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Garden Diary – All the B’s, Bees, Butterflies & Blueberry cake
I’m pleased to report even more bees & hoverflies this week, in fact more flying insects of all kinds including butterflies. I’m so happy in my summer garden with buzzing wings all around me. The blueberry bush has cranked up production this week and once it gets going there’s no stopping it! I’ve made two lots of cakes including one evening after work. All a bit tiring but worth it at the weekend when we have it for breakfast. After a really slow start the garden has finally caught up with itself this week with much more colour from the flowers and yummy things to eat around each corner. Happy…
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Garden Diary – Figs, Blueberries & Tomatoes, not necessarily together!
The top photo is Hydrandea ‘Sunset’, she’s quite a newcomer to the woodland border so I’m thrilled how many flowers she has on this year, although I think like all shrubs she’s loved all the water. Unlike most of us humans! The harvesting has really got going this week with as predicted the first tomato, who ate it? Find out below. And the first good hail of blueberries, despite the blackbird’s best efforts to pinch them! The purple potatoes are nearly ready for me to have a root around and judging by the amount of flowers on the climbing beans its a good job I’ve defrosted one of the freezers…
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Garden Diary – Rain, rain, the produce is liking it, but the bees are not!
Well, rain, rain, thunder and more rain this last week! In all fairness the sun did peep through and was wonderfully warm when it did but really! This is our summertime! Luckily the apples and pears are plumping up with all the watering and most of the veg is doing well despite the awful weather. We’re getting a few firsts of the season now like our first fig this week and we are now tantalisingly close to the first tomato. I do hope two ripen then I won’t have the dilemma of whether to share or not! The mid summer flowers have been late but are now starting to open…
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Garden Diary – The Bounty begins and a Moth rescue!
Another busy week! “What’s new pussycat!” Does anyone else think that time is going faster than ever? I keep saying, we are an alien experiment and they have speeded up time to see if we notice. Well I’m onto them lol. This week has brought the ramping up of food production in the kitchen garden with rhubarb, cucumbers and the first chillies. The tomatoes – some unusual coloured ones that I’ve not grown before and so I’m not quite sure what colour they will be when ripe – seem to be nearing picking. There are a few huge figs that will be ready this coming week, I’ve got the balsamic…
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Garden Diary – Let’s get you up to date!
You may have noticed by the lack of contact, that I am really struggling to keep up with the blog at the moment. As well as the usual work, and gardening, the house renovations are keeping me rather busy and away from the computer! I have good intentions each week of sharing my gardening goings on with you, but before I know it another week has whizzed by! So, I’ve had an idea of how to keep you up to date with the garden until my life gets back to normal. In hopeful optimism that it will! Each morning I do manage a brief post on social media, occasionally two…
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RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2024 Part 2 – The Great Pavilion
When I finally gave in to temptation and ventured into the great pavilion, it hadn’t yet started raining. With hindsight I probably should have stayed outside a bit longer but as this was my favourite part of Chelsea on my last visit in 2021, I simply couldn’t pass another entrance. In we go! Floral Creations The entrance I had chosen was right by the floral installations, which at one time I wouldn’t have been that interested in, but in recent years I’ve developed much more of an appreciation for what we used to call ‘flower arranging’. As well as the more traditional flower creations displayed on a plinth, there was…
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The Garden is Calling!
I’m sure you all think I’ve deserted you over the last few months but I just haven’t had a minute to let you know what’s been going on in the garden. Truth is, the bare minimum but every now and again I feel the garden calling! The house renovations continue at a slow pace, sometimes two steps forwards and one step back! But it will come to an end – one day! And I will be able to devote much more time to doing what makes me truly happy and relaxed – gardening. In the meantime I’ve just about kept my head above water with the gardening jobs, although we…
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Where’s January going? It’s disappearing at an alarming rate!
Where’s January going, it’s disappearing at an alarming rate as this year has started off as madly as I left last year, the house alterations are still in full swing, with skilled people coming and going, meaning extra early mornings to be out of the shower before they start arriving! Also constant vigilance of the milk situation, as neither the garden apprentice or I use much milk (normally). The kettle has never been used so much since we bought it over 12 years ago – it’s age probably tells you everything you need to know. It’s a good job we only have heating in half of the house as the…
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5 Perennial Plants for late colour in the garden – Part 3
And so to my final five perennial plants for late colour in the garden. When we get to September it’s easy to start thinking the garden season is coming to an end as many plants begin to die back, but with the right perennial plants mixed into your borders, you can go on having colour right into winter. I have all five of these plants in various forms and although some are only just about holding on to a few flowers, others are still flowering profusely here in November. As our climate warms up and we have less severe frosts, the late flowering plants go on and on which is…
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5 Perennial Plants for late colour in the garden – Part 2
As I talked about in part 1 of, five perennial plants for late colour in the garden, after finding myself with pretty much no colour in my late summer border years ago, I was determined to seek out plants that carried on flowering until the first frosts. This certainly keeps my spirits up as we descend into winter as much of the garden is dying back, but also (more importantly) gives an invaluable source of nectar to the insects before they settle down and hibernate through the coldest months. Of course like all gardeners, I am still learning about, and discovering new plants to grow to expand the flowering season,…
