A small deception

One of the reasons I haven't posted much recently is due to a small deception on my part. Feeling the need to expand my little empire, I took on a new plot at the allotment site, but took a little while to tell SomeBeans about it. Pictures on the blog would have given it away a bit...


Anyway, I've now come clean to him about Number 99, which he has very kindly started to dig for me - I made a start, but SomeBeans has lent his stamina to the project.


No. 99 is a full plot, with two small fruit trees on it. The idea is to have around half of it down to fruit.

This is No. 99 with my minimal amount of digging done

Oh dear, the view from the other end shows we've got our work cut out...

SomeBeans has made an excellent start!

I haven't been neglecting 97A - lots of weeding has had to be done. I enjoy the mindless monotony of weeding, except when I sit on a partch of nettles

Progress on 97A:

• broad beans are flowering, including the crimsone flowered beans, although these are not as tall as the 'normal' type.


• golden podded mangetout are now starting to climb the frame.


• Lady Christl potatoes are growing well and have been earthed up twice so far.


• asparagus are coming up - not so much 'spears' as needles, (or 'sprue' as I believe weedy asparagus is called).


• strawberries are flowering - exciting!


• kohl rabi slowly growing


• parsnips have germinated and are growing


• lettuce is growing


• onions are sprouting (grown from sets - red and yellow)
  
• carrots are sort of sprouting (one line) but the Chantenay have yet to make an appearance.


• I planted out 'Primo' cabbage and 'Trafalgar' brussels - in well firmed down soil; these have been seiously nibbled but should recover. If they don't, I've got plenty of brassica seedlings to replace them with.


• garlic is surviving, elephant garlic is thriving


• raspberries are alive, but I won't get a harvest this year. They need some nice manure around them to give them a bit of a feed.


• I harvested four radishes - to go with the lettuce I harvested last week! Ok, so we're not going to be able to give up Morrison's just yet, but it's a start!

Me weeding the asparagus bed - potato beds in the foreground (successional planting)

For those who are keen on asparagus, there is the British Asparagus Festival in the Vale of Evesham to look forward to.

Ness Gardens in the sunshine!

Well, in its capriciousness, the weather decided to be nice to us at Ness last weekend. A beautiful morning, and very quiet there to start off with - it's nice to imagine that you're wandering through your own gardens in the peace of a sunday morning.

SomeBeans tried out his new lens and got some lovely photos...

Pleione taken in the alpine house

The fresh new growth of the Tulip Tree (Liriodendron)

I've seen Pleione at the Malvern Spring Garden show and assumed that they were difficult and wondrous beasts to grow. This website has information on their cultivation: Heritage Orchids