A mystery revealed.

A deep red Penstemon, I love it.

Although our garden is less than four years old it still manages to deliver surprises to us. Plants appear that we know nothing about, where they came form how they got there and what might it be. Last autumn a new bed was created to make room for divisions coming from a local friendly plant nursery. We had placed our order and knew what was coming, Delphiniums, Bergamot( two different colours) Phlox, deep purple double blossomed Aquilegia and Rudbeckia.  Apart from bulbs and Dianthus cuttings nothing else was planted. Several weeks ago we noticed three clumps of something appearing, the leaves were not particularly attractive but as we didn't recognise them we let them be, to see what they turned into. They grew, and grew, they are about three foot high now,

I love this woven basket effect.

then large brown woven balls started appearing, about two inches across, we were still none the wiser.

Then one day last week a tuft of yellow appeared from the tops of the woven balls,

two days later and all was revealed.

Nearly three inches across, if it stops raining the butterflies will love it.

Yellow Knapweed, Centaurea macrocephala. We think they are stunning, the flower pods before the revelation are fascinating, and the flowers are a true lemon yellow, bees and butterflies love them. They are a welcome addition to the garden, but we still do not know where they came from! We have been assured by the nursery owner that they were not from her, but we wonder, as another friend also has them and he swears that his came from this nursery. I guess we will never be sure, but they are a keeper as far as we are concerned. I love things that just seem to turn up in a garden, especially if it's something we are not familiar with.
We also love spotting wild plants,

Agrimoney, once so common.

at one time Agrimony would have been a common sight in the country side, we spotted these growing along a verge a few days ago, we have never seen them in Ireland before, although they should be common,

Scarlet Pimpernel, such a pretty little plant.

another what used to be common plant is Scarlet Pimpernel, again, something we seldom have seen here. Too much scorched earth, it's killing all the common wild flowers, people use Glyphosate like Henry Cooper used to use 'Brut' the man's 'after shave', splash it all over, never mind the biodiversity. Now if you want wild flowers you have to buy a packet of wild flower mix and plant your own patch, yet things that should be controlled if not eradicated are left, things like Japanese knot weed which are taking over vast areas of the country side, Gunnera, which is a real menace in Connemara

Giant Hog Weed, something you don't want to touch.

and Giant Hog weed which we also spotted along the road side.

It promises to be a good broad bean harvest.

The broad beans are coming fast now, this week they will have to be harvested and frozen.

Quite a weight range, I wonder how supermarkets manage to have theirs all the same weight?

 The table birds are now all in the freezer, there was quite a difference in weight, ranging from 2.02 to 3.16kg, the larger ones have all been portioned for midweek meals, the smaller ones we have left whole for our Sunday roasts, and we have sold two, in fact we could have sold the whole lot, but the aim is to provide our own food. We might however do extra next year for people who want  genuine Organic free range chicken and not the things that purport to be, that are sold in supermarkets.

All legs and neck, but so cute.

The Llamas that we saw earlier in the year are now starting to give birth, this little one is just a day old, so cute, all legs, but grazing already.

Penstemon

Summer Harvest, one week on.

I grew this lovely rose from a cutting from a neighbour in Spain, it has a lovely perfume.

                    The season is moving on far too quickly,

First two pounds of blackcurrants.

the blackcurrants are earlier than last year although it wont be so big a harvest ,  that's fine, as we  have 20lb of currants still in the freezer,

It might be raining but the fruit still gets picked.

however they will still be picked and processed into jam or blackcurrant cordial.

The rhubarb is still producing new good stems, they are also picked and then frozen for pies during the dark winter days. Strawberries we just eat as they come, only if I get a glut do I make jam with them. What is nicer than  strawberries, fresh from the garden with a good helping of cream?

First of the raspberries.

The raspberries are cropping well this year, we are now picking 1.5lb a day, some we eat on the day, the rest I freeze, lovely in the middle of winter, just the smell  brings back summer.

Crème Brulee with a difference,  strawberry, raspberry and blackcurrant topping.

The broad beans are also doing very well this year, planted out as small plants in February we will have plenty to freeze, the Runner beans have started climbing and producing flower but nowhere near as many as last year, the  French beans are slower however, they really do prefer more warmth, but the garden peas are fine.

The Hubbard birds.

