Growing Flowers. August 20th 2020

It all started in lockdown when our market wasn’t on so I didn’t buy any flowers. Instead I pruned the bushes in our garden and made some really nice arrangements. Even when we have flowers in the garden I don’t like to pick them as that’s all our colour gone so we decided to make a flower cutting plot at the allotment. I grew these rudbekia and also some foxgloves from seed and we bought a couple of alstromeira plants. We are now saving about five pounds per week and have flowers to give away when we go visiting, though I do feel a little guilty when I walk passed the flower stall.

At this time of year we don’t spend much on vegetables either as the crops are producing well. We picked our first leek this week and together with some potatoes and excess courgettes it made a lovely soup, the bulk of which is in the freezer. We also picked our first butternut squash which will keep for months and will be something to look forward to when the weather turns colder. It’s been one of our best years for butternuts as usually they aren’t really quite up to size at the end of summer. This year we only have one plant but we are going to have six large butternut squashes.

At the moment we are also picking kale, chard, carrots, courgettes, French beans, lettuce, beetroot, radish, raspberries and rhubarb. We have plenty to keep us going and because my husband always grows too much we feed a few neighbours as well. The weather and lockdown have had a part to play but we have had a lot of pleasure from growing this year.