Flowers on the plot... The answers

Quite a few of you had a go at naming the flowers in the blog entry - although I think Susan claiming to have 16 of them within minutes of me posting possibly intimidated some people from entering ;>) And you all obviously know your stuff, but no one got them all correct. So here are the answers:

1. Daisy - not sure what kind they were there when I got the plot and come back stronger each year.

2. Potato, maincrop can't remember which variety!

3. Chilli.

4. Cucumber - Paris Pickling.

5. Tomato.

6. Foxglove.

7. Allium - of the flowering variety rather than one going to seed.

8. First sweet pea of the year.

9. One of the last Broad Bean flowers.

10. Dahlia - not grown these before.

11. Creeping Buttercup, an ongoing battle to stop them rampaging across the plot.

12. Carnation.

13. French marigold.

14. It's a squash plant, I can't remember which one but looking at the number of flowers I'd guess it's one of the courgettes.

15. Phacelia - self seeded and much loved by the bees.

16. Dill - which seemed to be one of the difficult ones to identify.

17. Sunflower, one of the dwarf ones.

18. Coriander.

Thanks to everyone who had a go, have to try and think of something else later in the year!

Tomato problems...

Well, anyone got any suggestions as to what's going on here???

It is from a Costoluto Fiorentino, growing in a large pot in the polytunnel and none of the others seem to be developing (?) like that. Any suggestions welcomed.

Oh and no one has got all the flowers from the last post correct yet! I'll give it another couple of days before giving the answers.

Flowers on the Plot

I was wandering round the plot today with the camera and couldn't help noticing the number of flowers out. Some of them pre-date my time on the plot, some of the are unwanted (i.e. weeds!), some of them are from the fruit and veg and some of them are flowers I've planted for cutting.

So I thought I'd have a little competition to see how many you can name. I say competition, there is no prize other than the glory! So here they are, and I'll give the answers in a few days:

1. They appear every year in the same place, nothing to do with me!

2. Surprising attractive flowers

3. With added greenfly I've just noticed!

4. Miniature version, but going down well so far.

5. The taste of summer?

6. Vastly under rated flower.

7. This one's cheating a bit as it's not out yet.

8. Almost there.

9. One of the last flowers on this plant, before the mice eat them?

10. New one for me, I'd never have got this one if I didn't know what it is!

11. It's all I can do to keep these from taking over the plot.

12. One for the wife.

13. Hopefully keeping the nasties out of the polytunnel.

14. Small at the moment but soon it'll be trying to take over the plot.

15. This one looks quite spooky.

16. Small and delicate.

17. Just about to explode into life.

18. Last and possibly not the best photo, but it's a challenge!

Good luck!

What's in the Trug?

Well I say 'trug' but actually I'm far too tight to buy one of those nice wooden trugs and no one has taken the hint and bought me one yet. So it's actually a plastic tray left over from the local fruit and veg shop.

So what's inside?

Leaves
I picked a big bag of lettuce leaves from the Little Gem and Romaine Ballon, with a few beetroot leaves for variety. We're getting through a few bags a week, so that's saving a fair amount of money in itself. It also keeps far better than anything we buy and the salad spinner we were given as a wedding present almost 12 years ago now is finally paying its way!

Herbs
There are three different herbs: a small amount of dill for Mrs D to pickle the gherkins with, some parsley and a huge bunch of coriander that was looking like it was about to go to seed. I'm growing a variety that is supposedly a cut and come again variety (Calypso), so I've hacked it back and will chop this lot up and freeze it with a small amount of water to put into curries as and when we need it.

Vegetables
Hidden under everything is a couple of pounds of Charlottes from two plants. I picked a small number of broad beans, hopefully just about enough to go with tomorrows tea! There's a couple of gherkins, a couple of beetroot and a solitary carrot!

Fruit
The strawberries are still going strong and I picked another couple of punnets, although they still need careful picking over to spot the holes and chunks the birds and mice have had. I've been sharing the gooseberries with the birds - we're not big fans of the gooseberry really - but I did pick some in the hope inspiration will strike. And if you look really carefully in the strawberry punnet on top you'll spot a couple of blueberries (Nui).

Flowers
Finally, there are some cornflowers and carnations for the wife, which stops her from getting annoyed with me when I say "I'm just popping out to do some watering" and come home an hour and a half later! Well it's dry out there ;>)