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Garden Diary – Goodbye to the hottest, driest July!
As the hottest, driest July I can remember drew to an end, the temperatures dropped into the much more pleasant mid-twenties. Finally on the last evening of the month we must have had rain as we awoke on 1st August to damp paths. Unfortunately, before we all got too excited about the second few drops of the month, it wasn’t much and had dried up before we’d finished breakfast, with no noticeable benefit. Who would have ever thought that we’d be craving rain in a British summer! We did have a few more surprise drops on the Sunday afternoon, that sent us scurrying outside to collect up the power tools…
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Garden Diary – Giant Bees & Moths amongst the Agapanthus
The Agapanthus have come out fully this week, no doubt encouraged by the high temperatures. Coming from South Africa it’s not surprising that they’re happy. I remember an episode on Gardeners World about 10 years ago, when one of the presenters visited South Africa and showed us agapanthus growing wild on masse, what a treat to see! Anyway my bumblebees think they’re having a treat, in and out of the trumpet-shaped flowers. Some of the bumblebees on them have been the largest I’ve ever seen, I honestly don’t know how they fly! I had another exciting, large flying visitor this week, a Humming-bird Hawk-moth ‘Graeham Mounteney’. It first caught my…
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Garden Diary – At least the tomatoes like the heatwave!
The only good thing about this heatwave, is that it’s the right time of year for the tomatoes, and they’re ripening so quickly. This is definitely the earliest we’ve had beefsteak sized tomatoes, ‘Brandywine’ our favourite of course! The garden has had a lot of bumblebees and hover flies all year, but there’s seems more than ever at the moment, doing a magnificent job of pollinating all my produce. I’m not sure we stop and appreciate what they do for us often enough! I try and provide lots of flowers that the bees like, and when poppies seed themselves – where I don’t really want them – I leave them…
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Garden Diary – June – New Border, Roses & Strawberries
June means summer flowers and the produce properly getting going. Roses in full bloom scenting the air, the taste of our first strawberry and my one and only peony coming out, after me worrying it had died over winter. I like June! Campanulas have been popping up in the wilder border but more surprisingly in the opposite woodland border, where I certainly didn’t plant them. That’ll be my little wildlife friend’s. We had the first two ripe strawberries at the beginning of the week, but by Sunday we had a proper dish full for breakfast. I can’t believe, that neither the many squirrels or blackbirds haven’t spotted them yet. Long…
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Garden diary – Cheers! The garden finally got a drink.
Just as the borders were starting to look incredibly sad, the rain finally came and the garden had a drink. We still need more, but it certainly does look better for it! I’m so glad though, that the warm sunny weather lasted over August bank holiday especially for those still holidaying. It is quite a rarity! As I’ve previously mentioned the white garden has suffered the most, mainly because it is underneath our enormous walnut tree, which casts its shadows over the whole area. And also must require a huge amount of water. We’re actually quite worried about it as it is looking very droopy! Unfortunately the bit of rain…
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Garden Diary – Picking fruit with butterflies bringing rain
Don’t they say, that a butterfly in Brazil fluttering its wings can cause a tornado in Texas? Well it must be true! As, no sooner did the garden fill with butterflies fluttering all around than we finally got thunderstorms and rain! Joking apart though, we have had more butterflies than I’ve seen for years, possibly in all the years we’ve been here. But I don’t believe that they are in any way responsible for the thunderstorms! My butterfly identifying skills occasionally need a bit of work though, with me regularly mixing up the Meadow Brown with a Gatekeeper, luckily social media is full of lots of knowledgeable people that helped…
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Garden Diary – Eating Tomatoes, & Admiring my Agapanthus
All that heat has made my tomatoes, and sun loving, South African, Agapanthus go into overdrive! In just one week I’ve gone from collecting the tomatoes in a small bowl, to a large plate and finally I’ve had to get the trug out and de-cobweb it! The tomato production normally cranks up a bit slower, but the unusually hot weather has brought everything on so quickly! Meaning I’m having to make time to transform the produce into meals for the freezer, in between renovating the house, and of course using the temporary kitchen! Everything in the greenhouse has had a boost, and the cucumbers have finally burst into full production…
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Garden Diary – Too hot, to be gardening!
Well, that was certainly a hot week! Far too hot to be gardening, unless you count constant watering, which I don’t as I find it quite boring! To me it’s frustrating seeing all the jobs I’d like to be getting on with instead of standing there sweltering. A number of the crops have been loving the heat, one being the tomatoes. We got our first ripe beefsteak tomato ‘Brandywine’ last week, which I know I go on about a lot, but you would if you’d tasted it, it’s delicious. It’s not at all like those big tasteless varieties, it’s soft, creamy and full of flavour. We made it into our…
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Garden Diary – Craving rain in a British summer!
The week started off dull but still very warm, finally though we had showers forecast for later in the week. Who’d have thought we’d be craving rain in a British summer! The days turned cooler and it was much more pleasant catching up with the gardening chores, by which I mean weeding. I don’t mind weeding when I’m on top of things, which I always used to be, but after a long bout of sciatica a few years ago, I don’t feel I’ve ever truly got back to grips with the weeds. It wasn’t helped by us spreading our own compost all around the garden, that unfortunately turned out to…
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Garden Diary – The longest day had us & the garden wilting!
I hope everyone’s cooled down after last week’s heatwave? I really don’t do well in that sort of heat, it completely zaps my energy. I always feel so sorry for anyone that has to work outside in it. I was dashing to water the greenhouse before the sun got onto it in a morning and sometimes having to water again in an evening. It was perfect weather though for drying my red winter onions, harvested last week. I managed to get them plaited, in a fashion! To think of the different weather they’ve been through since I planted them as sets last autumn. After initially putting on a bit of…
