Bob Flowerdew
@FlowerdewBob
Has a passion for gardening. Dips into Twitter when he can. NEVER reads Direct Messages http://bobflowerdew.com/biog
becoming a ‘good’ gardener is simply learning not to become a plant hypochondriac and to distinguish real problems from little annoyances.
A Comma Butterfly feeding on pink buddleia from our garden. This is for Benne and her family.
This unknown blueberry has been in this container for at least 20 years. Never pruned, never repotted, just rain water and monthly feed. Crops very well every year. Only in greenhouse while in fruit otherwise the birds take them all.
Trump: "We will not allow a windmill to be built in the United States". Texas: 15,300 and counting. U.S. total: 73,000+.
He's not talking about beauty; he's talking about money. You can't own the wind. Oil fields and refineries are uglier—and they are killing us.
re planting blueberries - too often under-potted, vary much in size & often potentially much larger than we expect, some make trees 15-25 ft tall, most can make very large bushes, so many such as common Bluecrop only really happy in container size of bath, this Tophat is dwarf so…
Bluecrop blueberry in old bath as my soil too alkaline, been covered with fine mesh vs birds so actually getting crop, picked over three pounds leaving more to come
Cornelian cherries, Cornus mas, very productive tasty though tart make superb sorbet and jelly, currently just starting to colour -so have covered bramble row with a plastic sheet under tree where I lost much of the crop last year
no legal qualification but assume carrying a tool for genuine reason should result in acquittal, then depending on circumstances could try suing for wrongful arrest but I'd not hope for much
Occasionally, I've taken a e.g. sharp knife to the allotment to cut e.g. asparagus. Like this chap, we don't leave tools at the #allotment ,been thefts in the past @GWmag @FlowerdewBob Sounds like over-zealous policing but has this happened to others? msn.com/en-gb/news/ukn…
and even better barbecued over a slow smoky fire
leave all husk on and microwave for 2 minutes, game changer.
squashes can be eaten from the flowering on as with courgettes/Zucchini, if wanted fresh then taken when wanted only difference of longer is flesh firms & seeds mature, if wanted for storage leave on vine as long as possible
How do I know when squashes are ready to eat Bob? One is about 6" across.
most melons change colour in whole or part going yellow, wonderful perfume exudes, wee crack appears circumferentially around where stalk becomes fruit, then fruit drops off, ideally caught in bag suspending it
how to know when to harvest melons?
Homegrown sweetcorn’s a revelation. I never particularly liked it until I grew my own and ate it within an hour of being picked. Delicious!
#SundayYellow and friend 🐛A hairy cinnabar moth caterpillar munching on ragwort from Friday. #MothsMatter @savebutterflies #Lancashire
Another pristine looking Speckled wood butterfly resting in the dappled shade this morning.
A particularly colourful Parent Bug (Elasmucha grisea) found resting on a Viburnum opulus (Guelder Rose) leaf in the garden a couple of days ago. Called Parent Bugs as, unusually for Shieldbugs, the female broods and protects the eggs and young larvae.
sweet corn is ready when tassels have shrivelled & kernels at top of cob full & if squashed 'full of clotted cream', if watery= too early, cheesy= gone over, pick then immediately put in already boiling water for five to ten minutes, no longer!
It's a #butterfly day! 😍🤩🎉🦋 Decided to take advantage of the sunny afternoon and recent scotch argus sightings on #ArnsideKnott, very excited to come across a #BrownHairstreak feeding on the hemp agrimony whilst looking! 🤎 @savebutterflies @bc_cumbria #butterflies
Warm but overcast at Prestbury Hill in Gloucestershire this afternoon. Very pleased to find my 45th species of butterfly in Britain for the year, the Chalkhill Blue. #Savebutterflies