A Garden Update

After a great run of sunny warm days, we are now experiencing some rather heavy rains – which is very welcome as far as I am concerned – saves me from having to water the garden.

It’s funny how as seasons change I find my blog reflects those changes in the content that I share with you. Spring and summer seem to have lots of gardening posts. So much happens in the garden over these months, so many changes happening all the time! So here I am again with ANOTHER garden update :o)

The strawberries are beginning to flower and early fruit is forming. I am not expecting a huge strawberry crop this year as I seem to have lost more strawberry plants than I had initially thought during my veggie patch clean-up earlier on in the season. Note-to-self: Be more careful when weeding, in fact keep on top of it instead of letting it get to an unmanageable state!

The Mange tout is looking strong, in fact I have my first two flowers already.

Today the rain stopped long enough for me to do a little seed sowing. After watching the Chelsea Flower Show on BBC this week, I learnt that foxgloves, being biannual, only flower every second year.

 So if you want foxgloves in your garden to flower each year, you should plant for two years in a row. So today I sowed 8 pots of foxgloves to plant out next spring.

I also sowed two pots of wallflowers which will flower next spring, I plan to put them on either side of my front door. I sowed four pots of poppies, two pots of ‘Shirley’ (how could I not?) and two pots of ‘Victoria Cross’. My hope is that they will all be in full flower around Remembrance Day.

 Last year the carrots that I sowed in the veggie patch were just bazaar. I know that this is because the soil was not fine enough. I had some very strange looking carrots indeed! After watching ‘Allotment Wars’ on BBC 1 this season, one of the tasks was to grow the ‘perfect’ carrot. The different methods where amazing! One pair used long pieces of plastic tubing in growing bags to ensure that their carrots were long and straight. Quite a few of the couples used growing bags for their carrots too – so this is the way I have decided to go this year. So far I have 3 growing bags into which I have sown carrot seeds. In a few weeks time I will plant up another two growing bags to keep the carrot season going as long as possible.

My rose bushes are all in bloom at the moment and looking lovely. Each bush is simply bursting with beautiful blooms. I am amazed at how well they are all doing. Last year they did not give an impressive show at all. I neglected to prune them this year, perhaps that is why? Or perhaps it is because we have had much milder weather of late. I don’t know, I’m no expert – I need my gran here to tell me!

Jobs in the garden this week:

*I need to lift all the spring bulbs from the flower beds along the front of the house. I plan on filling these beds with the remainder of the poppy seeds I have and then re-plant the tulip bulbs in the autumn

* The bed at the end of our drive is in DESPERATE need of a good clear-out of all the grass that seems to have taken over. I think that this is going to become my Hydrangea bed – I have 6 healthy plants that I have grown from slips that are needing a good comfy spot to grow.

* Time for the Daffodils to be cut back. The leaves are beginning to yellow, a sign that they have done their job in storing enough nutrients and energy needed for next springs display.

* The Apple trees need spraying with an anti-mildew/fungus spray that I have. They really did poorly last year which I am sure is due to the fact that the trees seemed to be heavily affected with a white powdery mildew. So far I am on top of it – holding thumbs for a better apple harvest.

*DH is going to have to cut the lawn again – it grows at such a rate these days! However we will need a few days of good sunshine to dry out the garden first!

We are now into the last week of May, a busy week in my home as I look forward to the new month and pull together numerous plans and lists that will need my attention. I do love planning so this is not a task that I look to as a chore. June holds so many fun and exciting things, a busy month for us for sure and a busy month in the garden!

For today though I am going to wrap this post up :o) See you back here very soon!