The Patch

15th August 2005

A Busy Garden

After 4 weeks, where Mr C. went on a nice relaxing holiday (in fact. all the school did - such peace and quiet!) the garden grew on.

The Beans Are Ready!

Slightly earlier than last year, the Runner Beans are already cropping well. Unfortunately (or fortunately) ther are few people around to eat the first harvest. So I have had quite a few beans so far with my meals. They taste fantastic, as ever. If you want some, for 25p for 10 you can have some. Do phone the school before the start of term to see if I am there, and if I am, you can come and get the beans!

The First Harvest

As you can see, the first crop was a good one. Some of the beans had been ready for ages, and so had become a bit stringy, but still tasted good. The newer beans have a great texture and taste delicious.

Onions Anyone?

The onions planted last year from seed only produced a few tiny red onions. These ones were planted from sets and they are the size onions should be. A ten pence piece by one of them gives you an idea how big they are. These will be ready for harvest soon.

How Sweet You Look

The sweetcorn cobs are filling up well and they should be ready for harvest soon, I think. How do we know when they are totally ready? This is something I shall have to find out soon.

Everyone Likes Rocket

We have grown rocket for the second year running now and both times the plants have been eaten before we've got the chance to eat them ourselves. The leaves are full of tine holes and this caterpillar is trying to finish off what they have left. Next year, if we grow Rocket, we will have to try and think of a way to grow it so we get some!

Sun Set

The Sunflowers looked their best over the holidays. This variety isn't the tall one we are used to, but one that produces many flower heads. This is the only one left standing as the others were not tied up and have decided to have a rest and lie down on the ground.

Tightrope Hippo

There are not many places that a Mini-garden Hippo will not go to. Here, I caught him walking along a bent over Sunflower stem that was quite high above the ground. He had a relaxing time over the holidays. He was very happy with how things were growing, but wondered when we were going to come along and weed it properly.

There Be Dragons

For almost every minute of the day you can see dragonflies flitting around Mr S.'s garden, often chasing after other insects to eat. Usually when they see a human coming close they move away very quickly. I was lucky enough to catch this one resting, probably after a feast of insect, who didn't mind me getting within about 30 cm of it. This was very similar to going on safari in Africa and seeing lions and elephants up very close.