the rustle of spring

well the rustle of autumn actually, but it is time to be thinking about bulbs, even though everything is still flowering madly and cropping hugely...........we are eating the new potatoes which are wonderful, especially the Pink Fir Apples....we don't know what the other kind are, but they're all perfect, and completely un-slugged. and all that on a regime of being thrown into the ground and completely neglected...............i've moved the gooseberry and whitecurrant bushes, the whitecurrant looked very unhappy in its tub so i've moved the strawberry into it instead and moved the whitecurrant and the gooseberry to the potato bed beside the rhubarb. then in go the field beans to be green manure..............Dad's raspberries are on the other side so they can lean against the shed, with fenugreek at their feet.......the chard is still going strong so we might as well keep eating it until it packs in, all the winter salads are coming along too.............the courgette is kindly producing one or two at a time which is just right........one of the beans has died but the other still looks fine..............and of course there are tomatoes every day, and blueberries................
...........i really should do some drawings next year in spring............i remember there were some bare bits but of course now that it's bulb time i can't remember where they were. and no doubt the Garden Elves will rearrange the planting plan..............alliums are my latest new thing........some in the "purple patch" with Queen of Night tulips...........and some in a pot with narcissi so i can see what they look like...............
...........the escholzia that came up with the patio rose looked absolutely beautiful so i've harvested the seeds and re-planted them.............i have no recollection of putting them there before but i guess i must have, it may have been last year though............
...........the front is still irritating me...........a couple of autumn croci have come up and they do look very nice so maybe i should put in some more as there's nothing else much at this time of year once the summer flowers have gone over............i intend to try leaving the geraniums out, as they should survive, but i might take cuttings just in case they don't.........and i've added some croci to the square tubs so there'll be something to look at in spring........
..........there was a surprise when i dug up the raspberries at Mum and Dad's............a paeony. i don't remember there ever being one there before, but i've heaved it out and added it to my paeony patch, which also contains the irises "Harmony". no doubt it will sulk...........the others sulked for about five years i think after i moved them from the front, let's hope it has more emotional intelligence than those ones...............
............winter onion seedlings have come up so i wonder if they'd be OK in a pot...........lettuces are doing OK and we must remember that in that wooden tub are the gladioli Byzantinus........

and.............

i put in the chamomile seedlings at the front...........they've done well to survive on complete neglect so i suppose they deserve a home..................and the oenothera from Hopetoun at the back, under the rose. we did do a bit of pruning so hopefully it will get light..............i haven't cleared the veg bed yet as there's chard still going..............and some wee nettles which i hope to cultivate once i've forgiven them for stinging me.................the strawberries are putting out loads of runnersand one of them has rooted in the awkward patch.............so i suppose i could just leave it and see how it gets on..................the artichoke has responded to not having blackfly and looks really well, i guess it could come out of its pot next year but we'll see if it makes it through the winter..................

watering

two days of torrential rain, hooray!!...................gosh but the garden needed it. still some showers about but still warm and sunny, perfect. we despatched a whole load of snails over the wall at Newhaven.................Carrie thinks i've been being too kind to them, and i have to say they haven't kept to their side of the bargain, which was, i won't kill you if you don't eat the plants. so it's zero tolerance from now on..................
..............the herbaceous border still looks a bit of a mess, but i've learned that i have to be more disciplined about cutting things down when they finish flowering. the Dicentra is pretty, but it's also a haven for weeds and snails, and smothers everything underneath it. i think i have to get a bit more anal about tying things up so they don't flop about so much as well, so we can see what's underneath. acquired a couple of salvias from Hopetoun search-and-rescue, and a gaura............also one of Carrie's Cerinthus which we hope will self-seed.............not sure if Mum's kaffir lilies will make it, but i can always dig up some more...............once all the mints establish they will hopefully spread, and fill in the gaps at the front. the rue is good because it doesn't collapse, but the vinca needs to be cut pretty viciously and often not to take over..........the pernettya has died i think...............and the astilbe also looks extremely unhappy, being swamped by the ceanothus................might move it to Carrie's garden to rescue it...........
.............i still feel dissatisfied with the front garden too..........my little alpine arenas have done really well, exactly what i wanted in fact...............but the area under the tree is a mess. i realise that the way to make it look neater would be to rip out all the thyme growing through the paving..................it looks nice and smells great, but it also traps weed seeds which then establish. there are quite a few new volunteers............all those Canterbury bells that came up, a nice geranium, and a very pretty frilly aquilegia..........gifts from the neighbours...........but unfortunately they all come up in funny places and look untidy. it looks wonderful in the spring when all the bulbs come up, but apart from the bit next to the path, it looks a mess the rest of the time. being dry shade of course it is going to be difficult................however the two vincas seem to have established which is a start.................

