Tulip

Tulip, originally uploaded by richiesoft.

I have been disappointed with the tulips this year. Mainly because the wind earlier last month blew them all over and they have never recovered. They are all leaning to one side.

Daffodils

24032009661, originally uploaded by richiesoft.

The daffodils did well this year in the garden. They have all finished now really. I never know whether to dead head them or not...?

Garden

Garden, originally uploaded by richiesoft.

Spent all day last Sunday in the garden tidying up and sorting things:
planted tomato plants
planted potatoes
sewed butternut squash
sewed courgettes
cut grass
dug over vegetable patch
mowed lawn
trimmed edges

Rose Time Lapse

Rose Time Lapse
Originally uploaded by BY-YOUR-⌘

Just came across this on flickr....

First Snow Drop

29012009590, originally uploaded by richiesoft.

Happy New Year!

Haven't been around for ages - the garden is a mess and have spent very little time in it since Christmas - it's been too cold!!

Saw this the other morning putting some rubbish out. There is always one individual snow drop that seems to beat all the others!!

House Plants

Two new additions to the household for Christmas...

Christmas

I know it is a few days late but better late than never....
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all the readers of this blog.
I have had a brilliant Christmas with my parents visiting for a few days and really enjoyed eating the Brussel's Sprouts from the garden.  Didn't think to take a picture at the time they were served!

Courgettes

Courgettes, originally uploaded by richiesoft.

Still continuing to get courgettes. Don't think there will be many more as the plants are really yellow and slug eaten now!

Green Tomatoes

10092008382, originally uploaded by richiesoft.

I'm going away on Saturday and would hate to see all the effort I have put into the tomatoes go to waste so am wondering if I should pick them before I go and let them ripen off the plants. Anyone know or have any suggestions?

Aubergines

07092008378, originally uploaded by richiesoft.

I am really jealous of my Mum for getting these fabulous aubergines to grow this year!

National Allotments Week: Celebrating 100 Years of DIY (Digging It Yourself)

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Lettuce

02082008354, originally uploaded by richiesoft.

You are probably thinking what is a picture of a salad doing on a gardening blog website! The lettuce was grown in my Garden!!

Courgette Flower

The first flower on the courgette plants. This means that there will be fruits soon and that means lovely courgettes to eat!

Water

Watered the vegetable patch last evening with the sprinkler which I use very sparingly to conserve water. But it has been so dry recently despite the forecast of rain that I wanted everything to have a good soaking. Low and behold though I wake up to pouring rain this morning!

Everything is coming on well. Already tucking into lettuce from the garden and it wont be long before I try some of the potatoes from the big sack. The greenery of the potatoes is now dying off and I wonder if this means they are ready to dig up?

The sunflower seeds that I sowed about ten days ago are little seedlings now and the herbs that I sowed to use up old seed are also getting going.

The butternut squash at the bottom of the garden don't seem to be thriving as well as the courgettes but I'm sure from previous years they grow at a slower pace and aren't really ready until the autumn anyway.

The grass is recovering now from the weed, feed and moss kill that I spread a couple of weeks ago. I think I spread it uneven and consequently it has developed quite a few dead looking patches. Of course I had to end up watering it too since the forecast rain never arrived. I'm not sure if this allowed it to sort of burn or something. Never mind - it will grow again!

Clematis Flower

The clematis has just flowered over the last couple of days. I love the colour of the petals. It contrast very well with the green fencing behind.

Chestnut Tree

Potted out this plant when it was a seedling a couple of years ago. It has done really well although I must confess to thinking it was dead over the winter!

Tomatoes

Here you can see the tomato plants that I planted out on Sunday. There are three varieties which I will look up soon and I planted two of each in the grow bags and then some more in pots. You can also see the green pots that I have sowed some parsley, basil and coriander in.

Herbs

Spent most of the morning in the garden again today. It has been a gorgeous day and really warm. I purchased two more grow bags this morning and planted two of each of the tomato varieties out in them (will have to look up what they are at a later date!) I also planted out five more plants since I hate any waste and I had loads of little plants that I simply didn't want to throw. What do people do with all their spare plants I wonder?

Sorted through my seed box (which is an old small tool box) and came across seeds from 2006 and 2007 which were past their expiry date. They were mainly herbs and so I decided to plant them all out, some I have sown in pots and others in the border at the bottom of the garden in the hope that they may out compete the bindweed! I can live in hope!

I also bought a bag of bark chippings which I have spread along the ground beyond the fence at the bottom of the garden in an attempt to suppress the weeds particularly that bindweed!

Foxglove

I've four foxglove plant growing wild again this year. The number of bees that it attracts is amazing.

Grow Bags

First picture shows the courgettes and the second the butternut squash.