My Garden is My Space

Honey Fungus Strikes Again and Christmas Comes Early

2008-11-24T15:38:25Z

Once Honey Fungus appears in your garden you have it forever, it is a case of living with it and planting accordingly. Fortunately there are many woody plants that are resistant to this fungus but my Ribes, or as commonly known Flowering Currant, is not one.

You may be interested to read this interesting article:

Honey Fungus | The Woodlands.co.uk Blog - Articles on woodland activities, flora and fauna, conservation and other woodlandy topics.

The back half of this bush that has been with me for over 20 years collapsed and I suspected the worst. This weekend I decided it had to be dug up and set about the task. After over twenty years in the ground this was not an easy job, not helped by the fact that when I took hold of top growth to tug at the root the weakened branches broke away.

The worst is done but there was another and surprising problem to overcome. When digging close to the root ball, as all must be removed, I thought I must have hit a big stone or maybe a house brick. How wrong can you be; it was a stretch of tarmac! The first thought was that left over tarmac had been dumped but that cannot be the case. The surface is flat and rolled and the edges neat. It must be the remains of a path that a previous occupant has hidden under a few inches of soil. It is incredible that I have planted a shrub either side of the path but not hit it before. If the planting holes had been about three inches to the side I would have hit the tarmac. Preparation of this area will now include the use of a big hammer!

It is sad to lose an old friend that has performed well for me. Ribes are not every gardener’s favourite but they flower profusely in spring, have scent and respond well to clipping and shaping. The exciting thing is that it has opened up new opportunities. I will have to move a Berberis but then I will have quite a patch that is a blank canvas. Let the planning begin!

November has been a dark and dreary month but that has not stopped the Mahonia coming into flower. What a cheerful statement it makes with its yellow flowers this time of the year.

All I have to do now is tell my Christmas Cactus that it is not yet Christmas but I don’t want to complain to loudly in case it sulks next year.

A Tree for The Chop?

2008-11-18T16:07:51Z

Sometimes in gardening as in life you have to make difficult decisions.

Some years ago I bought an apple tree, an eater to add to the two existing cooking apples. In time I realised that the tree had been wrongly labelled.

Instead of a sturdy magnificent specimen reaching for the sky I had a tree on a dwarfing stock. It happens and I persevered with it when I found the fruit in the early years very tasty if not plentiful.

However, growth has been very slow and fruit is still not plentiful in spite of pruning, feeding etc. It has to go, a great shame but it is not earning its keep and I can use the space for other things.

The Autumn Fire has and is still a treat this year. The trees have held their foliage well but suddenly they are shedding their leaves.

The thrush is still boss of the Rowan and this has given us a great bonus. The tree has shed its leaves but the beautiful berries are still in place. And still he sits at the top of the tree or on the post nearby guarding and protecting his larder!

This weekend I read and article by Anna Pavord entitled Beth Chatto: Queen of nursery women. Take a look at this interesting read; I make no secret of my admiration for this wonderful plants woman, Beth Chatto is one of my gardening heroes.

First Frost and Last Dahlia

2008-11-03T11:30:48Z

The first good frost arrived this week and blackened the dahlias. How quickly things can change, one day there are beautiful blooms and the next morning blackened and wilting plants. Never mind, we can look forward to a good show next year.

I bought some Wallflowers on Saturday morning from a market stall, someone I have known for many years who has a smallholding. To grow Wallflowers properly you need to sow the seed and transplant the youngsters into a nursery bed during the summer ready to move into their spring flowering positions in the autumn. I just do not have the space to use as a nursery bed so this is the best option for me. Thirty six well grown plants cost me £3.00 which is a bargain when I think how much the seed would cost me and them the time spent pricking out and then planting in the nursery.

The thrush managed to keep possession of the Mountain Ash berries until Sunday. He has chased off all comers all week, birds that he would normally be bullied by. However on Sunday six magpies arrived together and that proved just too much. I am sure he will be back, I hope so anyway as he is such a beautiful bird. I make no excuse for showing another picture of this beautiful tree one week on when all the leaves have turned.

