All right I’m a gardener, and maybe a tad prone to persecution mania on the pest front, but this month it’s been wall to wall dandelions, and no sign of the invasion letting up. Not only are they EVERYWHERE, and especially out in force at the allotment, but they are also showing signs of mutating into mega-weeds, some as big as palm trees. OK. Perhaps not quite that big. But I can see what they’re plotting: world domination in Much Wenlock.
All means of defence seem puny before the onslaught. I’ve tried mowing, hoeing, beheading, excising. Even resorted to engaging in dialogue of the non-expletive variety. But it’s no go. So I thought I’d shoot the varmints instead – photo-wise naturally. And of course, they really are very beautiful – whether in flower or gone to seed – and also so very perfectly designed for maximum coverage of planet Earth.
The one thing I’ve forgotten to do this year is eat some of them – young leaves in salad and for a system-cleansing tea, roots dry-roasted to make quite a passable coffee that also has health benefits, flowers deep fried as fritters (though I’ve not tried this). And now that I’m seeing them in a more kindly light, and established a little perspective, I’m ready to post a less fraught compilation of April shots taken on and around the allotment.
The Changing Seasons: April 2017 Please visit Max at Cardinal Guzman to see Oslo in April and other bloggers’ offerings.
Tish Farrell 
Tish, even though you are surrounded by the beauty and splendor of the English countryside, you are so very lucky to have an allotment to escape to! Nothing relieves the stresses of life like working in the soil, even weeding, pruning, and preening over your creations in the garden! I so wish I had what you have there with your allotment! A quiet and blissful refuge to get away to, your own private world. I love reading about your allotment and what all goes on there, through all of the seasons of the year, plus even when you may not think there is anything to photograph, there is always something happening in you own little private world!
Ah, Mitch. I wish you had a garden refuge too. Is there no way to find one? Maybe someone who can’t manage their garden but might like a little bit of help? Anyway, thank you for your very generous appreciation of my plot 🙂
What a wonderful garden? Awesome photos also.
Many thanks 🙂
Owning a garden is surely so precious ….
Love your splendid pictures and your sharing with us!
Precious, yes, Anna. That is a very thoughtful way of putting it. Grazie 🙂
Lovely photos, Tish. A lot of apple blossom around here at the moment, thanks to groups planting community orchards – the blossom is such a joy. Just watching my ‘patty pan’ seedlings come up this morning – another joy as I adore the plants themselves, even without the fruits! Happy gardening
That’s exciting watching the patty pans emerge. Happy gardening to you too, Lynn.
They’re such sturdy little seedlings and I love squash plants, their gorgeous leaves. Such a shame when I have to plant them out and expose them to slugs and bugs and the ravages of local cats! 🙂
I love the results of gardening, but I don’t always love doing it.
It can be v. wearisome, I agree. Always have to keep my mind on the end results.
Great photos Tish. Full of colour and life.
Have a good week
Thanks so much. And a good week to you too 🙂
And remember, the dandelions are often the first plants the bees visit!
Allotment looking rather swish, Miss Tish.
My mulching experiment ( courtesy of your non-weeding posts) seems to be working quite well in the main.
We’ll mow the lawn one more time before winter arrives, and the cuttings should cover the remaining bare patches of the veggie garden, and that should do it for a month or two.
Well done on the mulching front. Glad it’s working more or less. As to dandelions, I know I shouldn’t get to cross with them 🙂
Well, you do look to be pretty slug free, Tish! Grateful for small mercies 🙂 🙂 Hail stones here today!
Slugs – they’re just leading me into a sense of false security, the little blighters. We had a bit of hail too. And a few other things. Lots of weather in fact.
Ah, dandelions: a flower in the wild, a weed in lawn and garden. I try to dig mine out, but there are places near us where the little devils run (grow) rampant, so I sometimes become discouraged. If they didn’t take up so much space and push everything else out, I would welcome their sunny faces.
As mentioned by pretty much everyone else, great garden and thanks for sharing it.
janet
The only thing that has worked for me is uprooting them completely BEFORE they go to see. Otherwise, there is my alternate plot: give up. They bloom, they you can mow them down for the next year. They come out the same time as the violets, so they look pretty on the grass, the purple violets and the bright yellow dandelions.
I like your thinking!
Yummy! Any advice on keeping my tomato plants alive whilst I am away for a week? They are still in small pots, but growing very big! I will plant them into grow bags on my return, but not sure how to keep them from drying out in the conservatory. Move them to a cooler room perhaps?
Yes a cooler place out of very direct light. You could try some capillary matting in a tray. You can get it from the internet by the metre I think. It help stops the pots drying out. Vermiculite on the soil surface maybe too. I’m having the same thoughts re things in the polytunnel. But have tested the capillary matting notion. I have little plastic grow house inside the polytunnel – one of these 4-tier things with a cover. I found seedlings and small plants survived very well in there in a tray with some capillary matting and did not need much watering for several days despite it getting pretty hot in there.
OK. I shall move them into the kitchen and try to rig up some sort of watering system 🙂 and put some mulch on top of them. Thanks Tish! I shall have to start calling you Percy ;-D
Percy – oh heavens. That’s dating us. I do so remember his TV potting shed and dahlia tubers.
Well I was thinking more of his connection with Shropshire! I’m sure we were much too young to watch him on TV 😉
Oh you’re so right. Someone must have told us about him 🙂
Heehee…
Your allotment is looking great Tish. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we all had a little plot to tend. I’m sure gardening as therapy would be much cheaper and more beneficial than pharmaceuticals and surgeries. 🙂
The dandelion’s seem to be turning over quickly this year as well, never mind your lottie is just as abundant!
Your hard work is well rewarded, Tish. I’ve always loved dandelions, both in flower and gone to seed. Never thought of eating the leaves, although l have drunk dandelion tea on occasion.
Maybe time to try expletive dialogue!! Your lush garden makes my two herbs flourishing despite a year’s neglect look puny. Thank you for generating a vivid Warsaw memory of dandelions.
That is a beautiful changing season series, Tish. Fresh salad, can’t beat that. 🙂
Thanks, Amy. I must admit I get very excited by the sight of fresh home-grown lettuce 🙂
I didn’t know you could make coffee and all that stuff from dandelions, but now that I know, I still guess that I’ll stick to my regular coffee.
Tis an acquired taste Dandelion coffee. You probably made a wise decision, Max 🙂
In spite of your irksome dandelion invasion, your garden is bursting with beauty….and that dandelion portrait is a work of art
Hello, Lisa. Thank you so much. I’ve not been keeping up with you, which will be remedied shortly 🙂
Green images.