autumn gap

well it's still summer really.................but there is a definite gap in the right-hand bed now that i've cleared it a bit...................tidying away the Johnson's Blue and the dicentra foliage shows how little else there actually is in there. so i've put in one of the hand-reared lemon catmint...........the applemint from the raised bed and the black peppermint that was threatening to die in its pot..........moved a Michaelmas daisy and the salvia...............that bed has always been a problem and never managed to turn into the nice herbaceous border that i'd like it to be, i've put in the Lychnis from Redhall in the hope that they'll self-seed, and the Helenium from Carrie's...........gave the pyracantha a good feed and water because it's been looking a bit dry............not surprisingly because digging down shows just how bone-dry the ground is..........
...........dug up and ate the first potatoes...........absolutely perfect. and some red onions.........and some green beans.............picking ripe tomatoes daily and loads more to come..........and we had gooseberry and rhubarb for pudding.......the gooseberry has done very well for its first year.
................a few lettuce in for the autumn...........plans for winter onions and rainbow chard once the courgettes are over............

o frog of mine

yes there is one!....................filled up the pond and did a bit of tidying and there he was sticking his slimy little nose through the duckweed...................i just hope he's got a lady friend or the wildlife pond may be short-lived...................will he sing i wonder?...............while tidying i noticed a mysterious purple plant that seems to have appeared next to the heather by the pondside, no idea what that is..................the Michaelmas daisies have now formed a huge clump, and there's something else appeared that looks like one of the stocks, but nowhere near the others...............
...............we ate the first courgettes and yellow squash last night, bursting with pride. so easy, and so pretty. the chilies are coming on well................so are the gooseberries..............however the veggie patch has become very overgrown with potato foliage. no idea if there are actually any potatoes under it..................suspect not with it having been so dry, but then we weren't even trying to grow them last year and up they came..............some more foliageis fighting its way out of the compost.................the onions may have had it, being smothered with borage and potato, but i've cleared it a bit and we'll see what's there once it dries out..............
.............put in the Lychnis from Redhall and some more of Mum's kaffir lilies...............there's a bit of a gap just now when the poppies and bleeding-hearts are finished and before the montbretia come out, so i need to put some more perennials in. need more salads too as they've been chewed somewhat.................corn salad is on its way but i might try some under cloches to keep the snails off...............

