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Peas peas me

It can't be said that I'm a pea aficionado like Rebsie Fairholm but this year I am trying a couple of varieties from the Heritage Seed Library; Beltony Blue and Irish Preans.

Of course, in my usual cack handed way I let the newly planted seeds get washed out of their pots before they'd even had a chance to germinate so it's just as well that peas are self fertile as when I shoved them back in, after draining off about 10 gallons of flood water, the two sorts were well and truly mixed.



Also luckily for this gormless gardener the peas are distinctive enough that I shall be able to separate them again. The Beltony Blue are flowering and forming pods already. Pretty flowers as in the picture above and purple pods as below.



By comparison the Irish Preans are way behind, big fleshy plants that seem to be slow growing and have not yet started to flower. In fact, due to their late start I'm a bit concerned they won't make it at all but the fantastic weather we're having will, I hope, keep them growing strongly enough to catch up. I'll take some pictures as soon as they've something to show. The green pods will distinguish them from the Blues which will be a relief at seed saving time.



I left these carrots to flower, not so much for the seed as for the foliage, hoping we would get swallowtail caterpillars (and butterflies) again this year. It's a bit early yet perhaps but the flowers were being much enjoyed by some randy beetles. Lucky sods.

Run for the Omnibus

Sorry. Been distracted by having company!



The weather has been so utterly lovely as well. We have been too hot to work much although great progress has been made by Paul on completing removal of the old wood shed with his bare hands and repurposing (a ridiculous verb that amuses me very much at the moment!) the materials from it for a new huge compost bin, something we've needed for a very long time.



The old lawnmower has proved resistant to repair so we bought this shiny green machine for 260€. I was very pleased with it until I went to take the picture just now. One of the wheels was dismounted from the height adjusters, either by brambles or during a journey we'd made to mow at another house. It seems like nothing but this is a similar problem to the issues of the red machine. The engines on these mowers are very good but the manufacture of the chassis and supports is extremely poor and unlikely to stand up to the sort of punishment we give power tools. I hope it will behave itself from now on.



We've found various fungi in the woods unexpectedly early and this has surprised us as it's been so hot and dry, not fungus weather you would have thought. In the picture, taken by Paul, a lurid cep; Boletus luridus. Edible apparently, but might cause gastric upsets if not properly cooked. We decided to give it a miss this time but we did find a couple of entirely innocent and edible ceps the day before and enjoyed them very much for breakfast.



There have been some interesting insects too. This is a rose chafer beetle, I find these to be the prettiest beetles and although my pictures are quite nice I'm disappointed they're not better.

The garden is doing o.k. We have just started harvesting potatoes, there are lots of courgettes and Martock beans but the more exotic and interesting (from some points of view) plants aren't really shining. I'll do a more technical write up soon but I don't think I'm going to be blazing any trails in agricultural biodiversity this year.

The Longest Day

On the first day of summer, summer arrived. It's been lovely here today and the cold wind has dropped. So I managed to get outside and do a little work in the garden. Let's hope it stays fine for a while, there's a lot to do.



I let the last couple of parsnips go to flower and hopefully, seed. Although it's usual to select the best roots for growing on to seed, preserving and enhancing the quality of the next crop, I don't think too much harm will come from saving the seed from these leftover plants from last year. Parsnip seed, like carrot seed has quite short viability. I'm hoping by having ultra fresh seeds we'll have excellent germination when I plant them next spring.

Also in the seed saving bed, some Forono beetroots. These are the long rooted sort, sometimes described as tankard shaped roots. I'm not sure of their security in the world, Suttons seeds are now offering a variety they say supersedes them and I've not seen them on offer anywhere else recently. Reason enough to start saving their seed at home, I think they're one of the best beetroot available.



These onions are from sets planted last autumn, an overwintering variety. They've not done too badly although I think the soil is rather impoverished in this back garden bed. I may have pulled them a little early but I needed the space for cabbages. I also took up the Jolimont garlic. Not hugely impressed by these, I was hoping for much larger bulbs. The plants were beginning to succumb to rust so I didn't want to leave them any longer. Still there are one or two largish bulbs and I will save them for planting in the autumn - the rest will be devoured in no time.