I have fallen behind in the garden as Sunday was going to be the day when most work was done. The day started grey, damp and cold and stayed that way. There was no point in trying to do anything, the soil was wet and sticky and foliage everywhere dripping wet. I would only do damage to the soil structure, better to be patient and wait for a better day.

There is still so much to do and that can be done at this time of the year. Vegetable garden planning for next year can begin now and we can look at November as the end of the flower garden year or as the time to prepare for next year’s flower garden.

The cucumbers in the greenhouse are coming to an end now. There are still a few to eat but only small ones. No complaints, they have been plentiful and tasty again this year.

An observant reader emailed me to say that I had written that we had made apple chutney this year but no mention of making the tomato chutney that I have mentioned in the past. The reason is that all our tomatoes ripened this year where in previous years we have ended the season with enough green ones to make that delicious chutney.

Think of Your Friends This Winter

2008-10-27T20:32:07Z

Suddenly it has got a lot colder and what makes it worse is that it has been wet and strong winds. Chills you to the core, not the sort of weather to encourage you into the garden and yet there have been brief nice periods when little jobs could be done.

This sudden cold spell is a good reminder to think about my garden friends, the ones with four legs or feathers. The birds are obvious but there are many others who have been working away for me unseen or unnoticed. Now is the time to say thanks and help them through the worst of the winter to come.

So what do I do in my garden to help these little friends?

I have piled up rotting logs to make a home for hedgehogs, beetles, spiders and woodlice. The branches that came crashing down from my Hawthorne have been put to good use, really as nature intended.

The wind blew off some terracotta pots and they have been put to use. They will provide a refuge for our frogs and toads mice and voles. We had a little vole charging about the garden this year and the site of them does make you think about encouraging more.

I leave leaf litter under the shrubs on my drive side border. It may look like I am being lazy but they will rot down and be good for the shrubs and make a snug nest for most hibernating creatures.

Now what about my birds? Well I provide them plants that I like and are also good for them, especially plants that produce berries and seeds.

I leave most clearing up of borders until late winter or early spring. Not only does it give the birds a chance to feed on the seeds and insects that are hiding in the stems it provides winter shelter for birds and insects.

It may be hard but try not to be too tidy in your garden at this time of the year and you will have plenty of wildlife friends around when you need them next spring.

Is there a Change in the Pecking Order?

2008-10-20T12:25:47Z

In my garden there has been a definite pecking order for my bird visitors. The blackbirds have bossed about the thrushes and even the robins have bullied the thrush. However, there seems to be a change of hierarchy at the moment.

I have taken a picture of my Sorbus Joseph Rock with its beautiful apricot berries. Last year surprisingly this was the first tree to be stripped of its fruit; the red berried species normally go first. The blackbirds virtually lived in that tree for a few days and really had their fill. So what is different this year? A thrush has taken ownership and heaven help any other bird that is brave enough to try to let alone land in the tree. He comes from nowhere and dive bombs any intruder. The blackbirds who are normally the bully boys are literally taking flight and do not relish a battle with this spotted wonder. Maybe the berries will last a little longer this year?

I picked off the last of the tomatoes this weekend; some of the haulms were starting to be covered with grey mould so it was time to clear them out of the greenhouse. I cannot complain, from a slow start we have had a very good crop. We will miss picking the fresh fruit just before a meal but at least we still have a few more to enjoy.

A seed catalogue popped through the letterbox this week but I have resisted the temptation to open it. There are still things to do in the garden and greenhouse this year and I save browsing the catalogues for the end of November and into December, that way my mind turns to the seeds I will be sowing next year and spring does not seem so far away.

The house has been filled this week with the delicious smell of chutney being produced and bottled. Our cooking apples will not keep, they are very soft fleshed and delicious but the slightest bruising and they very quickly rot. Many make it into pies and crumbles but even more go into chutney to enjoy during the winter months. Well, that is the theory but you have to try some to make sure it is up to standard don't you!

The First Cut is The Deepest but The Last Cut is The Sweetest

2008-10-13T11:38:34Z

The first cut is the deepest but the last cut is the sweetest.

Don’t worry I am not going to burst into song, it’s my hedges that I am referring to.

