So what's been happening.
Well, the Kiftsgate rose has finally hit it's stride and is looking spectacular as usual.
It's just a shame that this floral mass is so short lived! But then again, when you see it in all it's glory , you can forgive it cause it does this year after year and it must take a fair bit of effort!
Elsewhere in the borders, the Hypericums are brightening up everything with their bright yellow flowers, the buddleias are stating to produce their frothy spikes and the good weather means that the bees and butterflies have returned in numbers.
In fact over the last two Tuesdays, the noise of bees has been quite extraordinary - this is due to the presence just outside the garden of some very old and very large lime trees which are in flower at the moment and the bees just love them - there is a constant background buzz all day.
On the veg front the tomatoes have had their growing tips pinched out to help the fruits grow and ripen, the cabbages have all been lifted as they were beginning to split, the sprouts are looking good and have been individually staked, the runner beans are beginning to flower, the peas plants are full of developing pods, the French Beans are a bit behind but will get there, the onions are ready for lifting, the carrots are being thinned but are producing some nice roots, the parsnips are looking healthy and the potatoes are giving a nce clean crop. The only downer really is that the mice / shrews / voles have found the beetroot and have chomped through the lot with the exception of one picking.I had this problem when I grew veg for a living but I grew thousands so the loss of a couple of hundred wasn't too much of an issue but when you only have fifty or so plants, it becomes a real pain. But we carry on..
Still on the veg front, the area designated for the permanent veg beds is in the process of being cleared....
And the slope below the long borders has been tidied up and both areas will be sprayed off next week (assuming the forecasters have it right and this good weather continues til then !)
On to the show, and the sweet peas are beginning to motor and have been dropped and moved over a couple of canes. I decided to do this last week although they could have gone another week before moving them, but I didn't want to move them so close to the date of the first show (this Saturday). So Sally and myself dropped them and moved them all over - what a time consuming job - and there are only 60 odd plants. Anyway, the plants are looking good and they are producing nice size blooms with very long and straight stems, so fingers crossed for some decent entries in the show. To this end, Sally hae ordered some bikini vases on the Interweb .Here is a bucket of blooms - from the cordon grown and from the wigwams in the borders
I also lifted some of the better onions, so that we vcan get a set of three onions grown from sets in the show too - I have these at home, having skinned them and they are nestling im a bed of sawdust in a seed tray. I'll be showing Sally how to tie the necks off with raffia next week.
So that's it up to date - normal service should be resumed and updates completed on svhedule from now on.!
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