8 ft lovage

......it looks very impressive but as herbs go it's not exactly useful.............the golden oregano is looking extremely healthy though and at least can go in the pasta.............nice clump of chervil in the hanging gardens...............and dill in one of the baskets..........
........tiny green tomatoes are now making their appearance, and most exciting of all, tiny yellow squash. courgette flowers also on the way, and the onions have fallen over like they're meant to which my book says means they're ready. i've eaten a few tiny strawberries off the clump in the wild area............and there are a few gooseberries coming too. not sure what's happening in the potato patch................copious healthy-looking foliage but it remains to be seen whether there's anything underneath it..................
............some casualties of course......i thought the canary creeper was too good to be true. a couple of the courgette plants disappeared, fingers crossed for the rest............there has been some heavy rain but mostly it's been hot, dry and sunny which is probably helping. i also took the snails for a walk.................to the playing field. what's very strange is that there were loads living in the day lily, and yet they don't seem to eat it..........a few nibbles, but despite the numbers they hadn't stripped it. i suppose it makes sense not to eat your house but i didn't think they had the intellectual capacity to work that out. anyway.........a bucktful have gone to play cricket and i figure it may take them a little while to walk back.................
............watering this evening, i gave a frog a fright..........so some of the tadpoles did make it, or at least one. the pond is nice and murky so there are plenty of places for them to hide.
............flower-wise it looks a little bit sparse as various things have finished and others aren't out yet. the day lily will be out very soon, but the purple clematis has finished and so has the dicentra. the pyracantha has pretty little white flowers, i didn't think it would flower in its first year............can't see them too well behind good old Johnson's Blue, but that means nice berries in autumn. the organic rose is soldiering on as usual, and a peachy-coloured one has turned up in that clump that i don't recall having seen before..............
.......one of the prettiest effects is, as usual, completely accidental. i must have put some california poppy seeds in beside the orange patio rose.............they've come up and turned out to be a beautiful cream colour and it looks gorgeous. big clumps of borage have arrived too, always nice to have the flowers for our drinks...............i cleared away the aquilegias now they've finished, hoping to create more room for the lemon balm............
......at the front i put down some fenugreek as green manure, hoping to suppress the weeds...............planted another vinca, the purple one, and an epimedium.............the pink rose has stubbornly flowered, so although it must be bone-dry and devoid of nutrients under the tree, it's hanging in there........so is the one bit of paeony that refused to be dug up and moved to the back.........
...........geraniums very slow to flower, a few flowers beginning now but it's not exactly the glorious display i'd hoped for...still, once out they'll go on for ages and then they can come indoors to be made into cuttings for next year............my little alpine plantings look superb and i'm so pleased with how they've turned out. especially the pratias..............they are both covered in beautiful wee blue flowers and spreading between the cracks just as i wanted them to............there are huge clumps of thyme everywhere, i don't think i ever actually planted any but i'm not complaining...............a geranium has established itself under the tree which appears to have migrated from no. 16 as i saw it in their garden............so nice to have generous neighbours............

back from holiday, nothing has died..............Midsummer Day was characterised by some of the most atrocious weather ever seen, howling winds and horizontal rain............everything seems a bit dry here but most things have survived. the courgette which had the most anti-slug stuff on it has been eaten to extinction............not even a stump left..............and the delphinium has also disappeared. some of the Morning Glories haven't made it either but the ones on the window-sill seem OK. the slugs have also enjoyed the Livingstone daisies......maybe they'd be better at the front..........
....the purple clematis is putting on the most spectacular display ever seen, fabulous flowers which look great against the foliage of the yellow rose and the honeysuckle which is just emerging. the honeysuckle at the front is also flowering, much to my surprise, huge yellow flowers.................
..........at least one tadpole still alive, and the funny larva thing with the long tail...........Rosa Incognita from Hopetoun turns out to be pink, and the rose at the bottom on the arch is now flowering..............borage appearing where it wasn't planted as usual and almost out...........
......i've bought some scented geraniums at the Highland Show today to replace the courgette, hope we can take cutting and generate more and more...............

