Saturday 3 July 2010

Blue skies and lots of sunshine

My peas are ready for picking - got loads of them, not sure what I'll do with them yet. Maybe some of Simon Hopkinson's pea jelly !

IMG_3839-400px

This is the first of my Turks Turbans - so far so good ...

IMG_3829-400px

haha, I have no idea what this fella is, but he is pretty healthy ... maybe he's a winter festival.

IMG_3832-400px

he heh .... courgettes need no introduction ! OH is looking forward to Nigella's courgette & chick pea pie next week :)

IMG_3827-400px

Hopefully these are borlotti beans ... my labelling, which started out fantastically, ended up in it's usual chaos when the sun bleached the ink from the labels ! Anyway whatever they are, they are looking great.

IMG_3810-400px

I picked 1.25kg of strawberries this afternoon, they are currently in the fridge covered in 1kg of jam sugar .... guess what I'm making tomorrow ! Yum

OH's face lit up when he saw the raspberries that I brought home. They were almost engulfed in bindweed. I've ripped out as much as I could. Bloody stuff.

IMG_3809-400px

The sweetcorn is developing tassels already - I might give then some chicken poo water tomorrow .. mmmm yum ! Must remember peg for my nose haha.

IMG_3806-400px

Despite my careful weeding I still have loads of baby teasels popping up - this one has made a break for it. I'm sure I'll regret it later as it is so close to the path, but it is too pretty to dig up.

IMG_3811-400px

Ladybirds are a few and far between this year ...

IMG_3702-400px

... which may account for this situation ! Looks like I need to make some garlic spray to keep the bugs away.

IMG_3831-400px

I've had some other visitors today who were more welcome - they weren't bothered by me at all - infact that's my leg that they are resting on. The pond is very busy at the moment with damsel flies and loads and loads of teeny tiny frogs hopping around.

IMG_3823-400px

IMG_3812-400px

This one kept landing on my camera hand !

IMG_3813-400px

I tried to do some digging today, but the ground is rock hard, so I think I'll give up on that idea :)

5 comments:

  1. Wow, Ducky! You've got food to eat and the prospect exotic produce to come, and wildlife to enjoy(except for the blackfly) Life's good!

    Blackfly seems to be a common complaint this year. Various people have already accepted defeat already on the sweetcorn. I accept I'm too far north to even try. And as for weeds, total eradication is never going to happen, - as long as the veg gets ahead of them. And the odd teasel is insect friendly and so dramatic...

    ReplyDelete
  2. isn't it funny how variable everything is - fellow allotmenters on my site have been cropping marrow sized courgettes for over a week and mine are still babies !

    I usually struggle with pollination of sweetcorn - my kernels are sometimes a bit patchy.

    Spied my very first ripe blueberry today !

    ReplyDelete
  3. Those are definitely borlottis, and they look very good - mine have only just started to flower in the past 24 hours. Our sweetcorn is going great guns, but our first early potatoes were total rubbish. Win some, lose some, I suppose.

    ReplyDelete
  4. We've just got back from holiday and I wondered whether the tassles on the sweetcorn was a good or bad thing as it's the first year I've grown them so you've put my mind at rest - thankyou!

    ReplyDelete
  5. My son the bug expert has identified your big ladybird for you. It's one of the Harlequin type and is called Harmonia axyridis conspicua and can be found here www.harlequin-survey.org/recognition_and_distinction.htm# . In London we've also been having lots of bug problems, not just blackfly but greenfly too. Thankfully Lady bird numbers seem to be catching up with the bad guys at last.

    ReplyDelete