Surprise!

Archie quality checks the apples to see
if they are ready for harvesting

 

It was a bumper year for my apples and pears this year: the first lot of pears - a dessert variety - are all picked, poached and safely in the freezer. I'm still waiting for the next lot to ripen, and then the freezer will be fully stocked for the winter months ahead.

The apples are all in too - or I thought they were.

And then I spotted this: two which I'd somehow missed picking off the apple tree in the garden.

It was a nice surprise and best of all, as they are eating apples, I won't have to toil over a hot stove cooking them for freezing!

Blooming marvellous!

Looking forward to mouthwatering apples ...

Angel also quite enjoys nibbling at the
nasturtiums ...

If you don't have an allotment, this can be a solution to ensure that
not ALL your strawberries are eaten by your dogs!

Everything has started to grow all at once it seems - after a gentle start, suddenly flowers are bursting out everywhere! The magnificent show of Magnolias round here weren't blighted by frosts this year - and hot on their heels have come yellow Mahonias, clouds of blackthorn blossom in the hedges, while the cherry, plum and pear trees on my allotment are smothered in blossoms and the apples both there and in the garden are just about to break out too. And there's plenty of insect activity, so hopefully a good crop to look forward to later in the year. The alpine strawberries are starting to get into their stride now too, their progress carefully watched by Archie and Angel, who adore them and have to be encouraged to leave them until they are properly ripe. I also found Angel helping herself to a few viola flowers the other day ... but one of the pleasures of gardening is that plants can not only be beautiful to look at, but edible (or producing something edible) too! Those yellow Mahonias aren't just decorative either, but later in the year will be producing blue berries which you can either leave for the birds, or turn into jam.
If, like me, you have dogs who enjoy the pleasures of harvesting the garden's bounty, you do of course, need to take a few precautions as to what as well as where you plant - more about this next week. In the meantime, happy gardening!

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