Through the Garden Gate--July 2021

July seems to have whizzed by so quickly and when I checked my garden jobs list for July there seems to have been very little done.  I think though that this month is when you should sit back and enjoy the garden and we gardeners don't always do enough of that, we're always spotting jobs which need doing. Well we have had the weather to be able to sit and enjoy the garden. It has been very warm and sunny for most of the month and at times just too hot to work in. Finding a spot of shade to sit in isn't easy in our garden and I keep wondering about planting another tree in an appropriate place.

I always find that there's a bit of a lull in the flower borders towards the end of July as the earlier flowers have gone over and we wait for the late summer colour to appear. When it wasn't too hot I just pottered around deadheading and cutting back to tidy the borders.

The buddleia is now in flower--a lovely rich, deep purple called 'Royal Red'. In the front garden the hydrangea flowers are opening up, starting blue and gradually turning pink. 

Also in the front a clump of Rudbekias have come into flower.  These were sown last year as annuals and got left in the ground over winter.  They are a lovely bronze colour. 

The hot weather has caused a bit of stress to some of the patio pots. As I have such a lot of pots, the watering has sometimes got neglected. Looking at them I can see that the geraniums cope better with dry weather, so next year I might grow more of them.

One project we managed to get done was the wildlife pond, which is made out of an old galvanised bath. After much discussion and a few disagreements about where to put it, we finally found a good place in the woodland/stumpery bed. We sunk it into the ground and  arranged some stones around the outside. I put some gravel and a few pebbles in the base of the pond and some bigger stones which will provide shelter and easy access in and out of the pond for any wildlife. Then a trip to the garden centre for some pond plants was needed.  As its only a small pond I didn't want to overcrowd it so I have put four plants in, choosing carefully that they were slow growing plants which wouldn't get too big. One plant which I would like but haven't been able to find locally is a dwarf water lily. Two weeks later we were really pleased to see a frog in the water. 

Last September we had our 50th wedding anniversary, we didn't want a big fuss and because of all the COVID restrictions we couldn't do much anyway. Our daughter bought us a pot of pink lilies. I didn't know if they would grow back again this year, but they have. The smell is wonderful as you come through the gate into garden. 

Now at the end of July the weather is cooler and we had some storms a few days ago. The rain and wind has really battered the garden and those patio pots are in a really bad state.  I will have to do some more cutting back and deadheading We really needed all that rain though, especially at the allotment. Perhaps my patio tubs will perk up now.

I am linking this post to Sarah's blog at 'Down by the Sea' for her monthly 'Through the Garden Gate' post.

Through the Garden gate--June 2021

The garden has been full of colour throughout June.  The lupins started to flower early in the month followed by the foxgloves. 

Then we had the hardy geraniums, alchemilla mollis, honeysuckle, clematis, roses. 

My favourite of the roses is the Gertrude Jekyll by the archway.  The smell is lovely.

Two years ago I planted two roses down in the bottom raised bed--'Pride and Prejudice' and 'Rachael'. Unfortunately the labels got separated from their plants and now |I don't know which is which.  This one has been the first to flower, its a lovely apricot pink. 

Another flower which I've lost the label of is this gorgeous poppy--I'm good at losing labels and forgetting the name of plants.

These lovely blue geraniums in the wildlife garden are always full of bees.

At the beginning of June I finished planting up my patio tubs with summer bedding. Pinks, blues and purples are my favourite colours as I'm sure anyone who saw them would be able to tell. On fine, warm days we sit out surrounded by these lovely flowers and listening to the bees buzzing around them.

Early on in June when we were at last allowed to visit people, we went to visit our daughter and her family who we hadn't seen for a year. 

She lives in Stotfold, Hertfordshire and with lovely countryside around them we enjoyed some lovely walks with their Beagle puppy, Snoopy who we hadn't met before. Here where we live in Lancashire its very hilly and walking can be hard work, so it was good to have some walking on the level there. We went to visit one of her local junk/antique shops and I bought these............

I polished the lantern up and it has revealed shiny copper, it does need a bit more work doing on it, but my arthritic hands are a bit painful at the moment.   It was going to live in the garden, but I'm not so sure now.  The tin bath is to be our project for the next few weeks as we turn it into a wildlife pond for the garden.  That might be the subject of next month's garden blog.

 I am linking this post to Sarah's blog at 'Down By The Sea' for her monthly 'Through the Garden Gate' post

Through the Garden gate--May 2021

What awful weather we have had during May, I believe it has been the wettest May for a long time. The garden seems to have enjoyed all the rain, though. I have been amazed at how quickly plants have grown.  The borders have filled out and not only do they look good it means that I don't have to weed so much. That's the benefit of cramming loads of plants together.

In the  raised bed are some clumps of  Chaerophyllum Hirsutum 'Roseum' or pink cow parsley which I brought as cuttings from my previous garden. They have taken a while to get established and this seems to be the year when they have decided to make a good show of themselves.  They look beautiful next to the alliums which are starting to open up now and the blue perennial cornflower.

Another lovely plant similar to the pink cow parsley is Myrrhis odorata or Sweet ciceley. This is in the front garden and hangs over the wall. It has lovely creamy white flowers, delicate feathery foliage and smells lovely. Can you see Holly the cat hiding underneath?

