We have grown six varieties of peas this year, all Heritage varieties other than Mangetout Golden Sweet which lost its heritage designation when it was registered by a commercial grower. Over the last five weeks we have been harvesting to eat (or give away) and a week ago we started harvesting for seed for sowing next year, for sending to the Heritage Seed Library and for swapping or giving away. This means we have reviewed the performance of the different varieties and decided which to continue with next year. Our review follows, top row left to right then bottom row similarly.

Telephone grew tall (2 metres) and tasted sweet, but produced disappointingly few pods, in the order of 60-70. We will keep some seeds in reserve, but have decided not to grow next year.
Eat All, a green mangetout with large flat pods, went well when eaten as a complement to the yellow mangetout. Again, it was not very productive but we will give it another chance in a different location next season.
The purple flowers followed by red shells of Stephen's made it look special and they were ready three weeks before the next maincrop peas. A good number of pods, well filled, relatively small peas. Its looks and early ripening mean we will be growing it again.
Golden Sweet mangetout has been a favourite. Over three weeks we picked around 140 pods to eat whole, and we are now picking the fatter pods for eating as shelled peas while allowing enough to grow on for seed. 
Magnum Bonum is one we have grown for many years and it has tried to reach 8ft and is heavy with pods full of wrinkle seeded peas. We have picked over 200 so far and it is still going strong. It was much the latest to be ready to harvest, but its productivity means we will definitely keep it on our list.
Finally, Newick, a round seeded pea which HSL have asked to be given priority as the stocks in the Library are running low. It was the second of the maincrop to be ready for harvest, but the first to be ready for seed saving. So far we have saved seeds from 150 pods and it is on track for considerably more so we should be able to help rebuild HSL stocks as well as have some available for next year's needs.
​Pleasingly, this is the first ever year when we have not met a single pea moth caterpillar in our harvesting. We wonder what we did!

National Allotment Week starts on 10th August, its 18th year. Its theme aligns well with Serpentine - Growing Food for Health and Wellbeing. Allotmenters are invited to submit their responses to three topics: What my allotment means to me, The history of our site, and what I grow at the allotment. So what does Serpentine mean to you?!
Below is a slide show of photos from four different Buxton allotment sites - Cunningdale, Nunsfield, Silverlands, and Cote Heath. All very different but sharing the same theme.
​The scarecrows are at Silverlands.

Now the balm wine and the mixed herb wine are fermenting away, it is time for something stronger - tingly, fragrant and fruity Electric Daisy, Mint and Pineapple vodka. Into a large jar, put 750ml vodka, 50g of electric daisy heads, 3 large sprigs of mint and 200g of chopped pineapple. Infuse for two weeks, strain and bottle, and use to spike a tropical fruit salad or add fire to ginger beer.

Wednesday's weekly e-mail update this week recorded just how productive the Garden is at the moment, a tribute to all the teams and individuals working across the different days. We paid a brief visit on Thursday and also noticed how full it was of flowers and insects. So here are some images of both to share if you aren't able to join one of the opening days this month. See the slide show below.

The climbing beans in poly2 have now reached the top and been pinched out. The beans are growing well and providing a harvest especially "Eden Gold" from seeds Anne brought back from the Eden Project and "Mrs. Lewis's Purple Podded" which is a Heritage Seed Library variety we have grown for many years. It is all looking good!. In the last image are also some nasturtiums. I see from last year's record book that at this time Penny was harvesting nasturtiums to make a sauce. I wonder how that worked out?

The borage plants in poly2 are starting to set seed so this is about how to tell when the seed is ready to collect and a way of doing it.

After pollination, the petals drop off and the sepals open out revealing the (normally four) seeds within. They start off white and firmly attached but as they ripen they turn black and drop off, individually not all at once. This is the time to collect the ripe seeds.

An easy way is to put a tray (or the lid of a box) underneath the ripening parts of the plant so the seeds have something to drop on to for collection. We also put something underneath and tap the plant to encourage the seeds to drop off. They are usually pretty dry and can be collected in a container. It is important to know what sort of seeds they are, especially as we grow both blue and white borage. In the box in this image we have added a blue borage flower to show which variety it is, but a seed label or bit of paper work just as well. Meanwhile, the bees are busy pollinating the newer flowers.

Our Saturday posts focus on updates on the progress of the Heritage seeds we are growing. But on Wednesdays we allow ourselves to go a little wider (until the Administrator tells us otherwise!). A few years ago we went to the March open day at Alan Shipp's fields near Waterbeach. Alan has grown bulbs for over 40 years and has over 240 varieties of hyacinth, some of which date back to the 1700s. He has therefore become the holder of the National Hyacinth Collection (one of several hundred national collections). It was amazing to see the variations, but also rather overwhelming! If you are in the area, perhaps to visit Denny Abbey, it is worth trying to coincide with an open day.

The succulents we propagated at the beginning of April have already provided a delivery to the Transition Buxton plant swap in June, and we have now been able to make a further selection for the Fringe Secret Garden Open Day tomorrow (19th). A similar selection - zebra haworthia, kalanchoe (including an example in flower), bromeliad, stapelia (carrion flower) and a new addition, two cacti. The zebra haworthia are also in flower with amazingly delicate flowers on a long stalk rising from the centre of the plant. We hope they all find new homes.

The angelica has turned from flower heads to seed heads. We collect seeds by running a hand through the seed heads and any that fall off are ripe. Angelica germinates best from very fresh seeds so we will be sowing some in the next week or so. As this image shows, they are of interest to little warblers too.