wedding presents

at this time of year things change so quickly that there's something new to see every day.............latest excitement is the first mange-tout pea!!......about to be manged...........the purple clematis came out a couple of days ago, paeonies almost there but despite watering not quite out............red oriental poppies making a fine display but the pink ones are later. the Himalayan poppy has flowered, not as spectacularly as last year, but my book said it would flower once then die, so it clearly hasn't read it. nor has the Chilean glory vine, an annual, back for its third year........
.................i've tidied the back, put everything away, all plants now potted up..........hanging baskets doing really well, i've forgotten what i put in them but the tomatoes are looking good and starting to flower..............the potato plants are enormous and as usual there is a fine crop in the compost heap...sigh. i've risked putting the morning glories out, have never succeeded in growing them out side but it's warm, and the dry weather is keeping the gastropods at bay i think.............small lemon balm plants from last year in the herb bed, some new small thymes by the patio junction to try and soften it and keep the weeds down...........Isabel's alpine strawberries are in a pot or the alpinery.............still quite small but the main strawbs are flowering already............
................major task of tidying the front accomplished yesterday, to the accompaniment of Katisha and the neighbours' ginger boys having a frank exchange of views...........she looked very impressive all fluffed up like that...............they clearly thought so too because they sidled off again.............the front always looks such a mess once the bulb foliage dies down, rampant weeds everywhere...................but it seems to have decided it wants to be a cottage garden and is growing lovely frilly aquilegias which must have blown in from the neighbours; welsh poppies, and campanula.............i've got the Redhall woodchip down and it looks better, though i need some more for the back. the bit under the tree always looks a bit sad with nothing growing in it once the bulbs have gone...............maybe i should try some hellebores............

Flaming June

today it really is................hot. a succession of warm sunny days has brought everything out. the geraniums have arrived and are in their pots, and the bluebells are just finishing at the front, so time to put the woodchip down and remove the fine crop of weeds from aming the things that are meant to be there. they certainly don't seem to be bothered by the deep shade from the tree..............at the back the aquilegias are in full flower and so is the lilac, flowering profusely and looking very nice. interestingly, the yellow rose was the first to come out and has more flowers this year than i've seen before......the organic rose was later and is only just starting to flower now. the clematis are just finishing and the purple one isn't out yet, although i see John and Fiona's is, being on a west-facing wall. the campanulas and the rue are also doing their show at the bottom of the right-hand bed.............and the Himalayan poppy is not dead as i thought but is getting ready to flower. the Oriental poppies are definitely behind this year, not out yet........maybe the lack of rain has held them back.
...........the pond now has tadpoles! unlike Carrie's mine are not getting steak but are i hope eating all the midge larvae............the salad leaves are doing really well, i guess we need to eat more salad to keep up...............the lovage of course has grown to a great height, unlike the variegated lavender which looks most unhappy............need to eat more sorrel too, and the oregano looks beautifully healthy.............patio veggies a bit variable again, the tomoatoes have looked very miserable for a while but the sun seems to be perking them up..........potatoes going great guns in the veg bed, onions too...............fennel recovering from the move............jasmine looking much happier and starting to climb...........passion plant suddenly come to life........Marvel of Peru may have failed to be marvellous, the ones i took outside look to have died, the indoor ones still alive but no sign of flowers..............the delphinium in its pot seems to have been spared by the snails so far, as do the canary creepers.............lilies looking extremely well for some reason, having been left to freeze in their pots all winter with absolutely no attention, i sometimes feel that the more i cosset things the worse they do, whereas things that are just left to get on with it seem to do rather well...............
........as usual of course things are coming up in completely different locations from where i actually put them..............love-in-a-mist by the pond instead of in the bed...............borage everywhere..................the lemon balm from Sussex has survived and is fighting its way up among the persicarias..............
............lemon catmint has produced a germination rate of 1%.......which is better than the germination rate of 0% of the eryngiums so far...............chili peppers are doing well tho............passiflora also doing well and going off to be wedding presents soon...............

mini-bulbs by the pond...plus the unknown Chaenomeles, which now turns out to have lovely yellow-white flowers..........

winter visitor enjoying the "bird" table............kitten gave him a heart attack by chasing him right up the garden..........

