Oh! Has It Really Been A Week?

Gentle Reader~I can scarce believe a week has slipped by since my last entry!  It has been blisteringly hot, over most of the UK, as the arrival of summer I reported in my last entry continues!  The Jet Stream drifted over us and is now sitting to the north of the country allowing the hot southern air to bathe us with some long overdue heat.  Indeed, much of Britain has been hotter than the Mediterranean! 

Here is a pretty posy of flowers picked from the garden, I am no flower arranger, I just gathered as I went along some oregano, Alchemilla mollis, sweetly scented pinks and lavenders, and more~

While this warmth is welcomed by many, it does bring it's own set of problems.  It is too hot to do anything other than sit in the garden by day ~ it is very uncomfortable working in your own personal sauna ~ and by evening I am generally too tired from the often oppressive heat, which is exhausting in itself, even if doing very little of anything.  I seem to have done little else other than water and pick fruit!  Why, those two jobs are enough anyway. 

The lack of rain means that the lawn is turning very brown indeed, for I will not use precious water on that, and as it is not growing it does not need cutting either.  The advice from Gardener's World is not to cut your lawns in these conditions.  I am concerned, so this evening I will throw the grey water from the house, which I save as much as I can, over the lawn in an attempt to give it some much needed moisture.  I do not want it to die completely as I do not relish the thought of re~seeding.

First, I must share with you some upsetting news.  For the first time ever, my blackcurrant crop has failed.  I had no reason to suspect anything was wrong.  The spring, although cold, saw good, healthy leaf growth which was quickly followed by plenty of flowers that in turn set fruit.  I truly believed I would harvest a bumper crop.  We have had a prolonged dry spell, so I watered the plants every few days, and then, at the beginning of this week they were looking plump and juicy, little jewels of deepest purple~black waiting to be turned into jams and pies.  I picked a bowl, but when I tasted them they are horrible.  There is no Delicious blackcurrant taste, they leave a bitter aftertaste in the mouth, and they are quite mealy in texture.  I cannot begin to tell you my disappointment.  I have been on the RHS website, and it seems I am not alone.  No one knows the reason, we can only assume the colder than normal winter and non arrival of spring is behind it all.  One person put it succinctly, saying the sugar:acid ratio is wrong.  I still have about 4lbs of fruit left over from last year, so this is now highly prized!  Such a sad waste of a good and nutritious food crop.

Happily, I can tell you, gentle reader, that the raspberry crop remains unaffected by the weather, and I am now picking a small bowlful of this delightful fruit (probably my favourite after blueberries) daily.  Some I am freezing, some I am eating fresh for breakfast.  I feel richer than a Queen!

While some parts of the garden, like the poppies, native foxgloves, and borage, are going over and setting their seed~the harvesting of which is a high priority job this week, other parts are coming in to their own.  Do you remember the few images, last week, of the oriental lilies?  They were teasing and taunting me with big, fat buds that just did not want to burst open?  Well, they have begun!  Oh! What a treat they are~a display of fireworks colour and brightness, in colours to rival the heat of the sun by day and the cool of the moon by night~

Here is the first one, a bright and vibrant yellow~

which was quickly followed by the Hot Hot Hot of this incredible orange~

I think it looks mighty fine along side that pretty pink rose?  A lovely contrast of colours ~ then, just this very morning, the cool, creamy~white, a perfect foil against the scorching vibrant orange~

There are still two more types of these lilies yet to open and delight~I wonder what their colours will be?  I hope for pink, and maybe even one with those delightful stripes and spots that lilies sometimes have~
Quite unintentionally, as the lilies have declared, my garden has taken a little side~step from it's usual cooler shades of purples, pinks, and blues with hints of white into brightly hot and vibrant hues, and the Crocosmia Lucifer, which I bought a few years back, is no exception~

