Bargains

This is Lily Emporium, the second of my Lilies to flower this year. It's not scented, but I love the markings. I have a number of Oriental Lilies which are not far behind and they are scented, so I can't wait. In the meantime I have the Jasmine and the Freesias to keep me going!

My Alpine Strawberries are flowering now which is good news and the first fruits are setting on my Chilli Thai Hot. I picked three Micro Tomatoes today which were tasty, but not as good as Tiny Tim in my opinion. I also picked the first Spring Onion of the season - just the one so far - so it's lucky I have plenty of chives to add a bit of bite to my salads.

I've potted on the Tree Spinach and Bronze Fennel and put Blue Fescue and Milk Thistle in some swanky pots I picked up for half price at the nursery. I also bought a lovely little white Thunbergia - a good size with plenty of buds and only 50p - to grow up the obelisk in the sunny border as the Tweedia was looking pathetic.

What a good day.

Georgie

Lovely day

It's been a mainly dry, warm and windy week and everything in the garden is looking parched. I watered every pot this evening really thoroughly and I gave the border area housing the recent plantings of Agastache, Basil Purple Ruffles, Fuchsia Hawkshead, Nasturtiums and Nicotiana a good soaking too.

In flower since I last wrote are Fressia, Fuchsia Swingtime (pictured), Fuchsia Rocket Fire, Honesty, Lily Emporium and Vinca minor. In bud are Agapanthus Lilliput, Crocosmia, Fuchsia Carmel Blue, Galtonia viridiflora and Nicotiana Affinis White.

On the edibles front I'm still picking strawberries and I've had two ripe Tomatoes (Tiny Tim) so far. There are buds on my Raspberries and I noticed a few tiny Cucumbers on Crystal Lemon and Burpless Tasty Green. There are lots of small purple Chillies on Trifetti and the Physallis are covered in flowers.

My herbs are doing really well this year, even my mint, which I usually struggle with. I let the herbs flower to attract beneficial insects and currently have Parsley, Par-cel, Sage, Thyme and Chives in flower and Garlic Chives and Catnip in bud.

Georgie

Warm and windy today

My lovely Ox-eye Daisies have taken a bit of a battering in the strong winds we've had today but thankfully there's no real damage in the garden.

After my busy day yesterday I've spent most of today enjoying the garden rather than working in it. I noticed that the Lavender, Ilex crenata and Jasmine are all flowering and it was good to see that the Borage and Galtonia candicans are in bud.

Sadly I've lost some of my Lilies that were over-wintered in their pots. L. Stargazer didn't come up at all and L. Orania came up blind. Careful inspection of the bulbs offered no clues: the bulbs were firm and there was no sign of any pests so I have no idea why this has happened. I had a similar problem with some of my Narcissi earlier in the year so I think the solution has to be to lift the bulbs and store them until it is time to plant them again. The Lily of the Valley also failed to flower this year but a friend had kindly agreed to pass on a clump from her garden.

There were lots of Hoverflies and Damselflies around today but far fewer bees than of late. I still haven't managed to identify the insect which is boring into the decaying piece of Jasmine wood. I spotted it and it looks a bit like a large ant with wings so I must do some more research. There was not one Butterfly today which is disappointing given the amount of plants I have which they are supposed to like. I read somewhere that it would be a poor year for them due to the wet summer last year and sadly this seems to be the case.

But to end on a high note I picked 12 Strawberries today - my record so far!

Georgie

Edibles update and more potting on

I'm picking about half a dozen Strawberries from my six plants every day now, much to the delight of my granddaughter who wolfs them down and doesn't allow anyone else a look in. I also have two Alpine Strawberry plants which I grew from seed this year. They are putting on plenty of growth but there is no sign of them fruiting as yet. Perhaps they won't this year.

At last one of the Tomato Micro fruits is ripening so I expect the others won't be far behind. The fruits on the Tomato Tiny Tim on the other hand remain stubbornly green, even 'though there has been a fair amount of sun this week.

Chilli Sicily is now in flower but weeks behind my other varieties. As this one has the largest fruits I'm a little concerned that they won't have enough time to ripen.

