Alien shaped succulent

Whilst not strictly allotment or orchard related, my wife continues to demonstrate a creative flair with her growing collection of succulents. In the photo' they are planted in an old sink which was salvaged from the original garden "villa" on the site of our current garden. The specimen at the front edge of the sink (sempervivum) has created plenty of small versions of itself and now thrown up a spectacular flower spike - just the kinf of thing to find in the guest accomodation on board the Enterprise in Star Trek - the Next Generation.

Snap shot of early summer

Here are a couple of pictures just to show that the allotment is alive and doing fine despite no rain for a long time. Most of the plants can get by with just a splash of stored rain water at sunset. The potatoes plants are full size, but haven't flowered yet. In the background, the courgettes have flowered but are still very small plants. In the flower bed the roses are producing some flowers (although nothing like Gentle Hermione in the garden) and the dahlias are gradually getting going.

There is a 50/50 mix of Hokaido pumpkins and muskat pumpkins, all of which are now big enough to fend off most of the slugs.

And along the fence between the allotment and the orchard, the rambling rose is full of flowers, even though it is only one year old.

Slow worms

This year we have seen several slow worms in the orchard. They particularly liked the transition from brambles to long grass at the edge of the river bank. I hope they stick to slugs, snails and worms and leave the roses alone.

It seems they have no defence against cats. I hope Sturm, Schnee and Pantera leave them in peace.