A surplus of vegetables from the garden

It is always great when it gets to midsummer and the garden is over-producing as it feels good to be able to hand on goodies to friends and neighbours. We are at that stage just now, with an over supply of caulis, brocolli, broccoflower, cabbage, spinach. There is only a certain amount that we can eat, and everything comes at once. Dwarf and climbing beans are just coming on-stream, and we still have beans in the freezer from last year!
We think that we should have enough potatoes to do us for the whole year, now we have 20 planted in buckets as well as five rows in the garden.
We had such a great crop on our cherries this year, we were able to give some to all our neighbours, and only their second year! One Lapin, was better than the Rainier on which the fruit split, slightly earlier ripening though. We now have Moorpark apricots ready on a first year tree, about 40 fruit.... nothing like a tree ripened apricot though!

One of my favourite flowers

 

I found a lot of sweet pea seeds I had saved in the spring, and these are the result, aren't they just beautiful? Pity I can't share the perfume with you, is just divine.

A New Start

I have not been blogging for some months, as have been unwell, but the health is improving, and being a new year thought I should show you some lovely clematis that are flowering in the garden just now.
Most of these have been established now for about three years, and are really "doing their thing".
I do like clematis as companions to roses, and most of mine are growing along with climbing roses.
This year I planted a lot of sweet peas, and now realise how, that if you want them to keep flowering you have to pick them every day, so all the neighbours get bunches as well as inside our own home. The perfume is just divine.
Last winter we laid a lot of pea straw over the garden as a mulch, I certainly do not like the look of it at first, but it certainly takes care of a lot of the weeding, as laid newspapers underneath it. We now have a source of wood shavings removed from calf rearing sheds, along with the manure, and using that for mulch as well. A lot of dairying is done around here, and all we have to do is go and bag up as much of last season's as we want.
My daughter came down for Christmas and brought with her 25 20 litre plastic buckets, which we are growing potatoes in, starting at the bottom with rotting straw, and as the potatoes appear covering with this calf "poo". It took just 20 days for the buckets to be full of manure, and the potatoes out the top, so are hoping what is underneath is as good as what is on top.

Some beautiful rhodies flowering just now

I could spend all day in the garden , it is such a lovely time of the year, rhododendrons very good this year with many flowers, perhaps they are staring to mature as most have been in place for three to four years.

Can anyone help with name?

 
This little arum Has flowered for me once more this spring, but do not know its name except that it is an Arum. Can anyone help me?

Parcel of plants delivered

Very exciting this morning when the courier delivered a parcel of 18 daylilies for me to find homes for.
Was surfing the net one night when unable to sleep and found a mail order nursery who grow daylilies and clivias further north from here, and on impulse ordered some. Have grown one or two before, but have got interested after seeing a lot on garden blogs I visit regularly.
Planted out a big pot yesterday morning after seeing a photo in a garden magazine, sunflowers and purple basil, hope it looks as good as the photo!

New tree to plant

Today we went to Timaru to do some shopping, and we collected the tree I had recently ordered, Magnolia Red Ace, looking forward to seeing it flower, has four big, fat buds ready to unfurl. Now all I have to do is find a home for it!

The trilliums appear to be very happy in the woodland garden I am trying to develop.