Monthly Archives: August 2020

Six on Saturday – 29th August 2020

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This week I am combining Six on Saturday with the Lens-artist photograph challenge, using the word “Growing”. So what is growing in the garden this week?

  1. Twin courgettes – in fact con-joined twins.
Courgette

2. Squash: very little fruit – too wet and cold this year I think.

Squash plants

3. Runner beans – not plentiful, but there at least. Let’s hope for a good September so we get a good crop.

Runner beans

4. Rose – possibly the last rose of summer.

Rose

5. Chamomile flowers.

Chamomile

6. Beetroot – we have had nice sized beetroot this year.

Beetroot.

Thank you to The Propagator for hosting Six on Saturday, and

The Lens-Artists for hosting their weekly photo challenge.

Six on Saturday – 22 August 2020

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Hard to believe we are heading into the last week of August. So here is the six from this week’s garden.

  1. Despite the damp morning this large white was hanging about.
Large white butterfly

2. It could probably smell these – brassicas. The wet summer has suited pretty much all our brassicas and they are doing well – but netting is essential to keep at least the majority of butterflies out.

Brassicas

3. Cucumbers have been coming but not in any quantity – I think it may not be hot enough for them, even in the greenhouse.

Cucumber

4. Another item that is scarce this year is fruit. I counted four pears on this tree today and that is all the pears from three trees and apples are equally scarce. I blame the late May frost.

Pear

5. This on the other hand was a success. I collected some bloody cranesbill, Geranium sanguineum, seed from wild plants growing in the Burren last year and have managed to grow two plants. I don’t think they are frost hardy so I am going to keep them in the polytunnel in pots.*UPDATE – Thanks to Eliza for spotting that this is probably not Geranium sanguineum but possibly Geranium sylvaticum, in which case it is not from the Burren but from seed from a friend’s garden!

Geranium SPP.

6. And finally this week – one of my favourite later summer wildflowers – devils bit scabious in the meadow.

Devils-bit scabious

Thanks to The Propagator for hosting Six on Saturday.

Six on Saturday – 15th August 2020

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This week in Ireland we are celebrating all things heritage for Heritage Week. This includes our wonderful natural heritage so I thought for this week’s six I would focus on an insect theme. This is what was happening around the garden today.

  1. Honey bee – I occasionally get honey bees coming into the garden. They are particularly partial to the opium poppies. In Ireland, our native honey bee is called Apis melifera melifera, and is a darker version of Apis melfiera. The darker colour is thought to be an adaptation to our colder climate.
  • honey bee and poppy

2. Common carder bumblebees aren’t too fussy about which flowers they visit. Today I saw them on raspberries, comfrey and figworth. They are a great all rounder and you will even see them foraging in rain.

  • Common carder bee

3. My third bee is the garden bumblebee. These bumbles are great runner bean pollinators but they like the poppies too.

  • Garden bumblebee

4. And one more bee – this time on the runner beans is the white tailed bumble.

  • white tailed bumblebee on runner bean

5. And sticking with insects but moving away from bees, is this little grasshopper, which I rescued from the water butt. Happy to say he hopped away seemingly unscathed, once he had dried off a bit.

  • Grasshopper

6. And a final image for this week is a shieldbug instar – in other words an immature shieldbug that still needs to do some growing! I think this one may be the common green shieldbug.

  • shieldbug

Thank you to The Propagator for hosting Six on Saturday.

Tuscan blue

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The Belmullet Peninsula on the west of Ireland may not be Tuscany, but under the sun it can be a little bit of paradise too. We had the chance to enjoy a sunny Sunday there recently.

  • Sailing

The Peninsula lies on the north western tip of County Mayo, and is part of the Wild Atlantic Way.

  • Looking across to Achill Island from tip of the Peninsula

Farming and fishing are important. And while there are quite a lot of houses many are holiday homes.

  • Pier at Blacksod Point

There are many long and sandy beaches to explore……………………….

  • beach

Plenty of water to have some fun in.

……………..with only a few islands between you and the wide Atlantic ocean.

  • Looking out to Inishkea islands

Stunning scenery all around.

  • Looking across to Achill Island