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

The Uncle from U.N.C.L.E.

Christopher Cary, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., The Strange Man Affair, 1965

1966 and all that

A friend lent me a copy of a 1966 episode of Batman, in which my late uncle, Christopher Cary, played a kilt-wearing Scotsman. Priceless lunacy !!

Rhubarb Rhubarb

Swapped a few cabbage seedlings for the right to help ourselves to rhubarb.

Harvest & Sow

Spuds coming on nicely - no sign of blight, yet.

Harvested :

Rhubarb
Peas
Lettuce
Broad Beans
Strawberries
Rocket
Pak Choi
Spinach
Kale

Sowed :

Carrots
Lettuce
Pak Choi
Spinach

Planted Out :

Cobra Beans
Cabbage
Sweet Corn

Broad Beans

Despite an attack of blackfly, the broad bean harvest is a good un.



Been picking around half a kilo every few days.

Spring Harvest

Harvested artichokes, broad beans, lettuce, rocket, radishes, peas.

Angelica

I was only expecting the angelica to last two years. This is part of one which was growing at home and I divided, three years ago. Perhaps this is the last year. We made crystallised angelica from the stems a few years ago.

This Year's Frog

This is the only one of seven froglets that survived this year. Then he hopped out of the jar in the garden one day.


A bit blurred - didn't use a tripod.



Coming up for air.



I probably should have kept them out of the sunlight.



Beginnings in the allotment pond.

A is for Apple

A list of most of the things i'm cultivating this year...

Apple - Cox's Orange Pippin
Artichoke
Asparagus
Basil
Beetroot
Blackcurrant
Borlotti Bean
Broad Bean
Broccoli
Brussel Sprouts
Cabbage
Carrot
Celery
Chamomile
Chard
Chrysanthemum
Cobra Bean
Comfrey
Coriander
Cornflower
Cosmos
Courgette
Crocosmia
Cucumber
Dahlia
Datura
Delphinium
Dill
Echinacea
Evening Primrose
Foxglove
Garlic
Gladioli
Gooseberry
Honeysuckle
Kale
Lavender
Leek
Lettuce
Love Lies Bleeding
Marigold
Mesembryanthemum
Mint
Nectarine
Night Scented Stock
Nigella
Nolana Bluebird
Onion
Pak Choi
Parsley
Parsnip
Peas
Poppy
Radish
Raspberry
Redcurrant
Rhubarb
Rocket
Rosemary
Runner Bean
Sage
Spinach
Strawberry
Sunflower
Sweet Corn
Sweet Pea
Tagetes
Tulip
Vietnamese Coriander
Yarrow
Willow

...links to photos later.

Flower Photo Gallery

Mulatu Astatke v Britain's Got Talent

Escaped from teenage daughter watching 'Britain's Got Talent', with some joker playing 'keepy uppy' with a football, while a ghetto blaster played. At first, even Amanda Holden thought that he belonged on a football field rather than in a theatre, but hey, the crowd went wild and Simon Cowell loved it, so I must be wrong, it wasn't shite and he is the future of entertainment.

Thankfully, Gilles Peterson had Mulatu Astatke live in session from Maida Vale. I'd certainly rather listen to a 65 year old Ethiopian than anything that Piers Morgan thinks is entertainment. Note to self - time to stop watching certain TV shows with teenage daughter, we'll only upset each other.

A laptop for every donkey

Came across a great site, with loads of good piccies & links :

http://alaptopforeverydonkey.blogspot.com/

Planting by the moon

Not a good time for flowering veg, but good for leafy veg.
Hmm. Regardless, sowed :

- Celery
- Lettuce
- Nigella
- Black Eyed Susan
- Busy Lizzie
- Cosmos
- Larkspur
- Aquilegia

First sowings

Sowed some seeds into modules indoors :

- Mangetout (Reuzensuiker)
- Cabbage (Langedijk 4)
- Broccoli (Brassica oleracea Italica)

(sound like good album titles to me)

..and two types of leek, in big yogurt pots :

- Leek (Carentan 2)
- Leek (Autumn Mammoth 2 - Snowstar)

(or at least track titles)