Drink Up Me Hearties, Yo Ho...

This Bank Holiday weekend has so far seen a fair amount of the wet stuff, with more forecast for the coming days. Despite this, I've still had to water a few of my planters as the wind has a tendency to dry things out almost instantly.

The lobelias appear to enjoy a good drink (don't we all!!) and a few of them are starting to flower. Both the white and the red jasmine are playing host to hundreds of bees, which is always good to see, and the plants that self-seeded from the wild-flower mix I bought last spring are coming along nicely.

The bright orange Californian Poppies are the current starts of the show and there's also some white alyssum in the tubs for a bit of contrast. Two of the 4 geraniums that survived the winter are doing well (the remaining two are looking very unwell at this point) and the begonias are getting stronger by the day.

Although the rain is good for the garden, and saves me having to use expensive tap water, it'd be nice to think that June will bring forth a bit more sunshine. I guess that time will tell...

Thunderbolt and Lightning, Very Very Frightening...

Wow! What a storm we had last night! The begonias took a battering and there were quite a few flower heads to pick up off the floor when I went outside this afternoon. There’s leaves everywhere from various trees and bushes and everything’s now looking windswept.

However, the lobelias have decided to finally buck their ideas up and are making a last-ditch attempt to impress. The torrential rain has also seen the wild-flower mix perk up, with some new California poppies and more alyssum.

I figured we’d be in for some ‘interesting’ weather when I saw that the sky went orange about 6.30pm yesterday evening. There were a couple of rainbows beforehand which were very pretty but were a sure sign of the schizophrenic conditions that were to follow…

OCTOBER 4, 2013 

Rain, Rain, Go Away...

…And don’t bother coming back!!

I’m lucky enough to have a partner who’s father has tremendously green fingers and a generous nature, and last weekend I was bestowed the gift of 4 trays of glorious bedding plants. A wonderful array of geraniums, lobelias, petunias and begonias have now been planted into my terracotta pots and borders but at some point they’re going to need some sunshine in order to thrive.

It’s almost the end of May, and a Bank Holiday weekend, and the weather is utterly depressing. My new solar lights need sunshine to charge their batteries, but all week long the sky has remained the colour of dirty dish-water.

Although highly controversial, I’m rather glad I put down slug pellets because judging by the snail carcasses if I hadn’t there really would be nothing left of my new plants. The constant wet conditions has brought the slimy pests out in force.

A few weeks ago I experimented with a new product; Miracle Gro Flower Magic (a plastic container filed with 29 varieties of wild flower seeds, plant food and growing material which you conveniently simply shake all over wherever you wish the plants to grow, and then water). I opted to trial this in long, slim, plastic planters and at the moment there does appear to be some shoots appearing – so fingers crossed! There was more than enough mix in the container to fill all my planters, the window boxes at the front of the house and a patch of soil near my front door, so hopefully something will grow… despite being frozen to death by hail stones and drowned with rain…

MAY 24, 2013

Precious Petunias (and Lobelias)...

After many, many weeks of gloriously dry weather, everything in the garden looks a bit stunted – despite my valiant daily efforts with a watering can. Much as I adore sunshine I reluctantly accept that in order to have even a half-decent display of blooms you do need it to rain every now and again. We did have SOME rain, but the minute it hit the parched ground it evaporated!

My water butt remains empty and although I’m enjoying the fact I can get a full load of washing dry in just a few hours, the novelty of watering by hand has long since worn off…

JUNE 5, 2011