Monday, July 6, 2015

Summer harvests.

The Antirrhinums look lovely against the blue of the Nepeta. 
Although the weather has been variable this year the vegetable garden is doing well, so far the only disappointment has been the asparagus, we only managed three feasts from it and then the weather changed and we had frosts in May which stopped the plants from growing, by the time we were back to normal weather we were approaching mid summer and wisdom says never to harvest asparagus after mid summers day, so we will have to remember how good the pickings were and wait for the next years  harvest.
One of the varieties of first early potato's.
The first early potatoes from the tunnel are now finished and we are onto the first earlies from the garden, they are delicious but unfortunately we never got round to putting labels on the rows as to what varieties each row is, we have done three different types of earlies this year, four if we included the Ratte potato, the seeds of which were donated to us by a friend. For anyone who likes a good potato, waxy and full of flavour this is one to try, they have a slight chestnut flavour but they are hard to find. Easier to grow than Pink Fir Apple but the same shape, but these are a white potato, not red.
Carrots do need thinning even more.
Not bad for thinning's.
The first carrots have been pulled as they needed thinning out, onions in the tunnel are ready for plaiting, the outside ones aren't far behind.
Shush, no slugs damage on the sprouts....so far!
The Brussel sprouts are also looking good, and the broad beans are also ready. We have so much Broccoli that we will have to freeze a lot, we had hoped to get away without freezing any veg this year,
Blackcurrants ready for picking.
and the Blackcurrants are ready for picking. Leeks, Swede and Parsnips are all looking good, another year of plenty.
Eight week old chicks.
Chicks that we hatched a couple of months ago are all looking good, we think that we have two Buff Orpington Pullets and just one male, and the Marans we think are five pullets and two males, they will be big enough to go into their proper runs in a couple of weeks.
The Hubbard table birds reach their 84 days on Wednesday, so time to get the freezer ready. We  also have some Muscovy ducklings just hatching five out so far, hopefully there are more to come.

A startling colour Astilbe.
The garden is still very colourful,
A delicate colour.
the Delphinium that I thought might be a lilac colour did not disappoint,
I love this lilac colour with the pale blue Delphiniums.
it's beautiful but we have had to stake them and the foxgloves, the winds have been very strong and have done some damage.
This rose grows in all the hedgerows around here, it's beautiful and highly perfumed.
All the roses are now in flower, they are way behind last year,
I love the contrast of the Albertine rose against the red prunus.
maybe they will continue longer.
Heath Spotted orchid.
This month is a good month for plant hunts,
Common Spotted orchid.
so far in the last two days we have found four different types of orchid all within in a mile or so of where we live.
Lesser Butterfly orchid.
The Lesser Butterfly orchid was one we were very pleased to find as we had not seen it in this area before.
Twayblade orchid.
Apparently Ireland has thirty different types of Orchids, we have a long way to go to see them all, I think we have identified just ten so far.
I think this willow sculpture has started growing again.
    

21 comments:

  1. Your veg garden is so bountiful. I am so so jealous. Im sure if i didnt work full time and have that other job (you know the one, wife/mother/cleaner/cook/laundress/chauffeur etc i might actually have one to equal. Oh well. Im so jealous of your poultry. Heck, im just plain jealous full stop.

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  2. Yes, the veg garden keeps us going, I would hate to think how much our food bill would be if we had to buy it. Fortunately we both like gardening so we work as a partnership. Simon is the chauffeur, I don't drive anymore due to my eyesight, so I'm dependent on him to take me places.

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    1. I cannot grow carrots. What is your secret. I have healthy soil full of compost, manure and lots of worms I've even seived a section so there are no sticks and still they come out twisted. Ive used a tape and ive also used seeds in sand. Oh Dear, its hopeless.

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    2. Carrots do not like manure Lynda, they like a very light even sandy soil. can you make a bed for them from ordinary garden soil and sand?

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  3. Your carrot thinning's are excellent. Do you feed them with a garden tea? I know fym can make them fork. Your garden is a credit to you both.

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    1. We should have thinned them out earlier Dave, just did not get round to doing them. No, no feeding at all, it was a new raised bed garden soil on top of branches a little garden compost mixed in. We have never used FYM directly only once composted along with other things, the only exception to this was when we wanted a hot bed for early potatoes, we used horse manure but chicken manure can also be used for a hotbed, it worked well but that was in the tunnel.

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  4. Wonderful! Are your flowers from seed? Everything looks so lush. Very dry and hot here and no rain in the forecast for the next 2 weeks.

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    1. Some are from seeds but as we are wanting only herbaceous plants most are done from cuttings. Most herbaceous plants will take two years to bloom if grown from seed.

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    1. Do you go on Orchid hunts B.G ? We love our wild flower hunts, Spain was amazing for the variety's that grew.

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  6. Your garden is stunning, we are moving soon and look forward to creating our new garden.

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  7. Thanks, we love our garden. We have been here nearly four years now, when we moved in all we had was two one acre fields so it's been quite hard work to establish the gardens, they are now complete, they just have to mature.

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  8. The willow sculpture's wonderful, they seem very popular just now, I often see them amongst the veg beds when I'm visiting gardens. Your veggies are doing brilliantly, shame about the asparagus but you can't win them all. I grow Anya potatoes, a cross between Pink Fir Apple and Desiree and I love them but someone left me a comment on my blog last year saying that Ratte were even better. I thought I'd give them a go but wasn't able to find any so I shall look out for some again next year, especially since you recommend them too.

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    1. I think Anya might be one of the mystery varieties that we are growing but we wont know until we start digging them. Like yourself we also tried to find Ratte in the seed catalogues this year but they have disappeared, thankfully a friend was able to help out.

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  9. While you are on plant IDs, Anne, we have a tallish mystery. 2 foot tall and looking most like a scabious - very pale yellow and with a head a bit like a composite or umbellifera; the centre is dense and made of tiny florets, the edges more lacy and made of bigger, looser florets. We think it may have come from you in one of your (generous) batches either as seed or as a tiny youngster but we have long since lost the label or it faded. Any ideas?

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  10. Email me a photo Matt, not ringing any bells so far.

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  11. I put a pic up in my most recent blog-post, Anne.

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  12. Well, thanks for that ID, then - we now need to rack our brains trying to remember who the generous benefactor might have been.

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  13. wow Anne, everything looks brilliant. Though I am sorry to hear about the asparagus as I know you love it! I think the sculptures look even better with the new growth! x

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  14. I also love the sculptures now they are sprouting, it makes them even more fun.

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