Peach crop is looking promising
A garden full of unusual plants and a big collection of fruit and vegetables in Alnwick, Northumberland.
Cold, soil-drying winds have delayed some of the early planting out, but this is normal in the north! We’ve managed to replant two raised beds that run either side of the
driveway, after removing several older shrubs that have outstayed their welcome. The mixture of herbaceous perennials and dwarf shrubby plants are now in place and are presently being monitored for water until they’re truly established.
We’re experiencing the usual build-up of young, potted plants (vegetable and ornamental) in the greenhouse, as the propagator continues to turn out yet more. Some of
the large onions and a batch of chrysanths have gone into a sheltered spot outside to create space, but it’s still too cold and windy for the majority. We look set for a decent
‘Peregrine’ peach crop – they’re golf ball-size already, and the trees are looking full of fruit. Despite the ‘rough winds of May’, the apple blossom is stunning, not least that of ‘Redlove’ in deepest pink. The pear, plum and assorted top fruits have all flowered and the harvest potential looks good.
The asparagus bed is cropping beautifully, five years on from planting three varieties as one-year-old crowns. We’ve been picking spears since mid-April, and they’re tasty, but ‘Stewart’s Purple’ is the most vigorous.
There’s lots of ornamental colour outdoors. Groups of tulips light up the borders, in competition with bluebells, some in white! Dwarf lilac, bridal wreath, rosemary, viola, saxifrage and doronicum add to the show.
Seeds of our native wallflower, mixed with mud and thrown
into the joints of a drystone wall a few years ago, formed plants that keep flowering. And in quiet corners lie little treats. A patch recently created by Judy has pink campion, cowslips and sweet violets. Nearby, in a mound of saxifrage, the flower of a mouse plant ( Arisarum
proboscideum) has popped up as if to see what’s happening, and a wren nesting in the wall ivy offers entertainment from afar.