At last I managed to get my now very large front hedge cut. The blackbirds and thrushes have fledged and the weather and my health good this weekend. But, and there has to be a but doesn’t there, I have had to order new hedge trimmers. Emerging from the hedge at one end is a telephone pole held up by wire supports, one of which was now hidden by the hedge. However my trimmers found it and although there did not seem to be much damage to the blade the motor got a bit upset. I have ordered extending trimmers ...

Maybe one weekend I will manage to get my hedges cut. Each week I see them getting bigger and bigger, racing away and I cannot get to trim them.

This weekend it has been wet, cold and very windy. Sunday the gusts reached 60 miles per hour, it is a good job it is summer.

It is not all bad news even though seeing my outdoor plants and shrubs being battered by the wind, the Tomatoes are looking really strong and healthy. Those fruits that have set are growing nicely as are the ones formed on the cucumbers.

While on the subject of food we are eating our own lettuces and the Mizzuna is now ready for picking. This is the first year I have tried growing this salad leaf and have not been able to resist picking the odd leaf or two to chew on while working in the greenhouse. Well, why not!

The Beetroot leaves will be ready for cutting this next week or the week after and the Rocket is nearly ready. The big disappointment is the Purslane which has struggled to germinate and what has is very slow growing. Maybe it is just down to the funny growing season.

The petunias planted into the hanging basket and containers are coming on well, bushing out nicely from the base and should provide a beautiful show as the season progresses.  The dahlias suffered a little slug and snail damage when first put out but, fingers crossed, they seem to be coping well now.

The hardy Geraniums or Cranesbills are still providing much colour in the garden as are the Roses. My very large hardy Fuchsia is wonderful again this year and will be flowering for months to come. I admit that it has grown much larger (more like a tree!) than I imagined but it is in a spot where it does not matter and looks really good. The day lilies are beginning to bloom, they put on such a great show each year and their strappy leaves add so much to the texture of the border.

Perfume is so important to me in the garden and the Philadelphus (Mock Oranges) and Roses are doing a fine job.

I have seen field mice in the garden many times but this week was a first, a shrew; so tiny but unmistakably a shrew. It is always a good sign to see new wildlife in the garden, maybe I am getting the environment right.

Back to the topic of tomatoes, I get many emails asking questions covering several aspects of growing this popular fruit. Shortly I will be creating a page on my website using these questions as a Question and Answer Problem page that will be added to as more questions come in. I will let you know where to find it as soon as it is loaded.

The tomatoes in the greenhouse needed attention, taking out the side shoots on the cordons and tying in the new growth. Also the cucumbers now needed supports and both the tomatoes and cucumbers have set fruit. Somehow I just have to be patient not easy!

It is very difficult to pick favourites in the garden this time of the year but I have to give mention to the David Austen English Roses. The colours, shape and perfume make it a delight to wander around the garden.

If you are looking for ideas of what ...

The other good news is that they are collecting up little slugs to feed to their offspring. I wish I could show you a cam of Mrs Speckles with a slug in her beak trying to cram as much dried fruit in as possible, one coming out of the side of her beak as she forces one into the front.

The blue tits have also produced chicks. The parents are so busy and they are so acrobatic. Seeing them clearing the greenfly off my roses is a joy to behold. What a great job these birds do.

This diary is beginning to look like a weather report but the weather is so important to us gardeners. In my garden we have gone from very cold to suddenly very hot for a week followed by cold again but very dry and today it is cold and wet. I have trouble coping with the weather fluctuations so it always amazes me how well our gardens cope with the changes. Yes there are some delicate little beauties that we have to take care of but there are many species that cope extremely well.

I had a shrub given to me this weekend, an Elaeagnus that was growing in a concrete container but outgrown its situation. All I had to do was collect it, simple.

Off I went with my wheelbarrow with the shout of “back in 30 minutes”. It would not come out of its pot. I tried tipping the container over but it seemed a lot heavier to move than I expected, brute force was called for. The reason suddenly became clear as I heard a tear. The anchor root had found its way through the drainage hole (no drainage crocks had been put in) and through a crack in the paving. Obviously this container had not been moved for years. As the pot had been sitting directly on the paving the root had become flatted and bulbous, the only way to release the shrub was to hack off the root.

The next problem was getting it home on the barrow when a gale force wind came up, unfortunately a side wind, from behind would have been great. Seeing me pushing a wheelbarrow angled sideways at 45 degrees trying to keep this shrub on board must have provided much amusement and enjoyment for the locals! Anyway it is in its new home and we will have to hope it does not sulk too much.

It is time to pay a little homage to the trees in the garden. They really are a treat at the moment. In the back garden the Lilac is in full bloom and its delicious perfume is filling the back, in the front the Laburnum is a mass of golden scented flowers, no wonder it is known as the Golden Chain or Golden Rain Tree.

There is a red flowered Hawthorne that must be many years old, looking gnarled and hollow stemmed but it blooms profusely and there is a white flowered version that was presented to me by my feathered friends. All I have had to do is move it to a better location.

