WHAT ARE WE DOING IN THE GARDEN TODAY - 2021

We have been doing lots of cutting back and pulling up. Everything seems to have gone mad in our garden.

Everyone popping into our garden is going off with Campanula, mainly blue and white, as it has spread through all the beds.

We've cut back an 8ft Deutzia with another even larger one to be done today. We have also made inroads into a few of our dogwoods that have taken over two beds and were making it impossible to get to other plants.

Feverfew has also been spreading quicker than we can pull them out so we have made a concerted effort and removed a couple of hundred of them - not difficult as they pull fairly easily.

I have been cutting back the long runners on the blackberries as they have been attacking anyone who comes near and making it impossible to mow the grass around the beds.

We have some lovely Leycesteria formosa in the front garden that always look magnificent but we shall need to do some judicious pruning, after flowering, as they have spread sideways a lot and are also 10ft high. We planted some golden versions of it, cuttings from a friends garden, in the back garden but after five years they have only grown a pale green colour with rather nondescript flowers. They have spread from a 5ft section of bed to over a 20ft section and completely swamped everything under them. We shall cut these back and then get Lewis, who comes in to do our heavy work, to dig them out completely.

Every day I go down to the bean area (about 200 plants) and help the new growth climb the canes. Some of them are now past the top of the canes and I'm training them along the woven ShineyFrames. About a dozen of them have now grown about 12ft. Lots of flowers but no beans yet on the runners. The French have some pickable ones. Courgettes and squash are now growing so I tell them how good they are.

A lot of the rest of the time is weeding and digging out violets that are spreading quicker than I can dig them out.

We're still selling plants for our charity and also supplying other local charities with plants for their plant sales. We've also prepared a lot of plants for a couple who are being sent round by a landscape gardener who has made new beds for their garden. He doesn't do planting . The people get cheaper plants and the charity gets all the money

 

I've done lots of pressure washing yesterday and today and the new washer is working very well. I hope to finish by next month

 

Weeded the strawberry patch which for some reason the stinging nettles love; also mowed the lawn, tried out a water slide and had water pistol fights with the kids and had a cheeky cider
Just had a lime plant delivered too so need to find a pot for that

 

Early morning I did more pressure washing, early afternoon did even more and early evening even more. Both latter sessions were mainly in shady areas so none of them have joined up yet.

Mid afternoon we had a couple come round to view the garden and buy plants. It was two hours of wandering around in the hot sun - but I had my trusty umbrella with me. We sold about 100 plants.

I'm just about to cook my weekend meals on wheels (can't do it tomorrow as we have guests) and have the aircon going full blast.