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Garden Diary – Goldilocks weather didn’t last
Last week started with perfect Goldilocks gardening weather, sunny but not too hot, it meant I could get some well needed greenhouse jobs done. Mainly potting plants on into bigger pots. Because we’ve had such an amazing spring everything’s been growing like mad, and it’s hard to get the timing of potting on just right, even a week too late and the plants can suffer. Understandably so, as being in the greenhouse on a hot day makes me suffer too! As the week progressed it gradually got hotter and I tried my hardest (in vain) not to moan. I do struggle in the heat, it just zaps my energy. And…
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Garden Diary – I thought the tulips were over, then 2 princess’s came along
It’s been an amazing tulip year, thanks to the weather playing ball for a change. But all good things come to an end, at least I thought. Just as I was feeling a bit sad the season was nearly over I found a pot hidden behind some larger pots and it was full of little orange tulips called ‘Little Princess’, what a lovely surprise! Then in the woodland border I found a couple of ‘Princess Irene’ tulips had popped up. So the princess’s were making a fashionably late arrival. The garden continues to produce sentimental blooms, coming from the dicentra which I took a cutting from an elderly friend donkeys…
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Garden Diary – Moving from early spring into late spring
The grey cooler weather last week did at least allow me to get some gardening jobs done, and the rain was extremely welcome for the dry borders. I managed to get the dolly tubs planted, with Begonias in the middle, and around the outside, Anemones that I’d started off earlier in the year together with Mexican Fleabane that just keeps spreading… They’ll take a few weeks to really get going but it will be worth the wait. I finally got some of the raised vegetable beds weeded, with help from the under gardener. The red onions were planted last autumn and are now growing well with the warm weather. As…
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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…
