Open Gardens 2012

A week has passed since the garden was open as part of the villages Open Gardens event.  We were so lucky with the weather fine and dry all day and the sun shone for the actual open hours! Nearly half as many more visitors than last year and this was reflected in the amount that was raised across all 7 gardens.

The two most asked about plants in my garden were:

Hellebore sternii

Knautia macedonia

The Hellebore loves full sun - one of the few that do - flowers in the winter through to early spring after which I cut back the old stems so the colour of the new ones shine through.. In theory it is the Blackthorn Group but is larger than height listed on the RHS height.

The Knautia starts flowering in spring and keeps going until frosts.

Although many people looked at all the plants, everyone without fail spent a large amount of time looking at and asking about the four birds of prey daughter had brought along. She was talked out by the end of the day!

Now to get some energy to go pick currants.........

Vegetables - what vegetables?

Down to three lettuces, from the 30+ I had planted out a few weeks ago in the main vegetable bed, due to slugs. I must have some very happy well fed slugs as the Runner beans have not recovered from their attack from them, although the dwarf french beans have faired slightly better. Courgette glut will not be a problem this year as have only one plant left and that one is needing some warm weather. The sorry tale continues across all vegetable plants,  flowering annuals elsewhere in the garden - also sulking due to lack of warmth - to wind and rain damage on established plants including the purple vine, and clematis growing through it, that were blown off the supporting wires (tied back up now but looking tatty) and one of my favourite planting groups which includes the Day Lily 'Golden Chimes' which has been flattened.

Day Lilly 'Golden Chimes' flattened across fern and Heuchera

If you are visiting my garden as part of the Open Gardens event in two weeks time don't expect a flourishing vegetable patch or 100% perfect looking plants elsewhere in the garden. Would still welcome you visiting of course!

The weather this week did give us a couple of decent spells of sunshine before reverting to wet stormy weather. Mr B made the most of this (they happened when I was working) and built a more sturdy rose 'arch' to support the Rambling Rector rose and putting in a new gate. A few dry hours yesterday and am waiting for the promised dry weather today so I can go out and get at least supports in place around plants that are close to flattened status.

On the positive side of being in the garden at the moment the scent of the honeysuckles are now adding to the scent of the roses.

I sowed more vegetable seeds in the greenhouse last weekend - all of which are happily germinating - in the hope that we'll have a late summer. I am very thankful for having a greenhouse.

There are other flowering plants that are also doing just fine. The Water Lily is one!

Water Lilly

Pests and dealing with at least some of them

Vine weevils in two pots (did wonder why the ivy growing in the one at the front was looking unhappy - and in fact is now dead): the soil in these pots was welcomed by the hens with glee! Grubs quickly eaten and then dust baths!
Lily beetles covorting on the lilies (any other flower would have been a surprise!): caught and squished.
Slugs are loving this weather: beer traps full in just one night but many lettuces and bean leaves still devoured .... sigh. The downside of having a raised vegetable bed is that frogs and toads don't have easy access. I have also spotted that the netting I have over the purple sprouting (to protect from the large number of pigeons) is a barrier for the one toad that was in the bed getting to the other end to feast.
On the subject of the purple sprouting the Cabbage White butterfly has not been an issue even though it could, in calmer weather, get through the netting. Far to wet and windy for them to try and gain access.

Weather was better this week but ended with heavy rain and very stong winds. One of my courgette plants finally had enough of the wind, let alone the rain.

Mr B finished his work on removing the last of the concrete 'path' (a strip of concrete around the house when it was built) putting down the gravel and building two more wooden planters so I can make the most of the side wall of the house. What a star!
Will accept commissions for planters on his behalf!!

Wooden planters

Some sunshine in the garden from the low growing alpine St John's Wort at the base of one of the water butts.

Hypericum Olympicum (Alpine St John's Wort)

My main achievement this weekend was clearing out the creeping buttercups in and around the fruit cage and securing all the netting as the currants are beginning to ripen. Netting hooks made from some wire clothes hangers (have a friend who uses a dry cleaner that still uses wire hangers!).

