Only a few but what a few!

Two post in one day - sorry but I couldn't add this to my Wordless Wednesday post and it was something well worth sharing!

Yesterday was host to one of the eagerly anticipated events of the year. Our first picking and eating of freshly ripe strawberries.

Not many I know but plenty more to come.

Just hoping we don't get a heavy downpour to spoil things!

Copyright: Original post from Our Plot at Green Lane Allotments http://glallotments.blogspot.co.uk/ author S Garrett

Bearding the iris

Copyright: Original post from Our Plot at Green Lane Allotments http://glallotments.blogspot.co.uk/ author S Garrett

What colour path?

The improvement in weather conditions has meant we have spent more time at the plot and been busily tidying, planting and strimming the grass paths which seem to have developed the personality trait of an Olympic sprinter. Funnily though whereas our paths quickly sport a yellow carpet of buttercups ...

... those of a plot neighbour are clothed in daisies.

I'm guessing that this is because he mows his grass more closely and that this suits daisies more than it does buttercups.

Then there is the perfect weed free path of another neighbour.

No weeds dare to grow here.

Despite the extra work - must admit this is mainly extra work for Martyn -  we like our grass paths, I can't imagine sitting weeding on soil or gravel or bark chippings. 

The wildlife likes grass too. I am often sitting quietly weeding when I spot movement out of my eye corner and see a frog or toad crawling across the path - one time even over my foot!

Copyright: Original post from Our Plot at Green Lane Allotments http://glallotments.blogspot.co.uk/ author S Garrett

More fruity business

Oh dear I hope I don't get hits from people who misunderstand the meaning of the title. My regular gardening readers will know that this is just another post about the progress of our fruit collection.

As well as having fruit on the plot we also have some fruit growing in the garden and in the garden greenhouse.

In the greenhouse we have the Lazarus fig that I posted about recently. The figs that it is carrying are swelling well and it looks as though we are in for our first real fig harvest.

So far no sign of the red spider mite that tends to plague both it and the Issai kiwi berry. Issai has plenty of flower buds but as yet they have to open.

It would be great to get some kiwi berries as I have no idea what they will be like. I'll need an insecticide that can be used on edibles and it seems that one using rapeseed oil will be the one to use. Being a contact insecticide I also will avoid harming other insects.  Anyone any experience of using it?

We have a grapevine in the garden greenhouse - Himrod - that has supplied us with a good harvest of sweet seedless green grapes for years. Other than severe pruning throughout the season - or it would take over the greenhouse - we don't do anything to help it's fruit production. I used to thin the grapes but don't bother any more as it was a neck aching task which resulted in tiny green immature grapes in unmentionable places. I'm not too concerned with beautifully shaped bunches of grapes, we just want tasty fruit.

Outside of the greenhouse the fruit trees growing in pots haven't done very well at all. Both the nectarine and peach developed peach leaf curl and neither set any fruit. I've removed the affected leaves but this has left the trees quite bare and it is debatable as to whether they will recover. We did take the opportunity to reduce the height of the peach tree.

I had high hopes for the nectarine that was smothered in blossom which I diligently hand pollinated but it was not to be. Next year we will try and take some preventative measures.

The apricot wasn't affected by the peach leaf curl and is looking healthy but without fruit.

The cherry tree is only just beating these three by having a couple of fruits.

I did say a couple! 

These trees are all with the exception of the peach very young trees so this year I will forgive their fruitlessness.

Even younger is the apple tree Baya Marissa which I didn't expect to produce any fruit this yet. It's growing well so that is good news. It's not easy to get a good photo of it as it merges into the background.

Fairing better are the pear and apple trees that have a mind of their own and were once cordons that we thought we had chopped down. Behind the greenhouse they happily had other ideas and now regularly produce fruit. 

Finally are the couple of troughs of strawberries - Finesses - that never made their way to the plot. Hopefully we will get a bowlful or two of berries from them.

Then there is the medlar which I have mentioned in an earlier post. It's a little too early to be able to tell how much fruit has set but knowing it's a fruit that we find challenging to use what are the odds that it will produce a bumper crop!

