{this moment}

Inspired by SouleMama's Friday moment, here's mine.

Happy Weekend's to everyone

A minor triumph

My first home grown posy of sweetpeas - I can't tell you how thrilled I am! Gorgeous!

Here are a few sweetpea tips I've picked up along the way:

• They are thirsty plants - they need lots of water if they are to grow lots of flowers
• One strong shoot per plant - any side shoots should be nipped off so that all the energy goes into producing lots of flowers
• Remove tendrills - again this is so that the energy goes into the flowers not the tendrills, although I found that the tendrills did their job in keeping the plants unright and holding onto their support so I didn't remove them!
• Pick the flowers regularly for gorgeous posies of divine smelling blooms - or deadhead them otherwise the plant will start to produce seed pods and will stop flowering. I'm in a bit of a quandary about this one - to pick and have some lovely flowers in the house or to leave on the plant and have lovely colour in the garden. Always a tough call.
  

A small harvest

We've been having a small harvest of our own. Lots of gooseberries and blackcurrants and a mass of wild strawberries. I'm forever pulling them up but it makes no difference they get everywhere, which of course at this time of the year is wonderful. Flopsy bunny goes round eating as many as she can see and reach! The borlotti beans were a truimph although they had to be picked a bit too early as the slugs were munching the ends of the beans which touched the ground. All in all not a bad crop. Potatoes and tomatoes to go and tons of basil plants.