Tag Archives: garden

Jun 16 2026
Leave a comment
Daily Post, Flora/Fauna

Carnations

Monday 15th June 2026, 11.20am (day 5,408)

Dianthus, 15/6/26

Although this is changing soon, right now there is still not much happening in life, so let me offer more nature. Neither of us at first had any idea of the identity of these flowers, growing in a pot outside the front window. “I don’t even water them,” says C. “They just come up each year.” Google Lens it is, then, which informs us we have healthy specimens of Dianthus caryophyllus (the ‘Pink Kisses’ cultivar) merrily sprouting just underneath the gas meter.

Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,
Jun 09 2026
Leave a comment
Daily Post, Flora/Fauna

At work in the garden

Monday 8th June 2026, 5.35pm (day 5,401)

Bee on flower, 8/6/26

A somewhat unexpected spell of sunshine (of which June has so far seen very little) got both me and this little feller working up in the allotment for a while. It’s good to see the bees getting busy and I suppose the same is true of me as well.

Tagged , , , , , , , , ,
Jun 04 2026
1 Comment
Daily Post, Family Member, Portrait

White Swan garden reflection

Wednesday 3rd June 2026, 3.30pm (day 5,396)

Swan garden reflection, 3/6/26

This is a self-portrait — logically I will be on it somewhere, and you may discern me under the red umbrella nearest to this shiny ball thing. I’m in the garden early — but then again I started work early (7:45) and sat upstairs marking for several hours. Semester 2 is now officially done, though, as far as I am concerned.

Tagged , , , , , , , , ,
May 20 2026
Leave a comment
Daily Post, Flora/Fauna

Crinkly rose

Tuesday 19th May 2026, 6.40pm (day 5,381)

Crinkly rose, 19/5/26

If this is a specific type of rose, I cannot identify it: Clare tried helping out by doing one of those ‘look for images that resemble this’ searches on Google and it just came up with the name of a company, proving how our informational sphere has been colonised (or something). Perhaps future Google image searches will find this picture and call this breed ‘Crinkly’ because that’s what it is. Which is why I took the shot: I like its crinkliness.

Tagged , , , , , , , , ,
May 18 2026
Leave a comment
Daily Post, Flora/Fauna

Newt (and sister’s hands)

Sunday 17th May 2026, 2.25pm (day 5,379)

Exactly what species this is, no idea, but this little creature becomes the first specimen of the family Pleurodelinae — the newts — to appear on the blog. Sister Vicki was quite concerned that a heron had been munching on the inhabitants of her garden pond, but this one, at least, is OK so far.

Tagged , , , , , , , , ,
Apr 18 2026
Leave a comment
Daily Post, Family Member, Portrait

This year’s pea house

Friday 17th April 2026, 12.20pm (day 5,349)

Pea frame, 17/4/26

This year’s peas and beans are getting a relatively hi-tech home, none of this cheap cane-based arrangement this year. The frame is up, I help Clare sort out the netting, while she practices putting her feet at right angles for a minute or two.

Tagged , , , , , , , , ,
Dec 31 2025
Leave a comment
Daily Post, Flora/Fauna

The very last plums

Tuesday 30th December 2025, 12.15pm (day 5,241)

Dead plums, 30/12/25

2025 has been a very good year for the garden, probably the best ever in terms of the amount of food grown and gathered. We had so many plums that they couldn’t all get picked and used before the wasps or some other rot got them. I think these ones are well past their best though. Taken during today’s job — pruning the tree, so it can produce more fruit in 2026, we hope.

Tagged , , , , , , , ,
Nov 18 2025
Leave a comment
Daily Post, Hebden Bridge, Urban scene

Memorial Gardens

Monday 17th November 2025, 12.55pm (day 5,198)

Memorial Gardens, 17/11/25

No significant commentary today, just a pastoral scene on a relatively pleasant day of weather, one where I was glad I was not sweating it out in Manchester or some other such office space. It’s getting chilly, though.

Tagged , , , , , , ,
Sep 20 2025
Leave a comment
Daily Post, Flora/Fauna

Fruit: the last phase

Friday 19th September 2025, 1.55pm (day 5,139)

Apples, 19/9/25

Two decades of working the allotment has proven that fruit is so much easier to handle than vegetables. The plums and the various berries (black, blue, josta, logan) have all been and gone. But here is just a small portion of the last crop of the year. Anyone want some apples? We will have too many.

Tagged , , , , , , , , ,
Aug 26 2025
Leave a comment
Daily Post, Flora/Fauna

One day’s produce – and 14 years’ worth

Monday 25th August 2025, 12.15pm (day 5,114)

Garden produce, 25/8/25

This was the product of less than an hour’s labour in the garden this morning, and there’s plenty more still up there. I know, global warming, climate change and all that, but I doubt a medieval peasant farmer would have complained about the weather round here in 2025. This has been, without a doubt, the most productive year since we acquired the allotment, thus in more than 20 years.

As it is my birthday tomorrow, with this picture I also reach 14 full years of photographs that document my doings on a daily basis. Meaning, as of today, this blog encompasses exactly one quarter of my life. There have been some times when I have felt the creativity waning, not just on particular, less interesting days but in a broader sense. But there were times like that back in 2014, or 2020, or whatever, just as there sometimes still are now. For now, I will do my best to keep it up.

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
← Older posts