Halfpom

December flowers...

 

Rainbow chard, dianthus, zinnia, lavender & gaura...from the garden.

 

more (uk) flutterby's

A beautiful buddleia bush (or more aptly named butterfly bush) on Carla's allotment....they love it.....a bumble bee sharing his flower with a stunning peacock butterfly.

And I think this is a comma butterfly.

All quite commonly seen on a summer's day in the UK but no less beautiful for that....I realise now that I NEED a macro lens...  

white...

One day I'd like to have a white garden.....

Photo = white echinacea flower (coneflower) and a common blue butterfly.

Blooming gorgeous...

Carla & I both bought some double hollyhock seeds on one of our visits to the Malvern Spring Gardening Show and this is how they have turned out.....simply fabulous.. Mine (ahem) are still in storage & due to be unleashed on an unsuspecting public at a later date!!

And some close ups of them in all their frilly knickered gorgeousness.....

More produce...

Summertime = allotment time

First up, apologies for the loooong absence but I have been here, there and everywhere in the last couple of months and only just able to draw a breath......

From the picture above, you'll be able to deduce that I've been in the northern hemisphere.....the UK to be specific. For a whole month....so there was no way I could miss visiting some wonderful allotments. It's a good time of year to visit - weather wise you have an average chance of decent weather....that's also why you go for a month...your chances increase the longer you stay....

It is also a brilliant time of year for anyone who loves gardening - every growing thing is doing it's level best to exceed expectations - you can literally hear the plants growing if you keep very quiet. The season is ahead of itself this year as I was invited to pick blackberries on Mac's allotment in the first week of August.....normally they only start making an appearance in September.

I think Mac has had his allotment for over 20 years....if not longer! His allotment is so prolific that neighbours (and the rest of the Ilkeston) start hiding when they see him bearing gifts of baby marrows, chard, beans, peas, raspberries etc. Trouble is, everyone else has the same glut as Mac..

I was only to happy to start the blackberry picking sesaon off and managed a fairly decent haul.....the only negative with this crop is the thorns but so worth the pain in the end..

We turned the blackberries, along with some apples, autumn raspberries (also early) and some strawberries into a crumble.....delicious...& then froze the rest to used at a later date. It is very satisfying being able to use homegrown produce..and free too! In fact, you're doing someone a favour by taking their surplus off their hands....so a win-win situation really!

I was ably assisted in my duties by Montagu Tucker who kept an eagle eye on the proceedings....boy, I've missed that cat! The rest of you too....but the cat, in particular! 

And once all the hard work was complete it was time for a nap in the sunshine....sometimes all the excitement life has to offer is just too much for one cat to cope with....

 
 

Plottment...

This past Saturday I joined Carla on her allotment.....was told to bring a book and that the deck chairs would be ready....and true to her word, they were....

Needless to say not much work was done by moi - the book (Southern Cakes by Nancie McDermott..bought on my recent trip to NY...I nipped into one last bookshop before meeting the long suffering Caroline for lunch asI think by this time she was heartily sick of bookshops..) was discarded & I couldn't resist playing with my camera instead....no way could I just sit there & let all this go unrecorded..

Carla has already put in lots of hard graft getting her raised salad beds ready for the winter tenants..corn salad (lamb's lettuce), winter purslane ....

This is a time when most of the production is over...but the dahlias are still in full swing..

and the autumn fruiting raspberries - variety Autumn Bliss - are showing no signs of stopping....

I like to call this - Trio of Produce....

The artichokes have had it and the cardoon is on it's last legs too but, from an architectural point of view, still striking...

After some lovely filter coffee and a bit more harvesting we bid the allotment goobye..until next week..

These allotments in the UK are many things to many people - to numeous men an excuse to escape the domestic chaos, to parents of little ones a chance to produce healthy food and teach their offspring that vegetables don't have to come shrink wrapped from the local supermarket and to many others - working singly or communally in contemplative silence - a calm oasis from which they emerge refreshed & more able to deal with the (sometimes harsh) reality that is modern life...we love them!

An English summer..

Summer is in full swing and actually it hasn't been bad this last month or so.....a few days of rain but very welcome as it keeps the garden watered. We'll start with this years favorite.....the hollyhock...

 

The next nominee for best flower is on my list every year...the old English rose.. The one that particularly caught my eye is called The Generous Gardener from David Austin - those luscious whorls of petals on petals and above all the heavenly scent. Pity we can't do scratch & sniff on this page??  

 

Isn't it gorgeous - just that one bloom perfumes a whole room....

 

 

The next contender reminds me of home where the cosmos lines the summer roadsides of the Free State & Kwazulu Natal in huge swathes of colour...

 

The one thing I dislike about gardening in the UK are these loathsome creatures...Now I'm not normally that squeamish but slugs manage to do it...especially when they are out en masse of an evening and you happen to go outside with bare feet (as you do when you are South African)...ughhhh...I've put a pound coin down so you can see how humungous this one was..it took all my nerve to retrieve the coin again..

 

On to something much cuddlier....Clarissa...a gardener's companion (or maybe that should be supervisor?)...Favourite game: trying to catch the moths that come out in the evening...

Flower of the week..

 

Today at 34 minutes and 56 seconds past 12 the time and date will read

12:34:56 07/08/09

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

This won't happen again for another thousand years !!

Welcome back...

My predictions of cloud and rain were well founded when I landed at the airport. Do not believe the weather you are seeing on the television for Wimbledon is true for the rest of the country.....however, it is warm. That combination of heat and moisture is just what the doctor ordered when it comes to plants.....a real hothouse effect and everything on the allotment is just loving it. The artichokes are reaching for the sky...

 

and the poppies are going mad....

 

For all non-British out there...this is what an English allotment looks like..basically a plot you hire from your local council/municipality (although this can be quite hard due to inefficiency of said local council)on an annual basis where you can plant all sorts of veggies & fruit. Some allotments also allow you to keep smaller livestock such as bees and chickens.

and walking walk to the house we passed some lovely gardens - aren't the hollyhocks superb?

and then back at the house for sundowners were called for...