centrepiece

Inspired by Chelsea (not!) I decided I needed a centrepiece or focal point for the garden. In a flash of inspiration I came up with......

........the tattie barra. Five healthy potato plants in a fetching green and yellow wheelbarrow. I wanted to adorn it with a garland of foxgloves but my wife said that would be really silly!

O.K. enough of the frivolity. It's just that at this time of year when everything is growing away nicely my mind starts to wander a bit, a bit more than usual I mean. Most of the jobs around the garden are more in the way of maintenance such as grass cutting, weeding and summer pruning. I'm still sowing a few things such as carrots and salad crops and I still have to find homes for three squash plants but I'll squeeze them in somewhere.

I suppose this 'slack' period allows me to appreciate the fruits of my earlier efforts and plan any changes that I intend to make next year. It also gives me time to watch and photograph some of the visiting wildlife like this dragonfly

We've also had lots more birds this year, including many goldfinches, a few greenfinches and small warblers (unidentified as they all look the same to me). I'd like to think that my garden was wildlife friendly and show that it is possible to grow decent crops without being at odds with the rest of creation. There are always going to be some losses but to me that's a small price to pay for not throwing chemicals all over the place.

This is one of my tub corners with courgette, celery, potatoes, french beans, chives and asparagus. Under the green netting are carrots, the first of which are almost ready for picking.

To be honest I'm a bit fed up of the manky carrots in shops and am really looking forward to the first truly fresh ones of the year, along with the peas, beans, cabbage......