That first cut of the year is really a struggle but this year I have tried to trim a bit more often rather than leave it to a later big cut. I have to say it has been a lot easier this way and what has made a very big difference is my G-Tech Cordless Telescopic Hedge Trimmer. No cables to worry about and no steps required to reach the top of the hedges and you can set the angle of the blade so that you are not right up to the side of the hedge as you cut.

Do I sound pleased with my G-Tech Cordless Living Ultimate Blade Cordless Telescopic Hedge Trimmer HT05? Absolutely, it gets a big recommendation from me and in these days of expensive electricity it charges for pence.

A couple of weeks ago I heaped praise on my Fuchsia Riccartonii for the wonderful show it has given me consistently over the summer. A very close second has to be my white Sun Rose, this Cistus has flowered and flowered this summer, so much that we tend to walk past it and shamefully take it for granted.

The autumn colours are starting to fill the garden. Some of the trees and shrubs do not hold their coloured leaves for long but the short lived performance is worth waiting for.

How to Cut a Frog’s Toenails

2008-10-08T10:37:13Z

This weekend I listened to a broadcast where people were complaining about vandalism and theft in their gardens and experts suggesting ways of deterring these awful people.

There is no doubt that as gardening has grown in popularity and gardening makeover shows have encouraged people to buy statues and ornaments to add interest that the crime has increased. But it is just not the ornaments, I have heard of people spending the weekend planting up a new border with shrubs and perennials only to wake up on a Monday morning to find the lot has gone.

I also find vandalism hard to understand, maybe there is a mixture of jealousy, lack of intelligence and alcohol addled brains. My privet hedge has taken more than its fair share of bad treatment, especially at holiday times such as Christmas when drunken youths are on their way home in the early hours. More than once I have looked out of the bedroom window to see a body lying through the hedge and onto the border. I am pleased to report that one got more than he bargained for, landing in a particularly spiny Berberis. The problem is it takes the hedge a long time to recover.

We can take some measures to prevent theft and vandalism but isn’t sad that we have to?

Now, what about cutting a frog’s toenails. I mowed my front lawn and was going round trimming the lawn edge when I noticed that grass was growing into my London Pride which, being London Pride, has spread right up to the lawn edge. I bent down to pull out the grass and from under the London Pride jumped a large frog. It may have been dry for a week but it was still very wet under this canopy but how I missed cutting into him or at least taking off a toe I will never know. And they say cats have nine lives!

Flower Garden in October – Hints and Tips

Working with Mother Nature

2008-09-30T12:28:48Z

Those of you who have read my ramblings before will know how much respect I have for Mother Nature. We borrow our gardens from her in the knowledge that she always wishes to add her little touches and sometimes her additions are not always that welcomed, ground elder for instance.

The good weather this last week has enabled me to catch up on gardening jobs but at the same time have the opportunity to sit out and enjoy my creation. Sitting out there one day and seeing some wild flowers in bloom, some may call them weeds but there are certain things I leave to grow because I like them, I began to dream about the wonderful early summer meadows I had seen and marvelled at the skill of Mother Nature and her planting plan. Also my thoughts went back to the walks along river banks where the colours may be more muted, soft greens etc., and cliff top walks. But then I remembered wilder places where everything seemed overgrown with certain species overpowering others and that started me thinking about how maybe we have helped out that lady.

If we had not cleared woodland to produce pasture she would not have had the opportunity to scatter the seed for those early summer displays. Our grazing of cattle and sheep has kept down the invasive species and given a chance to the wonderful flowering annuals that would have struggled to grow, set and scatter their seed.

Over the years and even today perhaps we have been a bit overzealous when clearing land and keeping “weeds” at bay but by good and thoughtful land management we and Mother Nature working together can produce some wonderful and pleasing results that are good for both.

Looking back over this gardening year I have had several impressive displays but if there has been one unsung hero it has to be my Fuchsia Riccartonii. It has flowered for months and as we are about to enter October it is still covered in flowers. It has done so well this last couple of years that I have to plead guilty to taking it for granted, it is there, it flowers and all I have had to do is cut back branches encroaching on others space. It is about time I paid due tribute to this wonderful fuchsia.

My Garden is My Space, but don't tell Mother Nature!

Late September and it Feels Like High Summer

2008-09-22T12:15:44Z

Here we are in the back half of September and the weather this weekend has been the best for months!

