It was show day at the allotment today. This was my fourth show since taking a share in a plot in 2018 (no show in 2020) and every year we’ve won a few rosettes. This year I was less optimistic … Continue reading Winners and losers
I was out in the garden checking on what’s happening for #SixOnSaturday and was struck by all the seeding going on, among the vegetables, herbs, flowers and wild things. The noble teasel, which has had seed heads for weeks or possibly months but is looking rather good just now. These self seed all round the garden and I allow one or two to grow to full height each year. It’s all a bit random where they end up. This one is growing by the fence in the front garden. 2. Foxgloves, like the teasels, these decide where they want to … Continue reading A seedy Six on Saturday
I’ve been away for a week or so but returned to the garden in glorious sunshine today. The crocuses all opened up to welcome the sun. Bella got outside in the sunshine to admire the daffodils. I pruned the autumn fruiting raspberries, did a bit of weeding and harvested a tiny garden salad. Lettuce, rocket, rocket flowers and some chives – more tiny signs of spring. Later I got out to the allotment for the first time in weeks, did some more weeding, pruned some more autumn fruiting raspberries and brought home some leeks and sprouts. The plot is looking … Continue reading Sunshine at last
This week has turned out to be rather oniony, the result of two impulse onion buys which were probably a mistake. The first lot of onions were actually flowers – alliums – but onions really. They were an impulse buy from my local garden centre, which was selling off all sorts of boxes of overpriced and overpackaged bulbs at 70% off. I bought these because I felt sorry for them and was worried they would just be dumped if nobody bought them. So I’ve filled a big pot with flowering onions and another one with tulips – something to look … Continue reading Onions and an advent update
It’s been a glorious autumn day, with a slight nip in the air but lovely sunshine and leaves beginning to fall from the trees. As I cycled to the allotment this afternoon, leaves blew in my face and conkers fell from trees. It felt a little scary but also quite exciting. I dread the end of summer but when autumn really comes, it brings its own joys. One of these joys is planning next year’s crop. At the allotment, I got down on my hands and knees and hauled strings of couch grass from the soil. We’ve had a bit … Continue reading Autumn delights
Once again I failed to do a #SixonSaturday post but I did submit these rather lovely foxgloves via twitter. These are all growing along the back hedge and the new fence at the side of the garden, some transplanted from the raspberry bed during a weeding session back in January – for more see here – they have come out rather well, I think. I had wondered about doing a six for my six varieties of peas, but didn’t quite get round to it. So here they are for you, rather late on Sunday instead: I’ve already forgotten which one … Continue reading Six foxgloves, six peas and a lettuce glut
On this grim November day, here is something to cheer you. I brought in the last of the tomatoes from the seed palace to ripen inside. Aren’t they beautiful? Here are some more of the colourful things that were happening in my garden as October came to a close: Apples, rowan berries, nasturtiums and pyracantha berries, all looking very orange for Halloween. October is apple month and birthday month in this house. What with local lockdowns in Scotland we couldn’t really celebrate the birthdays properly though I did manage to deliver cakes, pumpkins (well squashes) and apples to my birthday … Continue reading October joys
Here’s a bee on a phacelia flower to cheer your day. It’s been lovely and sunny here and I’ve been out in the garden, hacking things back, harvesting and sowing some more seeds of hope. It’s six months since I wrote my seeds of hope post, at the beginning of lockdown, when we had no idea what would happen next. Well here we are again with few clues to the future but we have to keep on keeping on and the garden will sometimes just grow things for us. For today’s #SixOnSaturday here are six things self-seeding in the garden … Continue reading Planning
Tonight I’ve been making chutney: This is mostly plum, with some windfall apples, some red onions, one green tomato (it was showing some signs of blight so I picked it from the plant to save the others and cut the brown bits out) and some radish seed pods. The recipe is based on something like this. The plums are nearly, but not quite, ready for eating so it seemed like a good idea to start processing some of them before we are overwhelmed. The onions are from the allotment: The radish seed pods – well the radishes as always are … Continue reading Catching up
It’s June so it’s time for #30DaysWild , the campaign run by the Wildlife Trusts to get everyone to spot a little bit of wildness every day in June. I’ve been doing this for a couple of years and most years I treasure the chance to stop for a few minutes before or after work or over lunch to notice the wildness in the city around me. This year it’s a little different, with the wildness restricted to my daily walks or my own garden. Working from home, I can nip out with a cup of coffee or over lunch … Continue reading A little domestic wildness
Reclaiming Paradise 