For now I must leave you, Gentle Reader, until another day ~~ but I promise to return quite soon with a photo~heavy blog to catch you up with all the flowers in my Shire Garden~

~~~A Gardener's Work Is Never Done~~~

Discounted Plants and Bargains

Gentle Reader, I am indoors this very sunny summer afternoon, for sitting in a room with the curtains drawn across the window to keep the heat out is one way to keep cool.

As the country basks in long overdue heat and sunshine, it is getting too hot in the middle of the day to work in the garden other than necessary jobs, such as watering and weeding.  Work is now done depending on how warm it is, and I am moving according to the shelter given by the cottage from the baking sun.  Temperatures are around a delightful and warm mid 70's most days now, but the sun reflects off all the stone and this exacerbates the heat, and with little or no wind to temper the heat I quickly start to melt.  Little bits and often while wearing a good, wide brimmed sun hat is the order of most days now, with frequent breaks taken sitting in the deck chair with a cooling drink, or indoors to get away from the parching rays of the sun.

Look how bright the sun does shine in a clear and cloudless sky~

The main work of the last few days is making sure the plants are watered.  I am working my way slowly through them now, weeding out the dandelion and other unwanted seedlings that are sprouting in the pots, and topping up the compost where it has settled in the pots to cover up bare stems and encourage sturdier roots.  I am also giving everything an extra feed this week because all the plants are going into overdrive with the sudden burst of heat and I know there will be masses of new flowers very soon.

The lily buds are, mostly, enormous now and one has even started to burst open!  I am so excited.  I bought my lily bulbs as an end of season job lot at a bargain price.  They were already starting to shoot when they arrived so I had to hurry along and get them planted up.  Here is one of the big, fat buds~

Here is a pot full.  Each pot has an assortment, and are all sizes.  The buds are all in different arrangements too on the stems.  Some clustered at the top, while others are individually placed at intervals along the stems~

I have tended them well and am about to reap the rewards.  I have no idea what colours they are, so I am eager for them to open up and show me.  I am moving the pots around to maximise their impact when they do open and sweeping around and behind all the pots too, so everything is spick and span and looking very neat and tidy.  I love how the pink patio rose (above and below) sits happily amongst the pots of lilies~

I do not know the name, for again this was a bargain plant as the nursery had lost the label.  I have quite a few such plants, for nurseries either discount or compost plants that have no labels.  It does not matter that I do not know their name, I am well rewarded for rescuing them and giving them a good home by their beauty and fragrance.

Here is a little splash of colour in a mixed pot; I love the bright purple and pink of the pansy next to the petunia~

I don't often have petunias, but again, they were a bargain buy and I bought the tray of pot bound plants for half price.  Now, a few weeks on, the plants are establishing and flowering forth.  Again, these could have ended up thrown on the compost heap if they had not sold, yet here the are bringing lovely colour and variety to my garden~

This is how I bought them, crammed jammed into an all too tiny tray they were quickly outgrowing~
 

Here they are, planted out, well spaced into a tray~

And here they are now!  They are growing really well and flowering so prettily too~

 A fine reward in just a few short weeks with a little effort and care~

At last the geraniums that give such a lovely green backdrop to the pansy and petunia is developing flower buds.  I was very worried, for last year they produced prolific greenery and very few flowers, and this year looks the same.  I will know very shortly what has happened.

Gentle Reader~ I have had my first breakfast pick of soft fruit, and here is a picture of the very fruit~

It is a mixture of three different types of raspberries and loganberry.  They were delicious, if a little tart because of the loganberry.  I have four different raspberries, which are supposed to give me a five month picking season as they fruit at different times, but this year again all four seem to be fruiting together.  I think it must be the variations in our weather affecting the production of flowers.  It would be so lovely to have them starting in June and picking all the way through until the end of September into October as they are meant to do.  Still, I am grateful to have such bounty only a few steps away from my door.  What better summer breakfast than a bowl full of fresh picked, sun warmed fruits served with home made organic yogurt?  Are you hungry yet?

Until the next time~

~~~A Gardener's Work Is Never Done~~~

Incy Wincy Spider

Gentle Reader, although this photograph is not of the garden, it is of the sky above the garden one lovely summer's eve just this very week . . I found it intriguing the way the fainter "direction arrow" shape clouds look as if they are reflecting in the sky, like a landscape reflects in water.  What do you think?

Just yesterday, I found the first ladybird {ladybug} in the garden.  I am very concerned, for not only is this very, very late to be seeing the first one, it was only one!  I think the prolonged cold winter and lack of a warm spring may have taken it's toll.  I will buy some bamboo later and cut it up to make a bug hotel.

