The Patch

9th September 2005

Lots Of Green

This Garden view shows just how overgrown the garden has become. However, the plants love it and have grown really well and are growing lots for us to eat.

Going...Going...!

This is the last Sweetcorn we have left in the garden. As soon as everyone knew that they were ready to eat, they went like hot cakes (although they still looked like sweetcorn cobs to me).

Look At That !

The Sweetcorn cobs are held in tightly by their outer husk to protect them from damage. When these begin to get a bit loose, and the top stringly bits begin to die off, the Sweetcorn is ready to eat. Pulling back the outer husks shows how well the Sweetcorn has grown. This cob was very full. Others were not as full as this (which meant that they had not been pollinated fully. Bees! I want a word with you!)

Naturally, the Sweetcorn had to be tested before I could say it was ready for sale. After boiling it in water for just over 10 minutes, it was ready to eat. With butter melted into it and a tiny bit of pepper sprinkled over the top, is it any wonder that I looked so eager to eat it as fast as I could?

Looks Good To Me

The Mini-Garden Hippo has been wandering around the Patch and is pleased how everything has grown. The Red Onions, planted from sets, have grown really well and some are huge. This onion was very proud to be photographed alongside the Hippo.

Our Old Favourite

The Spinach is also ready to harvest. It has been very popular to the wildlife in the Garden, as you can see from the many holes in its leaves. However, the new leaves have been mostly left alone and so can be picked to make a tasty meal.

Mine! All Mine!

The sunflowers have finished flowering and have turned in to their amazing seed heads with their fantastic swirling patterns. It is rare to see a seed head with all of its seeds still inside. Usually the birds and the squirrels have taken all of the seeds by now. Perhaps the way the flower head is wrapping itself around the seeds is a way of saying "Leave these alone!"

Caterpillar Acrobatics

The Great White Caterpillars are back with a munching vengence. This one looks as though he (or she - how can we tell?) is about to jump off the leaf in search of more food. Or perhaps it is trying out a new Gymnastics routine for the Garden Olympics in Ratby, 2006.

Spot The Caterpillar

How many caterpillars can you spot in this photograph? There are so many that it is almost a competition to find an area of the photograph that does not have a caterpillar in.

Boy! We Were Hungry!

This was once a Nasturtium plant. It used to have loads of leaves on it. This was before the munch of Great White Butterfly caterpillars moved in. Now, all that's left are stalks. Knowing that Nasturtiums are one or Mr S.'s favourite plants, I wondered if he had anything to do with the arrival of the caterpillars...?

We're Not Fussy

Not only did the caterpillars eat their way through the Nasturtiums, as if they didn't have enough to eat, they started on the Honesty plants as well! Mind you, we didn't thin them out as much as we should have done, so we do have quite a few plants to spare.

Hippo H.Q.

As ever, the Mini-Garden Hippo can be seen from his headquarters, overlooking the garden and everything that is happening there. The old tree stump has grown an extension which you can see at the bottom. It is a fungus that grows out of old, dead tree stumps. It makes a handy platform to help the Hippo get down.