value' too ; )

All sorts here - some celery, chard, carrots, lettuce...

Small crop of late sweetcorn - some people have cobs already, but I had a problem with germination this year.

Chard - although for a while I thought it was spinach.

Cous cous the puss is usually interested in the frogs in the pond, but today she was thirsty.

Long Hot Days 1

A few scorching hot days to make it feel like a proper summer. Spent nearly 12 hours up at the allotment one day, enjoying the place to myself for most of the time. Got lots done and munched on produce throughout the day. Discovered for myself, with a stomach ache - though I'd been warned - that mange toute (and many beans) are poisonous if not cooked for a bit.


Tomatoes in my 'greenkennel' - the tall, makeshift greenhouse on the other plot has hardly been used in three years.

The first of many sunflowers, with all my neighbour's tat behind. After three years, it's permanently 'under construction'.

The old chocolate factory in the background : Due for development in the coming years, possibly with eco homes, artspace, cafe etc. Watch this space...

Cucumber plant in the greenkennel : Grew one cucumber at home in a small plastic greenhouse and only planted this out a week or two ago.

Red Onions 2

I've lifted most of the red onions now & taken them home for final drying & storage. Perhaps I could have left them longer & they might have swelled in the rain due next week, but they were just as likely to get nicked if I left them lying around at the allotment.

Peas

Coming to the end of the peas. Leaving last ones for seed.

Borlotti

Borlotti beans coming along, need time to fatten up.

Fat of the land

Red Onions

The red onions - and Japanese ones - just keep on swelling. The foliage is only just starting to die back and I've bent over the stems on half of them but haven't lifted any yet. The tops are pretty crunchy and make your eyes water, but sliced up thinly, are great in salads and sarnies ; )

Green Grocer

Crikey ! Lots from the plot today :

500g Redcurrants
250g Blackcurrants
2kg Potatoes
2 Beetroot
1 Lettuce
Bunch of baby Carrots
Last of the broad beans (leaving the rest for seed)



The cat had left a starling outside the shed.

Noticed black stuff oozing from the poppies, which I expect is raw opium.

Photographed the Borlotti beans & other produce then cycled to the supermarket for bread and dairy produce. I need to get me a share of a cow and a few hens ; )

Strawberries

Picked the last of the strawberries as Wimbledon came to a close. Got a good crop this year - enough for a few jars of jam and a trifle.

Sparaxis & Ixia

Sound a bit like a Greek islands - wouldn't look out of place on one.

Cosmos

Grew some cosmos for the first time this year - the ones in pots have flowered earlier than those in open ground and slugs & snails haven't been a problem.

Evening Primrose

Enough this year to make a bar of soap, but let the moths and pollinators enjoy it too.

Glastonbury 2008

"A bit like The Battle of Stalingrad, sponsored by The Guardian" - David Quantick, on Glastonbury.

The Now Show - BBC Radio 4

Roland @ iTunes

As from today, 'Patch Of Paradise' is also available from iTunes :

Roland @ iTunes

Onions

Nearly ready - just need another week of sun. Shame it's set to rain.

Ideal Soundtrack

Crikey - not only does Graham 'Hi Hi' Duff write and act in BBC Three's superb 'Ideal', but he's also responsible for selecting most of the soundtracks and was once a late night radio DJ.

He's posted tracklistings for all four series at the Ideal Forum, enabling me to track down the rather wonderful Sol Seppy - 'Enter One', as goosebumpy as Amiina & Lee Hazelwood.

Ideal Tracklistings

Esbjorn Svensson

Tragic to lose such a great jazz pianist. The E.S.T. represented all that was good about contemporary jazz. Having spent a year in Stockholm and being born the same year, I literally felt i knew where he was coming from :

Guardian Obituary