Garden Diary – Do you love anyone enough to share your first Strawberry?

The strawberries started to turn this week, which is always a sign that summer is arriving. There’s usually just one that ripens first and we always share it, so how appropriate that this year it was in the shape of a heart 🫶❤️ Ah…

My blue Dutch Iris in the border came out earlier in the week, I planted the bulbs years ago and they just come up reliably every year. The yellow flag iris in the pond also started to bloom and the bees couldn’t get enough of either variety, I love how they disappear right inside.

I get such enormous pleasure watching them and all the other pollinators buzzing around. I’d say, we probably have more hover-flies than bees in the garden, and it’s a shame as they are really underrated. Not only do they pollinate but their larvae eat aphids too – sorry all a bit creapy crawly, but an essential part of growing food organically.

And so to the eating. One bed with red winter onions that I planted last autumn are absolutely huge, but in the other bed they all seem to have split into twos and threes, more like shallots. But never mind as it just means they can be eaten like spring onions. This week they accompanied homegrown salad, crispy duck with hoisin sauce in some pancakes. Yum yum!

A not so pleasant thing happened this week. I’d bought six large bags of compost, which the under gardener had loaded onto the trolley, loaded into the car, unloaded at home, only to find when I opened the first bag that it had weeds in. And not just any old weeds but what I’m pretty sure was ground elder. We opened a second bag and sure enough, it was in there too.

I felt so sorry for him having to reload them and take them back to the shop to be swapped for another brand. I won’t be buying Miracle-gro ever again!

I do hope you’ve all had chance to watch at least some of the RHS Chelsea Flowers Show coverage this week. Weren’t they lucky with the weather this year, the gardens look so much nicer in the sunshine.

The aquilegia called ‘Nora Barlow’ that I bought there last year started to flower this week, how appropriate!

For my Mums final birthday last year, she was sent a beautiful pot with three miniature orange roses. When they’d finished flowering she told me to take them home, which I did.

I kept them over winter in three separate pots, and earlier this year I repotted them with some daises into a large terracotta pot. This week they started flowering, I have no idea what their official name is, but obviously they are now called ’Mums rose’.

Monday 19th May 2025

Some of my ‘Winter Red’ onions have split into 3, more like shallots, so we’re using them like spring onions 💕🧅💕

#MagentaMonday #growyourown #kitchengarden #onions

Tuesday 20th May 2025

Iris are so easy to grow, whilst looking so exotic 🌿💙💛💙🌿#TuesdayBlue #iris

Walking a few steps from my back door to pick homegrown food from my kitchen garden makes me feel truly blessed!

My great sadness though, is that my dad didn’t live to see me inherit his passion 🥦🍒🥬🌼🍎🍐

#growyourown #homegrown

Wednesday 21st May 2025

David Austin’s ‘Mary Rose’, around 20 yrs old, dug up & moved twice & still healthy, vigorous & producing beautifully fragrant roses 🌿🌸🌿🌸🌿🌸🌿🌸

#RoseWednesday #roses @DAustinRoses #pinkflowers #pinkroses #Flowers

Thursday 22nd May 2025

Hoverflies not only pollinate your fruit but their larvae eat aphids, so they are a win win in your garden 🐝🍒🍒🍒

#hoverflies #cherries #fruittree #InsectThursday

Just make time to ‘stand & stare’, wildlife has almost magical powers to bring your stress levels down 🐝🐝🐝

#insectthursday #bees #wildlife #mygarden #allium

Friday 23rd May 2025

I’m in the pink this beautiful sunny Friday morning. Hoping to get lots of gardening jobs done. First job, re-pot my money plant into a self watering pot🪴🪴🪴

#flowersonfriday #gardening #pinkflowers #pinkfriday

Has anyone else using miracle gro compost got weeds growing in the bag? Looks awfully like ground elder too 😱

I bought 6 bags from Wickes so will now have to maul them all back for a refund 😡 Won’t be buying again!

@MiracleGro #weeds #GardeningX

Tantalisingly close 🌿🍓🍓🍓🍓🌿😋

#GrowYourOwnInAPot #Strawberry #growyourown #kitchengarden

Aquilegia ‘Nora Barlow’ bought last year At Chelsea flower show 🌿💕🤍💕

#ChelseaFlowerShow #RHSChelsea #RHSChelsea2025 #flowersonfriday

Saturday 24th May 2025

For this weeks #SixOnSaturday we have a Kniphofia pretending it’s in its native Africa, a very special apricot rose that was bought for mums last birthday. A double orange tulip, an Aquilegia bought a Chelsea & a bargain Geum🌿🧡💕💛💕❤️

#FlowersOnSaturday