At last we have the warm balmy air that the half hardy annuals need to start growing.
This has been a very peculiar and rather difficult year as far as flower growing goes. The very hot April brought on tulips very fast and they flowered in a great lump of colour over two and a half weeks rather than 6. The very cold wet May delayed all the flowers that should have taken over from them an for a few weeks, until the alliums emerged we were scrabbling around for flowers to sell.
The seedlings I planted out a few weeks ago - cornflowers, cosmos, snapdragons, sunflowers - all seem to have stayed still until this week (unfortunately not something I could say about the weeds) but in the past 3 days of hot clammy weather they have doubled in size and finally look as if they might turn into proper plants.
I am turning into a proper farmer with my ability to complain about the weather whatever it is. Next year I wonder about starting the seedlings off under tunnel hoops until the weather warms. We really have such a short growing season here it may be the only way in a chilly spring. That said - I really don't want the cutting garden to look like a strawberry field with chenilles of plastic glinting in the sunshine.
This poppy is Papaver orientale "Manhattan", a stunner if ever there was one.
7 comments:
What a very beautiful poppy. I have tissue-paper-like pink ones out at the moment, and they are huge.
I have the pink ones too. I've noticed siimilar things in my small garden; things got realy slowed down by that spell of wet weather, having come out early initially.
We have been strugging with the weather also. We lost almost all of our mini watermelons. They just fell off the vine at tennis ball style.
How awful about the watermelons - do they grow new ones, or is that the crop wasted?
Sweet pea flowers drop their uppermost bud if the nights are cold but at least new flowers come along in a day or two,
J
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It's doing it to vegtables as well, I have exchanged notes with other veg growers and all of our tomatoes, courgettes and pepper plants are on a slow start this year.
Potatos are going well though.
I am glad even the photos of yourself are seasonal:)
Well Lynne - it is too hot for a hat now, even in Scotland.
J
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