Cold winds and wet weather seemed to have set in almost heading for winter with no autumn and plants in the garden looking decidedly tired. Two days of excellent weather and suddenly many things have perked up.

In flower at the moment are the Dahlias, Geraniums, Japanese Anemones, Roses, Clematis, Rhododendron (yes, really), Winter Jasmine, Californian Poppies, Alyssum, Ceanothus, Begonias, Cyclamen, Campanula, Choisia, Fuchsia ,Sedum, Hosta, Eupatorium, Phlox, Michlemas Daisies and berries of red, white, black, purple, orange and apricot. Not bad for this time of the year.

With so many people having problems with blight I feel almost guilty for saying we have had a great crop of tomatoes this year, perhaps late but they have been plentiful and very tasty. So sad to see someone grub up and burn about a hundred tomato plants. That person was a very experienced allotment gardener so I am sure he will take all the necessary precautions to hopefully ensure a healthy crop next year.

It is a reminder that gardening can be so very rewarding and yet it can be cruelly frustrating and disappointing.

Why do we carry on gardening after any disappointment? Simply because we enjoy it and know that next year things will be better.

Next year gardeners will sow and grow tomatoes even though this year has been a failure but there will be many of us who sit back and look at what we have attempted to grow, analyse the reason for failure and maybe grow a replacement. I have lost count of how many times I have done this and I know one reason why I have disappointments. This is because on a cold winter day I sit in the warm thumbing through the new seed catalogues and get hooked by the marketing of new seed varieties. The pictures look good, the blurb sounds good but so often I wish I had waited to see if they are still on sale a second or third year. I should have leant my lesson by now, however!

A New TV Presenter to Follow in the Footsteps of Geoff Hamilton

2008-09-15T10:37:56Z

So BBC Gardeners World has a new gardener heading up the programme.

My readers not in the UK may be wondering what is so significant about a new television presenter. The answer is that Gardeners World is and had been for many years the flagship gardening programme on UK television for many years. It has been the weekly guide that has taught and enthused generations of gardeners and probably will for some time to come.

It is important to have the right person at the helm and at first glance Toby Buckland seems to be that person. He has already paid tribute to Geoff Hamilton, to many of us Mr Gardeners World and it looks like he wants the programme to include plenty of everyday practical instruction. Time will tell but I wish him well.

Thankfully the tomatoes in the greenhouse are still producing good crops that are ripening but I suppose with the daylight hours shortening it will not be for much longer. Still, cannot complain, from a bad start I have had a good crop.

Also still doing well are the cucumbers, they have certainly paid their way this year.

Some leaves have dropped from the lower twigs rather than branches of my Sycamore and into view has come another nest, either a blackbird or thrush. Whether it produced young I cannot tell and the truth is that after a promising early start to the season it quietened off very quickly and we have not seen as many young birds in the garden as last year.

Even though the weather has been cold and wet this season it has not stopped the hedges from growing and I will have to find time to do another trim before winter.

There is still very much happening in the garden and pottering and tidying around somehow focuses your mind on little gems that you take for granted each day.

Standard Fuchsia and Herbaceous Border Mistakes

2008-09-09T11:50:18Z

Saturday was too wet to do any gardening apart from a bit of tidying and pottering in the greenhouse. What I did find time to do was to watch a television program that I had recorded of a TV personality designing and planting up a large herbaceous border in their new and bigger home and garden. Some really nice plants and shrubs were chosen, I wish I had the spare cash to go out and buy all those at one go. Or maybe not, there is something special about planning, getting the bones of a border done and adding some specials as you can afford it.

The funny thing was it took me back to the first border I created in my present garden twenty years ago. The circumstances were similar; suddenly a bigger garden and the chance to plant those big shrubs where one would have filled the old garden, also the opportunity to plant an all year round garden. Add to that the fact the border was cut in front of a large hedge and it really was a feeling of déjà vu.

If I was starting my border with the knowledge and experience gained during those twenty years I would do things differently and I could see this presenter making what I would now think of as making the same mistakes. I am not saying my knowledge of plants is greater because I am certain it is not, it is more of looking at practical issues to do with the situation.