The table birds that we had have now gone for processing, normally we would do this ourselves, however the prospect of slaughtering and plucking twenty birds was a bit daunting and I had heard of someone who had set up a small 'on farm' enterprise where he can slaughter and process birds for other people.

'The Friendly Farmer' has a smallish Free Range enterprise where he farms chickens, ducks and turkeys, he sells his produce in Farmers markets and selected restaurants.

 Having decided what he was going to farm he found that the processing of birds for sale was likely to create a problem so he did the sensible thing, he opened up his own processing unit with the help of a grant from the Galway enterprise scheme. There are so few small processing units around so we consider ourselves lucky that there is one not too far away and who will do the whole job at a very reasonable price. We will pick up the birds tomorrow all cleaned and ready for the freezer.

Isn't he beautiful? He keeps the poultry safe.

He seems to have a very good setup, and we loved his predator protection, three huge Pyrenean Mountain dogs, they live in the field with the birds! From a distance they looked like small ponies. Apparently he has not lost a bird to foxes, nor to the dogs, so his method seems to work.

Battered Delphiniums.

We have had strong winds again in the last few days although it has been mild, but the wind did a fair bit of damage to our lovely Delphiniums even though we thought they were well staked.

Lots of buds to open on this one.

Last Christmas we were given two Orchids by friends,

Back in bloom again.

I have never been very successful with Orchids, however taking advice from another friend these two plants have now come back into bloom. So, many thanks to Richard who told me how to care for Orchids.

View from the kitchen window.

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.

    

Perfumed Posy.

The flower  gardens are full of summer colour now, each day there seems to be something else in bloom, a lot of which I had forgotten I had planted,

A poppy with peony pretentions.

or in the case of some lovely lilac poppies that have appeared by magic, maybe they had been laying dormant for years, or maybe the fairies have been at work, however they got here they are a welcome addition, I hope they self seed.

The Delphiniums are looking truly magnificent and very regal, they are all over six feet in height, these plants were from a plant swap,

Blue with a hint of purple.

one is a lovely pale shade of blue and the one next to it promises to be a pale purple,they look lovely with the foxgloves which have also grown to over six feet,

White Foxgloves.

the foxgloves were all grown from seed including the lovely white ones.

Deep blue Delphiniums.

The dark blue Delphinium is a plant that I bought.
The Rosa rugosas are also looking lovely,

White rosa rugosa

I love the white one, again these were all grown from seed.

Yellow loosestrife on the right.

The yellow loosestrife was a gift from a friend, it's a great plant for flower arrangements.

 The Dianthus were all grown from cuttings from a friends garden,

they are just about the easiest plant to propagate this way.

I think my dream garden would be bordered by Dianthus and Lavender, I am working towards this aim!

So much scent.

The little posy is full of scented flowers straight from the garden, roses (David Austin) Dianthus and Honeysuckle, it smells heavenly.

I love this little vase.

The little vase that they stand in is a studio piece, picked up in a local charity shop for just two euro, I love it and it matches other pieces that we have, possible from the same studio which is not far from here.
The back garden is planted mainly with roses, mostly again David Austin as they specialise in old fashioned perfumed varieties,

A perfect rose.

this beautiful yellow rose came as part of a special offer from an Irish gardening catalogue, they were doing a special offer of five David Austin roses for fifty euro, but you didn't know what varieties you would receive, we weren't disappointed, and they are all well perfumed.
The vegetable garden is also full of food , we are spoilt for choice, but does it all have to come at once? Tonight it will be broad beans and calabrese, followed by yet more strawberries. these are the outside ones, we are picking 750g every other day.

Cambridge favourite.

When I bought these plants I did a bit of research to see the best type to grow in our climate, good old Cambridge Favourite came out tops, we haven't been disappointed either by flavour or the production of the plants.

Pineapple weed.

One of the hen paddocks has been taken over by Pineapple weed, Matricaria discordea, again this seed must have been laying dormant for many years, you can use it in salads or to make tea but unfortunately the hens don't seem to like it, but it is hardwearing and it defiantly gives of a strong smell of pineapples.

Arnold taking his two favourite girls for a walk.

 I suspect the fact the poultry don't seem to like it explains why Arnold our Muscovy drake decided to take two of his wives for a walk around the garden today no doubt looking for grass, Daffy and Dilly have always been his favourite girls and he is very protective of them.