23rd April 2004
They've germinated.
A number of seeds sown in the garden have already started to grow. The radishes, on the left, should grow quickly and will be ready before the end of term (provided the little beetles don't eat them first!) The carrots, on the right, will take a bit longer, but we should at least be able to have some 'mini' carrots before long.
With honesty, I tell you this is an attractive view...
The Honesty in the garden is making up for it's first year of only growing leaves and is making a spectacular view of purple and white around the edge of the garden. It will look just as spectacular when it produces seed pods.
Through the honesty, you can see the row of radishes (behind the stick) and rocket (in front of the stick). Erm, can you see the stick?
The Nasturtiums are Back...
Do you remember the nasturtium seeds lying all around before I dug the garden? (see the 19th February page if you've forgotten). Well, they're back, and in force. As you can imagine, Mr. S. was very happy about this, as they are one of his favourite plants...(?!) This seedling may have to be moved, as it is in the middle of the vegetable patch and not around the outside in the flower border. Mr. S. told me that he could move it for me, but he didn't say anything about planting it again...
The garden to date
As you can see, the honsety is making a fine show around the vegetable patch. Within a few weeks, the Calendula and Nasturtium seedlings will have filled in the rest of the flower border They will be joined by Poached Egg plants bursting into flower and the Purple Flax and and Marigolds that we will need to plant out soon. All this, and we haven't even begun to mention the vegetables that will be growing.
Jack, could you help us out here?
The plants in the greenhouse have certainly enjoyed their warmth, food, water and sunlight. They are growing quickly and will soon need to be planted out. If we left these beans growing in the glasshouse, I wonder how tall they would eventually grow? To the sky? This sounds like a story I know...
This glasshouse ain't big enough for the both of us...
The runner beans, to the left, and the broad beans, to the right, will soon need to be planted out. But they won't have to be taken out of their bio-degradable pots because, as you can see, the roots grow through them easily. Bio-degradable means that it will rot away and disappear. Once these pots have been planted in the soil, they will rot away and be gone after a few weeks.
The bells, the bells...
Quasimodo would have a great time in the garden at the moment as it is full of bells: Bluebells (above left), white Bluebells (above right - why not just call them Whitebells?) and lots of different shades of pink Bluebells (which could, of course, be called Pinkbells). I am sure that Esmerelda would be delighted if he bought her some of these. Mind you, we are not allowed to pick wild flowers. Some wild flowers can also be poisonous (if you got Bluebell juice in your mouth, you may not feel very well afterwards). Perhaps it would be better of Quazi showed Ezzi the pictures on this webpage instead?
What are the cowslips watching?
One plant (amongst many) that Mr. S. is proud to have a lot of in his garden is the Cowslip. The big group in the above left photo is some of a number he has dotted all around his garden. You can see the orange spots at the base of each petal in the close up photo on the right. Interestingly, all of the flowers seem to facing in the same direction, and it is towards the garden. Is something going on there that we don't know about...?
How our bud has grown
Do you remember the large, sticky horse chestnut bud from a few weeks ago? (have a look at the 7th April page if you have forgotten) Well, this is what it looks like now. The bud was origionally above the capital H at the beginning of this title. How big do you think it will get?
With so many flowers in the garden, it was bound to attract lots of visitors. A number of insects have already been seen, such as this Orange-Tip butterfly above. This one is a male, as only the male has orange on his wings. They usually emerge from their chrysalis before the females, so he's just using his time collecting nectar for now. The Orange-Tips will lay their eggs on plants from the cabbage family (such as Garlic Mustard, Wild Turnip and our Radishes I'll bet!). We had better keep an eye out for their eggs and caterpillars.
