Archives: journal
Main garden given a trim today.
We started with a blank patch in 2004, having stripped the site which was totally overgrown and neglected for a number of years. The house also needed total refurbishment so a lot of work to be done.
The house is on an elevated site, so the garden had to be terraced. We eventually planted it up in Summer 2005. Four years on, the house is getting there, and the shrubs are now established and looking settled.
We both love the outdoors – this year we have installed some raised beds for vegetables and have almost finished a pergola. Next stop – hens!!
Raised beds
hi there
well what a change in the weather had heavy rain all day today, my poor poppys, peonys and my one beautiful iris are no more, washed away so glad i took my photos!! have got a few more poppy buds so heres hoping. the strawberrys are just starting to flower still no sign of my sunflower seeds doing anything i think they have been eaten by the you know whos ????? have bought another packet today dont tell them??will check my veggies tomorrow. hope it dosnt rain next sat off to the TAKE THAT concert at old trafford cricket ground cant wait .
rainbow
Steve wasn’t happy with the pond this morning. One side was SLIGHTLY higher than the other. By only 1 or 2 inches.
We went off to B&Q to have a look at what was there in the way of slates. Nothing took our fancy. But because of family commitments we didn’t have time to look elsewhere. It’s going to have to wait.
Anyway, we got home and I emptied the pond with a watering can. And Steve went down to my dad to do some jobs. I tell you its a long time since my garden got a such a great watering. Ha ha.
We took out the liner, and made the shelf deeper on one side. Then filled it up again. It DOES look better. I would have been happy with it but it would have been niggling at Steve until he sorted it.
On my recent visit to Hunting Brook Garden I came across this geranium and unfortunately neglected to ask the name. It formed a lovely clump as you can see from the photograph. Does anyone have an idea what it might be and where it could be bought?
I have included a copy of the photo in my photo album if you wish to get a better look at it.
Thanks to Gerry I have found out it is Geranium ‘Patricia’ . This is one for the shopping list.
Geranium ‘Patricia’
I’m a featured member. Look at that. My 15 minutes of fame 🙂
One very dodgy looking stone circle built in the garden, just in time for the summer solstice. Unfortunately, such back-breaking work (don’t know how the ancient people did it without Deep Heat), that I couldn’t get out of bed in time to see the sun rise this morning.
Caterpillars
Bottom garden at exit.
I always thought bees went back into their hives when the sun set and didn’t come out until the morning. The other night I was working late and only got finished around 10.30pm. I had to water the plants that I planted this year as it hadn’t rained all day. It was also a very calm night and no rain was forecast. So out I went. To my amazement, bumble bees were going in and out of the catmint flowers. At first I thought I was seeing things but then I could hear them because it was so quiet. When I tuned into them, I could hear more around the garden and when I went looking, sure enough, there they were, busy as bees. I was gob-smacked. They certainly lived up to the saying “as busy as a bee”.
The white rose has started to bloom – the furthest point of it away from the plant – half way up along the side wall. Very pretty but only one series of petals – don’t know if it is supposed to look like that. The red one has tightly packed petals. However, I am not complaining. My Yucca has been looking very strange since I last updated you on it. At one stage I thought flowers were dead. I have put up a few photos to show you what I mean. I have 5 different types of lilies waiting to bloom (and several more on the way). This will be the highlight of my summer.!!!! My lilies – cant get enough of them. I have a white Astilbe in full bloom thats to die for!!
Apart from that everything is look lush and growing a the rate of knots. I have been so busy lately that I haven’t done a lot in the garden apart from maintenance. No getting away from that!!
Bloomin’ Roses
Just had a really busy weekend…so not much more done than some watering…but did manage to buy a Sedum today at the Ferns Field Day…so theres always an opportunity to add more plants…and more work!!! Have to get down to it tomorrow…still have Sweet William and some more asters to plant…oh and of course the new Sedum…..so tomorrow it will have to be!!! Back soon!
