Allotment flowers

We've been doing our bit for the bees at the allotment. Earlier this year my two granddaughters sowed some flowers seeds in front of the polytunnel. It was a flower mix to attract bees and butterflies.  I think we overdid the sowing or we should have thinned the seedlings out, but they grew, fighting for space. There's a lot of yellow and blue and it looks really good.  We sowed nasturtium along the edge of the rhubarb bed, calendula next to the comfrey and sunflowers along the fence.

Then there are the pots of sweet peas, the trough with osteospurnum, the lavender and the bed behind the polytunnel where I planted hardy geraniums, veronica and borage. The result has been lots of bees, they just love the flowers.  The butterflies are all cabbage white at the moment and we are trying hard to keep them off the cabbages.  They are welcome on the flowers, but not on the brassicas.

Not just green

I love to see rows of leafy green veg at the allotment, but I like to see a bit of contrasting colour too.  So this year we have been growing some different coloured vegetables.

Like purple podded peas

The peas are green inside.

Purple kale

Purple french beans

These go green once cooked.

Red salad leaves

Lollo rosso lettuce

And a splash of red from the chard stems

Are you growing any different coloured vegetables on your vegetable plot?

The great garden adventure

When the school summer holidays are here and we are looking after the grandchildren we start to think of activities which we can all enjoy together and which don't cost too much money. My thoughts always turn to RHS Harlow Carr and when I suggest a visit, the children always say YES! I'm  surprised because to me Harlow Carr is a garden and if I was to suggest going to visit a garden they would probably not want to go. But to them Harlow Carr is fun.  There are always childrens' activities during the school holidays and there are the usual fun things in the woods. Our 7 year old grandson wanted to see the new Log Ness Monster. So with a picnic, our RHS members card and our kids go free vouchers we set off.

The 'Great garden adventure' is the theme for this year's summer activities for kids at Harlow Carr, with lots of garden related activities to keep them interested.  We followed the 'Great garden explorer trail'. We had to go to different points around the garden and find out about things which were important for the planet. As always on our visits here we  went to the woodland area where the children played in the log maze and the tree house.  The giant musical instruments are good fun and we also found some willow teepee structures.  Finally we found the Log Ness Monster. It was quite a friendly monster.

Well  the day wasn't just for the kids, there were things for us to enjoy too. I love the kitchen garden, this is where I like to get ideas for our allotment. We tried to get the children interested although they just enjoyed running around most of the time.  We did manage to find some runner beans with white flowers just like our grandson is growing on the allotment, and we did a bit of squash spotting in the big squash and pumpkin bed.

At this time of year I love the big herbaceous borders, they are just amazing for their drifts of colour and if you're wondering where the country's bee population has disappeared to then I think they were all there on the flowers. The borders were buzzing. The children were impressed with the massive allium seed heads, but what they probably loved most was rolling down the grassy hill.

 

I loved the big containers in the 'gardens through time' area planted up with amaranthus.  The children were fascinated by the huge red tassel like flowers.

 I was also pleased to see quite a lot of areas planted up with annual meadow flowers to attract the bees and butterflies.

Those are some of the highlights of our visit, not forgetting  the warm sunshine, a picnic in a quiet corner of the garden and an ice cream from Betty's tea house.

Fruity

It must be a good year for fruit. I have never seen so much fruit in my garden.  Well I only grow strawberries and raspberries, but there are loads of them.  I keep thinking this will be the last good picking I have of them.  Then a day or two later I go up to the top of the garden and there they are again, waiting to be picked. Then there's the allotment-- gooseberries, blackcurrants and rhubarb.

In the kitchen there are bowls of strawberries in the fridge waiting to be eaten, trays of raspberries and blackcurrants in the freezer, and more fruit already bagged up. I'm considering buying another freezer for allotment produce.  I think though that I really need to get into jam making, that is the answer I'm sure.

Compost bins

It's funny how sometimes things which seem terribly boring to some people can make you feel really happy. This week for me it has been compost bins. Yes really!  My husband who is incredibly good at making things has made some compost bins for our allotment on plot 8.  I'm happy because, I've now got some compost bins, which is something every plot needs and they have been made for very little cost as most of the materials were lying around on both of our allotments. I'm also pleased because it has tidied up the bottom end of our plot and it's another stage in the progress of the allotment.

We now have somewhere to throw our kitchen and garden waste, although we do have bins on plot 10b and in the garden, but it seems to me that once you get into doing compost making you need more and more space for it. So I don't just have compost bins I have manure bins too because we have a supply of manure regularly dumped nearby which we can all help ourselves to. I also now have a  leaf bin and I won't have a problem filling that either.

What simple things are making you feel happy?

Carrots

We have carrots and no root fly, that is amazing.  OK they were small carrots, but they made a good meal.  They were grown in a big tub started off in the polytunnel, then later when the weather got very warm brought outside and covered in fleece. After about three years of failures with carrots due to root fly to be able to pull up some perfect specimens was great. We have more in tubs and some in the ground so we are nurturing them all carefully. Could this be the year of the carrot?

Loving my garden

Although the allotments are  taking up a lot of  time at the moment, when I'm not there I'm enjoying the garden. Much as I love being down at the allotment, when the weather is as wonderful as it is at the moment, I much prefer to be in the garden. Sitting in the garden listening to the birds singing, watching the bees buzzing amongst the flowers, feeling the warmth of the sunshine on my face is quite relaxing.

The garden is looking good even though I haven't done much gardening for weeks.  This week I have been cutting back the early flowering plants which have now gone over.  The alchemilla mollis is still looking good and tumbling all over the place; the blues and pinks of the hardy geraniums are just starting to fade and the deep pink knautia macedonica, astrantia and the blue veronica are taking over along with the yellow lysimachia. The campanula are looking dainty and delicate, I can't decide which I like best, the blue or the white, they are both quite lovely. I am loving the giant scabious which I bought from a plant sale two years ago. This is the first year it has really flowered and grown to its full height. It is competing with a thalictrum of massive proportions.  I didn't realise how tall the scabious would grow and perhaps shouldn't have put them together, but I am quite liking them both.  The bees seem to love them too.

The scented seating area is a lovely place to sit in the evenings when it is still warm. There are quite a few fragrances which waft over from other parts of the garden as well as those placed in that area. Next to the bench is a philadelphus and behind is a row of lavender which gently brushes the back of my neck releasing its relaxing perfume as I sit there. I bought a pot of pinks the other week and planted them in a big tub next to the bench, they smell divine. Also next to the bench is a big pot with three scented geraniums which are new to the garden this year. I'm quite liking the soft trailing foliage and the pale, delicate flowers, which are so different from the big bold flowers of the normal pot geraniums.  Honeysuckle is growing  well around the garden. One is clambering up the apple tree, another over the gate and another has got slightly out of control and is growing madly through a choisya, but I can't bear to cut it back yet, I want to enjoy the flowers and the smell of it for a while.

What are you loving about your garden at the moment?