Ilkeston - Harvesting
w/e 12 August 2018
All of this week's pictures were
taken with a Kodak DX6490
The long hot summer has had a devastating effect
on the garden with several plants being scorched and more have
just shrivelled up and died. Runner bean plants have been going
to seed far too quickly and have provided only a handful of boilings
but surprisingly cabbages have done well and now as we come into
the harvesting season we're finding we have not done too badly
at all.
In the greenhouse a couple of pepper plants have supplied a steady
flow of produce - but they have been watered regularly.
|
Tomato plants too have responded well to daily watering and an
occasional feed. We haven't grown as many plants as usual but
have different varieties including Shirley, Alicante, Money Maker,
Sweet Aperitif which are a small fruit variety like the ones
pictured above, the perennial favourite, Gardeners Delight.
|
Raspberries in the garden are also beginning to provide regular
pickings which are lovely with ice cream as a dessert and this
week blackberries are also ready for picking. The adjacent rhubarb
patch has not done as well as usual due to the lack of water
but after a couple of showers this week is starting to pick up
and we should be able to start pulling a few sticks again soon.
|
We are not the only ones harvesting - bees are finding rich pickings
particularly on the lavender.
|
A self-starter sunflower, one of several, is also providing a
rich harvest for the bees. This one stands over six feet high
- that's the sunflower, not the bee!
|
We were gifted several packets of flower seeds earlier in the
year and I scattered a couple of them together in a small patch
and waited to see what they produced. Well one packet contained
poppies and the bees are loving these too.
|
The same packet also contained this raggedy type of purple poppy
too as well as other types - there is even a white one.
To record this photo as your favourite
from this week's selection vote for "Purple Poppy"
below.
|
The other packet contained zinnia seeds and this orange flower
is particularly striking.
|
Apparently zinnia flowers are good for cutting to display in
vases indoors although this red one is not as perfectly shaped
as some of the others and if we took them out of the garden it
would surely deprive the bees.
|
The pink variety adds to the colourful display and with the poppies
have created a wonderful patch in the garden despite the lack
of rain. Yes, for us it's not a bad harvest at all.
|
