Sun, rain, sun, rain

Seems that the weather is a little mixed up at the moment. When we went to the plot about midday it was nice and sunny, but that soon changed for an hour with an absolute downpour. After hiding in the greenhouses to avoid the dampness (used the time to clean the insides of the glass) we emerged into brilliant sunshine again.

Mind you, it did mean that we didn't have to water outside. But the Toms and Chillies in the greenhouse we in need of watering.

There are nice buzzy bees all over the flowers at the plot. The Artichoke is once again inundated.

The Cosmos is in full bloom (excuse the shadow).

And the mini-sunflowers at the front are falling over because of the amount of blooms.

But no butterflies. OK, I tell a lie, we did see the odd cabbage white. But nothing else. Maybe the rain chased them away? There has definitely been a marked decline in butterfly numbers over the past few years. This does not bode well.

But we do have a few extra flowers in one of our strawberry beds. And no, I don't mean strawberries. The bed seems to have picked up a few invaders. How many intruders can you count?

Tomato (top right), Foxgloves (top left), Chinese Lantern (Bottom), Wild Flower (Middle left), Dock (Bottom left).

And the courgettes are still flowering too.

Blooming heck

A little bit of sun and the flowers are blooming like crazy.

Cosmos

Buddleja

Star Flowers

Mixed wildflowers (Borage, Snapdragons, Cornflowers and a load I don't know)

Not only the flowers, the courgettes have shot up over this past week. So far we've harvested two of them. I suspect many, many more to follow.

One downside though, because we haven't been able to get to the plot in the evenings to pick the strawberries, a lot of them have simply ripened and rotted on the plants. I know it's such a waste, but there are only so many hours in the day.

Into the compost they go.

We still have a load of Tomatoes and Chillies to sort out. Guess that's my job for tomorrow after shop duty.

It's like a jungle sometimes...

...makes me wonder how I keep from going under.

No, I'm not trying to outdo Belinda and her music with every post. The greenhouses are starting to feel like a jungle now. We definitely have to evict some of the current residents otherwise it's going to be a nightmare.

First off we have the Cosmos which has now moved to one of the arms of the flower bed. The stalks are still a little fragile, so a simple bamboo cane support helps them stay put.

Next to be vacated is the Cape Gooseberries and Chinese Lanterns. These have now been put in separate beds.

Meanwhile, I've been attacking the old courgette mound. Since this year it's been retired, or rather, moved, to another spot, the old spot has been somewhat rather over run with weeds.

Of course the problem is that there are quite a few rogue potatoes in there as well. So I need to pull weeds without disturbing the spuds. Well in the end I opted for a compromise of pulling big weeds then stamping down the other and putting a large piece of carpet over it. We'll eventually have to move the butternut squash out here later, but in the meantime the greenhouse now looks a little more empty.

I think it's time for a well deserved cold bottle of cider that I have chilling in the fridge.

Flowers and food

I'm a veggie person. I prefer stuff that grows on the allotment to be stuff that I can eat. But there is also the need to keep the pollinators happy and, of course, the wife. So we have a variety of flowers growing as well as veggies.

Such as...
Morning Glory

Cosmos

Nasturtiums

A selection of bedding plants (I have no idea what they all are. Anybody?)

 

Sweet Peas

Lavender

Artichoke (not quite ready to blossom but soon)

And Okra.

Yes I know that you can eat the Okra, and we have done so. But they have a decent flower,

Elsewhere on the plot things are coming to fruition. The Leaf Beet is really starting to take off.

So I pulled a few leaves for tonight's dinner.

And along with the potatoes...

... we should have a decent meal.

The Rhubarb needs a damn good thinning out, so I guess I going to be making Rhubarb and Ginger Jam again.

And we even have some other stuff for little visitors such as this little moth.