The other 'special' garlic I bought for this season, called Arno wasn't planted until March. It's still growing well and looks as if it might be more rewarding than the Jolimont, we'll just have to wait and see. The maincrop garlic, that same old redskinned hardneck that came from a supermarket originally is doing its stuff on the other plot. I expect it will be o.k. although the bulbs are never huge.

And I'm still all trembling from the scary joy of having a young swallow perched on my finger. An evil cat had caught it and brought it in to despatch and luckily I got there in time. The trouble with saving birds from the cats is that the birds, even if relatively unharmed are so shocked and terrified by their experience it's hard to find a safe place to let them go to recover.

The little chap sat quietly in my hand for a moment while I tried to decide which nest was most likely to have been his home when he perked up and trustingly settled on my forefinger. The bird and I surveyed each other for some moments, as I cooed and smoothed his feathers and then, when the adult pair came swooping down to investigate he bravely took off and flew away with them. I hope he's strong enough to learn never to come too close to a cat again.

Another day

Rhizowen kindly asked after the ulluco. Here they are, five weedy looking clumps, all that came up after a disastrous end to last season and my best efforts at preserving the frost damaged and rotting tubers that I could salvage. I don't even know if I have the full set of varieties I started with, all I could do was trim off the damage and put the poor truncated stumps into pots with my fingers crossed. The foliage is showing some variation so I'm hopeful that a couple of colours made it through.

Other news today, I bottled the elderflower champagne. I'm not expecting a great year, but I'm hoping my dogged determination and grim completion of the task will at least produce some fizz in time for P's birthday in a little while. Here's a picture of a swallow he took last time he was here because some old lemonade bottles aren't that enthralling. If you can click through and view the bird in big, it's a quality shot.



The wind is beginning to drop now after several days of unpleasant gustiness. I really need to get on and finish the spring planting before the longest day.

Mostly pink

After some days of rain a pleasant interlude. Next week, gales are forecast!

I took a walk around the fields today to see what was there before they're cut for hay - well, they will be cut for hay if ever there's a chance of it drying - and found this double flowered Ragged Robin plant. The sort of thing that might be the starting point for cross breeding to produce a plant for the ornamental garden although really it's pretty enough just as it is.



Unfortunately I have no control over when the field will be cut so the chances are that there will be no time for this unusual example to set seed, even if the seed would be fertile but perhaps I'll mark it tomorrow, just in case.

We're still well down on butterflies and moths this year compared to others but it was pleasing to see this 5 spot Burnet moth enjoying the buttercups.



Brambles, I hate them but the flowers are very pretty and just starting to bloom and who hates blackberries...



I was just too late to catch the stunning sunset last night.

Feeling a bit reflective. I've been writing this blog for over four years, and put in three years on the food blog and my energy is low. Is it time to hang up my internet connection in favour of something more intimate and physical? Just why are we all here anyway?

Still, there are always cats;



They're very naughty, have killed quite a lot of birds this spring which distresses me, an inordinate number of rodents which worries me not one bit and wake me more times in the night than a roomful of teething triplets but as cats go, they're not at all bad.



And then there's the wildlife, still wonderful plants and insects to find, photograph and identify. The one that got away today; a marvellous azure blue fly which was feeding with the bumblebees on the welsh onions. By the time I got back with the camera it had gone and I can't find anything like it in any of my books.

There's still the garden, which is slowly coming along. I did more rotovating today so that there will be space for the cucumbers, the golden sweetcorn and some other stuff like amaranthus but I still need to make more space for the rest of the tomatoes, quinoa (almost too late for this I think) and other plants planned for this year. As usual my ambition has outrun my ability to make it all come together.

And then there's the house, not really much improved from when we arrived in 2006. Still, I'm seeing the architect this week. Perhaps things will change.