My Garden: 29th July 2015

Today I harvested my garlic. The bulbs on the right are the Solent variety and the reddish ones are from a bulb I saved from 2014's crop (variety forgotten by me). I shed a silent tear for the three [expensive] bulbs of seed garlic that got misplaced in the house (ahem thrown out by my lesser half I suspect) and that never made it into the ground. I should have had a bumper crop!

I used one whole head of Solent to make today's dinner of bean enchiladas. Here are some leftovers packed for tomorrow's lunch and looking nicely layered on a bed of rice and peas, baby salad leaves and coleslaw with a few cherry tomatoes thrown in.

Remind me to do a post on the bean enchiladas some time....

If you follow me on Facebook you might have seen this happy face greeting you good morning earlier in the week. My sunflower is about four feet tall. It is wondrous how such a show stopping plant can be so low maintenance and easy to grow. Right now I make a pledge to grow at least twenty next year! Although I said that about leeks last year and I don't have a single one...

This pretty in pink lady is Phlox. I have taken cuttings from the little plants that sprout up around the mother plant and they are coming on nicely in their pots (real size about 8 inches - sorry about the bad quality, just took them in the kitchen as it is night time):

My tomato plants have a nice amount of immature fruits but they are ripening at a painfully slow pace and in my impatience I have removed three almost ripe Indigo Rose tomatoes and am trying to force them to edible stage inside a brown envelope on my sunny kitchen window. Come on come on!!

That's all folks.

"Weeds" Are Beautiful

With the recent heat and rain, the garden is claiming back its wild areas. This morning as I was pottering and poking around, I was amazed at the range of pretty little flowers that are growing naturally. I love the way they grow out of cracks and corners, while your expensive purchased plants fail to thrive. I've tried to get the correct names for them all.

Veronica persica (Speedwell)

Delicate little blue and white flowers brighten up this patch of green foliage. These hardy flowers have erupted from behind a piece of wood.

This patch of wild flowers has emerged from the corner of my onion patch. I don't think the photo does it justice but in the flesh it really is so pretty with tiny red, white and blue blooms and an array of different leaf shapes and heights.

Prunella vulgaris (Selfheal) adds a dash of purple:

I think this creeping tall pink flower is Stachys officinalis (Betony):

The humble Bellis perennis (Daisy) is so widespread that it is easy to stop appreciating just how beautiful this flower with its vivid yellow centre and brilliant white petals is. Holly Blue butterfly anyone? 

And it's very sweet when my 3 year old hands me one as a present. They really are the archetypal child's flower.

Here we have some Trifolium repens (white clover) and Ranunculus repens (creeping buttercup) hanging out together:

This persistent pink flower, Geranium robertianum (Herb Robert) grows out of cracks in the paving, the roof shoots and here out of a disused barbecue:

These precious little red/peach flowers are Anagallis arvensis (Scarlet Pimpernel):

My favourite weed of all, and one that has a great public campaign promoting it in recent years, is the lowly Taraxacum vulgaria, commonly known as dandelion (or pissy bed for those in the know!). I've seen bees, hoverflies, butterflies and a huge range of other flies visiting my dandelions. And remember that all insects who visit flowers are pollinators, even the little black fellas that you'd hardly notice.

Small Tortoise Shell:

Honey Bee:

Red Soldier Beetle:

Might look like bee but it is in fact a hoverfly:


And another honey bee:

So don't be too quick with a hoe and let your garden surprise you with its native wildflowers.

Caught a Garden Thief

And here was I thinking I had a very thirsty rabbit!

My Garden: 7th July 2015

I picked up a Phlox plant at a sale back in March. The variety wasn't labeled but as it is becoming a tall plant, I am assuming it is the common variety Phlox Paniculata. Mine has yet to flower but when it does I imagine [hope] it will look something like this:

"Phlox Paniculata" by Atilin - Own work. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.

Mine is looking much more under-whelming at the moment, but still healthy:

Flower buds are starting to appear. I am afraid to put it in the ground incase my rabbit eats it.

Lots of little plants have sprung up around mother plant so today I have taken cuttings and potted them on. I cut away the baby plants trying to preserve some roots and have planted them in pots of seed compost. Some of the cuttings had no roots attached so remembering something I read somewhere on the Internet, I applied honey to the cut end, to act as a natural rooting hormone. We'll see about that! I stripped off the lower leaves and covered the pot with a plastic bag.

They are sitting in my greenhouse at the moment. Tomorrow I think I'll cut a corner off the bags as the conditions might be too humid. I will know they have rooted when there is new growth but I suppose if they aren't limp looking in a week's time, things are looking good.