First runner beans and late leeks

We have the first of the runner bean harvest today, so that’s great news.

And we have also planted some late leeks to fill up a bed – it’s so strange that you have to plant them in holes that you then don’t fill in with earth. Just water them and you’re done. No idea why but it works for leeks!

The late planting of mangetouts is now tall enough for us to put up a structure for them to grow on.

Meanwhile the beetroot is growing well …

… as is the yakon next to it:

We’re also really pleased with the Brussels sprouts as they seem to be growing away happily too, which is certainly different from the failures of the last two years!

The sunflowers actually have buds forming which is very exciting!

And, astonishingly, the birds have left us enough blackcurrants for another crumble – which is unheard of. The birds must be super-lazy this year. Here is the harvest, consisting of the blackcurrants, mangetouts, runner beans, gladioli, carnations, echinacea, rudbeckia, alstroemeria and sweet peas:

Here are the vases at home:

Happy Sunday, everyone!

Anne Brooke Body Shop Consultant

First of the Gladioli

Great news today – the first few of the gladioli are out and I am SO pleased! I really do love this red and white one (which came up by itself in totally the wrong bed so I have no idea what it is …):

The lilies also look particularly good in the sunlight:

We also have more sweet peas coming through now (hurrah!):

And the alstroemeria are back in business too:

In other news, the second sowing of peas we did a couple of weeks ago are now coming up which is good news:

Here is the harvest of gladioli, lilies, alstroemeria, carnations, one rudbeckia, the peas, and two containers of blackcurrants (half of which have gone into today’s crumble):

Here are the vases at home:

Have a lovely Sunday, everyone – the weather’s fabulous!

Anne Brooke Body Shop Consultant

Unexpected visitors!

We had some unexpected visitors at the allotment today, but the first group were very well behaved and seemed interested in what we were doing, so I hope they pop along again sometime …

Aren’t they gorgeous! The foal was just adorable, but so fast moving that I couldn’t really get a decent shot.

Anyway, to more allotment-focused matters, today we planted up some more rudbeckia:

And also we added in some more pea seeds in the pea area, plus some beetroot (as below):

The alstroemerias are doing well and there is even one coreopsis in bloom (the yellow flower):

And the sweet peas continue to come along, although there is sadly a bit of a blackfly problem with them, so I keep on spraying …

And the lilies are in bloom (though not the new ones … yet):

Speaking of unexpected visitors, we have a rabbit interloper – oh the horror! So we put a plank over the hole as a temporary measure, but will have to get that fixed soonest …

Here are two harvests, as I popped up during the week to give the place a watering as the weather was so dry:

Here are the vases at home:

Have a lovely Sunday, everyone!

Anne Brooke Books