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.