The three Pineapple Physallis are looking really strong and healthy with a good number of fruits setting. These were grown from self-saved seed and I'm beginning to think that there is something in the idea that self-saved seed fairs better because it has been 'reared' to grow in the conditions it which it finds itself.

The Cucumbers are shooting up but there is no sign of any fruits as yet. I've also had to remove a number of leaves that were looking sickly with powdery mildew which is a bit strange because the plants are certainly not dry at the roots.

My Raspberries are about 4' tall now and looking very lush. There is no sign yet of any fruiting trusses but I'm not concerned as these are an Autumn fruiting variety. I've started tying them in now.

I'm not pleased with the climbing French Beans to date. Only two out of six of a variety called Blue Lake germinated then promptly keeled over and died: I suspect slugs or snails. Mr Fearn's Purple Podded have had a much better germination rate but again I've noticed a number of signs of slug/snail damage but I'm hoping they will pull though.

And finally to the potting on. Today it was the turn of Heliotrope, Laurentia and Pennisetum on the ornamental side plus Calendula, Rue, Coriander, Lemon Grass, Licquorice, Mustard, Greek Cress and Soapwort on the herb front.

Georgie

Making a bit more room

These are my two Chilli Trifetti plants. They have very attractive foliage and the fruits, which are just beginning to form, are a really dark shade of violet. I think it looks great next to the Chives.

My new hanging basket brackets which attach to fence posts arrived this week so I assembled them today. It only took a matter of minutes and I'm very pleased with the result. So I now have seven hanging baskets in total, mainly containing trailing Fuchsias.

Talking of Fuchsias my first to flower this year is Lady Boothby. I bought this variety for the first time last year and it reached an impressive seven foot tall in pots in the shady border. The first buds on F. Alice Hoffman also opened today and a number of other varieties are not far behind.

I have a few flowers out on the Passiflora Caerulea which I am training on wires - extended across the garden from the Forsythia to the top of the fence - to make a sort of pergola effect. I did this for the first time last year and it worked quite well. The beauty of this is that the flowers are produced at a height of about six feet so you really get to appreciate their beauty. I also have Passiflora Constance Elliot which I grew from seed last year. It seems less rigorous than P. Caerulea but has the advantage of scented flowers. I hope it blooms this year.

I had to prune back the Jasmine and Buddleia today as they are attempting to take over! Both are smothered in buds so the garden should soon be full of their heady scent. I rearranged some of the pots to make a bit more room and after harvesting some seeds, cut back some of the Aquilegia Vulgaris.

Georgie

Tadpoles and new additions

I said I'd try and get a new picture of my tadpoles. Unfortunately I had to move the pond weed to expose them which agitated the silt at the bottom of the water feature resulting in this somewhat murky picture. But you should be able to make out about a dozen tadpoles if you look closely.

The weather was lovely here and I went to my favourite local nursery for a wander around. Needless to say I couldn't help myself and I bought two Fuchsia Alice Hoffman and a large Sambucus nigra 'Black Beauty' (Purple Elder) for the shady border. It has musk scented pink flowers followed by purple-black berries in the autumn. They didn't have a Cercis Canadensis Forest Pansy though (a plant I much admired on my visit to Bridge End Gardens in Saffron Walden last weekend) so that's still on my wish list.

Georgie

Potting on and planting out

This is Lily Lollipop which is in its second year. It has masses of blooms and whilst not scented it's the first Lily to bloom in my garden and rather cheerful I think.

There are some jobs which seem to take forever in a small garden and one of them is emptying out the spring flowering bulb pots so that the bulbs can be stored for next year and the pots used for summer flowering plants which I've grown from seeds or cuttings in the greenhouse. First I scrape off the gravel and retain that for future use. Then I fish out the bulbs, make sure they are dry and not rotten and put them into seed trays of dry compost until it's time to plant them again. The spent compost goes into sacks which I pass onto a friend to condition the soil on her allotment and finally I can get on with the main job of potting up the plants! Today it was the turn of a number of Fuchsias, Greek Basil and my 'reserve' Cucumber Crystal Lemon.