Merry May

long gap, because of course there's been far too much to do in the garden for there to be time for writing. after the usual pause where big bare bits appear between the spring bulbs, everything has suddenly surged up and it all looks rather good. of course it helps not to be working............all the plants are clearly benefiting from the attention. there have been some lovely warm days.......last year was relentlessly cold and wet until the end of May, but it's been a lot milder this time although interestingly some things, like the Oriental poppies, the organic rose and the paeonies, seem to me to be later than last year. none are out yet. the bulbs are almost finished apart from the bluebells, so the ones in pots have gone into the gaps, the woodchip is ready to go down at the front, and we await the arrival of the geraniums from Oxfam. Carrie has ordered a huge bag of compost which is all sitting ready for the empty pots............
..........already we're eating home-grown salad leaves. the sorrel has done extremely well and a little clump of salad burnet reappeared in the ex-herb bed............plus, wouldn't you know, the lovage............oh well, it's decorative and it gives the snails something to eat. however, so far despite some wet weather, they've been rather good and not eaten anything vital. potatoes are in and sprouting; onions are shallots ditto, fennel coming back to life, four kinds of mint going.............we're finished off the alpine wall and dressed it with shell sand which looks very nice. our veronica from Cornwall is in its own pot with some home-grown antirrhinums.......we haven't seen the variety "Georgia Blue" anywhere else which may mean it won't grow here, but i've bought a couple of other veronicas because the flowers are so pretty. an artichoke sits in the big blue pot in splendour............the tomatoes are out, though looking a bit pinched and unhappy..........even the Tesco basil looks very healthy, the Thai basil also doing very well, and the purple basil from last year's seeds. the runner beans are in the hanging gardens of Trinity making friends with John and Fiona's honeysuckle. clematis in full flower at the moment, and first Cystis flower out today. no sign of the bergamot, it may be a casualty......or the corydalis which i suspect has become a juicy snail snack.
...........poor old Australian tree fern completely bone-dry so i've re-potted it with moss and a good soak and put it beside the mini-pond which contains water mint, irises and a Bloody Dock.......the LOTV still sulking in the pot doing absolutely nothing, so maybe i need to give up and move them to SQ............
.........bought loads of plants at Redhall open day, endearingly chaotic but cheap...........including the Flora Incognita which is now part of the Mum Memorial Garden at Carrie's..........some red Lysimachia "Firecracker" which i fully expected the snails to eat but maybe the shell mulch is working..............the coffee grounds and Germolene seem to be keeping them off the canary creeper so far.................
.................most of the seedlings are now at their final destinations, apart from courgettes just in and some more flower seeds..........they were right about the lemon catmint being slow to germinate, two seedlings out of 100 is not a great percentage i feel........okra still alive but not looking terribly enthusiastic.......chili pepper plants look healthy tho and need potting on, and the passiflora beginning to take off, unlike its mate outside..........
........oh, and of course the Marvel of Peru................well, they have grown to a great height so i've just re-potted them, kept most indoors but one out to see how it gets on, with tomatoes and a runner bean................morning glories are staying inside and happliy climbing up the bathroom blind, but i've got some more that can go in the hanging gardens once they've sprouted...........