Whilst the planting was being done I also wondered whether once established certain things would overpower the rest of the border. Jump 12 months on and in my opinion that looked the case. It is all a matter of your own taste of course, I have and have had my own gardening heroeswho have influenced my style of planting but in the end I do what I like and not to please everybody else.

I have plenty of cooking apples on the trees this year but they have not put on much flesh. The windfalls have provided a couple of pies and a crumble so far but the majority have not been usable. By the time they are peeled and cored there is nothing left. There will be those who suggest we should have thinned them out earlier in the year to get larger fruits, theory and practice are two very different things.

One little success to write about is my own Standard Fuchsia.

The first gardening book I ever bought had illustrations of what we would call Park Bedding broken up by many Standard Fuchsias and the effect was very pleasing. I have grown a lot of fuchsias over the years but never attempted to create a Standard.

Last year I bought, on impulse, half a dozen cuttings and potted them on. A couple over wintered in my unheated conservatory and managed to keep some foliage on. I noticed one had produced quite a strong looking stem and I could not resist having a go at turning it into a Standard. The pieces I trimmed off I used as cuttings and several have taken.

A fuchsia expert might not be that impressed but it has given me a lot of fun and satisfaction. Maybe if I can keep it over this coming winter I will get a bigger and better head on it next year.

My Garden is My Space and no matter what the weather, it provides me with a lot of enjoyment.

Nectar Bars and Berries

2008-09-01T10:23:59Z

Last week I asked where my butterflies had gone. Purely by chance this week I watched a documentary that linked together disappearing butterflies with disappearing wild flower meadows.

There are isolated meadows and gardens where people have purposely grown native wild flowers to encourage and help to increase the insect population but the trouble is apparently that the areas are isolated. The butterflies need a continuous strip that acts as a nectar bar to help these beautiful insects to travel over distance.

In my case I can say that a few years ago an area within yards of my garden ideal for wildlife was destroyed. Two large semi-detached houses had not been lived in for a few years and the garden left unattended. The inevitable happened; the ground was sold off to developers who replaced the two semis with eight houses and most importantly grubbed up all the old shrubs and wild flowers that had taken over the gardens. I still had butterfly visitors but in reduced numbers, the number of sparrow visitors was a lot less and the rabbits and foxes stopped coming through.

It is funny sometimes how coincidences come about. Last weekend we had visitors who took a walk around the garden. One stopped and said, “That is a weed”. My reply was “No that is a wild flower and I like it so it stays”. A few minutes later the second visitor remarked, “What a beautiful flower, where did you get it?” I explained that it was a gift from Mother Nature and she decided that it should be planted in that spot. The view of this visitor was totally different, agreeing with me that a weed is only a plant in the wrong place, why assume that every wildflower is a weed.

The program I mentioned encouraged us to let “wild flowers” grow in a small strip and then there was a chance that all these small strips would join up and provide the sort of motorway with regular cafes that butterflies of yesteryear enjoyed. What a great idea and the good news is that some people are already making their gardens more butterfly friendly. However, not everyone is of the same mind. I know a couple who tend the garden like they do their house, not a thing out of place. In fact they go to the extreme and I have seen them scraping a trowel over the surface of any bare soil to remove absolutely every last leaf or tiny petal that has fallen. Very neat and tidy but not exactly environmentally friendly.

My butterflies may be few this year but the bees are still very busty drinking from my nectar bars and it is so good to see.

I am enjoying the great show of berries in the garden this year while they last. The birds will soon see them off but I know I cannot have everything. I want the birds to visit the garden, I love the berries as they extend the season of colour in the garden but I have to trade one against the other. The trees and bushes want the birds to eat their fruit and distribute the seed; I want to see the birds so I make sure that I enjoy the view of the berries each day knowing that one day the inevitable will happen. After all, my feathered friends provide me with so much joy and amusement the year round and not just for a few weeks.

We now move into September and there is still so much to do and that can be done in the garden. Vegetable gardening in September is still a pleasure as is enjoying the late show of followers in the flower garden.

There is one tree in the garden that is showing autumn colour but I noticed last week that just six miles up the road there was a street lined with Acers and parts of the trees were already in full autumn glory.

Have You Seen My Butterflies?