Now to keep an eye out for those determined birds who will find a way in anyway but then not manage to get out again.

Home made hooks for netting etc

Rabbit in headlights

One of the main things I have missed with the bad weather is the scent from the garden. Heavy rain and winds just wash/blow it away. After, yet another, week of rain and very strong winds the scent from the climbing rose 'Rambling Rector' today was just stunning.

Rose 'Rambling Rector'

To the title of this post: my guess is that this is what I look like when anyone asks me about how ready I am for the open gardens (now just 4 weeks away). Too much to do and too little time at this point.

Weeds are loving the weather, vegatables are being flattened, eaten by slugs or just sulking from the lack of heat/sunshine, and I haven't managed to get much time in the garden. Spent some of gardening time this weekend in the fruit cage picking gooseberries (sawfly have been one pest that has not liked the weather - hurrah!) with associated pruning.

Looking forward to the weather forecast for the week being correct - as in it will be warmer and drier. A half hour or so on the garden every day will get me there!

Water butts are full again

That's the only positive thing I can think of from a week of rain, rain, more rain and strong winds. Many tall plants are now at a 45 degree angle and clumps of other plants flattened by the amount of water that has fallen on them from above.French beans have been lopped by the wind and I am very surprised that I still have brassicas standing.

Hemerocallis

Sunshine yesterday and it was a joy to be working close to this Day Lily both from colour and scent point of view. I have a number of Day Lillies in the garden. The two early flowering ones (above and 'Golden Chimes') are scented. My later ones aren't.

The bed I was working on contains my rhubarb which has in previous years added to the structure within the bed with it's large leaves. This year, however, it's telling me it needs to be dug up and split (or possibly chucked sadly). Lots of food and no stems pulled will hopefully see it through to the Autumn.

Most of the Cosmos plants finally put in.

Inside: Stems of Solomon's Seal and Wigelia 'Bristol Ruby' (see last week) along with vases of other flowers/foliage mentioned in previous weeks.

Queen's Diamond Jubilee

Hope everyone is enjoying the Jubilee celebrations! Some of the red, white and blue currently flowering in my garden:

Wigelia 'Bristol Ruby'

Potentialla

Japanese Iris

Sauna in the greenhouse

In the greenhouse at 6:30 this morning, having walked the dog and let the chucks out, to get the border bed sorted before it got too hot. It was like a sauna by 7:30. Did manage to give the hens their new dust bath material (the old soil from the border), plunge the tomato pots into the new soil and plant basil and dwarf marigold plants before escaping into the cool of the rest of the garden! Tomatoes this year include 'St Pierre', a striped variety, and 'Black Russian'. The latter's stem broke as I moved it - silly me for not staking it before now - so have taken many cuttings from the top growth. The side shoots from MoneyMaker are all rooting happily so hope Black Russian ones will do so too.

Cold wind this time last week to hot hot from mid-week onwards. With April being so wet, then cold snap mid May, the plants don't know what's happening. Even well established plants are wilting by the end of the day in the current heat.

Followed the shade yesterday tackling the 'thugs' border and the bed with the Amelanchier in it. The thugs border is a narrow north facing border with dry and poor soil due to the neighbours Leylandii hedge being the other side of the fence it runs along. 'Thugs', as in plants I like but are controllable only in this inhospitable bed, include an ornamental bramble - now tied in and suckers dug up - Lysimachia 'Firecracker' and periwinkle which I have pushed back to the fence line. Honesty, lychnis and the evergreen pink geranium provide perenial colour. Bergonias and Impatiens (if I can get some) will add annual colour.

Today - after working in the greenhouse - I finished digging out as much couch grass roots as possible from the centre of the main flower bed and planted the rest of the sweet pea plants before the sun hit that bed. When I got back from church service (Pentecost today) I started on the autumn raspberry bed but, despite being in shade at 1pm, the heat has got the better of me.

