This little foal appeared during the week in the paddock behind our house. It's still drinking Mum's milk and its legs still have a tendency to wobble in different directions! It's a delightful little thing - almost worth the fact that its Mum spent the last couple of months eating the bramble shoots on the fence - so no bramble crop there, then.
However, the first of the strawberries ripened yesterday. They are Marshmello and are beautifully sweet with that old-fashioned strawberry aroma. Many more of these to come!
It's my first year growing the yellow mangetout Goldensweet - and it won't be my last! I'm blown over by the decorative flowers and the flavour of the yellow pods. They are a cracking crop - loads of food from a couple of sq ft of garden as they are climbers and don't take much space at all.
The peas above are my F1 cross and are shaping up to be shellers. Another couple of weeks will tell for sure. These also have a beautiful flower and as you can see, the pea is purple and green blended together in true Monet style. Really lovely. (You can see a couple of my helpers in the background.)
These are some of my potatoes from seed, growing in big pots outside the greenhouse. I have six and most of them are showing a purple stem so I think these are carrying the colour gene from their parent Salad Blue. I really look forward to tasting and selecting from them.
A view into the greenhouse from the doorway. The big pots on the path are my Sungold F3 and my cross tomatoes - both well grown and not far from ripening (I hope!). The plants on the staging are peppers and aubergines - I'm waiting for more compost so I can give them a little more room in larger pots.
And finally ...
We had a walk on Friday with the East Riding Botany Group to a farm nearby which still has cornflowers - and I can tell you there aren't many farms like that! This is a group of them in amongst an Oil Seed Rape crop. They were also in the next field which contained wheat, but as the wheat was still in the green/blue stage, the cornflowers didn't contrast as well. It was a beautifully hot day too - a wonderful day out!
11 comments:
It is all looking wonderful and I think I would forego the brambles this year to have that gorgeous foal at the end of the garden!
Awww - ain't that foal CUTE!
Those strawberries did well to get from the garden as far as the kitchen table to be photographed! They look lovely - making my mouth water just looking at them!
Your peas are looking good - both the mangetout and the monet-esque. I do love climbers - excellent crop to sq ft value, as you say! I might have my begging bowl out for a few goldensweet if you are letting some ripen for seed...?
Nice foal, Couldn't complain about that view. All the veggies are looking very nice. The strawberries look particularly nice. They are just starting to come into season here. Every year I make a double batch of strawberry jelly, can't wait to have it stocked in the cupboard again.
I will certaily be saving some seed Hazel. You might have to remind me again at the end of the season though - age is a terrible thing!
We seem to have similar climates Dan. I make Tayberry Conserve but our strawberries go as fast as they ripen!
What a lovely summery round up :-)
My Golden Sweet are in great form too!
Celia
How lovely to have a foal behind your house, all I get is Charalais cattle with dirty bottoms!not complaining though.
I love the beautiful colour of cornflowers and they look especially good with the yellow of the rape. Will you be collecting any seeds for a new cross fertilisation project?
Hi Clare. The lady who organised the walk collected seed last year from the cornflowers. Or thought she had! we ended up with red campion in the flower border! Never mind, it's a lovely plant.
What a cutie! We have a community farm behind our fence, and sometimes the Shetland ponies are in that pasture. No babies, though.
Have never seen yellow mangetout before! & your F1 cross-poll pea is truly beautiful! Well Done! Must be exciting to see what comes from your own cross-poll experiments! & you now must be so proud to see your efforts! It's a long time to wait from pollination, seed saving, waiting a year, then germination and then the resultant plant/fruits!
There's a Sheltand pony in there too, Kradcliffe. He's a cheeky little character!
It is very exciting to see the results of your own crosses Lemon. These, being the F1 generation, are all the same. Next year when I sow these seeds I will have lots of different characteristics to choose from. THAT will be the really exciting bit!
Yes, those peas are striking and mine seem to be filling out nicely too. Great to have an update on your potato seed experiment, interesting..
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