Snow?

Well, you wouldn't expect snow in Hampshire in May, would you...? This snow-like stuff is actually the fallen blossom of the "Fish Tree" (regular readers will know that this is our family name for a tree of the Sorbus family at the bottom of my garden, called this because its flowers smell fishy).

The Broad Beans are setting pods now.

Unfortunately, if you look closely, you will see that some of the pods are already infested with aphids. I shall have to take the necessary action...!

The peas are not far off ready either...



Other fruits are swelling too, like this "Turkey Sweet Pepper": (It's about 1cm in length!)

I have some fine chillis now. This is "Nosferatu". They look impressive in their immature state, but when they are ripe they will turn red.

And the first potatoes are forming flowers now.



I should be harvesting some good stuff in June.

More new Aquilegias

What do you think of this Aquilegia?

This is a hybrid of one grown last year, from seed sent to me by Diana of Kebun Malay-kadazan Girls, but it is very different. Last year's were like this:

The ones this year are Double - perhaps Triple - and their "tails" are shorter and more orange than red.

Before they open, the tails are inter-twined, like this:

The immature buds are a pale green colour.

I love these flowers, though I have to say I wouldn't mind if their stems were a bit shorter! They are very tall and spindly, about twice as tall as the "David Ford" ones.

Cucumbers - thriving or surviving?

The cucumbers I planted out last week seem to be recovering from whatever it was that ailed them - disease? lack of nutrition due to poor compost? Although the first few leaves were beyond redemption and have been cut off, the plants have made several new ones:

Cucumber "Iznik F1"

One plant is in a big pot just outside the Living-Room door, surrounded by herbs, Sweet Peas and Aquilegias:



As you can see, I have put into the pot a trio of canes (5 foot long), around which I will train the plant.

The other two plants are down near the big Woodblocx raised bed, in a huge tub made from half of an old water-butt:

They look far from strong, but I do think they will survive, now that we have hopefully seen the last of the cold nights. I have given them a big dose of plant-food to boost them up.

The plants sheltering in the lee of the big tub are my spare tomato plants. They look just as good as the "main" plants I potted up. I think it would be a great shame to just throw them on the compost, so I have promised them to a friend (one of my regular "garden helpers"). She always accepts spare plants because any she can't use herself go to a plant sale in aid of our local hospital.

I really do hope the cucumbers manage to pull through, because I know how much my two "English" granddaughters love cucumbers! I say "English" granddaughters because of course these days we have a "French" one too. I wonder if she will like cucumbers when she is older? I expect so, since her mother seems to have inherited the green fingers.

Beating the Butterflies

You know I found Butterfly eggs on one of my Brussels Sprout plants the other day? Well, I decided that the time had come to prevent any further infestations by covering the bed with anti-butterfly netting. I have seen a few Small White butterflies around, but they are not yet in plague proportions like they were last Summer, though I expect they will come in greater numbers very soon.

Before netting the raised bed, I gave each plant a stout stake, to which I will attach them as they grow bigger. At each corner of the bed, and half-way along the long sides I hammered in more stakes, this time longer than the plant-support ones. These are for supporting the netting. In theory the net, which is made of knitted polythene, is light enough to be supported by the plants themselves. However, I don't like that idea,  because I feel it would be bound to cause them some stress or damage, and of course it would mean that Butterflies could lay their eggs through the netting. I have therefore draped the net over the six taller stakes, each one of which is topped with an empty Elmlea pot to stop the net snagging on the rough wood or metal.

I didn't have enough long wooden stakes, so I used some I made from the arms of an old rotary washing-line. They work very well, and in fact they are easier to hammer in, since they are slimmer than the chunky wooden ones.

Close-up of the stakes topped with plastic pots

The mesh of this net has a diameter of about 5mm, which will stop Butterflies getting in, but I think it would also deter all but the most determined bees as well. Fortunately the Brussels Sprouts don't require the services of bees...

You will notice that I have weighted-down the edges of the net with bricks. Those bricks are invaluable. I don't know how I would manage without them!



Caught red-handed

The Snakeshead Fritillaries finished flowering some weeks ago, and they then set their seeds, which are held in triple-lobed pods like these, at the tips of the long slender stems:

But do you see how one of those seed-pods has been nibbled away to nothing? Lots of them are like that, and I have been wondering what is to blame. Purely by chance, I have found out. A little flash of red caught my eye...

Caught in the act! It's a Lily Beetle, isn't it?

It's a shame that they are so destructive, because they are certainly good-looking.

I guess there will be rather fewer Fritillaries next year than there might have been, then.

Protecting the Strawberry crop

Many of you will know that I have taken to growing Strawberries in black plastic crates. This means that I can move them around when necessary - e.g. to protect them from severe frosts when the flowers are forming, or as now, to protect their ripening fruit from the depredations of voracious Blackbirds and Squirrels. The Blackbirds in particular are a menace in the garden - ingenious and persistent in their search for food.

I have constructed a temporary fruit cage using my "Build-a-Ball" kit, some aluminium rods and a net. With this combination it is easy and quick to build a suitable structure, like this:

I have a set of 12 balls, and a selection of different lengths of aluminium rod. You just push the rods into the ball, which is made of rubber, and it grips the rod firmly.

Once the cage was assembled, I put the Strawberry crates inside, draped the net over the top and weighted the edges down with a few bricks. Et voila - a perfectly acceptable fruit cage assembled in a few minutes! Incidentally, the net has a one-inch mesh diameter, so it will keep birds out but let bees in.



I'm hoping that the Strawberry fruits will ripen and be finished before the Blueberries come on-stream, because I don't have enough stuff to make another cage. If the two coincide I will have to knock-up something a bit less "professional". One way or another, the Blueberries must also be protected, because if there is something that Blackbirds like more than Strawberries, it's Blueberries! [Though, come to think of it, they are pretty fond of Redcurrants too.]

Harvest Monday - 19th May 2014

I have very little in the way of harvests to report again. Highspot of the week was this little batch of Rocket (Aragula):

It wasn't a lot, but it was just enough to make a topping for a home-made pizza (which also had tomatoes macerated in balsamic vinegar, and shaved Parmesan cheese).

There is lots of Lettuce available now, so we have had that a couple of times. On one occasion Jane made a really superb salad-dressing for it, using St.Agur soft blue cheese. She made plenty of it so there was enough to spoon some of it over the Ribeye steaks that the salad was accompanying.

"Can-Can" (L) and "Marvel of Four Seasons" (R)

We had one more batch of Asparagus this week.

The experiment with storing the cut Asparagus in the herb-keeper worked well, by the way. It kept the spears nice and fresh, and it was easy to keep adding a spear or two whenever they became ready. Our last batch was 12 spears, which is plenty for a 2-person serving.

This is my entry for Harvest Monday, hosted on Daphne's Dandelions