Improve my garden

I also pruned some shrubs – 4 bags of trimmings for the dump.

Progress – the climbing rose has grown up to the sun and is getting plenty of flowers on.
The sweet peas have grown halfway and are flowering
The agapanthus have done quite well tho the weather was too cold for them in July – they all flowered
The hosta has been amazing this year.

Action – the courgettes have been awful – I need to improve the soil or feed them.

We dug up a huge fern and re-planted it at the hut.

I moved some tulips and grape hyacinths. Re-potted a fuchsia.

Ashley took composting stuff to dump (you’re not allowed to put organic waste in your bin)

We discovered that the rhubarb we’d planted at the hut had disappeared. Ashley dug it up and we’re giving it another chance in the garden here.

Ashley said the garden was looking nice yesterday. Am very encouraged.

Plus side: where the very ugly plants were I have planted an Acer tree with red, feathery leaves.

I planted two scabious plants and 2 drumstick primulas, both with lilac coloured flowers.

The climbing rose is beginning to reach the sunshine, which will encourage ito to grow more.

I have planted 2 tomato plants in the raised bed, as they were pretty good last year, and 4 courgette plants, which I hope will breed better this year. Depends on ratio of male female flowers.

I popped some scented sweet pea seeds straight into the ground. These are coming up.

I’ve re-potted some of the patio plants.

The ceanothus and the choisia are both blooming, the camelia is looking lovely, (rather hidden behind a laurel unfortunately) and the Magnolia tree has three more flowers on. This is its second year. It seems a bit confused.

Bad side: the pieris which I dumped in a pot last autumn did fine all winter, and now seems to be dying – nothing I can do except water it, but … seems doomed.

Got a lot of debris to take to a dump.

The patio needs sweeping.

to plant those sweet peas. Should I plant the seeds straight into the ground or grow them in pots?

This is a good job for tomorrow.

I am very pleased with the tomatoes. I only planted 2 tomato plants and 2 courgette plants. The tomatoes have flourished becauses I forgot you are supposed o nip out the side shoots. Result: we have lovely bunches of cherry tomatoes dangling over the raised bed.

Split a clump of chives into four clumps.
I potted up the pieris, and two perennials which I might want to plant somewhere later.
I dug up the very ugly plants, and moved the lavender and campanula plants into more sunny spacious plots.
I dug out lots of clumps of dead looking grasses. I found small grass plants and put them in shady spots.
Still more to do but have done most of my twice a year gardening.

Ashley took the rusty old climbing frame to the dump (to be recycled) along with the rusty old washing tree. Florence was a bit sad about the climbing frame because she’d had it forever and like sitting on it.

But yesterday we saw a most beautiful long-toed frog in the tomato bed. Florence, friend to animals, immediately got a pot of water for it, and wanted it to move into the frog/toad house she had constructed out of a broken plant pot. It sat still for a long while but eventually it jumped away.

This morning I had a brilliant idea; after we have used the pile of bricks to make another raised bed to hide the bins (we have enormous plastic bins) we will use the space under the pile of bricks to make some kind of small pond, and put little ferns, etc around it, and the frogs will have parties there. And Flo will be so pleased.

Will try to find a picture of the frog.

are in hand today. We have a new washing tree, removed the rusty climbing frame, and have put up a bird feeder.

to find it had rained quite a lot, and nothing had died, in fact, many plants were putting forth new leaves as though it was spring again! Like the magnolia tree.

So I feel like gardening again now, because at least it is not like looking at a famine landscape.

In Spain there was no rain, but lots of flowers. I realised that even if our climate does change we can still have flowers, in abundance, and that we may have to get Spanish flowers which can withstand the long hot dry spells.