As I was going about moving some pots around, I noticed a leaf all curled up on itself.  I couldn't resist a peek to see what was going on, and deep inside the curl {almost at the base} I saw the teeniest tiniest green spider! I tried and tried to get a good photograph of it, and it was a struggle because the camera kept focusing on the leaf.  The spider is so tiny and so far down, it just didn't want to focus on it, but I persevered and these are the best of the images I captured~

First, a top view showing the curled up leaf, centre, and I measured it to be just under 1cm (so about 3/8 of an inch) across~

and this one shows the tiny spider lurking in his lair~

The pollinating insects are now out in force, as this busy bee goes about his business gathering pollen for the hive~

I love that the Field Poppies are growing and flowering well because I need to gather plenty of seeds.  I will scatter them where I want them to flower next year in the garden and I will also scatter some along the hedgerows when I take a walk along the country lanes~

The delicate, paper~like small pelargoniums have started to open.  Soon the green mounds will be transformed into pretty pillows of perfect pastel pink~

Carnations {pinks} are bursting forth and adding their clove~like scent to the richly fragrant air.  These beauties are from Whetman Pinks, a leading specialist in pinks, and oh! how I wish I could share the fragrance with you, Gentle Reader~and I am cutting small posies regularly for the house to ensure the blooms will keep on coming~

This is where The Gardener takes a welcome break, sitting on the deck chair, drinking a refreshing cup of hot tea, or later in the evening a glass of crisply chilled chardonnay~

The aconitum {monkshood or wolf's bane are some of it's common names} is now shooting up in purple spikes along the borders~

The Frances E Lester rambler is full to overflowing with pale pink blooms and the air is heady with it's deep perfume which fills the house too~

