The Beauty of Nature

So, it’s no longer unknown, I have found out what the plant is that I posted here.

So, the plant I found on the plot turns out to be – drumroll please – Nigella, damascena, ‘Miss Jekyll’

I went to Gardener’s World Live in June. I thought I ought to go see what all the fuss was about.

One of the early indoor gardens:

The man himself, Alan Titchmarsh:

The Good Homes/Food part. Not really my scene, too much celebrity testosterone for my liking:
A few lovely plants I liked (all indoors):

The outdoor seating area – packed as you can see:

These were a selection of the outdoor gardens:

Well, the broad beans are all gone now. I will leave the plants to rot down as they add nitrogen to the soil so there is no point digging them up and composting them.

This was the last batch we had:

Some were not so great as they had started to go over:

But when we shelled them, most of the beans were still really good:

Don’t they look delicious?:

I saw this butterfly on the plot yesterday.

Can anyone identify it?

sorry about the rotten pic, but only had the camera phone with me.

Update:

I have just found out it is a moth:

The Cinnabar (Tyria jacobaeae)
Wingspan 32-42 mm.

Resembling no other British species, except perhaps the burnets (Zygaenidae), this is a fairly common moth in much of Britain.

It is generally nocturnal, but is quite often disturbed during the day from long grass, low herbage etc. At night, it comes to light.

The distinctive larvae, with their yellow and black hoops, generally feed gregariously on ragwort (Senecio jacobaea) and other related plants.

The flight period is May through July.

You have to be optimistic really, particularly in this weather.

Today I went up to the plot to see the damage done by the atrocious weather this week. I suppose I shouldn’t complain as I have not been flooded out like some and have not had my plot submerged and lost the lot. However, it is a little depressing that the garden and plot this year have taken such a battering.

As far as the plot goes there is really nothing to look at, so I didn’t bother taking a picture. However, the parsnips, sprouts, cauliflowers and onions have all done very well. They have grown and been pest free.

On the down side, the spinach has gone to seed as all the water has given it the spurt it didn’t need. It will recover, but it’s a shame. The runner beans have continued to grown and look good, if a little on the lean side. This is true of everyone else’s runners too. some are in a worse state than mine. The leeks are OK, but covered in weeds and I have been clearing them today. The beetroot are still there, but only just. I cant bear to mention the courgette and pumpkin as it pains me too much – I will photograph these when I can bring myself to do it.

On the up side, the corn has continued to grow despite the rain and looks quite healthy and thick – unlike other people’s which came on early. Their’s are starting to rot in all the wet.

No one else up the plot this weekend – they must all be on holiday to get some warm weather. They’ve probably given up on their plots as they are normally about most of the weekend.

I guess it’s just a case of bow to the weather and wait for it to feel like being a friend to the gardener again. for now I am weeding and waiting. At least my tomatoes are doing well with their daily soaking – for now.

I dug up some potatoes at the weekend. We had them on Sunday and they were very nice. Not like the irradiated ones you can get in the shops.

It’s very hard to explain why your own grown food is so good, you just have to grow it yourself to find out.

OK, they don’t look that good here, but washed up they look fine and the skin just sloughs off without any effort. They had a lovely creamy taste. I’m dribbling just thinking of them.

Just a quick update to say that the wet weather has returned this weekend with a vengeance and I wasn’t able to do much at the plot. I did some weeding, but that’s all.

At home I picked a cucumber and enjoyed some of that. The lilies are still flowering which is surprising, but welcome. They have a few bugs, but a spray of bug killer sorts them out.

Hopefully I will get up in the week. 🙂

I’ve been keeping my eye on the sweetcorn and you know what they say about a watched kettle, well I had forgotten about it, what with the rain and all and when I went back to look at it, I was amazed to see that it is beginning the long journey to producing the cobs. 😮

* Ignore the weeds, I pulled them up after the photo.

If you remember it looked like this last time:

I checked on the runner beans at the weekend and they were fine, no more slug trails all over them now they have lifted off the ground. In fact they are growing nicely.

I noticed that I had put them in later than some at the allotments as a few plots over his are almost to the top of the canes. Still I am happy with them and we should have a good crop of beans later in the year.

I actually put another one in that I had been growing at home. Although eight plants had survived there was one that had bitten the dust, so I put in this last one and hope that it will be OK. It should be as it is begining to flower already, plus we have had some sun this week, which always helps.

I thought the flowers on the beans were rather nice.