2008-08-26T14:02:50Z

There was a time and not that long ago when my garden was filled with bees and butterflies. The nice thing was there was quite a good variety of butterflies and not just cabbage whites. Last year there were fewer butterflies visiting and this year it is even worse.

I planted my garden purposely to attract butterflies and it worked.

Have I changed the planting? No, of course new varieties have been planted but the flowers that were there when the garden was alive with butterflies are still there now.

I know that I am not alone in seeing a decline in numbers but I live in hope. This year I have had more bees than last year and the bird visitors in the last two or three years has started to increase once more. Nature has a way of sorting itself out, we of course can be of assistance, and I hope if I continue to do the right things that the population will increase in future years.

Reading about or watching my gardening heroesinspired me to plant my garden in a way that would attract beneficial insect and help to achieve a natural balance. A garden buzzing with insect life comes alive instead of being a very sterile place.

My Pokers are flowering well again this year, as you can see from the picture they cannot be classed as “Red Hot” but they fit in well with my planting scheme, are neat and hold up well.

The berries around the garden are colouring quickly now, red, apricot, black, white and purple. We are taking bets on which ones the birds will take first this year. Last year to our surprise the apricot were stripped before the red.

I have taken the opportunity the last couple of weeks to visit a few large gardens. We can feel jealous at the sight of all that land and the variety of planting but it is easy to forget that these gardens have their problems just as we do.

One garden had every beautifully planted border surrounded by small fences of chicken netting. As we progressed around the property the reason was clear, rabbits were everywhere. Cute as they are they can devastate a garden overnight.

My Garden is My Space

Autumn, Fall or Whatever You Call It The Signs Are It Is Not Far Away

2008-08-17T18:56:25Z

Taking a walk around the garden the other day it suddenly dawned on me that there was an autumnal feel to the air. I cannot say it has crept up on me; it was as if someone had flicked a switch and there it was.

To reinforce the point the robins were singing that autumnal song that they have.

A couple of days later I noticed that my Sedum Autumn Joys were starting to turn pink, another sign that the seasons are changing. But it is only mid August, it seems like summer has not long since started.

Now I notice that the berries are in full colour on the trees and the leaves on my Cercidiphyllum tree are colouring up.

We are enjoying our freshly picked tomatoes, there is nothing like it, especially when they are added to a home grown salad.

The high winds again this week have just about battered my hanging basket into submission.

Disappointing but you know what? I am already planning what to put into my baskets next year, I think I need to change them to suit our changing summers.

Just watch, I will plant them up to suit this year’s weather and next year will be totally different again.

The Phlox continue to light up the front garden with the bonus of their perfume as I stroll around making a mental note of the jobs to do at the weekend.

Buying a lawn mower online

My Garden is My Space

Bumblebees and is Peat a Dirty Word?

2008-08-11T10:27:42Z

It is a tough time for bumble-bees these days but I am pleased to say that the garden is buzzing with these very welcome visitors. Having the right flowers in the garden obviously helps so it is very worthwhile doing a bit of research when planning your garden to ensure that you include suitable plants. Bees help to bring a garden to life and I for one would hate to think of any garden I owned not having bumblebees or any kind of bee visiting.

The National Trust for Scotland has pledged to become peat free in the next three years. I started my own garden too many years ago to admit to. My first seeds were sown and potted on into a John Innes loam based medium. Then I discovered peat based compost, easy to use and great results. I even started to mix my own compost based on peat from a relatively local source by an old chap who was not in the best of health but his daughter could lift many more bags than I could! I even used it to condition my heavy clay based soil.

Many years later it suddenly became not very politically correct to use peat. Gardeners were strongly encouraged to use alternatives for potting compost. I tried the alternatives that came onto the market, I really tried but they were awful or very difficult to manage. The surface of the compost would be very dry but underneath very wet. Nutrients soon washed out and regular feeding necessary.

Another problem was that it was an awful texture to work with especially for seed sowing and pricking out seedlings. Imagine my surprise when listening to a debate on the radio recently involving very well known media gardening experts and gardeners from some large gardens saying that they too had given up trying, one saying that he had lost some very valuable specimens.