Copyright: Original post from Our Plot at Green Lane Allotments http://glallotments.blogspot.co.uk/ author S Garrett

Osteospermum

Last year I grew some osteospermum from seed. They were surprisingly easy to grow. I planted them in two tubs and enjoyed them over the summer. Come winter to give them a little more chance of survival we placed the pots in the greenhouse.

Most of the plants survived but some didn't which left me with gaps in the tubs which I decided to fill with more osteospermum but, being far too late to raise more from seed, these I would have to buy as plants.

Whenever I don't want to buy osteospermums the garden centres are full of them, (in fact this happens with lots of things that I specifically go shopping for), but the first garden centre was osteospermumless. Fortunately the second one that we visited had enough to fulfil our needs and I bought three. 

Although these were much smaller than the overwintered plants I hope they will grow to catch up with their older cousins.

Two went in this pot ...

... and another in this one.

Maybe I should trim back the original plants to even up the planting but I can't bring myself to forfeit all those lovely flowers.

One thing that did surprise me was that the plants that I bought were described as bedding annuals. Is this a ploy on the part of the growers to get us to throw them away and start again next year or are these different from the ones that I grew from seed?

The centres of the flowers fascinate me,. As the pollen 'buds' release the pollen it starts by creating a circle of stars around the very edge of the centre and gradually more pollen appears.

It's all in the detail and something I may not have ever noticed if I hadn't taken lots of photos.

So those of you who said that I had obviously bought something else on my visit to the garden centre were correct and we also bought four mint plants too that Martyn posted about. Having said that I would like to point out that we have visited a garden centre since and didn't buy a single plant - three packets of seeds - but no actual plants. Not through want of trying though - they just didn't have what I was looking for!

Copyright: Original post from Our Plot at Green Lane Allotments http://glallotments.blogspot.co.uk/ author S Garrett

Perfume on the plot

The sweet peas have now all been planted out. Four packets of mixed were sown but all with good perfume. We've grown the varieties before so we know we can count on them to have good scent. I think the best feature of a sweet pea is it's perfume and couldn't consider growing any that didn't have a scent!

As for our edible pea plants we have constructed a climbing frame from the prunings that resulted after coppicing one of the hazel bushes. Maybe coppicing is too technical a term and I should really have said hacked down. The bush at the back must be trembling to its roots as it will suffer the same fate next year. We have cut back the bushes in this way before and they grew back quickly.

Once the sweet peas scramble up the framework they should create a scented wall. You will notice that we have covered the ground with weed control fabric here too. In the past we have found it quite difficult to weed in amongst the sweet peas and under the framework.

Cucumbers will be trained up the struts on the road side of the framework - they grew really well here last year. The cucumbers thrived in the wet conditions so the fabric should keep the ground from drying up too much around their roots. 

We may also grow some squash plants to scramble under the archway. These will be planted in slits cut into the fabric which extends under the mulch to the edge of the road.

Even before the sweet peas start to flower we have wafts of perfume drifting across the plot. In one bed along the roadside edge of one plot we have a shrub and flower border in which are planted some shrub roses. 

 As when choosing sweet peas these roses were chosen for their perfume as much as the flowers. Some flowers are just beginning to open.

Others are covering the bush with blooms. The shrub roses start off looking really healthy but then unfortunately succumb to black spot so I have bought a fungicide with which to spray them. I avoided an all purpose pesticide as I don't want to kill the bugs. A couple are now looking rather weak so may need replacing.

At the moment they are under-planted with a carpet of poached egg plants - limnanthes. I say planted but these are self sown seedlings that come up every year and will die off completely once they have flowered and set even more seeds.

Then there is the perfume from unexpected sources such as the broad bean flowers. If you have ever caught a whiff of a lovely perfume in the vegetable plot and have wondered where it was coming from, then have a sniff at your broad bean flowers.

Finally not forgetting the garden mint that has strayed into a nearby grass path and releases its scent whenever the grass is cut or it is walked on.

Copyright: Original post from Our Plot at Green Lane Allotments http://glallotments.blogspot.co.uk/ author S Garrett