Last of the chilli peppers

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Tomato 'Sungold'

Fruit you can pick for free in the wild.

Blackberries

Freshly baked goodies.

Flapjack

And best of all…a wonderful garden to view…

Beth Chatto Garden

…which also has a nursery full of mouthwatering plants :-)

Nursery at the Beth Chatto Garden

All are very hard to resist!

Visit Katarina at Roses and Stuff to see more Blooming Friday contributions.

Tomatoes, Chillies and Cucumbers

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Insects:

Those you like….

Vanessa atalanta, the Red Admiral butterfly

….and those you hate.

Aphids

Flowers:

The exotic and showy cultivated flower….

Passiflora caerulea (Passion Flower)

….and the simple and restrained wild flower.

Red clover (Trifolium pratense)

Vegetables:

Large vegetables….

Orange Pumpkin 'Rouge vif- D'Etampes' and green Winter Squash

….and small vegetables.

Peas and Mint

For more Blooming Friday posts visit Katarina at Roses and Stuff.

Have a good weekend.

Chilli Peppers – Our Summers are fairly short and there is no period when you can guarantee that one week of sun will be followed by a second. Despite having a greenhouse I am still having trouble getting Chilli plants into full production as they seem to reach maturity just as temperatures drop. I never have a huge crop. In some years I have sown seeds in mid March and sometimes  mid February.  Some varieties take ages to germinate and others take even longer. This year I am trying mid January in a heated propagator. I have planted double what I actually need. Please let germination be quick. Please let us have a real Summer.

Chilli 'Bulgarian Carrot'

Salad Leaves – “Sow every two or three weeks for a continuous crop”. Hmm – as if that ever works for me. Even when I remember to sow the seeds erratic germination and pesky slugs throw that continuity right out the window. This year I am sowing in pots and planting out instead of sowing directly in the ground. I am also going to sow directly into large pots raised off the ground and positioned near the house so that at least some of the lettuce/endive/chicory/assorted leaves will be under my beady eye. Every 3 weeks I am arranging for  Google Calendar to send me a reminder  to pick up that seed packet and get moving. Here’s hoping that 2011 will be “The Year of the Salad Leaf”.

Lettuce

Root Crops – I like beetroot but not a mountain of it and this year I will try to get to grips with the concept of “Sow a  little…and often”. I must remember to thin the rows if very crowded. This also applies to Turnips and Radishes.

Beetroot 'Chioggia'

Annual Herbs – Last year was a disaster as the Dill, Basil, Summer Savory and Sweet Marjoram germinated and then either bolted into flower (Dill, Savory, Marjoram) or grew a little and then sulked when the weather turned cool (Basil).  This year I will sow more than once. They will be in pots near the house and I will do my best to create a Mediterranean environment.

Bush Basil (Ocimum basilicum)

Perhaps if I play them one of my Greek music CDs they will think they are on a Greek island.

A Greek CD to set the mood

Seeds in greenhouse

I am not blogging or commenting as often for some reason – I do apologise.  I could blame The Web Designer and his wife J who moved in with us while looking for a new house. They have found one but it needs a lot of work so naturally they prefer staying on in more comfortable surroundings.  In truth it is lovely having them here as they have taken on a share of the cooking (hurrah!) and J has shown a talent for making scrumptious muffins (yum!).

Nor can I make much progress in the garden this coming weekend as I have been tempted by the garden bloggers’ get together at Malvern. The Digger and I are looking forward to the Malvern Spring Show and meeting people who have so far only existed in cyberspace.

I have a plan of campaign.

• I will not buy too many plants
• I will learn something about garden design that I can apply to my own garden (extremely unlikely but I live in hope)
• I will not obsess about expensive garden features and sculpture that I cannot afford
• If I take my sunglasses the weather will be sunny

Ready for the Show!

Plants brave the open air

I then started potting up tomato seedlings and noticed that the pot in the centre had six seedlings instead of the expected three. Hmmm! Then  I found I was missing a pot for my Tomato ” Black Sea Man”. Where had those seeds gone? I was sure I had planted some.

Tomato seedlings

Gardening blooper number 1 – Oh no…I had planted two varieties in one pot. Duh! Now I won’t know which is which until they grow bigger.

Do we really need any more?

Seed catalogues and Seed packets

Probably not – but we will be getting some anyway. The temptation is too strong to resist.

Greenhouse

It has an electric fire to keep the temperature above freezing and is lined with plastic bubble wrap for extra insulation. As you can see it is rather crowded.

Greenhouse

I have two dwarf Chilli peppers still bearing fruit.

Chilli pepper 'Apache F1'

And many plants are still flowering happily.

Abutilon in front of an Aeonium

Some of the Pelargoniums seem to flower for ever and ever.

Pelargonium 'Shannon'

Pelargonium sidoides

Pelargonium (pink)

This shrub is native to New Zealand. It is hardy down to -5C (23F) but I still keep it under cover during the winter. It is supposed to flower in March but the extra warmth has given it an early start.

Sophora molloyi ' Dragon's Gold'

Finally some young Agaves grown from offsets off my larger plants.

Agaves

They are all bedded down for the winter. All warm and cosy.

Thanks to Katarina at Roses and Stuff for hosting Blooming Friday.

Visit her to see more Blooming Friday contributions.

I will buy the occasional cucumber over the next few months. As usual I will temporarily forget that shop bought ones  are tasteless during the winter months. I get cucumber amnesia every year so I’m sure this one will be no exception.

Last of the cucumbers

On a more cheerful note there is the Digger’s success with red cabbage. Usually they refuse to heart up so for us so we are very pleased. Have you notices that a half a  red cabbage, finely sliced, mysteriously expands to twice the size of the original. I think this must be why cabbages evolved a tightly folded solid heart – otherwise they would grow to be the size of a small bush.

Cabbage 'Marner Early Red'

The garden is looking wet and miserable at the moment. It forms a gloomy backdrop to some of my planting mistakes. What was I thinking when I positioned this fern in front of the garden seat. The popular name of ‘King Fern’ should have hinted that it would grow fairly large.

When I planted it I had a picture of the fern brushing my ankles as I strolled to sit down. Now it’s more likely to tap me on the shoulder. In addition Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’ has leaned over and blocked the tiny gap I might have squeezed through.

Dryopteris affinis 'Cristata'

I wonder if “Think before you plant” could be my New Year’s Resolution? As if that would ever happen.