Also mentioned was that the amount of peat burnt for fuel in Ireland made the amount used by gardeners miniscule in comparison. In addition there are countries in Europe where people rely on peat extraction for their livelihood but they extract from vast acreages that are in fact sustainable and regenerate.

I have read this week that scientists in Aberystwyth believe that flowers “wave” at passing insects to attract attention. Whatever they are on

Flower Garden in August - Hints and Tips

The Toad and the Hawthorne

2008-08-04T10:33:27Z

Last week I was relating the tale of the frog and the cat.

This week I was taking a stroll around the garden as the light was fading and watching the bats soaring and swooping. Out of the corner of my eye I saw something move, disappearing into the border. I shouted for someone to bring a torch and when I looked it was a rather large toad. It kept very still and if I had not seen that movement, I cannot blame it as if it had not moved I would have stepped on it, I certainly would not have seen it. They blend in so well to the surrounding soil.

The wait for the Californian Poppies to flower has been very worthwhile. More have now started to flower and the colours are beautiful.

Apart from the poppies the undoubted stars of the garden at the moment are the Dahlias and the Crocosmia, I remember them as Montbretia when I started gardening. Lucifer tend to be the variety that get a lot of mention but the large flowered orange varieties that I have are absolutely stunning at the moment.

This week has been very windy, so windy in fact that Saturday morning I awoke to find that three branches had blown off one of my Hawthorne trees.

We were very lucky the way they fell, causing no damage but if they had fallen the other way I dread to think what the resulting damage would have been. While I had my greenwood saw out I cut down another couple of branches that I was not too happy with.

This Hawthorne looked a very old tree when we moved here and we thought we might have to remove it. Twenty years later it looks much the same but it flowers profusely each spring and it throws up new growth so I do not have the heart to cut it down.

It is a good job that I photographed my hanging baskets and containers last week, the wind has given them a right battering.

Summerhouses and Garden Rooms – Tips for Choosing and Buying Online

Not So Much Cat and Mouse as Cat and Frog

2008-07-28T14:32:40Z

In the last few days our garden has had a new visitor, a monster of a black tomcat. We have not seen it before but it saunters through like it definitely owns the space.

Sunday evening we were sitting out enjoying the late sunshine when we saw it disappear into the undergrowth near our water feature. It was a case of we could hear it but not see it apart from a black tail popping up now and then. Of course I had to investigate. I could see it underneath the magnolia and ferns and looked like it was playing with something and I assumed it had found a mouse.

Suddenly a large frog bounced out right at my feet followed shortly by the cat. I managed to get myself between frog and cat and the cat fortunately could not see it or find it. Before I could pick it up and luckily while the cat had its back turned the frog leapt into the undergrowth. The cat sauntered underneath the magnolia once more with tail swishing in annoyance but whether it continued its search I cannot say.

At last the tomatoes are starting to ripen. Not surprising really with the really hot temperatures this last week. Keeping the greenhouse cool and inhabitants with enough water is the challenge now.

Suddenly with the warmer weather my Californian Poppies are starting to do their thing, very nice they are too.

Also providing very good value for money are the petunias that I grew this year from seed. Baskets, bowls and containers are looking good.

My resolution this year was not to buy plants, only grow from seed or cutting. This week my resolve slipped and I bought a dahlia that I knew was right for a certain spot and is magnificent. I guess I am allowed one little slip!

Container Gardening and Planters are not just for Christmas

Global Warming or Global Cooling? My Garden Needs to Know!

2008-07-21T12:25:51Z

A few years ago I grew Californian Poppies (Eschscholzia Californica) from seed and the effect was spectacular. This was in a border at the front of the house that I had only just created that year and was planning to fill with shrubs and perennials in the future. For now a mixture of hardy and half hardy annuals would do the job nicely.

This part of the front garden gets baked by sun and the soil is very light which suits the Californian Poppies. A patch of earth has become vacant this year and so it seemed the ideal opportunity to once again sow and plant these poppies. In my mind I could see the blaze of colour amongst the more subdued perennials and shrubs.

The weather this summer has certainly not helped my plan, wet and cold. When it has been dry there have been cold winds, not the weather for these sun lovers. They are really struggling to get established and look quite sorry for themselves.