The hardy geraniums are starting to flower, I keep spotting little blue flowers here and there. I have quite a few geraniums in the garden of different colours and they flower at different times.  Some are short flowering, others keep going throughout the summer.

This is Persicaria, a tall pale pink variety, I don't know its proper name. It came in a big pot which I was able to split into 4 and plant around the garden. It does spread itself about though and I have been trying to dig some of it up. Much as I love its pink flowers I don't want it taking over the garden.

The Aquilegias are in flower now. These self seed over the garden, but they are so dainty I'm quite happy to let them.

This little corner was planted up two years ago. It's a shady area next to the holly tree and I got the planting idea from a gardening magazine. The colour scheme is blue, white and yellow. At the moment  the Dicentra is in flower, it has put on a fabulous show all on its own. The Aquilegias are just opening up now, they are blue and white. Still to come are white Camassias and blue Geraniums. The yellow colour is kept going throughout the summer with the  Hostas and Alchemila mollis.

In the last week the lilac near the front door has come into flower. The gorgeous smell wafts around the garden.

With the weather being so unlike May I hadn't realized it was time to start planting up my patio containers with summer bedding plants. So my job for the next week or so is to go to the garden centre, get the plants and plant them up.

I am linking this post to Sarah's blog at 'Down By the Sea' for her monthly 'Through the Garden Gate' post

A sunny afternoon planting

The last couple of weeks we've been busy at home. With all the rainy weather we decided to tackle some much needed decorating. I popped down to the allotment for a quick visit every couple of days to check the greenhouse plants and on one or two dry days I left Richard doing the decorating while I could catch up on some weeding .  It doesn't take long for weeds to take over. 

It looks now like we're in for a spell of better weather. Yesterday we went to catch up on jobs, the weather was warm, dry and sunny and it was really lovely to be outside again doing jobs. Now at the end of May there's plenty to do. The cold frame is full of plants waiting to be planted. 

I started by planting a block of sweetcorn -- 16 plants in the block. 

In the next bed I planted some sunflowers.  This bed has peas and broad beans in one half and will have some brassicas at the other end with the sunflowers in the middle.

The greenhouses are full of plants too. The big greenhouse is mostly full of the tomatoes which are now ready to go in their final big pots. We moved out some of the staging to make room and  filled the pots with compost.  I have set the tomato plants out where they are going to go and as I was running out of time I will plant them next time we go. 

In the little greenhouse are flower seedlings growing and also the cucumbers. I planted four cucumber plants into big pots-- 2 'Louisa' and 2 'Passandra'. I grew these last year and they were good.

Checking around the plot I could see that the first lot of broad beans now have flowers. The first lot of peas which were started off in guttering in the greenhouse are doing well, but the second sowing which was done directly into the ground are not looking good with poor germination and nibbled leaves. I'm blaming the pigeons for the nibbled leaves although it could also be weevils. But the pigeons hang about that area quite a lot and are a nuisance on the plot. Fortunately I grew another lot of peas in the greenhouse which are ready for planting out now. I will plant these in the gaps in that row and cover them with netting. The beetroot is also looking like its been nibbled and I wonder if that is the pigeons again. More netting needed, I think.

The plot is looking green now with plenty growing.  There is so much to do, so let's hope this better weather will stay for a while.

Through the Garden Gate-April 2021

 

Only a few  weeks ago after I had mulched all the garden beds, I was thinking how flat and boring they looked. But now they are filling out and looking greener and more colourful day by day.  Everyday as I walk around the garden I can see more new growth and buds appearing on trees and shrubs.  All this new growth seems to creep up on us giving lovely surprises as we spot something else which is now in flower or has filled out a bit more.

The tulip tubs have been in flower.  I am more of a pink and purple person when it comes to colour in the garden, so I was surprised when two tubs which I had planted up in the autumn produced orange tulips.  The colour on the label must not have been as true to life, but I really like them.  I moved them away from the pink pots so they wouldn't clash then I spotted  pink tulips coming through in amongst the orange pot. I don't know what went wrong there!

I planted up a lavender hedge either side of the archway with some free lavender plants which I got from an offer in a gardening magazine. I was really pleased when they arrived to find that they were good sized plants. There were ten so five on each side of the arch fitted nicely. I'm looking forward to seeing and smelling the result later in the year.

My husband fitted a wooden edge to one of the borders in the back garden to neaten it up.  It should help to contain the plants which flop over and had been damaging the lawn.  

Holly seemed to approve of the new development!

There was a Ceaonothus shrub in this border which I bought a couple of years ago and had grown way too big for its space, next to the Liquidamber tree. We decided to move it and checking its label I read that it could be grown as a wall shrub or a tree. Not surprising it had grown so big then. What a job it was moving it, with branches all over the place and heavy roots! Its now in its new place further along the border with more space. I have pruned it into a tree shape and its blue flowers are starting to open up. We had to do quite a bit of moving plants around to accommodate the Ceanothus, but the border should look better now.

There has been so much blossom about in April and many trees are still opening up with their blossom. We have blossom trees on the grass verges outside our house and they are looking lovely at the moment.  

Our Amelanchier tree has blossomed and gone over but the crab apple is now opening up its flowers.

There is so much to enjoy now in our gardens and much more to look forward to.

I am linking this post to Sarah's blog at 'Down by the Sea' for her monthly 'Through the Garden Gate' post.