Five Things Today

Today post is five photos taken today on a wet Wednesday from the garden. They are five things that are growing.
The Teasels I grew from seeds have grown now into the architectural plants with the spikey stems and comb like flowers. These spiny flowers were used in textile mills before to sort out threads. Apparently Goldfinches are addicted to the black shiny seeds within these flowers. I will watch to see in the autumn if they attract birds. I grew six plants from the seeds from a Trilby Street flower head. Originally I bought two Wildflower plant Teasels from the RHS garden at Harlow Carr. Since then I have seen them growing wild alongside a farmers field, and at Pugneys lake. I love how they grow tall, and that the leaves form pouches that collect water and insects. Like a basic fly trap design? They are a bit wobbly though as their rapid vertical growth makes them top heavy and prone to leaning. My six look like drunken sailors on shore leave.

Cats Hosta's are magnificent in pots. They have all started to flower. Some people do not like the Hosta's flowers. We have a new batch of half dozen plants ready to be put into barrel planters to join the five mature Hosta's we have growing already. We also bought some copper tape to see if it stopped the slugs and snails from wreaking havoc on the green leaves. There are so many varietys of Hostas all with fancy names. The leaves are beautiful when you water them. The waxy leaves cause the water to form a ball, and it rolls around the Hosta leaf like a pin ball. It hits where the stem is and slides down into the centre of the plant. Watering Hostas is therapeutic for the pin ball way it collects water off its leaves..

The Busy Lizzies skirt my garden nymph statue. She is dwarfed by the foliage of the New Potatoes growing in bags. These are so easy to grow. You only need one grow bag, about five small seed Potatoes and some compost to fill the bag with. The soil just covers the foliage until it breaks through the top. Each grow bag averages about five pounds of new Potatoes. Yummy with butter and parsley. It is so easy I have been extolling the virtues of it to people at work. It is a simple grow your own project anyone can do even with the smallest space!

The Pond today is slowly being surrounded by the growing plants. We have three Frogs that take it in turns to bath in the cool waters. There are lots of flies walking about on top, and black larvae hanging under the water surface beneath. According to the forums we should just let the pond achieve a natural balance of pests and predators. We attracted the Frogs within a few days of putting the oxygenating plants. I love pond watching and seeing what wildlife has moved in already. I want more marginal plants around it to keep it cool during the very hot days. The birds already love this. Its like a House Sparrow car wash with them splashing around on the stone steps.

I love these Baby Apples. These are the first fruit that has formed after three years of growing. The picture of the Apple tree could have been done in a trade description act. It showed a mature tree laden down with masses of fruit. The first year I had one flower which the slugs ate, and the second year there was no flowers at all!
This third year there were masses of flowers and finally some Apples have formed. The Apple Tree is growing in a pot at the moment. I think I will plant it once it has gone back to sleep in the Winter. I want to get more Apple trees for this garden. I want to grow Bramley Apples, especially for freshly baked home made Apple Pies.