Last week we had a special event. Neither of us celebrated a special birthday but our landmark event is one that many gardeners will relate to, we picked our first strawberries of the season! Our Cambridge Favourites were the first to produce a few ripe fruits.
We have been picking salad and herb crops regularly from the raised bed and tubs in the garden but the strawberries were the first of our allotment food crops. We can now only hope that the weather doesn't spoil things as it is providing ideal conditions for growing strawberry mould and encouraging the spread of potato blight and slug activity.
Although this was our first food harvest, we have been picking cut flowers for a while. The sweet rocket and perennial cornflowers are beginning to fade but the roses are taking over.
I cut the roses when in bud to prolong the vase life. The shrub rose above is Jacqueline du Pre which like the others on the plot has a lovely rose scent.
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This interloper was no doubt after the honeydew created by the aphids. It's a pity that they don't eat the aphids too.
Today I am linking to Harvest Monday over at Dave's blog Our Happy Acres
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We have areas that are covered with daisies here as well--and I just adore them. So bright and cheerful.
ReplyDeleteAnd your roses are GORGEOUS!
And I am very jealous of your strawberries. I finally had to tear mine out--they had mould issues more years than not. It was endless frustration....
Roses are being spoiled by all the wetness that we are having at the moment, Sue.
DeleteAhhh, strawberries and daisies. It must be summer!
ReplyDeleteIf only the weather realised that, Jessica.
DeleteVery jealous as mine are still green, not long now though x
ReplyDeleteThey really do need some sunshine Jo.
DeleteLettuce and the first strawberries of the season, sounds like spring. Your flowers are really beautiful.
ReplyDeleteI've given up on most spring vegetables. It just gets too hot here for the lettuces, peas, etc. and it's difficult to get them in the ground earlier.
It being too hot is something that we rarely have to worry about Phuong
DeleteThose daisies are beautiful. We have some Shasta daisies planted here, and they are trouble free in the garden. The first fruits are always exciting to me, and your strawberries look like a real treat!
ReplyDeleteThey were a real treat, Dave.
DeleteI see that you have been experimenting with macro photography, Sue. I expect we can therefore look forward to intimate studies of all the pests that beset your crops! We have had many days of dull humid weather here - as you say, ideal conditions for mould etc. It's about time we had a bit more sunshine to ripen those Strawberries.
ReplyDeleteI have been experimenting with macro, Mark and it is likely that you will see some of the pests that invade our crops that is if I can find them and they will keep still for long enough. That ant however was an accident I hadn't realised it was there until I downloaded the photograph the images were then cropped out of a much larger photograph.
DeleteSnap Sue! :) I picked the first of our strawberries (also Cambridge Favourite) on Saturday. The slugs had nibbled a few before I got to them. The ox-eye daisies are fabulous. I saw swathes of them growing on the railway embankments on a trip to Cumbria last week.
ReplyDeleteThe slugs are out in force at the moment, Anna. All this wet weather is nirvana for them.
DeleteWe harvested the first strawberries too - so far away, yet our harvests are so similar right now!
ReplyDeleteI wonder for how long that will remain true, Margaret.
DeleteGorgeous flowers, especially the roses. I've harvested the first of the strawberries here as well. I noticed that on the allotment some of the berries are starting to go a bit mushy from the damp. Let's hope there are some longer dry spells to keep them in good condition. Cambridge Favourite are a great variety aren't they.
ReplyDeleteI don't think our berrie are having the time to go nasty, CJ before the slugs have made a meal of them.
DeleteI don't grow strawberries anymore as I find them too much to maintain, but I still remember they were always an exciting harvest early in the season. Beautiful pics (even the one of the ant) ... I have always loved the simplicity of daisies.
ReplyDeleteI really like the simple flowers too, Susie. Since we have started growing things through weed control fabric they have become much easier to maintain. The only problem is keeping up with cutting off all the runners that they produce.
Deletewow, beautiful flowers!
ReplyDeleteThank you Endah
DeleteHa, ha Sue , I agree it's a pity that ants don't eat the aphids. I spray my rose often, because of aphids. Love your vase, especially the pink bud in the bouquet.
ReplyDeleteI try not to spray for aphids, Nadezda as we have lots of blue tits that feed off them especially when they are feeding their young at this time of year.
DeleteOh dear ! I though they were pests and have been feeding them to our fish ! Whoops !
ReplyDeleteIs that the ants or the centipede in the last post, Marion? If you mean the ants then carry on - they are pests!
DeleteLovely roses! Nice flower cut decoration! You really have artistic hand Sue!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Malar.
DeleteWhat a lovely shrub rose, it's just teeming with roses! I love your posy and the daisies, I have them everywhere too! Wow...strawberries already! Respect!xxx
ReplyDeleteThey have lovely perfume too, Dina
DeleteSo I'm only a week behind you on the strawberry front. Perhaps I need an earlier variety!
ReplyDelete