From our little garden!
My dreams of a cottagey garden this year have once again not
worked. None of the hollyhocks sown last year have survived so I have instead
bought some. One is about to flower, one is sad and needs moving, and the others
are small plugs so they need growing on to flower next year. I have however bought
some new seed (the seed I used last year was saved from plants in 2019) so I shall
try again.
I am anxiously awaiting flowers, I just want the garden to
be utterly filled. I have been spying buds on things so they’re coming. I have
three foxgloves in flower and the bleeding hearts are all growing well but I don’t
think they’ll bloom this year. I love bleeding heart, I have 2 pink and 1 white. Apparently a black variety exists which I absolutely want but it won't be black black, probably a dark velvet purple.
I hope we’re in this house next summer so I can see it all.
Monsieur Le Hoppity is still around. It/he/she doesn’t like
being watered. David thinks the blackbird caught it and fed it to the babies
but it is far too big to be eaten and I’m pretty sure it is still lurking. Mainly
because some of my young plants have holes in the leaves.
There’s still lots of trays and pots and things around. Some
have been taken to work and some to the allotment but I still seem to have
hundreds. I think I have enough sunflowers now.
The newest addition to the garden is a little timber planter
wot I made. It is made with offcut scraps of timber from work and I made six
little planters, painted and lined them, and then a friend has decorated and
varnished them. Mine is now planted up with lemon balm and amaranthus that I’ve
grown from seed this year, and then I’ve also put in a load of other seed. Topped
off with grit because I like the way it looks. The rest were given to the Wednesday group as a little present.
The planters out the front have been tidied and more seeds
put in them too.
The over fence pots are growing well.
The liatris is
huuuuuuuuge. I bought a bag and it had 12 corms in and 11 have grown.
The phlox called Laura hasn't even attempted to grow.
Food wise we have peas, courgette & a million other squash, parsnip, carrot, chard, raspberry, strawberry, spring onion, lettuce, beetroot, and herbs including mint (pineapple, banana, garden, spear, eau de cologne), thyme (lemon, orange, normal, woolly), bay, rosemary, lavender, chives, catmint, sage, oregano, saffron crocus, lemon balm, orange balm, garlic chives, chamomile, and burnet salad. Any maybe other things. Defo a lot of mint tho because every time I walk past it at work I take more cuttings. And I stole some from my sisters front garden at the weekend.
The hibiscus is growing well but no signs of flowers, and the honeysuckle has its first flowers! It didn't flower at all last year so I'm well pleased with that. I panic bought it in the first lockdown.
I am quite pleased with the garden but as ever I want more. More
is more. I think I am going to spend some time this weekend and rearrange
things, dig stuff up and move them, and dig up and divide stuff and spread them
around. Yes. A good idea.
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| The black pansies in the second planter were planted waaaaaaayyyy back in maybe October last year and they just won't die. Very pleased with them. I don't even deadhead them and they just keep going. |
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| Honeysuckle |
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| 7-spot ladybird larvae |
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| Christmas tree is happy, lots of new growth. The male blackbird likes to perch at the very top before flying up to the nest behind our shed. |
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| Liatris |
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| Front door poppy |
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| Front door rose. The roses on the one side are nearly up to the upstairs window now |
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| Thyme |
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| Pea flower (no it isn't a sweet pea) |
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| I think this is a scissor bee, I saw one last year but couldn't identify it, but I've slept on it and I'm pretty sure I'm right. She's tiny. Just under 1cm long and about 2-3mm wide. She generally only forages on this one plant. |
