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Garden Diary – This week brought Tulip Love
I think this week was my tulip peak. I still have a couple of late comers but the majority have been out a while now and the sunshine made them open up wide and do their thing. Luckily they stood up well to the really rather windy day we had, but I’m sure the first petals will be dropping soon. Their fleeting nature and super bright colours make us appreciate them more and I’m sticking with them as my favourite flowers. For today anyway lol. Sorry for the lateness this week but the house renovations carry on a pace leaving me short of time. Luckily the under gardener and I…
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Garden Diary – Cherry blossom means, fruit’s on the way!
This is the week when the apple and cherry blossom came out fully. Even more exciting though, I planted the tomatoes in the greenhouse! I love that day, but obviously not quite as much as the day the first fruit ripens… Even more tulip varieties started to bloom and the foliage is bushing up in the borders full of the promise of what’s to come. It’s hard not to think of spring as the best season of all, as the garden literally comes back to life. Including a pieris shrub that we thought we may have killed by moving it, but hey presto, it’s survived! Talking of which, the tadpoles…
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Garden Diary – Good things come in tiny packages
Our wonderful weather continues to bring out the blooms in ever increasing numbers. And it really feels now like we’re in full tulip season, which when I’m pushed I do choose as my favourite flowers. This year I’m growing miniature tulip varieties for the first time and I will definitely be doing it again as I’m thrilled with them. Two pink varieties, one with a yellow centre ‘Humilis Eastern Star’, and one with an amazing blue centre called ‘Little beauty’. An orange one called ‘Little Princess’ which hasn’t opened yet, and a white one with a stunning dark purple centre ‘Coerulea Oculata Alba’. It’s turning out to be a year for miniatures, as…
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Garden Diary – Spring has sprung!
I’m finally back with you after a little break. As it was winter you haven’t missed much, although with this exceptional weather we’ve been having, I have found myself outside gardening earlier than usual. The main job that’s been going on is seed sowing, that I started back in January with my chillies. After a few weeks I moved onto the tomatoes, then the cucumbers and courgettes. As I’ve gradually pricked them all out into their own little pots, they have been spilling out of the window sill into the room. It was starting to feel like we were living in a greenhouse! Despite the lovely weather, we were still…
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Garden Diary – Looking back and planning on frosty days
The amazing thing about gardening is not only the joy from the here and now, but all the time spent looking back at what’s worked well this year and planning for next year. It’s good for occupying the mind especially at stressful times, which I’m experiencing at the moment with a loved one in hospital. And it’s not just your own garden that’s a useful tool, visiting beautiful gardens regularly is not only a joy at the time but you can spend time thinking about them afterwards. There’s one garden in particular that I use as a virtual place of refuge, Bodnant Gardens in North Wales. If I’m feeling very…
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Garden Diary – The white borders turned into a white garden!
When I started Monday off with a photo from one of the white borders down in the white garden, little did I know just how white the whole garden would be by Tuesday morning! Yes I know the weather forecast said snow, but the last time I looked it had changed it’s mind to sleet. And when was the last time we had that much snow in November? Let’s face it, it’s been a very strange weather year all together! The garden has certainly had a good watering this year. I’m expecting great things from the trees and shrubs next year. I’ve always found they’ve been better after a wet…
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Garden Diary – Beautiful sunsets & blue skies calling!
You know when you are driving, and the sky from a beautiful sunset is just too gorgeous! Of course you just have to pull over and take a photograph, or two or three! Well that’s what happened to me last Monday evening. I posted my sunset and someone commented that the sky looked like Mount Fuji, and guess what? It did. This is social media at its best, the sharing of ideas by like minded people. A very grey, typically November week, was only lifted by my rose bush ‘Mary Rose’ which honestly feels like she’s been flowering all year and is just refusing to accept that it’s now winter…
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Garden Diary – A week of Remembrance & feeling grateful
In this week of remembrance of those brave soles that gave their lives for their country, and so that we could all live in freedom. Freedom to enjoy our gardens and any other hobbies we choose. I hope that Remembrance Sunday does make people stop for a moment and feel grateful. The garden is somewhere full of memories for me, whether it’s the now distant memories of my dad gardening. Getting as much pleasure from growing food and flowers as I now do. At this time of year he would have a big pile of steaming manure dropped off on the front drive. He would then barrow it around, to…
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Garden Diary – Halloween spiders & goodbye Tomatoes
It’s funny how Halloween coincides with spider procreation. I wonder when spiders and webs became a sign of Halloween? Anyway my garden spiders are very obliging at making themselves visible at this time of year. It’s felt decidedly cooler this week as we pass into November – I’m sorry but how on earth is it November already, what happened to summer, did I blink and miss it? Despite the cold at least we’ve had very little rain – hurray for that! Some plants though have positively loved all the rain, including the ferns that have never grown so big and bushy. The cool weather has also brought some lovely colourful…
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Garden Diary – Say goodbye to the lighter nights!
This is the week that really feels like Autumn is tipping towards winter, as the clocks fall back and we say goodbye to the lighter nights! Despite this we’ve had some gloriously sunny days with fabulous blue skies showing off the still dominating pink flowers in the garden, especially the extra late cosmos dazzler which was backlit on a few occasions. The pink shrub salvia is still covered, the dark pink dahlias are still sending up small blooms and a few Nerine bulbs have finally opened up like pink fireworks. I really thought they must have rotted as they were so late. The sun and skies have also been setting…
