Happy but thirsty

The french beans are happy but thirsty and in need a bit of a comfrey feed as they're in flower and about to set a crop.

Lettuce relief

Earlier sowings of lettuce didn't survive a mollusc invasion during the early June downpours, but a later lot have made it through to provide more than enough for the present.

Bean season

The broad beans are cropping well, heralding the season of the bean.

Salade du jour

Tall bloomers

Thirsty corn

     The sweetcorn's romping away now and grateful of a daily drink.

First squash

                          Harvesting the first courgettes.

Red jelly berry

Although the blackcurrant season is fairly short, redcurrants hang around for ages. It's a constant reminder to make time to pick enough for a jar of jelly, or at least squirrel some away in the freezer.

Lily reliable

       The first week of July and right on time the lily buds open.

Home front

Cherryred

Berryred

Berryfull

Ripe & ready

Pea season

Tayberries

Forest of flowers

Kinds of blue

Pop

                                    Poppies have popped

Pretty, toxic

                 Scarlet pimpernel, aka Anagallis arvensis.

In the bag

Bathroom bloom

The bathroom cactus, Aloe ngongensis identified at Kew, is in flower.

Solstice peas

Jam today, jam tomorrow

Shoot that poisoned arrow

        Aconitum, aka Monkshood, Wolfsbane, Queen of Poisons

I am the foxglove king

                                    You gotta help them bees.

Centaurea cyanus

Osteo

Chamo

Aloe ngongensis

             Ah - so that's what the cactus in the bathroom is.

Angelica archangelica

Last leeks

Truly tulip

Uh oh

Spud store

So many gardening shops have closed lately that it's heartening to find this place. They sell seed potatoes - and other things - loose, by the kilo, so you don't have to buy a whole bag or packet, which can be expensive and wasteful.

Prime pong

       The best smell for miles around, flowering right on time again.

Birdwatch Day

Killed by a discus

Crocus was said to be a companion of Hermes and was accidentally killed by the god in a game of discus.

Winter box

Twommit on Late Junction

                 https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0002152

Land theft

It's been on the cards for years, but redevelopment of the old chocolate factory in Greenbank is finally underway - minus the affordable housing that was promised and plus a huge section of verge adjacent to the cyclepath, outside the original boundary of the factory.

Yesterday, bulldozers removed all the trees behind the newly erected blue fence and this morning the graffiti appeared.

Nocturnal

Further down the line

That nice man Tommy Cockles, aka Billy Bleach, aka Simon Day, was good enough to retweet this the other day, on a thread about the late great and sorely missed Felix Dexter.

Placebo Audio - Bird Blossom

In the loop

Right on time, same as last year, the hazel catkins are out.

Nothing quite like gardening for making you aware of the cyclical nature of things. You become locked into a never ending loop, like Groundhog Day or Black Mirror's Bandersnatch if you keep making the 'wrong' choices for Stefan. Unlike the movies, the idea with gardening or having an allotment, is never to get to the end. As long as you're stuck in the loop, they haven't built a supermarket or housing development on your plot and you're still alive.

Twommit - In The Sunshine

A little, ahem, Jacob Rees-Mogg acid action.

Placebo Audio - Sea Loop