Our two Sorbus (Mountain Ash) are coming into flower. What good value these trees are with their early season flowers and late season berries.

This weekend was a greenhouse weekend. Incredibly the outside temperature was 10 degrees Celsius cooler than the previous weekend. The tomatoes had really surged ahead in the hot spell and they are now in their final home in the greenhouse border.

The dahlias, petunias and alyssum grown from seed are racing away and it is time to start hardening them off. I do not have a cold frame and so I will begin to give them little spells outside during the day.

Last year I grew salad leaves and they proved a great success. This included ...

This last week I had the first sighting of a Harlequin Ladybird. They are apparently more voracious than our native ladybirds which is good news that they are eating pests apart from the fact they are taking food from the natives and may in fact also eat the natives.

The apple trees are laden down with blossom this year, I look forward to many apple pies.

There is so much colour in the garden at the moment is hard to know where to start and there is not enough space in one post. Rhododendron Luteum is fully ...

The hole in the lawn mystery, some long lost book by Agatha Christie or one of Enid Blyton’s Famous Five adventures? No, something has been digging little holes in my front lawn, not deep, not that big but each morning there are more. Opening the curtains one night before heading for bed, there was the culprit just visible in the filtered light coming through the hedge from a street light.

It is hard to know where to start this week writing about the garden, so much is happening.

In the greenhouse I have nipped out the leading shoots of my dahlia seedlings so that they bush out, the cucumbers are taking off and the peppers have germinated at last. The petunias and alyssum that I pricked out have started to move on at a rate but the basil is very slow.

Outside in the garden the Exochorda The Bride is still starring, over 6 feet tall and wide it is stunning. The first rhododendrons are in flower, light pinks that were here when we arrived over 20 years ago and Rhododendron Luteum which has to be one of my favourites with its yellow and beautifully scented flowers. The tiny sweet scented violets are everywhere, again they were here before us and seed themselves everywhere but are a joy rather than a problem. Bluebells in their full glory and blue mists of forget-me-nots that seed themselves every year, I know some that think this a problem but for me they seem to complement all around them and if in the wrong place they are so easy to pull up.

The same can be said for Bowles Golden Grass or to give it its proper name Milium effusum 'Aureum'. The late Geoff Hamiltonbrought this to my attention many years ago and I struggled to find a specimen way back then when I suppose grasses were not such a design item as they are now. I would not be without it as it is an absolute ray of sunshine in the garden and goes well with most colours, one exception being yellow. I let mine seed and transplant it to wherever I think appropriate or just leave it where Mother Nature decided it would look best. The magnolia is still in flower and the pink apple blossom with its delicate scent has shown itself.

The sweet peas need to go into the ground but it has been too cold and would only set them back. The forecast this week is for dry and sunny weather so this is a job at the top of the list. They are bushing out nicely as I have been pinching out the tops and these morals have not gone to waste. We have a cockatiel and she absolutely loves eating sweet pea. They are intelligent birds and she recognises the direction from which I am coming as I walk past the conservatory window where she spends her days when the sun is not too strong. She dances up and down her perch shouting until I produce the treat from my pocket and then the eyes half shut in ecstasy as she tucks in.

And the mysterious vandal making holes in my lawn? A hedgehog, very welcome in my garden and I suppose he or she is helping to aerate my lawn.

Saturday at last I was able to cut my lawns. How many times have I written “get your mower serviced during the winter months because come spring there will be a long waiting time”? Did I take my own advice? No, do as I say, not as I do!

Saturday was a beautiful day and I was able to start catching up on a few jobs as my muscles are telling me this morning. I had a small patch of ground that needed tidying and planting where a shrub had died back. Continuing my policy of dividing or transplanting self sown plants instead of buying I filled the space with geraniums and golden grass. I have a hosta that I am bringing on in a pot that will look good there too.

My bluebells are out in force now, they were here when we came 20 years ago and are still a joy even though they can be a bit invasive if I don’t keep a close eye.

Euphorbia Griffithii 'Fireglow' with its orange-tinted bracts and red flush to its leaves is a real statement in the border and the beautiful white flowers of Exochorda 'The Bride' are starting their short but welcome domination.

One of those perennial "good doers" that I must admit I tend to take for granted is the aubretia. Again it was here 20 years ago and just keeps coming.

I remember a time when I used to drive along or walk down the road admiring other people's beautiful specimens and wishing I had on. Now that I have I walk past without hardly a glance. Now I have recognised the fact I am putting it right and taking the time to admire my own little stars.

When I take photographs of my flowers it tends be functional at best as illustrations for My Garden and Garden Diary. I recently found Sandy’s blog, well worth a look if you like quality photographs.

Fast forward to this year. It is cold. This last week has been very cold, the easterly wind has been as cold as any we have had in winter. The difference in the greenhouse is that the tomatoes are significantly smaller but again look healthy. I have to add that I did sow the seeds a bit later this year for two reasons, firstly to reduce the amount of heat used in the greenhouse and secondly because they charged away last year. The bedding plants are also slower to get away but nothing to worry about. I suspect everything ...