Sunday 10 June 2012

A brief window of sunshine!

Hooray, we had some sunshine at last! (Though it looks as if we are going to be back to rainy weather again very soon.)

I really wanted to post some photos that didn't show things all wet and windy, so yesterday I was out in the garden photographing practically everything in sight! The potted plants on the patio were my first prey.

Let it never be said that I grow nothing but vegetables...


The Golden Dogwood looked very dramatic in the morning sunlight


The Chives looked rather bedraggled, still being whipped-about by the gale-force winds, but nevertheless grateful for the respite from the prolonged rain.


The pots of French Beans appear to have survived unscathed:


I have cut down most of the Aquiliegia before it had a chance to produce seeds, but I'm glad this one still remains, because it has allowed me to produce a light-and-shade effect photo - which is one of my favourite styles.


Lots of the little apples have fallen (or been blown) off the tree, but that is actually quite normal - it's an effect called "The June Drop", whereby the trees shed some of their immature fruit in a sort of natural thinning exercise. Presumably they instinctively know how many fruits they think they will be able to support. Although my apple tree nearly got the chop last year it looks as if this year I might actually get one or two decent fruits.


My photo of the Kohlrabi makes it look huge, but it's actually about the size of a large marble!


But what about this, eh? Impressive, or what?


I'm wondering if I'm going to need to net those before they ripen... It would be a shame to let my resident squirrel snaffle them up.

On the patio my planter full of Calendulas is beginning to be noticeable.


A couple of the plants have buds on them now, so I'll finish my post with this close-up photo. I think it makes the bud look a bit like a huge bunch of bananas. (Yes, I do have a vivid imagination...)


Is that an aphid at the bottom right corner, or perhaps a tiny spider?

15 comments:

  1. Light and shade can be very tricky to get the exposure right the Aquilegia looks good though

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  2. It's all looking nice, I thought your 'bunch of banana's' plant looked like one of those triffid type plants, about to open it's mouth and all those banana's are its teeth, sharp and steel like... I also have a vivid imagination LOL

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  3. It's nice to have some photos in the sunshine for a change. It's gone very dark here, I think the rain is about to start again.

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  4. Hi Mark,

    Lovely photos!

    My favourites are the Kohlrabi for that amazing alien-like shape and colour, the strawberries with the light and shade effect and the promise of Summer and the final one for sheer weirdness-fantastic!!

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  5. The sun is coming out now here too. Wish it had been out this morning instead of soaking us during butchering.
    Your close up of the flower bud does look like a bunch of bananas to me too.

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  6. I love kohlrabi. I harvested all mine last week. They just exploded with growth and I didn't want them to get woody. This week seems to be mostly sunny and 80F (27C) all week long. I hope we get a pop up thundershower some afternoon for rain. Otherwise I'll have to bring out the hose.

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  7. If you had not told me, I would have guessed those were bananas even though I know bananas don't grow like that.

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  8. Like the last photo. It looks like bananas to me too. Glad you are getting some sunshine.

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  9. Your beans are looking really good - I'm missing mine and can't wait for Spring....how much winter is there left to whinge about?

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  10. Should you net? YES YES YES!

    So don't you want any more aquilegias. We have a lovely white one that has self seeded in a container under a palm.

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    1. Sue; Re Aquilegias: Yes, I want more of them, but No, I don't want the pale pink ones to self-seed all over the place again. I have masses of the plain pink ones and not enough of the others. I am deliberately letting the blue ones set seed this year, but not the pink ones, to see if I can even-up the balance a bit.

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  11. Nice to have some sun. The purple kohlrabi are gorgeous!

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  12. Now you know what 'sun' is Mark!!! ;D
    I think that's possibly down to me send you some earlier....invoice in the post!
    Enjoy :D

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    1. Hi Neesie; Thanks for the sunshine (though I think you only despatched half what I ordered). There's a cheque in the post to you... :)

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  13. Good to see the sun.
    It looks as though we lost all the forming pears on our trees with the early storms, long before the June drop, though peaches and apples are still hanging on. We harvested our first strawberries this week, though already they are under attack - more from slugs and woodlice so far - probably wise to net if you can...

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