Garden Room

either the garden is taking over the house, or the house is taking over the garden...........the dining-room repainted has now become the garden room and intensive care unit. there has been much re-potting and tidying, and it looks rather nice. by one of those serendipitous things, i found exactly the kind of chair i wanted upstairs in the spare room...........no idea where it came from but it looks just right. the windowsill is now kitted out with trays, and full of seedlings. the plan is to keep the summer bulbs indoors until it's very much warmer..........i've gone wrong before by putting things out too soon, spring it may be, but it's still pretty cold. however.....the freesias are off and running....and the Marvel of Peru.............how could anyone resist growing something called Marvel of Peru? - but i've never actually managed to see what they look like. there is a begonia bulb and a lily bulb sulking in pots, hopefully to provide some indoor flowers..........and the giant begonia is now in an enormous china pot and has had several more babies in the process.
...........raising seeds for two gardens is quite an undertaking and a bit experimental...........but only the gypsophila have completely failed to make it. everything else has at least come up, so far so good..........my tomatoes are doing brilliantly and even the chillies came up after a long pause.........
..........outside the bulbs are blooming................it looks rather nice and more things that i thought were dead are surging into life...........catmint for the cats to chew and throw up on the carpet........and certainly something happening where the lemon balm was..........the black peppermint is beginning to sprout, and even the Himalayan poppy turns out not to be defunct after all..............no sign of the corydalis though, i'm sure it was around by this time last year.........the yellow buttercup "Brazen Hussy" is doing its thing and spreading like mad..........i've planted the mystery Hopetoun rose and moved the Choisya, this is its last chance...........put in some Kaffir lilies and a spirea from Mum's garden.........moved the hebe from under the rose and the lavender too............planted bog iris in the mini-pond........two ivies in pots for contrast...........both the chaenomeles are doing well, and the new clematis was not destroyed by slugs after all, or at least not yet............
............veg-wise the onions are in, and the potatoes are chitting in the downstairs toilet. the salads are sprouting nicely in the raised bed, and amazingly, the Hanging Gardens of Trinity have started to sprout again of their own accord!.............planted garlic beside the mystery rose, and the strawberry is also still alive............

Spring clean

is is less cold this year or am i getting tougher? since i met Carrie i have certainly acquired more outdoor clothing...........and the imperative of having two gardens to do instead of one has forced us out early..................what's so nice is to see the signs of growth already, even so early in the year. a lot of things that i thought were dead have turned out not to be after all, clipping and clearing the dead vegetation reveals little shoots at the base. i did very little tidying before the winter...........wildlife garden you know.........and was rewarded by Dorcas bringing in a frog (alive), and by visits from a handsome great spotted woodpecker. the birds are quite spoiled and have a luxury circuit between me and my neighbours with plenty of courses to choose from.........the old apples have been a great success with the blackbirds, but they're not so sure about the turkey stock.........
since i don't have any notes from this time in the year before, i don't know if it always looks as bare as this. apart from the bulbs there are huge gaps, and it's hard to remember how big some of the plants will get later and resist the temptation to throw more things in. and of course, there are never enough bulbs. however............i've stocked the problem bit by the lilac with Christmas roses and a Christmas box............last year it just became a mass of weeds and grass and i need to keep a closer eye on it this time..........
..............turning scientific, i tested the soil for the first time ever.............with some interesting results. the right-hand bed turns out to be acid, which may explain why some things have done well there and some haven't. i've stuck in a pyracantha, given the vinca a severe haircut because i don't want it swamping everything, tidied up the ceanothus which looks very nice but didn't flower last year. the Himalayan poppy may be dead as apparently they only flower once, but i've put in the ones i grew, which look absolutely nothing like it and may turn out to be a lovingly cultivated weed. the oriental poppies are still going strong, but there are still some gaps......it's early yet though so worth waiting to see what else is in there.........
Catmint Corner looks a bit scruffy but has benefited from a tidy.............no sign of the lemon balm, but it may still be alive............the hemerocallis is flourishing already, i remember it did this last year then grew absolutely huge in the summer and filled that whole space........
............let us not forget the carefully constructed and beautiful new veggie beds at the bottom through the arch...............one lone occupant in the form of the bronze fennel so far, but great plans............
Hopetoun's search-and-rescue corner has provided a mystery chaenomeles, a white currant, and a mystery rose. i've just put in another chaenomeles at the front but it's a bit of an experiment, hopefully one of them will make it. one of the pot clemati has gone to SQ and i've planted the other at the front - again a bit of an experiment. we also rescued a nice wee hebe and a perfectly healthy-looking escallonia for Carrie's garden, plus a mystery variegated bush, we know not wot but it looks quite nice anyway.............
..............plans include the mini-pond and the indoor hydroponic garden........and now that we have our COLD FRAME the sky's the limit............