Inside - in vases: (1) Alchemilla Mollis and Knautia - there will be many more vases/arrangements with at least one of these two included over the coming weeks (2) Cow Parsley 'Ravens Wing' and Aquilegia and (3) more Geranium Pheum, Cow Parsley and the flowering stems of Foxgloves that have reverted to purple (am trying to keep to white/yellow in the garden)


Knautia Macedonica

Cow Parsley 'Ravens Wing'

Ladies Mantle - Alchemilla Mollis

Aquilegia



Foxglove

New plants, new hens

Frosts in the middle of May! Well close to them for a couple of days last week. Weather has perked up and promises to be much better still next week

At the start of the week Mr B and mother-in-law went and selected three new hens - two Copper Blacks one Amber Star (not the best of photos!) - to join the two Speckeldys. At least one of the new girls is laying already.

Went to the Rowdeford School Garden Fair with a couple of friends today. Good thing we took a large car - just enough room for all the plants we bought!

A few of my purchases:
Eryngium agavifolium was thinking that I would put it at the foot of the leylandii however see that it needs sand or loam rather than rock solid. Central bed amongst cosmos and close to Mrs Buxton will provide good leaf contrast.
Salvia microphylla - not pink beauty it is a soft yellow.
Geranium pratense 'Plenum Album' a double to add to my collection.



In the vase this week will be Geranium Pheum as it will be getting the 'Chelsea Chop'. The Spirea stems from last week are still looking fine.


Geranium pheum

Under the Yew Tree

Lovely sunny day. The last few days have also been dry (finally). However the ground is still very wet. Good news for the areas in the UK that were formally in drought - no hose pipe bans for them now.

Productive day in the garden managing time in the fruit and veg patch - mainly getting the fruit canes trained - the greenhouse, and weeding a couple of areas in the main garden.

The bed under the yew tree, planted up last year after we had the tree 'topped', is looking good with colour from Honesty and Periwinkle.

Honesty

Periwinkle and Ornamental Bramble

Inside: in vases this week are the stems of Spirea 'Goldflame' that were reverting to green and Berberis - very prickly but smells wonderful.

Spirea 'Goldflame'

Berberis

The House Martins have arrived!

Finally! Four House Martins flying around late this afternoon. The swallows have been around for at least a week. I guess they have all been delayed due to the bad weather that has been hitting France and the UK in the last number of weeks.

The garden has numerous nests. At least two blackbirds - one in the summer jasmine and the other, surprisingly low down, in the clematis and purple Vitus (vine) - with frequent territory wars on the lawn. Pruning and tieing back are on hold for a few weeks! Sparrows are nesting everywhere I look (caught one taking nesting material from one of the blackbird's nests!). Not sure where the Robins are this year.

Frost and Wind damage

Bay tree - cone (in theory)

Mild winter then caught out by cold winds and frost. I lost a couple of standard trained lavenders that Mr B and I were given last year and the two bay trees have a large number of brown leaves. The photo of the cone shaped bay is the 'before' photo - the after photo is not pretty. The ball shaped bay is the after photo - slightly more hope that TLC will rescue this one.



Bay tree - ball

Pond capacity

Long time no post. Frenzy of lead up to opening garden as part of the first Open Gardens in the villages in June 2011 combined with a new job that left me with little time to actually garden let alone write about it.

Weather: wet summer - warm winter - little to no rain over the last 5 months+ - in the third week of fine, dry, warm weather (do hope this isn't it for the year).

Wildlife: bumble bees have been buzzing around for a number of weeks now - frogs and toads have finished spawning in the pond (not as much toad spawn as last year) - brimestone, small tortishell and very ragged looking peacock butterflies have been feasting on early nectar this week - blackbird nesting in the Jasmine that I was wanting to give a haircut - must get Mr B to paint the eaves before the House Martins return.

And the subject of the post:  what is the volume of water in the pond? I can't believe I haven't recorded this before! 1875 Litres - approx 410 Gallons.
If you want to work it out for yours - multiply lengths of both sides * depth * 1000 gives litres then divide by 4.4 to get approx Gallons ... or go check calculators online.

Flowers at the start of the year

Sign of the mild winter - this tender perennial is just one of many plants still flowering on Jan 2nd

Pineapple Sage