Just about to eat our first dinner made with things from the garden............the funny weather of sunshine and showers has brought everything on in a sudden rush and it can only be described as burgeoning...............have picked the first sweet pea but the oriental poppies are just finishing so everything is still all coming out in the wrong order. Paeonies just finishing too after a magnificent display, and the first love-in-a-mist are coming up through them, very pretty. the organic rose was as usual first to flower............"Curiosity" now has buds and also the one Carrie uncovered under the clematis, no idea what colour the flowers will be..............the VJR (Very Jaggy Rose) has put on loads of leaf but no buds yet. orange patio rose now flowering beautifully but other one not out yet. the canna lilies were obviously insulted by me deciding they were dead and putting a tomato in their pot............the tomato has met a mysterious fate and fallen over and the cannas are putting up superb leaves! Various things just on the brink of flowering...............lilies, sunflowers, more sweet peas..............sweet rocket still going strong and first night-scented stock just appearing. very exciting, i've never managed to get them to grow before. Some California poppies in the pot with the lilies, brilliant orange.............the ones in the beds coming on but no flowers yet. red scabious out, godetia growing well, cornflowers just about to bloom. first honeysuckle flowers appearing at the bottom of the garden but the big honeysuckles not out yet. alliums never showed at all this year..............the day lilies have been very late and have only now put up flower buds. there also appears to be another day lily in the perennial bed, not a clue where that came from - did we bring it from Mum's or is it a SQ survivor?
Morning Glories after a slow start now taking off, at least in pots but i see that one of the ones in the garden has actually survived though still very small. nasturtiums in flower of course...............variegated jasmine is doing well, again with more light after the clematis had its haircut. the pink jasmine was also slow to get going but flower buds have now appeared. the two hebes in the purple patch are both flowering and look very nice, with the Lysimachia "Firecracker" beside them and almost ready to flower. Rudbeckia seedlings are now all planted out, along with the Coreopsis..............i hae ma doots about the latter, they were very slow to germinate and are still very small but seem to be growing away quite well. Cosmos seedlings from the greenhouse and straight into the ground seem to be about neck-and-neck.
In the greenhouse..................the tomatoes are romping away but we've moved most of the rest out.............courgettes and squash into containers because they're already flowering and tiny courgettes are manifesting themselves..............i've taken the chillies out of the raised bed and into individual pots and we'll try some indoors and some in the greenhouse to see how they get on. moved the poached-egg plants outside because they were taking up too much space. salad containers are now planted..................the pak choi and other salad thing in the barrel have bolted but the flowers are pretty so we've left them as a nice contrast with the red runner-bean flowers. Thai basil and lemon basil into pots but staying in the greenhouse and some of their siblings off to Angi's balcony. i bought a new variegated oregano.............the old golden oregano is on its last legs, it never really got over being tramped on by the guys laying the patio, but the pot marjorams are doing well and i've divided the variegated oregano to make an extra plant. Carrie has cut down the lovage...............allowing more light to The Fig. don't know if The Fig will ripen but if it does it will be very exciting................we are now eating fresh raspberries and the crop promises to be heavy, although if we keep picking them as each one ripens there won't be enough for a full meal.............we're doing that anyway with the sugar snap peas and mange-tout, hovering over the veggie bed like the Witch in "Hansel & Gretel" waiting to see if they're ready to eat yet............we're in a between-salads phase but there's chard, small purple cabbage leaves, sorrel, nasturtium, parsley, and even beetroot leaves in the meantime.............my herb pot is slow to get going but the dill is in the lead having just started to sprout. and we do now have borage flowers for our drinks, and sheaves of applemint to make our summer fizz.............
............definite froglets in the pond, much splooshing and splashing every time we approach................the irises haven't flowered this year but the watermint is doing OK...............all the aquilegias are down now and i've trimmed the lower branches of the lilac and tidied the under-tree bed a bit..............meadowsweet just about to flower and huge clump of Michaelmas daisies same as last year................i've taken some cuttings of Isabel's prostrate rosemary and the clematis for Runa's fence. very pleased to see that the passiflora has not only survived being moved but seems to be growing madly, i didn't expect it to flower but i see at least one bud.............
in the front.............clearing all the bulb foliage and putting down the cocoa shell has made it look as neat as it can when everything's covered in big shaggy clumps of thyme............i've toasted all the weeds with the flamethrower thing which was very satisfying and it has helped.............the patio clematis is in flower but the rose shows no sign of buds.............honeysuckle just finished and needs tying up. it still all looks a bit of a mess, but it's a pretty mess................Mum's snow-in-summer has established nicely and has flowers, and i've tied up the floppy rose, also no sign of it flowering but it's still "early summer" after all................
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