Blue Berries

View from Black Radley Hill where on Sunday we picked wimberries or whinberries?
Black Radley is in deepest Shropshire close to the Stiperstones Hill - you can see the wimberry wires (plants) to the front of the picture above



Close up of those dark blue berries that stain your fingers indigo blue as you pick them - and your tongue too!



Heather is just coming into bloom- the hills will soon be a blaze of colour as part of the English Heritage and Shropshire Wildlife (Back to Purple)project.



Looking towards the Welsh Hills - over the dark forest trees - clouds brewing up for a storm

Favourite pic of the week

My favourite pic of the week - red poppies in the distance beyond the gate and framed with cow parsley - taken on the deer walk at Attingham Park

Attachment for Obelisk - This and That

Obelisk and This and That

The allotment gardener has made me an obelisk for my herbaceous border - I am well pleased with it - it is blue and gold - I have attached a pic for you to see - the idea is to plant a climber alongside but I prefer to see the obelisk - so I will give that a miss.

This week I have taken my streptocarpus cuttings and also two cuttings from a zygo cacti - this one is cream and is refusing to flower - so I am taking cuttings - hopefully they will flower for me.

I have read recently in the daily newspaper a tip on growing the Blue Himalayan Poppy - use nothing more than spent tomato gro bags - I love these plants - I saw them growing semi wild in a natural setting a time ago at Aberglasney in Wales

We have picked our first beetroot and broad beans from the allotment - and mange tout peas have been picked and sampled - and enough also to blanch and freeze for later months.
Sungold Tumbler Tomatoes - have started to produce and also first courgettes - sampled in a pasta - with plenty of garlic - thyme and black pepper - very tasty


Hey Hey - bargain of the week - a campanula and a rose - Lady Mitchell plus half price Tand M seeds for next year from the local gardening centre

Sweetpeas are super this year - the colours are so intense- some of the seed was bought from The Shrewsbury Flower Show last year - tip - sweetpeas should be gathered early - to catch the dew on them this ensures they keep their colour - rather than gathering them in full sunshine ( Garden Wisdom - Bernard Schofield )

The Allotment Gardener is having trouble with rabbits - he is trying to discourage them - we have set foxgloves - (which apparently they hate )next to the cabbage and also dill at the top of the garden (they have a weakness for this and will touch nothing else in the garden in preference to this - according to (Garden Wisdom) I will keep you posted on the outcome

First buds are showing on own grown heliotrope plants - can't wait to see them flower - I shall post a pic as soon as possible - new in flower in the green house Rebutia cacti and Pelargonium Unique (Polka) Seeds set Digitalis Apricot - and Viola plants have been potted on

In the kitchen this week Leek and Gruyere Cheese Flan - recipe posted hopefully - bye bye for now and happy pottering in the garden

Diary Entry

A while ago as a Shropshire Wildlife member I received an information leaflet of 2010 events - this prompted me to write the following entry in my diary for June/ July ( Silver Studded Blue Butterfly - best time to see Prees Heath)
The reserve is on a large common that was a Second World War airfield. A major restoration project is reinstating heathland and grassland across most of the site.
The old airfield runway runs down the middle of the reserve and the control tower is still standing.

Butterfly Conservation bought the reserve in 2006 - supported by various societies including Shropshire Wildlife, more information can be found on the Butterfly Conservation web site.

Two things triggered our visit off today - a visit to the Shropshire County Show and a talk to a member on the Shropshire Wildlife Stand and the acquiring of another leaflet and my diary entry.

So in the middle of decorating we downed tools and made our way to Prees Heath Common to catch a glimpse (we hoped) of the Silver Studded Blue Butterfly.

The site is quite easy to find - full directions being on the web site. We arrived , parked up ,and away to go ,excitement mounted straight away because the reserve has markers displaying a large blue butterfly leading you in the right direction.

Lo and behold in amongst the bushes and wild flowers was our first silver studded blue butterfly. I was expecting something a little larger , after viewing the markers ! but they have equisite markings, the male is bright blue and the female is darker.

Apparently ( according to the leaflet) which can be downloaded from the site - they mate - lay their eggs on the low lying plants - the eggs hatch in the Spring and the caterpillars feed on the new growth.

The site is also home to many plants and wildlife - one of the plants is the Pyramid Orchid - seen today.

It was so peaceful just to stand and watch the clouds of blue butterfles flitting from one bush to another - I felt I wanted to share the experience with you. I shall certainly visit this site again

Allotment and Garden Update

Today - we dug our first new potatoes out of the allotment - Kestrel Potatoes - they were delicious - cooked with fresh mint sprigs from the garden tub - very tasty - also I picked a bunch of sweet peas for the house what a heavenly fragrance - and gorgeous colours - the perfume stays firmly in your memory

Lettuces and radish are producing well - an essential for a quirky vegetarian like me - and today I was given a coleslaw recipe by Molyglover - which I shall try out for myself this week.

The allotment gardener will be thinning out the swedes and carrots this week - beware the carrot fly - heads in books tonight to find ways of deterring these little nuisances and send them on their way - Bernard Schofield in his book Miscellany of Garden Wisdom tells us to crumble moth balls up and hoe them into the ground around the carrots - does anyone use these any more I wonder - probably not

Those that would grow this useful root
Free from blight and maggots
Must freely use both lime and soot
And they will have fine carrots

William Gain 1956

Broad beans are podding up well as are the peas - I slight attack of blackfly on the broadbeans to be resolved with soapy water or a spray - help! - no we are organic

Courgettes are looking healthy with sunflowers close by and garlic - onions french and runner beas - sweet corn and leeks - all growing on

This week wallflower and sweet william seeds to be set and the allotment gardener will keep up that continual battle against the weeds

In the greenhouse - zygo cactus are still flowering and Pelargonium Apple Blossom Rosebud is out these are last years plants - and doing well

Also violas grown from own seed are doing well (see pic ) - I need to consult Viola book - do they need to be stopped? I don't know! can anyone help would be much appreciated.


The Canna lily mentioned in last gardening blog is now through and making good headway - and Jasminium Polyanthum has been replaced - half price from local gardening centre - well done to me - slap on the back....
- note to self do not over water this time !!

The Moss rose is now out in the garden - what a perfume and delicate colour (pic attached taken in the rain )- the heady perfume was outstanding do you know I can still smell that lingering fragrance now.

My Streptocarpus cuttings are doing well in the conservatory - my little project at the moment - more cuttings to be taken in spare moment this month

The Pleone bulb in the stone trough mentioned last gardening blog - no change there!!!

This is the end of another gardening blog - more to follow no doubt at a later date - blogging is very similar to gardening - you dip in and out of this and that and never finish what you intended to do - so something is always left for another day

Newquay - final walk

Today a short ride to Cwmtydu - a tiny small cove - which Dylan Thomas gives mention to in his Under Milkwood - the River Dewi flows into the sea here - Cwmtydu was a favourite haunt of Eli Jenkins a character in the play.

Has we climbed up out of the cove we spotted a head of a seal playing in the cove and then he was gone - today was glorious after the rain the night before - the sea and sky were blue and boats were out sailing also boats were coming round the bay with sightseerers doing it the easy way - but what they missed - nature at its best - the soft bright green grass - dotted with so many spring flowers - today we saw wild orchids - an amazing sight - not just one but lots and Spring Squill carpeted the cliff side with scabious - thrift and ragged robin - a return walk and another pub lunch and a final trip down into Newquay to see the sun go down.