It is only a couple of years ago that we were being warned that we needed to think carefully about what we planted for the future, global warming would necessitate the planting of drought tolerant plants that do not mind being baked by the heat of the sun. Gardeners who followed that advice to the letter must be regretting it and with the floods of the last twelve months maybe wish they had planted for bog garden conditions. If we get an Indian summer I will get to enjoy my poppies, we gardeners tend to be optimists.

It is not all bad news in the flower garden this summer; many things are and have put on a good show for me. Something else which has not performed is my peonies and I always look forward to their early summer show.

The only bonus I can see from the colder summer is the grass is not growing that quickly and the lawnmower has not been so busy. There is one exception; a patch where a large shrub overhung was understandably bare when I pruned it back. This shrub really had crept up on me and got out of hand and the resulting bare patch was quite large. I sowed a grass seed mix to suit the semi shaded position and it has romped away. This lush healthy looking area puts the rest of the lawn to shame!

Flower Garden Tips for July

Living in the Future and Enjoying Surprises

2008-07-14T12:07:45Z

When you walk around the garden every day it is easy to miss the new things happening, they sort of creep up on you. This week we had three days of cool wet weather that only really encouraged me to quickly water the hanging baskets and containers. Sunday was different, warm and dry and the walk around to see what the priority for work to be done was turned into a longer affair than I expected. Hostas had thrown up their flower spikes and dahlias had opened to mention just two. The slugs and snails had also taken the opportunity to get a good feed as well.

The tomatoes have plenty of fruit and hopefully some will be ripe soon, late again this year. The first cucumber will be ready for picking this week, harvested and onto the plate within minutes along with my salad leaves. Need I say more?

Just a couple of weeks after giving the privet hedge a haircut it has produced a mass of flowers and the scent is filling the garden. Opinions seem much divided about this perfume; some don’t like it while others like me love the sweet scent.

Do roses have to be perfumed for you to enjoy them? On the whole for me the answer is yes but I also love my Ballerina which produces a mass of small flowers each year and demands very little from me.

I sometimes wonder whether we gardeners ever live in the present. In the winter months we are looking at seed catalogues and dreaming of the results in summer and autumn. Early spring we are sowing seeds and again dreaming of things to come. Here we are in July with everything coming to fruition after the hard work and what are we doing? Looking at what we need to plant to give an autumn show.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

2008-07-07T15:48:34Z

I love Day Lilies or to give them their proper name Hemerocallis. They have beautiful flowers and their foliage adds so much to a border giving texture and movement, I would not be without them.

I have several varieties in one of my borders and it became very noticeable that a couple of varieties were not looking too well. You know when your roses are in bud and get hit by a lot of rain and start to rot? Well this is what some of mine looked like while others could only be described as becoming knobbly.

There could only be one explanation and I removed a flower bud and began taking it apart and sure enough out dropped the culprit, the hemerocallis gall midge.

This tiny fly lays its eggs in the developing flower buds of day lilies and small white maggots develop inside the buds, causing them to be abnormally swollen but failing to open. An infested bud can contain several hundred larvae which may be from more than one midge. The worst part is that when fully fed the larvae are 2-3mm (about 1/8in) long and they drop down into the soil where they over winter as pupae.

None of the pesticides available to us amateur gardeners carries a label recommendation for use against gall midges and anyway the larval stage is concealed within the buds and therefore difficult to reach with a pesticide. The galled buds must be picked off and destroyed before the larvae are able to complete their feeding. This will reduce damage in the following year but the effectiveness of this depends on how thoroughly the galled bud-picking is done and whether nearby gardens also have infested plants.

When I started gardening the pests I worried about were slugs, snails, cabbage white butterflies and aphids of various colours. Now I have to combat the likes of the hemerocallis gall midge and red lily beetle. Harlequin Ladybirds are with us and many parts of the UK have been hit by the New Zealand Flatworm which has a horrible way of feeding on earthworms.

My new hedge trimmer arrived on Tuesday morning which was excellent service as I only ordered it over the Internet on Monday morning. I am impressed, the cutting blade may not be as long as my old one but being expanding I can cover more hedge both height and width from one position. And yes, as it promised, I can cut the top of the hedge without having to resort to stepladders and there is no cable to cut through (yes, I have, many times).