May Bank Holiday

Not the greatest weather by far; today there was no rain, but the clouds were dark and low. Oppressive. Good for a visit to the garden centre, though, and planting!

We got a lot of herbs and some perennials I was looking for. Verbena bonariensis, only a couple of inches tall at present but should rise to 1.5 m. Jasmine and honeysuckle, for the west-facing fence. Angelica and bronze fennel for the border, with some golden and variegated lemon balm for edging. A selection of mints (spearmint, Swiss, eau de Cologne and pineapple mints), a couple of pink and salmon pelargoniums in lovely blue metallic pots, red-veined sorrel and Honey Melon sage went into pots and troughs. Oh, and we also took the opportunity to plant the lily of the valley under the elder bush, and some African daisies (osteospermums) that we picked up a couple of weeks ago.

In addition to all the hard work of digging planting holes, my wonderful SO trimmed the grass (using a new, bladed strimmer), dug out some more of the insidious bramble, and pruned the weird shrub/trees that were hiding the patio and blocking the light. I think these will have to go completely, but that's usually an autumn job.

The following picture is what we currently look out on from the living room patio doors. On the bricks behind the table we've lifted the strawberry tub so it would be out of the way of slugs; next to it is a huge terracotta pot of lavender and pots of spearmint and night scented stock (still seedlings). In the next month or so the table should go to the trellised area on the side, thus creating space for patio seating, surrounded by scented flowers and herbs for our olfactory pleasure (and nectar for bees and butterflies). Something to look forward to!

Early summer

Here are some pictures of the first summer flowers in the garden. The rhododendron is particularly spectacular, owing to its size (and age).

Rainy Sunday

Yesterday was a miserable, wet, cold day and I didn't do anything in the garden. Today, however, it was sunny and warm, and I did a lot!

1. Repotted my fig tree and placed it in front of a south-facing wall. In a few years, we may even have figs!


2. Planted 6 strawberry plants: 3 Honeoye (early), 1 Elsanta (mid-season) and 2 Symphony (late). I believe that their fruiting seasons will overlap quite a lot, and they didn't influence my choice at the garden centre (B&Q actually). I got those as they looked the best in their little pots. Strawberries produce a little fruit in the first summer, then give their best in years 2 and 3; after that they should be replaced for best results.


3. Sowed seeds indoors: 3 tomatoes Gardener's Delight, 3 courgettes De Nice a Fruit Rond, 1 patty pan squash and 1 butternut squash. Some would say that it's too late to sow tomatoes, and I was considering buying young plants; however, I decided against it. I already had the seed packet, and they may still catch up with the earlier sowings due to starting in (relatively) warm and sunny weather.

4. Sowed some Night Scented Stocks, a hardy annual, straight into the border but also in a pot (seen next to the strawberries). I've never grown them before, but they are supposed to be highly scented in the evenings, so a pot on the patio will help us appreciate them better.

5. Added some compost to the Jerusalem artichoke pods. The plant seem to be flourishing, and as they should reach 2m in height when fully grown, they need a stable anchor. I'm not sure if they are also stem rooting.

The Ides of May

We've got some lovely sun today, which is not bad seeing that it's mid-May! I took the opportunity to snap some more pics ;)



On the left you see a pot of Lily of the Valley, sold to me for £1 by a kind old man in the neigbourhood, who has 5 greenhouses, he tells me, and sells trays of seedlings in his front garden. I will plant them in the ground one of these days, but at the moment it's easier to enjoy their beautiful scent closer to nose-level!

Next is the box with kohlrabi and radishes, then the herbs, and finally the salad leaves. At the moment there's nothing much to harvest, except parsley and sweet marjoram. Actually, the other day I added some marjoram leaves to a plain tomato salad, and they lifted the taste into something altogether more cordon bleu.

The variegated iris is getting ready to flower:


And the Mexican orange blossom, purple ajuga and heuchera are already blooming:




Finally, we saw a few young ladybirds scattered around the garden, so here's one that went well with my hair ;)

Old garden pics

In the absence of fantastic pictures from our little garden, here are a few from the old house.

The profusion of tea-scented yellow blooms of rose Graham Thomas:


Pink, sweet smelling rose Gertrude Jekyll, with an oddity in the foreground - New Zealand Flax (phormium) in flower. I'd had it for about 8 years and it never produced those exotic looking flower stalks before!


Globes of Allium Christophii visited by a bumblebee:


Finally, red rose Lily Marlene in the foreground with white Iceberg Climbing on the obelisk behind. They look beautiful, but have unfortunately no scent, so will not be a feature of our new garden.