The first crops of summer

1firstjostaberriesA photo essay of firsts. Everywhere you look in the potager you find things emerging.  The courgettes are up.  I like these yellow ones. Mainly because I can actually see them in the undergrowth of poppies, sweet peas and coriander going to seed.

I must explore a bit further to unearth the green ones; they will need a bit of help with the pollination.  I have bees and hover flies and all sorts of flying insects visiting all the pollen rich plants. But I always make sure to pick off the male flowers and connect them to the more shy and later flowering female flowers. I think there is a photo essay somewhere in this blog describing the process.

Contact me if you want the action photos of how it is done.  It does speed things up very well.

The jostaberries are just coming into ripeness too.  I haven’t been anywhere near the soft fruit orchard, but I can see I have a day of berry picking ahead. Thank goodness I have friends coming to stay a few days. Berry picking goes much faster when hungry hoards descend. 1firstsugardiamond

And you may not think of them as ‘crops’ but my dahlias are coming into flower.

This one is called sugar diamond. I had to lean down way too low for a sore back to read the label. As these are going to be staying permanently in the ground, I must find some time to paint proper labels so I can find out just what monstrous blooms are coming along.

The cosmos are up. I have cut off the leading flowers and lots of buds; but it will be well worth sacrificing a few future blooms so I can get lots of side growth.

1firstcosmosI took up seven bouquets of blooms to the market this week. I never seem to photograph them well, so trust me; they were a delight.