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Carrots, radicchio and chard in containers.

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 I've been successful with growing carrots in a big pot for quite a while now.  The variety I use is 'Adelaide F1'. It's a small finger carrot which you can find in the King's catalogue.  They come out clean from the compost and are very tasty.  I use Melcourt Sylvagrow peat free compost from the hut and don't replace if after each crop, just top it up. Encouraged by this I've recently tried growing Radicchio, or red chicory, in the same way.  With carrots I sow seed directly but I sowed radicchio in a small pot on 3/7/26 then potted the plants on.  They look fantastic.  In July they started off green but as it gets colder the red colour develops and deepens.  Slugs and snail don't seem to like them, maybe because of their bitter flavour.  I've read they lose their bitterness when cooked, something I must try! Chard started off will but is prone to beet leaf miner which destroys the leaves.  As the weather gets colder it's less prevalent...
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Passionflower - an invasive non-native weed

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 Recently I noticed a number of new plants popping up at the bottom of my garden, in my wild area with compost bins and water butts sheltered by a large old apple tree.  I recognised it to be a passionflower, and obviously invasive as I hadn't planted it.  I started pulling the plants up.  It was growing like bindweed, but with bigger underground runners. I looked up how to get rid of it and came across a website where gardeners are encouraged to report invasive non-native plants, originally grown as garden plants, in their garden.  Apparently they are increasing because of climate change.  Here's the website in case you're being bothered by one. https://plantalert.org/ I'm seeing passionflowers all over public areas since, and am getting rather obsessed!  Here's one in Southbourne rambling over shrubs near Tescos and the now felled holm oak.
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Watering by diffusion

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  Last year I bought a set of watering kits for potted plants which were quite successful, but have only just remembered about them this year, well into the drought.  They consist of a pointed terracotta pot (top photo) which you push in the soil.  You find your own bottle, the neck of which will fit into the pot.  The bottle should be filled with water then inverted with your hand over the opening before putting it quickly into the pot.  The water diffuses into dry soil through the terracotta (see above).  I set this one up this morning with fingers crossed! I bought the kit from Chimney Sheep, though they're not on their website at the moment.  I've broken two of the pots through pushing the bottle in too hard.  There are tougher looking versions in Emsworth Hardware which are made for using with wine bottles - worth a try!
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A lovely yellow dianthus

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 Yellow is an unusual colour for a dianthus - aka pink or carnation.  I bought Dianthus 'Yellow Harmony' at a rare plant fair knowing nothing about it.  It's turned to be a great plant to lighten up a border.  The lemon yellow flowers seem to float above it's stems, like dots of light amongst darker colours.  It's drought tolerant so a very useful plant in these hot summers.
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Self sowers

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I've had a few plants appear this year which I haven't seen for at least a couple of years.  Interesting that the seeds have germinated in autumn and spring this year - what stimulated this?  Drought? Winter rain?  It's a bit of a mystery.  Here they are: Clary sage, Salvia sclarea.  A mediterranean plant - quite spectacular   Two varieties of verbascum, the pale flowered possibly Verbascum x hybridum Snow Maiden and the yellow flowered Great Mullein Verbascum thapsus, which is a native plant occurring on stony dry soils. At least two years ago I grew Wild Carrot, Daucus carota,  from seed I collected locally.  It didn't come back until this year.  It's an annual, unlike the plants above which are biennial. Ammi majus or Bishop's Flower   is another umbellifer which disappeared after its first year grown from bought seed.  It's a elegant plant with dainty finely divided leaves, and the flat umbels are particularly attractive to...
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Mullein moth caterpillars

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  These voracious caterpillars are having a good go at one of three mulleins(Verbascum) that had self sown in my garden.  Their colouring is very distinctive and dramatic, I assume to put off predators.  I've looked up the adult moth and apparently they look like a piece of bark.  What a contrast!  
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Swiss chard

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Swiss chard is a wonderful crop to grow - it's easy, undemanding and stands over winter, getting into growth as spring begins.  The plant in the photo was sown last August, and I've been eating it for weeks. I cook it like spinach, and particularly like it in an omelette or fritatta, Chard a member of the beet family and is biennial.  A large taproot maintains it through the winter, and it goes to seed in early summer.  I prefer types with white midribs, but recently I picked up a free packet of 'Bright Lights' with a mixture of red, yellow and white midribs.  It's harder to find the white varieties these days!  It can be sown from March to September. I've just sown some, a few in a small pot.  When they've germinated and produces few true leaves I'll plant the whole pots in the ground, weeding out weaker plants to leave the strongest one to grow on.  
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