A close up of a bloom~

I think it is time to take a cup of tea now, I shall go and sit in deck chair in the shade of an old apple tree with Alchemilla mollis {Lady's Mantle} in the foreground.  It is a spectacular year for this most versatile and prolific of garden plants~

~~~A Gardener's Work Is Never Done~~~

Mixed Bag Miscellany

Gentle Reader, in the four days since my last entry, there has been a mixed bag of weather.  The wild, wet, and windy weather of the weekend passed and the days have found gentler, kinder conditions, but not without some anomalies, like the bank of fog that swept in from the ocean yesterday morning, only to be replaced a few short hours later with warm summer sunshine that seemed blistering and left me melting with the juxtaposition of temperatures.

One of the bizarre things that seems more prevalent than usual in the garden is a strange little critter called a frog hopper.  Frog hoppers hide beneath a shield of 'spit', a frothy substance they secrete to keep themselves covered and prevent them drying out.  We call this phenomenon 'cuckoo spit' because it generally shows up on plants in the garden around the same time as the cuckoo bird arrives in Britain after it's migration from Africa.  Although they suck the sap of plants, the damage is minimal.

Here is Cuckoo Spit~

and I rinsed it off to reveal the tiny Frog Hopper underneath for you~

It soon replaced the 'spit' so no harm was done!

Every year, the sycamore trees that border my property drop their leaves in Autumn and over several days I am able to go out and rake them up.  I gather them into big bin bags, tie the tops and pierce the bottoms of each back to let moisture drain out.  Over the winter, these rot down to make a rich humus that can be added to soil or used as a mulch to suppress weeds.  I usually harvest several such bags, and once the job is done it is forgotten about until I come to use them.  Yesterday, however, I noticed a bit of a mess by the bags, and on closer inspection some have been torn open, scattering the contents to the wind.  The only thing I can think of that has done this is a badger!  I know there are several holts nearby, so it is entirely likely that one wandered into my garden again, as they have done in the past, in search of juicy worms~

I am still waiting for my runner beans and broad beans to germinate, but am happy to see that I now have three tiny courgette plantlets, so there is hope that there will be something to eat from the garden very soon.  I am preparing the small vegetable plot in earnest now, and today I ventured to turn back the weed killing membrane that I placed over part of the plot late last year.  This is how it looked a few weeks ago, you can see one of the yellow recycled inflatable mattresses I used~

and this is how it looks today after I turned back the two mattresses.  It seems to have worked really well, there are just a few white bindweed roots, squiggling across the surface like long, skinny worms.  They will soon be removed~

If you remember, I mentioned that I am using this area to hold plants for the borders this year, and this is how it looks now, after I planted out five healthy foxglove plants.  They will soon grow and fill out, and I hope they will be a natural weed suppressant~

These are the same plants just a few weeks ago, so they have grown really well~

Gentle Reader, the plants and flowers continue to open and delight, so here are a few for you to see tonight~

A double, cultivated poppy that looks like an old~fashioned ball gowned dancer waiting to waltz~

The fragrant David Austin rose Frances E. Lester, a beautiful, and highly fragrant, rambler that I have pruned into a shrub~it is covered in clusters of these delicate, pink blooms~

Another fragrant favourite, the rosa rugosa that I am making into a small hedge~

and another image of the lovely poppy, with colour singing out against the blue borage~

A peach coloured patio rose which I bought quite cheaply as it had no label.  A bargain purchase, don't you think~

My dwarf clematis, which trails rather than climbs, in a terracotta pot against a sunny wall~

So, Gentle Reader, I have brought you some of the strange, and some beautiful too . . Please stop by again to see how this garden grows, for I have been busy clearing the soft fruit patch and there is now some news to share from there.

The Drone of Lonely Lawn Mowers

The drone of lonely lawn mowers, like giant bees, buzz across the gardens of the village earlier in the week.  Everyone was out working hard, just like those honeybees, cutting grass before the next forecast deluge arrived at the weekend.

It almost seemed a shame to mow through the pretty daisies and buttercups sprinkled across the green like stars across the night sky, but they have had two extra weeks to grow, and it has been three since the lawn was last cut.  Here are the before and after~

See the pretty daisies and buttercups?  Look how green the grass is too.  It makes me want to walk barefoot across the lawn, so cool and pleasant.











The daisies and buttercups are gone, there is a semblance of stripes, but I am shocked at how poor the condition is.  Yellow is the new green!  I will have to look up what to do about this to improve it for next year.  I don't mind the daisies, but I don't like the yellow grass.




There were pollinating insects at last!  This is a hover fly on the pink osteospermum~

and here is a white tailed bumblebee getting ready to dive, head first, into the oriental poppy~

Then, with what is becoming almost too predictable for comfort, it all changed for the weekend.  On Thursday I made an emergency dash to the hardware store for thirty bamboo canes to stake up the lillies in an attempt to give them some support from the forecast gales and rain, due on the weekend.  It is now Saturday, it rained heavily all night, but that is okay . . I don't mind the rain at night.  Night time is a good time for it to rain!  The wind, is another matter.  My lawn is littered with the fronds of a neighbouring Cordyline Palm tree.  This is a viscous tree.  I do not like them at all.  The fronds are tough and I can quite see why they are used for making sturdy baskets in foreign climes, for they are strong, fibrous, and do not compost well as they just break down into fibrous strands that knot into everything.  They have a vicious spike on the tip that can give a nasty, sore wound.  They caffle around the lawn mower blades . . and the flowers produce a pungent, sickly sweet smell that cloys and permeates everywhere.  I do not like them.  Rant over! 

For two days now the wind has blown hard, and more again today.  Thankfully, my attempts at emergency staking are mostly successful.  The ground is deep pink underneath the rugos roses where the petals have ripped off.  They should recover well, as they flower all summer long before producing those beautiful, glossy, red rose hips.  The poppies did better than I expected too, but they are a sorry shadow of what might have been.  I am increasingly amazed at the tenacity of plants to survive and recover.  This photo was taken before the wind~

My lettuce has not fared well . . the slugs have decimated the small crop, so I must start over.  It is not too late to sow another crop.  My curly kale and Swiss chard seedlings also became slug fodder.  What can I do?

Still, the flowers are doing really well, and here are some photographs for you to see them all~

This is one of my favourites (I do seem to say that about most plants, don't I?) It is purple alyssum.  When I bought the seeds I thought they were annuals, but this is a not~so~common perennial variety!  The purple cushions of bloom just get bigger each year~

I love how these two Alchemilla mollis tumble into each other, over from a raised border and down the step.  Very effective, and it pleases me a lot~

This is a dwarf clematis.  You can see there are many buds, and I wait patiently to see this a mass of purple, one of my favourite colours in the garden~

This 'dwarf' geranium looks very healthy, but so far it is all leaf and no sign of flowers.  It is puzzling, because it is also twice the size it should be! I grew it from a cutting taken in spring this year. We must wait and see~

The Nigella are opening too.  I love their feathery fronds surrounding the pure, white flower.  These are all self~seeded.  Originally, there were blues, pinks, and mauves, but only the white seems to survive now.  Very pretty, though~

This is a dwarf verbascum.  I check daily for the Mullein moth, for verbascum and mullein are different names for the same plant.  Mullein moth can destroy a big, healthy plant overnight if left unchecked.  I love how this opens up in sections along the flowering spikes~

A wild poppy, not quite like the Flander's Poppy, and I wonder if it isn't a cross between two varieties~

The same bloom in close up~

Finally, Gentle Reader, just yesterday evening I received a beautiful gift from a dear friend.  A copy of  The Plants of Middle Earth by Dinah Hazell.  I cannot tell you how thrilled I am, especially as I already have many of the plants listed growing merrily in my garden.  Now, new ones are added to my wanted list too!  Isn't this such a thoughtful gift, for a gardener who also happens to be a fan of Tolkien and Middle Earth?  I am such a lucky gardener.