Peony, rose

And columbine

Chamomile is out

Flowers

Pinks, chives, strawberries
And sage. Asparagus too but those flowers are not so picturesque

Planted some more grass pea, now I've a full bed of them. I did stick one in over by the compost pile to see what it will do. I threw in a bunch o Charentais melon over there, and some pumpkin.

The first leaves of the lupine are rather prehistoric looking, round dark and lumpy.

Rain flood ducks

Yesterday's rain brings us flood today, the ducks are happy

Beds

Bed one: empty
Bed two: three rows, carrots outside, parsnip in middle
Bed three: pea
Bed four: failed cukes
Bed five: parsley ans strawberry Blite
Bed six: portyngale kale
Bed seven: grasspea
Bed eight: empty
Bed nine: empty
Bed ten: empty
Bed eleven: pole bean
Bed 12: tomato

The carrots were just put in today, also planted some lupine in front of the greenhouse. The ones in the flat are come up.

By gorm, it's cold. Here is a pale peach iris in the cottage garden, and the white ones, under the alder tree

Items

Forgetmenots but the glasshouse door

Cucumeres succumbed to the hot

Frame for the pease

Columbine and iris

Bluebells and buttercups

Today

Rain, the rhododendron is out,

Lupine seeds have arrived

Wild flowers

Did some non-photogenic work in the garden tonight, so here is a nice flower instead

Weather

Frost

31.1 degrees F early this morning.

Covered the tomatoes and rosemary last night, I think they made it but won't know for sure until I get home tonight

Rain

The past two days have had some rain, which the weeds quite enjoy

Seedlings

Peas, beets, spinach, collard and chard are all poking up

We had a lot of rain so I'm leaving the flats uncovered today

Grass pea

So I had a request for a period foodstuff that isn't really grown anymore, at least not for food. And rightly so, there is a neurotoxin in the seeds. Lathyrus sativus, a type of sweet pea.

Here they are before planting, with their package courtesy of Trade Winds Fruit

Current Inventory

Here is a list of what I have planted:
Lily-of-the-valley
hellebore
wild cucumere
Iris, white
Iris, yellow
Iris, purple
echinacea
Rue
larkspur
lavender
blueberry
rose
houseleek
chamomile
meadowsweet
daisy
asparagus
melissa
clementine
sage
pinks
feverfew
cowslip
sedum
strawberry
tansy
rosemary
wormwood
chive
leek
oak
lilac
elderberry
raspberry
potato *
skirrit
lettuce
kale
strawberry blite
parsley

Well-sweep Herb Farm

Today a brief visit to the awesome well-sweep herb farm , brought home Cowslip, Candy Mountain Foxglove, Wormwood, and Strawberry Blite

The cowslip adn the foxglove are in the upper garden, near the house, in the center.  There are also some white carrots there left over from last year, which hopefully will do better this year with some more attention.  As to cowslip, is it cow-slip or cow's-lip?

Greensward

Placing turves and pounding hem down

Setting seeds

Ok so I am way late in the year for this.  This post is mostly for myself to keep track of what i'm doing in the garden.

The first tray is Chioggia Beets, Skirrets, Currants, Green arrow Pea, and Charentais Melon

The second tray is empty, Rampion, Bloomsdale Spinach, Collards, Fordhook Chard.

The rampion seeds were so tiny and light ill be surprised if anything comes up, it seemed more like chaff than seed

Making soil

So I am screening the compost heap to get a nice fine rich soil

Have to do more research on what the historical techniques were, but this is good organic stuff

The last of the daffadowndilly

Joy!

Ah what a day!
Portuguese kale in the foreground, parsley behind it. Portyngale as the English called it.

Also some tomato, not period but I am in New Jersey and its required. Brandy wine in the left, Rutgers on the right.

Finally, rosemary, introduced to England in the 14th century

These plants we got from Tony at New Horizon Plant Farm. He's a great guy and really knows his stuff. Beautiful, healthy plants.

Old hickory

The way this tree leafs out is very interesting. A pod forms, then the leaves push it open