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