Tuesday 15 June 2021

Today in the garden

 It's been a lovely day in the garden and I have been out there quite a bit.  I waited until the shadow fell on the new border I am creating, and dug another length which is being planted with the plants from Hay last week and other local purchases.   I'll take a photo when I've got a bit more in it.  Ideally it needs to be wider so I can stagger the plantings.  I've got some Annuals to grow from seed, which I shall strew around out there.  It's slow, but I don't want to push my luck with the pollen, which is High now.  I shall stay indoors as much as I can when it gets to Very High.  The new stronger antihistamines seem to be working well with no obvious side-effects, so let's hope I can weather the summer (well, it's June really) without a long dose of steroids and no sleep . . .

I had to nip down into town this afternoon to buy another hosepipe.  I had visions of spending perhaps £15 or so.  Imagine my shock when I went into the local "Farmers" place (I'll spare their blushes and not name them) and a Hozelock hose, not on reel, was a few pennies under £50!!  If I wanted it on the reel, I think it was around £89 but was possibly a longer hose.  Well, both stayed in the shop, I can tell you!  I am now grateful to have been left a Hozelock hose on stand by the previous owner.

I went to our local ironmongers, Nibletts, and bought 30m of hose pipe with 5 different attachments including a marvellous spray head with half a dozen different settings.  It's brilliant.  That was under £30, more like it.  We needed to have a hose permanently in place to water the veg plot, otherwise dragging a too-short version we had through the plantings on the bank each time is going to cause mayhem.


All the cats were outside sunbathing today.  Here is Alfie and judging by the broken bits on the Catnip, he had been partaking!


More flowers opening on beautiful Dr Ruppel.  A good buy.


These polystyrene boxes are great for growing small salad items in.  I think there is a little microclimate and they grow SO well (and taste so good too).  It was an idea that I think it was Jekka McVicar shared in a magazine I read.


This is a lovely little double Aquilegia, which has come in  a pink and creamy colourway I have only had in singles before.  It seems that the Aquilegias sent me off to my new garden with their best offspring!


This is another yearling Aquilegia that came along growing with another plant in a pot.  It seems to have bloodlines which involve one of my Blue Aquilegias and probably a nearby William Guinness, although in this one it's not the central petals which are white, but it is more splashed with white, and a different flower type to the William Guinness too (which has a central ring of white petals joined together.)



Clematis The First Lady.  Has flowered nicely but doesn't seem keen on growing much yet!  Such a pretty colour anyway.


14 comments:

  1. The colours of your Columbines are very lovely. Mine are just a yellow and a purple, I do like the white edge on yours. So different.

    I do admire your Clematis. I don't have any luck at all with them.

    God bless.

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  2. You can get so many different colours and also different flower types. Try looking for seeds on Ebay or similar - people share them from their gardens if they have lots (like I used to do).

    Clematis - they need their feet kept cool and their heads in the sun. When I plant mine I always put flat stones around the stem, to keep the moisture in after they've been watered and to keep those roots cool. I have them in pots and in the ground here and must have planted about a dozen or more since we arrived. Morrisons had young ones at ridiculously cheap prices - I am happy to wait and let them grow on. I bought three well-grown ones from the Railway Line Museum too, and am going to buy another to grow up through a climbing rose which has turned out to have reverted and gone back to a simple petalled white bloom (a bit boring). I can't put another rose there, sadly, as roses like fresh ground and will die if put where another has been.

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  3. Up off your fainting couch, we'll all need it with prices like that! Your flowers are lovely, my aquilegia are long over now. That clematis is stunning.

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    1. RP - you have it right! Season has been late here for things flowering.

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  4. Hopefully you will be able to control the hay fever without the help of steroids. The garden is a delight such a wonderful array of colour. Glad you were able to find a hosepipe at a reasonable price.

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    1. I have all my digits x'd! The garden is a joy - especially for wildlife.

      Tam said we should have gone to B&M for a hose, but that means driving 20 miles to Brecon (and then back again), so shop local was better.

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  5. Worth shopping round - Hoselock is always a bit of a rip off. I just bought two brass shower heads and all the connectors from screwfix for eight quid each - bargain!

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    1. You ain't kidding! I was glad now we inherited one with the house! Not sure where our nearest Screwfix is but I know the nearest B&Q is Leominster which is a bit of a trek, but a nice drive . . .

      Someone in town has opened a new shop and has pretty bouquets of dried flowers at "Hay prices" - just under £30 for a small bunch and £10 more for a bigger one. I hope it keeps fine for her as my late m-in-l would have said.

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  6. I just bought a new 30m hosepipe, too, and paid about the same as you, but mine doesn't have any fancy attachments. Just the hosepipe. Have to join it with another 15m hose to (almost) reach the back of the property since we just had eleven 2+m Green Giant arborvitae planted across the back of the property, I need to keep them watered regularly (especially on our 30c weather days). Just keep it stretched out (except when mowing) as it is heavy to slog about from side to side.

    Love the colours and variety of flowers in your garden. My lettuce and Swiss Chard plants are about at their end due to the excessive heat. Will grow them again when it begins to cool off--likely not until the end of September.

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  7. Tam was saying last night, that hose was a brilliant investment for the garden AND we have realized we can pressure clean the car with it too!! Gone are the days of me labouring away with a bucket of soapy water and a sponge (you can never guarantee the local car wash is in working order).

    I imagine your trees get pretty thirsty. We had an evergreen hedge on the bank which took every bit of moisture - no wonder the plantings below it suffered (especially as they were smothered around with plastic AND weed-proof membrane). Now I am slowly filling the huge space left after removing it. A slow old business as there are still some roots and chunks of rock to be excavated when I plant there. The same applies to the herbaceous border I am planting along the edge of the side lawn as they put the lawn over the detritis from when they took down bits of house in the past.

    We have yet to start the Swiss Chard (that wet May wrong-footed us) but they will grow. Tam got some Amaranth when we were out last week and they are SO pretty with their red colouring. Slowly getting there.

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  8. I love clematis so pretty. It's always a shock at prices if you haven't bought anything similar for a while, worth shopping around.

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    1. Well, the prices were 2 for £20 earlier in the year (when I bought two well grown ones). Then they were £12.99 and £14.99, but now to pay £17.99 or £19.99, they have got to be joking! I definitely shop around, but for the moment have just moved another clematis in a planter to grow there.

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  9. That aquilegia is gorgeous!

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    1. I do love my Aquilegias and will start to grow more now we're here. Some seed broadcast, but the rarer colours I will start in trays.

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