Bendy Lupin Flowers

After our two weeks of really warm weather and sunshine we're back to grey skies and rain. The forecast for the rest of June isn't great but hopefully some sunny days will appear. The plants have been under a bit of stress from weather extremes and I think this has caused some of my plants, like turnips, to bolt. Watching Gardener's World on Sunday makes me feel better to know that Monty Don has had problems with his veg bolting. 

This year my lupin flowers have bent. I'm not sure if this is a result of weather conditions or something else. I recall reading an article about this recently but I can't remember the rationale (will have to dig through magazines to try to find the article). The flowers still look great but I'm curious why they have bent.

Variety: Lupin Russell Mix (perennial), grown from seed several years ago.

Little white lines drawn in above help show the bendy flower stems.

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Aquilegia in Action

Columbine / Aquilegia are probably in their prime at the minute. It's a shame they only flower for a short period, generally May-June. I'm trying to prolong the flowering by deadheading.

Variety: Aquilegia Long Spurred Hybrid (Perennial), Suttons 'Cottage Garden' Seed Collection. All the Columbine were sown Summer of 2010 and this is their 2nd year in flower. (I had to go and look this up as two years ago can seem just like last year!)

Even green fly can be a thing of beauty?
Well, I'm not too keen to see greenfly on my plants. I generally have greenfly on roses but this year they have taken a liking to the Aquilegia as well. They multiply fast too!

The bright pink Columbine is one of the most striking. Pictured with Poached Egg Plant /Limnanthes Douglasii in the background.

The lupin and columbine I didn't separate before planting into the ground. I'll have to do this in the Autumn.

The seed pack where it all started, and my review on the varieties:
Aquilegia - easy to grow, a range of size and colour within the mix (some more favoured than others).
Aster 'Aster Ostrich Plume Mix' - they were big and bold. See my attempt at growing these here.
Cornflower - I wasn't impressed as they were insignificant and short lived.
Hollyhock - I manged to grow one plant last year but I was proud of it!
Lupin - the prize definitely goes to Lupin for impact and easy to grow (just watch out for slugs)!

Copyright: All words and photos are property of Kelli's Northern Ireland Garden.

Veg Update (Beans, Courgette, etc)

What a busy time in the garden! The sunshine and warmth over the last two weeks has really made a difference in the garden. I've been trying to get plants hardened off and have managed to get beans, courgette, curly kale and pumpkin planted outside. Other plants (squash, peas, celery, kale, etc) are still being hardened off. I had to re-sow courgette and peas after getting a very poor success rate. The second sowing at the end of May took no time at all to germinate (now I have too many courgette plants!). Below is a little summary of what's keeping me busy.

Left and below: Bean 'Dwarf Purple Queen' grown from seed. I've planted these in containers this year. Seed sown on 20 March 2012 and 8 April 2012. 

Above and below: Climbing Bean 'Cobra'. Seed sown on 20 March 2012 and 8 April 2012. I've positioned some plants in the middle of the snapdragon bed so will see how they get on.

Above and below: Runner Bean 'Scarlet Emperor' (Climbing).  This is my first year growing climbing beans. I'm watching them carefully, feeding and watering regularly so fingers cross! By accident I planted two cobra and two scarlet emperor in this area ( I only discovered this by the colour of the flowers - lilac/cobra, red/scarlet emperor).

Above and Below: Courgette 'All Green Bush'. This is a new variety I'm trying this year. Seed sown on 8 April 2012. My courgettes last year suffered from blossom rot for the first time ever. Here's hoping for a better year!

Above: Chives in flower, leek soon to flower (at the front) and potatoes Maris Peer in the far background.

Above: The tall green plant with white flowers is what happens to a radish if its left to its own devices! 

The bad news - today I noticed two of my turnips (purple top milan), sown direct outside on 20 March, are starting to form flowers. I assume this is bad. I'm not sure if this makes them inedible? They look too small to harvest.

I've also been making nettle and comfry tea / fertilizer. For more on making fertilizer  - http://kelliboylesgarden.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/making-fertiliser-seed-spurts.html

Copyright: All words and photos are property of Kelli's Northern Ireland Garden.