Monday 21 September 2015

Bright and Beautiful

Hello All from a wet Derbyshire
I am so please it is raining. We have had so little over the pasts few weeks and the gardens needed it. We seem to have been on the edge of the rain as it came north and then again when it came south and it never really got to us. Whereas my friend in Cornwall reports a rainy summer down there. Time was, the Cornish weather was sunnier than ours, but it seems to be turned on its' head the last couple of years. Anyway..
We are now in the midst of harvesting (in our small way!) Here are a couple of views of my favourite dahlia "Bishop of Lllandaff". I grow this everywhere in the garden, the flowers and foliage are bright and beautiful and because it is a single the bees love it.
 A couple of views of the middle garden.

I dug up the Pink Fir Apple potatoes and was amazed at the amount I got from this one plant. They weighed 3.5 kilos which I think is pretty good for an old fashioned potato. The other plants weren't quite as fecund as this one, but still pretty good.
I tried to take an arty photo of the maincrop potatoes Sarpo Mira, which are still growing strong. As you can see I missed the potatoes and got a pic of the back of the house instead!  At the back of the plot  you can see more Bishop, some cactus dahlias , Jerusalem Artichokes and a huge teasle that has self seeded and looks magnificent, the bees think so too. It looks as though we will get flowers on the Jerusalem  Artichoke. If you have never seen them they are of the helianthus family and look like small single sunflowers way up ten feet (and higher) up in the air. Yet again, loved by bees.
Quick update on the sheep. Biscuit is now completely healed. All five sheep aren't particularly big, tho' very healthy. we have had no problems with worms or strike (maggots) and they fed and weaned really well. They are part mountain sheep which will make them smaller. I have suddenly remembered a poem from my school days 
"The mountain sheep are sweeter,
 but the valley sheep are fatter.
We therefore thought it meeter
 to carry off the latter"
from the"The War Song of Dinas Vwawr (?)"
Many thanks for your comments about Traffic Wardens. It's always nice to have people agree with me!
And what about Corbyn?! Thought I would throw that one in!
Back soon
Gillxx
PS. hello to Frederique on Bloglovin
PSS Why is this post centering  itself like this?

18 comments:

  1. Have you hit the centre alignment key in the toolbar? There is left, right, centre and justified (equally spread across the space). Love the dahlias.

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    Replies
    1. Seems to have sorted itself out now!
      Lovely aren't they.
      Gill

      Delete
  2. Replies
    1. Sorted now, but don't know how it happened in the first place! Looks quite balanced doesn't it, tho' quite by accident.

      Delete
  3. Sorry - re Corbyn - anyone, whatever persuasion, who refuses to sing The National Anthem, while at the same time availing themselves of our NHS and any other public services, and by omission therefore refusing to honour the millions throughout the world who died in the war so that those of us who remained are safe - loses all credibilty in my eyes.
    Lovely shots of the garden and that magnificent dahlia.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It seems that he fell at the first fence with the public there didn't he?!
      It's early days yet for this guy and I don't see him ever being PM
      it is a great dahlia isn't it?

      Delete
  4. What a good colour those Dahlias are. We had an inch of rain on Friday afternoon, it came down really hard for about 5 hours.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I never thought I would be so keen to see rain in the summer/autumn. it hasn't been particularly warm here, just dry.
      I sell quite a few bunches of the Bishop with white cactus dahlia and small sunflowers. They make quite a show.

      Delete
  5. I am with The weaver of Grass on Corbyn. He probably justifies it by claiming not to be a hypocrite, far worse he is an arrogant S o B.

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    1. I think he is going to be a great disappointment to socialists as he is so extreme (though I believe honest which is refreshing in politics) I still can't understand/work out who actually voted for him!

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  6. In response to a couple of message I will quote Harry Leslie Smith who said:
    " As a RAF veteran of WW2 I'm not offended by Corbyn not singing the National Anthem but I am offended by politicians who sell guns to tyrants."

    :-) J x

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    Replies
    1. In case no-one spotted it, I'm a Socialist, but I don't believe Corbyn is the answer to the awful state the Labour party is in. I do believe him to be honest, but extreme and somewhat out-of-date. I would have LOVED him when I was younger! Many young people that I have spoken to are showing an interest in politics because of him, and that can't be bad whatever their political persuasion as so few young people engage with politics nowadays.

      Delete
  7. Yes we have certainly had a wet summer! The potatoes look good, are they a nice flavour?

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    Replies
    1. They have a superb flavour. They are quite knobbly so it is fortunate that they just have to be scrubbed! They also keep well.

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  8. Your Dahlias look great, stunning plants, I need to get some added to my list of plants to add to the garden, glad to hear that Biscuit has recovered from losing his horns :-)

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    Replies
    1. I over-winter the roots, dry, in the greenhouse and take cuttings in the spring. I gave lots of plants away this year. They look particularly good in amongst the veggies.
      Yes, you wouldn't know he had had such a trauma.

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  9. Have you tried any of the other Sarpo's if so what are they like? I have gone off the Mira, I just don't like it as a roast potato. You Dahlias look wonderful I shall keep my eyes open for then come the spring.

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