Potato Flowers

Sunday, 27th June 2004
Wild West Yorkshire nature diary

Flowers on the potato are a sign that tubers are developing below ground. The recent rain will help them develop.

We've had a lot of white clover in flower on the lawn. Clover can produce its own supply of nitrogen thanks to its symbiotic relationship with nitrogen-fixing bacteria in nodlues on its roots. Its presence in such quantity is probably a sign that clover has an advantage at present: it can thrive when other plants, the grass for instance, are finding the going tough. This might suggest that the lawn is in need of a feed. If I get around to it I might sprinkle seived garden compost on the turf but meanwhile I'll enjoy watching the bees visiting the clover flowers.

Our courgettes (i.e. zucchini) are perfect at the moment and we're trying to keep up with them, harvesting them when they're small, tasty and tender. No doubt there will soon be the 'ones that got away' which can be made into marrow soup. Courgette is a member for the gourd family, Curcubitaceae, which are native to tropical a temperate zones. The only native British member of the family is white bryony, Byronia cretica, a climbing plant of hedges and scrub, especially in areas of limestone.

Canary Grass, Phalaris canariensis, is just one of the plants that has sprouted from split bird-seed, along with wheat and an as yet unidentified plant that resembles mugwort. No sign of any Cannabis though.

Richard Bell, richard@willowisland.co.uk