Holidays

I am off on holiday soon so I have been trying to catch up as much as possible before I leave my gardens for 2 weeks. The dry spell is a mixed blessing. Once I have done an area it should stay presentable for a couple of weeks, and the lawn edges have stopped getting so untidy, but it’s been quite a job getting some of the bigger weeds out of the ground. 

I have been cutting back everything that is even slightly going over and dead-heading the roses and dahlias as I go. So away with the Hemerocalis, Acanthus and masses of feverfew leaving Agapanthus, roses, Verbena bonariensis and Crocosmia still in flower and Michaelmas daisies to come.

 

In the vegetable plot I have picked the sweet peas, even those with only a small bit of flower showing, and given the greenhouse a really good soak and feed. I have also cut off the lower leaves of the tomato plants to get the tomatoes to ripen. At home I will be harvesting as many vegetables as I can, mostly beans and an exhausting supply of courgettes at the moment, and likewise having a long watering session before I go.

I am hoping that it rains a bit while I am away as the garden needs refreshing but not so much that the weeds start growing again!

Rainy days

Agapanthus 

Working in the rain today meant one of those do I wear waterproofs or not dilemmas. Having started the day with a sharp pain in my leg and a bee in my welly I opted for waterproof trousers and taking my coat on and off according to the intensity of the drizzle.

So  it’s been a hot and sticky day but a great opportunity to take pictures of flowers with pretty raindrops! And with no radio plenty of thinking time. The dahlias and agapanthus are looking particularly good but some inspiration needed is needed to fill a few gaps now the poppies have finished.

Echinops and Italian parsley

And joy of joy, in the process of cutting back, I found my second best trowel which I mislaid in the border several weeks ago. I have been using my best one which worries me as I would be most upset if I lost it. Once it went missing and turned up in a customer’s garage 6 months later. Not that I’m scatty or anything!

Verbena Bonariensis