well it's not that i've not done anything since the last entry.......as usual some of the experiments didn't work, a lot of the herbs didn't survive, all the parsley died and the tarragon was eaten by the slugs, so was the chervil and the dill............so a couple of mints for Hopetoun's search-and-rescue are in instead........however i'm very proud of the chard, it looks great........and the sorrel is doing extremely well and has been in a few salads, ditto the rocket...........
........the only thing i brought home from the Scottish Garden Show was the idea of the aerial herb garden...............old milk containers cut out and hung from a cane lashed across the raised bed. at least if the slugs eat them they'll have had to work up a damn good appetite first..........i moved the comfrey out because it looked ill and it's now lurking behind the roses, and in the raised bed are some courgette seeds which are going great guns...............since the beans got decimated last year i've adopted the aerial idea for them too and they're in a hanging basket, with three kinds of stawberries from Hopetoun in another, already beginning to ripen................that was the day we just popped over for lunch and ended up being there all day and came back with the blueberry........
.........from Ryton i got the idea of mixing veg and flowers in containers..........and was also relieved to see that their experiments don't always work either, there were various beds with labels on that appeared to be completely bare...........
............herb lawn not going to work but the grass looks *much* better being left a little longer. the purple sage is still not very happy even though i moved it beside the new painted sage to give it the idea............the painted sage has taken well and is flowering happily but maybe the purple sage is just feeling even more inferior.......
........so, today............tidied the front, put newspaper mulch down with compost on top under the tree and derived a certain satisfaction in the light of the Wimbledon ladies' singles result from throwing a handful of compost on Venus Williams' face....... the pansies all finished quite suddenly, went from looking lovely to dead within a very short time, so i've replaced them with some bargain orange-scented thyme for the oblong planter, some gazanias for cheap cheer, and a new little bay tree as i think the one at the back is definitely dying. of old age probably..........i've no idea how long i've had it but i suspect it's many years........goodbye old friend........in its tub is the new bronze fennel............
........new purple hebe by the pond producing pretty purple flowers. honeysuckle now out so the chair area is just beautiful, with wafts of lovely perfume............my experiment with the night-scented stock didn't work either, they came up fine but then all died........too wet maybe. a mysterious red rose has appeared in that bottom corner............could it be the one i planted on Spicey's grave that i thought had died, having migrated under the paeonies and surged up beside the choisya?
............i was right about the potatoes in the compost-heap. Carrie moved the heap so we now have another plantable area at the bottom............and in the process found the potatoes. we ate them for lunch that day and they were lovely.............of course if i'd been trying to grow potatoes no doubt nothing would have happened, but this garden is just full of surprises.........i notice there appears to be a clematis growing at the front, God knows where that came from........
.........Carrie has also given me some lemon balm from Sussex, it's taking a while to establish, but should fill in some gaps very nicely..........also some variegated mint - ginger mint i think? - which is looking very nice in a tub with some gold-tipped marjoram beside it..........
..........the oriental poppies put on the usual fab but short display, and the love-in-a-mist "Persian Jewels" is looking very nice..........but the star of the show had to be the Himalayan poppy. it flowered and flowered, beautiful sky-blue flowers........finished now and i'm not sure whether to cut it right down, it liked the leaf-mould so i must remember to give it some more...........
.........there is a nasturtium growing out of the leaf bin, and also one growing in the crock box. determined little souls.......
........the bit by the pond is still under construction..........still looking a bit bare. the NZ flax and curry plant add to the colour contrasts but the pink geranium hasn't quite taken off as ground cover. and..............after a long and happy life, the diascia has finally died. considering it was supposed to be an annual and lived for three years, i think it did extremely well............i need some more wee spreaders for that area..........
...........oh, the bird. caught by extremely bad cat, a young blackbird...............she was so pleased with herself that when i took it outside she brought it back in again, so i thought i'd better dispose of it definitively. where better than under the rhubarb? well rhubarb needs organic material apparently..............Phil the Delphus has gone to the Council, having never flowered and looked distinctly dead, so the rhubarb is in the painted tub with plenty of chicken manure and a dead blackbird.........
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