Tackling the garden

 I've been so busy on the allotment recently that I've neglected the garden a bit.  The late spring flowers have all gone over now and it was all starting to look a bit wild and out of control, weeds were popping up all over the place.  In the last couple of weeks the work on the allotment has started to ease off a bit, so I've been able to start to give some attention to the garden.

When there's a lot to do in the garden I try not to let it overwhelm me by tackling too much all at once, so I work through the jobs at my own pace. I find it best to set myself a task of working on one small area at a time  depending on how much time there is. I try not to get distracted by the other jobs I can see need doing otherwise I end up up flitting about here and there like a butterfly.

So in the last couple of weeks I have had a few little gardening sessions, just working my way along the borders, cutting back the late spring flowers which have gone over, deadheading, weeding path edges, sweeping up, weeding borders. This is the time of year when I realise I cram too many plants into the borders, but at least they suppress a lot of the weeds.

As I've worked my way along the borders, I 've also made mental notes of bigger jobs which can be done in the Autumn. There are shrubs and trees which need a good cutting back and problem beds where I need to think about starting again and doing something different.

 A few weeks ago the predominant colour in the beds was blue. Now it's all changing and there seems to be a lot of yellow coming from alchemilla mollis, lysimachia and golden grasses. The hot colours of late summer are starting to appear. I can see red crocosmia lucifer, deep pinky red astilbe and knautia macedonica, a yellowy orange day lily and orange Kniphofia.

Although I haven't finished my clearing up of the garden it's looking much better and I'm able to spend time when we get a bit of sunshine, sitting and enjoying it, looking at all the lovely colours . That's what summer is about.