"Who Knows Where The Time Goes?"

"In summer, the song sings itself." ~ William Carlos Williams

So here we are almost at Midsummer's Day ! In the words of the Fairport Covention song oh so beautifully sung by Sandy Denny, "Who Knows Where The Time Goes?". It has been a showery summer solstice here but the forecast is promising a dry and warm week.

As the year goes on I am failing somewhat with my intention to maintain some sort of gardening diary both on this blog and elsewhere. I especially wanted to try to keep more accurate records of what I have done at the allotment. So once again I am unsure of when I planted my garlic, onions and carrots etc. and exactly when they should be ready to crop. I think that for another year that it will be a glorious guessing game. The 'Feltham First' peas are coming on but in trying to establish whether the peas are ready I am eating a fair few podsworth. However they are deliciously sweet and going down well. I wish all crops were like strawberries as it is so obvious when they are ready for eating. They are ripening thick and fast at the moment so each trip to the allotment usually sees me coming home with enough to feed the two of us. I have also been invited to top up with next doors as well, as they are on holiday so there is certainly no shortage of strawberries. I had a good session at the lottie yesterday where I weeded for England. I am trying to make sure that the plot is tidy as possible well in time for the July inspection. It was last July when I got the dreaded letter. I am trying to gets things as tidy as possible before then and also before holidays call.

I am also regularly picking bunches of sweet pea 'Matucana' from the plot which scent the hall. The flower bed there is filling out nicely now. The top photo shows penstemon 'Evelyn' and cerinthe major. In the same bed are cosmos 'Purity',nasturtiums, asters, teasels, a Japanese anenome and a stipa gigantea still very much in its infancy.

On the subject of tempus fugit, I have been very remiss in not thanking the lovely Joanne of Joanne's Cottage Garden for the 'Renee Award' which she kindly bestowed upon me - my very first blogging award! :



This award is the "Renee Award" which was created by Bella and Ces in the UK, in honour of their friend Renee.In Bella's own words "This is a brand new award and I have the pleasure and honor of spreading the seed and watching it grow. I hope it finds it's way to those who are like Renee: the acorn, a small package becoming a tall and sturdy oak, giving more acorns, becoming tall and sturdy oaks, giving acorns.”

I should pass this award on to five other bloggers but find it impossible to narrow it down to you. I am sure that I will still be in the spirit of the award if I pass it on to all you lovely people who visit this blog regularly, with thanks and appreciation for all your comments. My apologies for being rather remiss about replying to comments of late. Hopefully this should improve now that things are slowing down growing and planting wise - there's more time to draw breath.Thanks muchly for the award Joanne !