Often short-lived, the flowers of the poppy are something to behold as they say. We took a trip down the garden this morning and took a couple of photographs and the two at the top are now missing a few petals, it’s a case of catch them when you can!
Those two are a result of randomly flinging the seeds about and the bottom is the oriental poppy (a perennial) we grew from seed a few years ago and it just keeps on giving. Poppies are go!
Great to hear from Wlad (US7IGN) from Kyiv as it’s been a while and thanks for sending us some wonderful pictures from a local park (outside and under glass). There’s a great selection of plants here!
His good friend Sergiy (UT3UFD) who if you remember is growing a banana plant (here) is now trying his hand at bonsai (below). The tree looks great and we do love the flowers!
Thanks for the pictures Wlad and do keep in touch!
That’s what’s mad about gardening, one week you’re worried about the chance of frost and before you know it you’re coming up to midsummer. Where’s those other weeks gone to?
We’ve been promised some hot weather this week so we’ll be out with the watering can in the morning. The great Joe Maiden used to say it’s much better watering the garden in the morning than at night as the dampness in the evening only helps attract the slugs and snails and he may have a point. It’s not a bad experience being in the garden early (we’re not talking 6 am though or the neighbours may mistake you for an intruder!) Another watering tip we heard many moons ago on Gardener’s Question Time was if you’ve invited friends around for a day in the garden, give it a good soaking about an hour before they come and it will look great when they arrive. Top tip!
The wild bit at the bottom of the garden is looking great and it’s a lot livelier than when it was just a veg patch. There is a line of spuds and some cardoons by the fence but it’s mainly a mixture of beebombs from the other year, random sowings of poppies and various wild flower seeds including a woodland mixture from ebay as it don’t get a lot of light down there.
There’s now an addition of a micro pond made out of an old slow cooker bowl filled with plants thinned out from the main pond. We’re not expecting much wildlife in it but as we’ve a few tadpoles in the nearby pond perhaps it may be a frog holiday home later this year. Who knows?
And finally a big thanks to our good friend The Rhythm Doctor (who does a wonderful weekly show on a Monday at 9-11am on IDA Radio Tallinn here and all his past shows are archived here) who told us about the Patate Records Bandcamp which has some brilliant tunes up on it including this wonderful one from a good few years ago from Jah Mason.
And as they say on Gardeners Question Time, may the weather be with you. And get some lollies and cold drinks in the fridge for later this week as 31 degrees was mentioned.
It’s crazy the weather we’ve had the last few days, rain then sun then sun then rain so everything is starting to grow like billy-ho. We’re not complaining though as the strawberries we put in a tub we found in the street (after we gave it a lick of paint) are doing well.
Also the randomly sown poppies are coming along too. We bought more poppy seed from ebay over the weekend and just chucked it around whilst it was spitting today (that’ll help the seed germinate).
These pics we took yesterday are from our earlier “Chuck ’em and see what happens” experiments. Shame the actual flowers don’t last long on the plant.
Last Friday evening we had a first here, well not actually here but on the estate backing us. There was a lawn mower going like the clappers from about 8pm to about 10.30 pm. That’s the latest we’ve EVER heard a mower going! Turns out it was a resident as the next evening was an outdoor birthday party held on the grassed area (playing some great music by the way) It’s not a massive estate but a sort of place a council mower on a back of a tractor can do in 15 minutes. Let’s hope the mower they used had headlights! The question is, was the edging done?
And we had another first, our mad big poppy grown from seed has just flowered (above). Well worth the wait! More on oriental poppies here.
Will it rain again, will the sun come out or will we all be blown away by the wind? That’s the questions on our mind whilst in the garden just. We’ve already stopped mowing half way through doing the grass in the back because of the heavy showers.
To cheer ourselves up we’ve taken some pictures. Here’s a great self seeding poppy (above) and a small fruit truss forming on another tomato plant (below). Just because we’re in lockdown, nature don’t stop does it? #lockdowngardening #halfmowngrassrulesok
It’s weird, we’re being warned of a mad storm on its way over to the UK. We’ve been told to batten down the hatches and hide under the kitchen table as from Sunday lunchtime. Fair enough, but why then was it so lovely today here in London? The lull before the storm perhaps?
This morning we popped out and tidied up the small bed next to the garage giving it a light forking over. Weeds were pulled out, anything dead and untidy thrown into the compost bin if it weren’t too thick and some poppy and foxglove seeds were scattered about the beds in a willy-nilly fashion as per. Spare time is at a bit of a premium at the moment so it’s a case of little and often in the run up to spring.
Let’s hope Storm Ciara ain’t as bad as the weathermen/women suggest, best of luck to all for tomorrow.
And for your entertainment this calm(ish) Saturday evening here’s a nice bit of chilled dub from Intuicean called Swell.
In the new look Weeds garden these poppies (above) showed their heads over the bank holiday weekend. We sowed lots of them in the autumn and earlier this spring (alongside tons of night scented stock nearer the house) and here’s the first of them. They may be small but the flowers certainly pack a vibrant punch! Long live the poppy!
Weeds up to me knees 