Fathers day so was on Cooking duty usually do it together but gave Ger a day off to-day so no gardning either – did manage to slip off to the garden centre just for a look around!! bought Basil to go with my home grown tomatoes ambitious I know but a girl can have her dreams , I also bought Stipa Gigantia and Salvia as well as Echinacea. Decided to-day that we have to get rid of Eucalyptus as it has got to big for our garden – we cut it really well back last year but it now looks too woody – Now on the look out for a small tree that has good year round interest that can take wind approx 10ft high any ideas?
This past couple of days have been great in the garden. I almost feel as though the garden is maturing. Yesterday I had to prune back an overgrown lonicera. I’ve been cutting back perennials and can already see the second flush of growth. This is especially true of centaurea montana. I expect a second flush of flowers later in the year.
I cut the first sweet peas for the house and they are deliciously scented: A sweet perfume that is fabulously old fashioned.
The tomatoes got their first feed today and all the sideshoots are pinched out. They’re still very small and I wonder will we have any fruit at all this year. I very patiently untwined the beans from their sporadic path and twined them back along their alloted strings.
secateurs and cups could be found anywhere
New potatoes
Sorry folks, I haven’t been updating the Journal lately, feel like I’ve let someone down…. but I haven’t been idle! No Sir! lots done…. even more to do.
Will update all the albums this week with new photos. Greenhouse is a master piece now & everything is growing with steam.
Hello to my new friend Una, thanks for checking out my profile.
J
(I wrote this at 6pm Thursday May 28th 2009 – just adding to Garden.ie today)
It’s wind down time on site at Bloom 2009 as today was the opening day and it has been long, hot and emotional..and completely worth it!
I set out on my Bloom adventure to see what I could achieve, what my strengths and weaknesses are and I certainly did, I’ve learnt an awful lot in a very short space of time.
I’ll bring you up to date with the last few days of the build:
The final build weekend went well; Pat from MyPlant dropped in the 3000 Carex buchani and with an army of, very lovely, volunteers, the plants were placed into position along with the Stipa. This weekend was also the weekend that I realised that the wooden seating area could be a problem. Monday flew by and despite the generous help of dome fabulous volunteers, who stayed way past bedtime to lend a hand, I knew that some aspects of the design would be unachievable in the time frame we had left. By Wednesday I was overwhelmed with crushing disappointment in myself; the seating area was a shambles and I was on site at 6am trying desperately to improve it…to no avail.
Granted a medal was never my goal but I had hoped that I could at the very least impress the judges. A predicted call to my mobile confirmed that the "judges were concerned with the safety" of the seating area and suggested that the woodwork be removed and the sunken area be lined with turf. Point taken – I did as they suggested.
Needless to say there was no medal awarded to ‘In Amongst the Grasses’ according to the rumour mill "the garden wasn’t judged at all as it wasn’t finished". Such encouraging rumours to add to the already sickening embarrassment that I have.
So I’m down (a bit) but I’m not out. I’ve achieved what I came to achieve. The judges also told me that I "shouldn’t feel discouraged" and I’m not. In fact I already know what I’m doing next year.
Mum enjoying the garden
Well saturday was great for gardening plenty of cool wind thankfully! Got the shredder and finally got all the trees trimmed and shredded and last years cuttings shredded also cut back the trees from beyond the boundary which where incroaching on my flower beds. Entire border is now weed free! Its a great sense of fulfilment to shred up the ‘waste’ and reuse it myself in my own garden. But one big heap of weeds need bagging now. Bought more flowers and herbs for the border, Chamomile, Angelica, Dianthus, Red French marigolds, Cosmos to fill in gaps Im leaving free for the shrubs from my front garden which will be moved in Oct to the back garden border.
Sunday the border got rotivated and raked and covered with black material to smother any weed roots, hopefully.
The seedlings of sun flowers and cottage garden mix are doing well nearly ready for planting.
Today I took a break from my garden and weeded and watered my mothers garden which is so handy as its a very small garden!
