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.