Month: September 2017
The roses are all bursting into their autumn flush, and how we’re enjoying them. They don’t do brilliantly here, I think we are a little too limy, but I can’t resist them.
Well the panic has been over for a whole week. Yes, there were plenty of flowers out for the wedding, and yes, the bride liked them! It was really lovely to have a part in Rob & Eilish’s wedding, and I enjoyed doing the jam jars and bouquets, but I can’t say I would ever take floristry up for a living. Too stressful!
Weed-block seems to be something which people either love or hate! For me it was a great aid when the garden was first landscaped as I needed to have a way to keep some control of the areas waiting to be planted. The solution we came up with was weedblock everywhere covered with bark and then as each area was planted the weedblock was removed and the bark was gradually reduced.
But there was one area where the approach was a bit different. When the Willow Fence was first installed way back in 2010 we took the easy way – we just punched through the weed-block to plant the willows and although the weed-block was removed from the rest of that area the piece along the willow fence was left in place and a path was installed to facilitate the annual cutting back of the willow.
This year I noticed that some of the willow failed to come into leaf and today I started a real investigation. To my horror I found that the weed-block was now streteched tightly aroung the expanding trunks of the willow and in some places this strangling of the willows had caused them to be severed at the roots.
So be warned – if you plant shrubs in holes cut in weedblock ensure that the weed-block is cut back to allow for growth in the shrub!
I reckon the best remedial action is needed. The weed-block has to be cut right back, then the soil around the roots has to be loosened and then a mulch with the best compost I have. I have started this process and got nearly half of the fence done but it is hard work so hopefully I’ll get the rest of it done in the next couple of days. I’ll probably give it a liquid feed of the stuff coming off the Wormery which is producing very noticeable results elsewhere!
Next job will be to figute out how I can replace the ones that are definitely caput!
So learn by my mistakes! If you use weed-block keep an eye on anything planted through the weed-block!
Wow the leaves are falling fast and all the colours are changing. I am trying to get the last of my plants in waiting into the ground! There is always something to be done and the last two days were great to be in the garden. Think I’ll give it miss today though!!!!
Its so hard to pick three favourite plants or flowers. I love all my plants and each is a favourite for a different reason – so after much soul-searching I’ve come up with three that are a mainstay in my garden this year…..
The first one is the Native Bluebell. I am still removing any of the Spanish invaders I find and this year there were much fewer – but the native ones decided to march out o the hedgerow into my woodland area making me feel that I must be doing something right there! Once you have seen the native one beside the Spanish one it is easy to tell them apart! That’s not to say that the Spanish ones aren’t very pretty – but I am lucky enough to have some real native woodland near me and so I treasure these little plants – self-seeding is welcome for them!
The second one is the Montana clematis – there are three different ones in this picture and they are included because they started to make my Clematis Walk live up to its name!
The third has to be Saxifrage Arendsii – don’t know the variety of this one – it is a great pink colour fading to almost white. It loves my garden and has spread itself about in quite a promiscuous way but it is so beautiful in Spring and early summer when in flower and then the lovely moss for the rest of the year! What’s not to like?
Needed to shake the cobwebs off me today as I haven’t been doing much gardening lately. So after my errands I intended to plant the remainder of my bulbs that I got in Mr. Middletons recently. Daffs, alliums, lilies still to go down.
So I started by harvesting the remaining tomatoes and pulling up the plants. Brought in a few tenders as it’s getting noticeably cooler now overnight. Cut back bits and pieces to tidy the garden up a bit. I got totally engrossed and forgot about my original intention of getting those bulbs planted. They’re still sitting at the patio doors. Tomorrow’s another day. And the rain came down in torrents, so that put paid to the other jobs that needed attention.
Three of my ‘can’t do without’ plants are my lovely little Polygonatum (Persicaria) that hugs the edge of my Lower Pond all summer long. I’ve also found that this is a great self-seeder around the garden, appearing in the gravel in the greenhouse, and self-seeding in pots and in between paving slabs.
Another one is an annual. Although, as its Mammy has already been here, and flowering non-stop for two years now, Nicotiana in the front is very dear to me. The babies that I transplanted a few weeks ago from beside the original is flowering away.
And my last one is French Marigolds. I think these are ‘Sunset Mixed’ which were sown from seed this year. Still lots more blooms yet to open. And today I collected loads of seeds of same.
