On the plum tree at the top of the garden the yellow plums are ripening and turning golden in colour. There are so many fruits that the branch has bent over toward the ground. Straining under the weight. They will be harvested soon. They have a sweet and delicate taste, very different to the plums we used to pick from the old Victoria plum tree .
We are getting more produce now from the garden, French beans, potatoes, courgettes and onions. From the greenhouse both red and yellow tomatoes.
There are still five fox cubs visiting the garden, often in twos or threes. The parents have left them to cope in their new world. They look very healthy. Curious bright eyes and soft bushy tails.
I took this photo about 9pm. last evening through the kitchen window. The light was fast disappearing as he and his siblings made their nightly inspection of the garden. Rolling on the grass and disappearing behind flowers and shrubs and following the paths around the raised beds.
Other visitors to the garden include the Herring Gull which our neighbours over the fence call Stephen, we call him Bobby. Could be a female of course. I guess he or she smells the barbeques in neighbouring gardens now the weather is warm and dry.
Since mid-May we've had a pair of birds regularly visiting the bird feeders. It's taken ages to find out what they are, recently Paul heard bird song and checked it out with the RSPB website and they are Linnets. How unsual to have them here in such an urban area. They are red listed so quite rare. I've put a link over 'RSPB' above.
The Chamomile I thought was lost has suddenly appeared all over in one of the raised beds.
Above - more flowers in the garden. Dahlia, Echinacea, Water lily, Rose and Helenium.
What a lovely selection of photos from your garden and particularly impressive to see the linnets, what a great surprise to see them happily eating the seeds. You must be enjoying all your fresh produce, such a treat. I wonder if Bobby is good at maths or he just likes bobbing up and down! 😊
ReplyDeleteI hope the Linnets stay around, they visit often at the moment, haven't seen any young ones though. It is good to just go into the garden and bring in something to eat for tea. Bobby is probably calculating where he will get his next meal from:)
DeleteLovely photos from your garden Rosie. We are starting to harvest a few vegetables too - garlic bulbs and courgettes and the tomatoes are slowly ripening. My son is thrilled he has some sweetcorn forming. Linnet is a super garden "tick" - you must be over the moon.. I am so pleased your chamomile has returned :)
ReplyDeleteHasn't it taken ages for the courgettes and tomatoes to ripen and now we have loads of tomatoes at the same time. Lots of salads and pasta sauces. Never thought we'd have Linnets here, the Chiff chaffs earlier in the year were a surprise too. I hope both stay around When we first came here it was all sparrows and greenfinches but we never see a greenfinch now and very few sparrows even though we still have lots of hedges around the garden. Yes, it was lovely to see the Chamomile:)
DeleteThe warmer weather has probably hastened your food crops Rosie. I like your Bobby Seagull visitor! x
ReplyDeleteI'm sure it has, Simone all of a sudden everything is ready for picking. We can hear the seagull coming over the garden as he cackles and calls, he doesn't like magpies and we have quite a few of those around the garden:)
DeleteYour garden is producing some beautiful veggies and flowers. Those plums are new to me, but so pretty.
ReplyDeleteA linnet! I have heard of them but this is the first time I have seen a photo of one.
I too knew of Linnets but had never seen one until this year. The yellow plum tree is a small one and was growing behind the much bigger Victoria plum tree that had to be taken down last year becasue it was diseased and had become unstable. Now the smaller tree has more light it has produced quite a few fruits this year:)
DeleteHow lovely to see a pair of Linnets regularly starting to visit your garden.
ReplyDeleteThe best thing is that they are still visiting, we saw them yesterday:)
Delete