Update on annual flower bed.

Each year I create an annual flower bed in at least one part of the plot.

In the past I have sown the seeds in pots in the greenhouse and then transplanted in clumps. I posted about this technique here. It was the method that I used last year which resulted in the display shown below. The photos were taken on 30 July 2016.

I was quite pleased with the result. I then decided to use up the seeds that I had left over and sowed them directly later in July. They germinated well and I also noticed that the resulting plants grew stronger, so with this in mind, I decided this year to direct sow the main annual bed. An added advantage was that I would free up space in the greenhouse at a time when space is at a premium.

I had the following list of seeds.

The original plan was to direct sow the hardy annuals and sow the half hardy ones in modules as usual. The half hardies would later be planted in gaps between the hardy varieties.

I direct sowed the seeds in mid May. These were sown in trenches cut in weed control fabric and filled with compost.

Shortly after sowing the seeds we had a rare day of heavy rain which was followed by a short hot spell and then cool drizzly conditions.  From then on we had conditions hardly conducive to seed germination. It wasn't only the annual flowers that suffered. Many seeds that did manage to germinate fell victim to hungry slugs.

So how have things developed and what have I learned. The first thing is that in dry conditions compost dries out very quickly and, despite watering the seed bed on every visit to the plot, I'm sure some emerging seedlings suffered from being too dry. Their shallow, immature root system maybe struggled to find sufficient moisture. Our clay soil is very rough and not ideal for direct sowing of small seeds and so we have since adapted our sowing medium. We now mix the soil excavated from the trench with compost.

Growth was slow and seedlings appeared in patches. I resowed some new seed in bare areas to try and compensate but the overall patchiness wasn't helped by my decision to use the half hardy annuals in the refurbished perennial bed.

No matter how hard I tried I couldn't keep the didiscus from being demolished by slugs. I'm trying to grow some in pots on the garden at the moment but the slugs are moving in one them.

The amberboa that I was looking forward to didn't germinate at all.

In the end I have ended up with the display shown in the photos below.

I think I have ended up with less variety in the bed than previously but we still have a reasonable display. Maybe I need something frothy like the ammi which was included last year.

The calendula seeds were gathered from a flower colour that I really liked last year but unfortunately the colours haven't come true.

One thing that I have noticed however, is that the plants are much sturdier than in previous years. This is particularly apparent in the case of the poppies.

 Their stems are very strong.

Would growing in pots have been more successful? I don't think so. Transplanted seedlings always seemed to stall and flag on planting out and individual plants never ended up as strong as this year's. On top of that I reckon they would have really struggled to take off in this year's conditions. They are also just as vulnerable to slug devastation.

So moving forward to next year:

• I will sow direct again but in a soil/compost mix and maybe slightly later than this year. Maybe the end of May.
• I'll choose only hardy annuals for this bed.

Which variety of hardy annual would be on the top of your to grow list?

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

Summerhouse hibiscus

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

The wrong sort of weather

Last week the weather was just what you don't want when there is almost ripe fruit hanging on the trees and onions are being 'dried' outdoors. It was wet and windy. Plot visits have more or less been confined to a quick harvest and watering in the greenhouse. During the week, Martyn did manage to strim the grass paths and I started a bit of tidying but any activity was interspersed with coffee breaks in the shed avoiding the showers.

Sunday we managed a full afternoon, I tidied the strawberry beds and Martyn lifted potatoes and did some tidying and of course we both harvested.

This year our overwintered onions have provided us with a crop up until the summer ones being lifted. The ones above are Radar.

15 August

The cabbage in the collection above weighed in at 2.7 kg (just a smidgeon under 6lb). It was another of the so called small cabbages. I prepared it and filled a large freezer bag to be kept in the fridge to use throughout the week. It keeps quite well this way.

We now have a steady supply of tomatoes from the garden greenhouse and from outside on the plot. Incredibly, those planted outdoors are ripening sooner than those in the plot greenhouse. So far we have harvested Sungold and Gardeners' Delight. The pace of ripening is steady, just enough to provide us with fresh fruits for lunch. 

We are still cropping watercress from our garden pond but it looks as though this will soon be ready to be cut back.

We are picking peaches and nectarines from the trees in the garden greenhouse and they are chin drippingly juicy.

We also have figs ripening in the garden. Just enough to add to our fruit salads.

I'm still picking peas, blackberries and blueberries on each visit to the plot. 

17 August

Martyn dug more potatoes - this time the variety is Vivaldi and Nadine. Again there was no pest although one potato did have the possible sign of blight. This may have been something else as it is strange that we haven't noticed a problem with the foliage, other than there being wilting due to a lack of rain. Also only one potato was affected. We have now sampled Casablanca, Orla, Amour and Vivaldi and all have produced very tasty tubers. Despite the lack of rain or any artificial watering, Vivaldi has produced some good sized potatoes.

We haven't grown summer squash before so the Yellow Scallop below is our first ever summer squash harvest,

We are being kept busy picking and preparing climbing French and runner beans. All our varieties are now cropping. So far this is the only crop that is giving us anything that could be called a glut. The courgettes seem surprisingly shy to produce this year.

I guess you could say that we have a glut of sweet peas but it's a glut that I can happily cope with.

19 August

The greengages are ripe and deliciously sweet in spite of the fact that they are not the prettiest looking fruit. All the fruit within reach from our two trees has been picked now.

We are also still picking Victoria plums and still the wasps have kept away. Coincidence or are the waspinators working. At the moment they have been weather battered and so have been given a makeover. This time to strengthen them I have used a double layer of paper bags.

We are picking apples to eat fresh from the plot and the garden. The ones  below are the variety that we think is Discovery.

The ones below is Peasgood Nonsuch picked from the garden. They were cooked and mixed with some blackberries.

We had been waiting to pick a fruit from one of our small apple trees. This has been the first year that Baya Marisa, or to give it, it's more easily remembered name Tickled Pink, has produced fruit. The flesh of the fruit is red almost to the core as can be seen in the photo below.

 I expected a sweet tasting apple but we found it to have a sharp, tart flavour.

The potatoes below are Nadine.

20 August

I thought that I would give you a break from photographs of sweet peas but I have to include a photos representing our flower harvest. The flowers below were picked from our perennial and annual beds.

Martyn has produced a video about our Vivaldi harvest. The video is just over 8 minutes long.

Our total harvest for August so far is listed here

As usual I am linking to harvest Monday hosted on Dave's blog Our Happy Acres

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