I planted up three hanging baskets with Fuchsia Swingtime, planted out three Basil Purple Ruffles into the sunny border and potted on Passiflora and Milk Thistle plants into 5" pots. I moved the remaining seedlings of Basil and Swan River Daisies to the greenhouse which meant I could remove the shelf from the kitchen windowsill leaving behind just two Chilli plants and my Aloe Vera which will remain indoors.

I weeded the driveway and put out two large tubs of Borage to join the three other planters out there. They contain one plant each of Hesperis, Lychnis coronaria and Pelargonium Quercifolium. All three are in bloom and I think it's a winning combination. Being at the end of the driveway they don't get much attention - they don't even get watered unless I remember - and yet they are thriving.

Finally I had a good look at the water feature and there are still some tadpoles in there. They don't appear to be growing any back legs yet but I expect it won't be long before they do. Unfortunately they spend most of their time under the pond weed so it's hard to get a photo but I'll try again tomorrow.

Georgie

In the last few days we've had plenty of quite hot sunshine coupled with some rain and everything is growing like mad. I've had more ripe Strawberries and I'm pleased to say that the two Chilli Trifetti plants I had to put outside are thriving. The leaves are now taking on a purple hue (along with the green and cream) and one of the the plants has a number of baby fruits. The French Beans I sowed direct are starting to germinate and the Cucumber plants are looking strong and healthy with lots of flower buds forming.

The 'sacrificial' Sunflower I left outside in a pot has survived so far with no sign of slug or snail damage. It's over 30cm tall now but still fairly spindly. The remaining seedlings are in the greenhouse and nowhere near as big so I'll leave them there for a while longer. The Ipomoea Alba seedlings have started to climb up the obelisk, Agapanthus Lilliput and a number of Fuchsias are in bud and 7 out of 10 Gladiolus Callianthus have broken through the soil. I also have the first flower stem on my yellow Freesias although there is still no sign whatsoever of the purple ones.

On the wildlife front there are plenty of bees around and I saw what I think was a Variable Damselfly yesterday. There's also some kind of wood-boring insect making deep holes in a decaying piece of old Jasmine wood. I'm assuming that it is some kind of Beetle and I'm trying to research whether it is a welcome or unwelcome visitor.

Georgie

Alliums and other bloomers

The Allium Cristophii is looking good this year and since I last wrote my Lily Lollipop, Evening Primrose, Ox-eye Daisy and Verbena Bonariensis have all started to flower.

As predicted the Chill Trifetti have grown too tall for the kitchen windowsill so I've had to squeeze them into the veg plot. The Tomatoes are going a much lighter green so hopefully it won't be long before the first one starts turning red.

The garden contines to be buzzing with bees but maddeningly they are mainly on the Sage, Alliums, Aquilegias and Pelargoniums near the house i.e. not on the veg pots. I have seen few on the Chive flowers but I really want them to work on the Cucumbers which have just started flowering. Perhaps other insects will do the job for me.

Every one of the climbing Nasturtiums I sowed have germinated which is good. The bad news is that two out of three of the Agastache plants have been attacked by something, most likely snails. One isn't too bad but the other has had the whole top growth eaten away. Thankfully I have a spare in the greenhouse.

Georgie

Growing edibles in pots

I've organised my edibles plot for the year. I have:

Two half barrels of French climbing Beans (Basil to be added)
One half barrel with three Cucumbers and Calendula
Two pots of Garlic Chives and one of Chives
Three pots of Tomato Tiny Tim
Five pots of Parsley
Two pots of Chilli Sicily
Three pots of Physallis Pineapple
Six pots of Strawberries

Elsewhere in the garden I'm also growing Raspberries, Par-cel, Broad Beans, Radishes, Spring Onions and a variety of herbs and I've still got to find space for the dwarf Runner Beans, Peas and Beetroot!

The first flowers on my Lychnis versuvius, Hebe and Dutch Iris opened over the weekend and today I saw my first Red Admiral butterfly of the year. I've noticed a number of unusual spiders in the garden too so I am looking for a good website to help identify them.

Georgie