Category: Six on Saturday

From one extreme to another – and back again – our weather is all over the place (and frequently changes within minutes). Wednesday and Thursday were spent cowering inside the house trying to keep cool with all the interal doors open but the external doors and windows closed (very high pollen count).  We complain about our 1911 built house in the winter – no cavity walls 110 years ago – but in weather like this, it is lovely and cool once we’ve closed all the blinds. And as I post this, we have bright sunshine and heavy rain – AT THE SAME TIME

While watering, I noticed that these ‘poached egg’ plants I grew from seed are finally flowering. I have it in pots on the patio, and some in the front border too.

Still trying to get a decent photograph of the cornflowers.

My first attempt at a garlic plait. It’s not as easy as it looked on YouTube! These were the Marco garlic cloves I planted in pots last Autumn. Now hanging in the dark in the shed behind the garage.

Home-grown cosmos in the front border. Next year I’ll try sowing it direct and more of it instead of in plugs then dotting it about. It’s a bit girly pink so I’ll be on the lookout for other colours too.

At last, some peas. Maincrop Boogie in fact. We’ll need a lot more rain to fatten these pods before I can eat them.

Lots of alpine strawberries, still under their supermarket basket cage. I’ll be picking these later. Not enough for a bowlful each – and we don’t have any cream – but I’ll add them to some jelly and leave them to set.

If you want to join in the Six on Saturday Challenge, pop over to The Propagator’s Blog to see other sixes and the rules.

 

The view from my study window as the predicted torrential rain – with a side-helping of thunder and lightning – arrived last Sunday afternoon, and carried on most of the week, with the odd couple of hours of sun.

In the front sunny border, lavender Munstead and lavender Hidcote, are flowering well. I must take more Hidcote cuttings as I need more of this darker colour in the garden.

After the rains battered my peonies, it was “off with their heads” this morning, as we plan to do our first skip run since lockdown next week; figuring that as Wales is easing lockdown and non-essential shops will be opening from Monday everyone will be shopping and not taking their rubbish to the skip.

The ‘after’ shots – Iris stems and London Pride flower stalks all removed too.

 

This sedum pot started life as all the bits that ‘fell off’ the original plants. It seems very happy in this spot on the patio.

At last the cornflowers I sowed are flowering. The photo doesn’t do their colour justice – it’s much richer in real life. I want these trailing through my front border next year.

And I’ve treated myself to a one-year subscription to Kitchen Garden magazine, which included 20 free packets of vegetable seeds, which arrived yesterday. Currently in quarantine in this sealed bag. Includes the ubiquitous beetroot, spinach, rocket etc, but also watercress. The instructions for growing watercress are:

• sow in a well-draining soil
• keep moist
• do not allow to dry out

 

As it is going to rain again, I’m taking a coffee break to read through the other Sixes appearing courtesy of The Propagator. I may carry on until lunch.

I’m late to the party today. I’ve been taking advantage of the warmer weather to do some actual gardening before the promised rain and thunder strikes.

Last Sunday morning, instead of our usual early morning one-mile walk along the lane, we walked along the main road out of the village. At the last house, the owner sells plants for the Riding for the Disabled charity. There’s an honesty box on the wall so no need for human contact. On the way home we stopped to have a proper look. I sent my husband back to buy this mixed pot – for £5.

Any rumours that I bought it so I’d have something flowery to blog about are entirely without foundation! I did buy it for the spicy-clove scent of the dianthus. There’s cosmos, begonias and petunias in there, maybe other goodies too. It’s in the corner between my back door and conservatory door so I’ll see it – and smell it – every time I go outside.

Someone posted last week about a blackbird stealing their first strawberry. I only have alpine/wild strawberries and noticed the first fruits forming. Prompt action with a supermarket wire basket has hopefully guaranteed I get first dibs.

I’ve planted my sedums this morning. There is plenty of space now I’ve removed the sempervivums, which really didn’t like it here. But other sedums are growing quite happily, so we’ll see how these get on. (I’ve got spares).

 

With my Autumn Joy cuttings growing well, I’ve risked planting out six of them in these old pots, together with some aubretia I grew in plugs from Lidl 29p seeds.

And I’ve finally planted up this box with sempervivums to see if they like this any better than the sedum bed.

I harvested my first garlic on Wednesday – 36 in total. They are hanging up in the Tiny Greenhouse to cure for a couple of weeks.

 

Why not join in and post some of your own images, or just browse the other Sixes by popping over to The Propagator‘s blog for the rules (guidance) and click on the comments.

 

 

 

 

 

I’m starting this week’s Six with a question about carnivorous plants – pitcher plants in particular. This one is Sarracenia farnhamii hybrid, which is a cross between Sarracenia leucophylla x Sarracenia rubra. It’s in a 3 inch pot. I’ve had it for 6 months and it’s put on lots of new growth with roots coming out of the bottom of the pot.

Is it time to move it into a slightly larger pot? I don’t want to divide it yet.

I’m currently sourcing specialist compost from my local garden centre; other online suggestions are peat moss/sphagnum moss mixed with perlite. I’m wondering about mixing coir (from a block) with perlite.

Do you grow these plants successfully? Any tips would be gratefully received. It sits on an East facing windowsill but does get full sun until mid-afternoon in summer. (I don’t have any south-facing windows). Continue reading “Six on Saturday: 6 June 2020” →

We should be going on holiday today! A week in a cottage on the edge of the North Yorkshire Moors. We’d planned a fun-packed week – a trip on the North York Moors steam railway, a couple of stately homes and gardens, fish and chips in Whitby and some general nosiness and mooching about. Continue reading “Six on Saturday: 30 May 2020” →

What a windy couple of days! Great for drying the washing though. This was the patio yesterday morning; this morning we are ankle-deep in laburnum blossom from my neighbour’s tree. It’s covered all my veg beds too. I know laburnum is poisonous – will I have to pick it off or will my vegetables be safe to eat if I leave it? Continue reading “Six on Saturday: 23 May 2020” →