Allium Drumstick – Eileen's Tiny Welsh Garden

Six on Saturday: 16 April 2022

Published on 16th Apr 2022 by Eileen's Tiny Welsh Garden9 Comments

Even though I am no longer in paid employment, I still like to take advantage of a Bank Holiday, but I lose track of the days.

It’s all go here though: I’ve planted my potatoes this morning (separate post on it’s way) and my husband is currently painting the wooden arch in the front garden ready for some restoration work, which I won’t bore you with today.

Moving swiftly on, here are this week’s Six on Saturday from sunny and warm North Wales, where the roads to the coast are no doubt crowded and everyone else is queuing to get to the top of Snowdon, and where all our heritage steam trains are in danger of running out of coal. Just another holiday weekend!

Clematis montana (pink) has been poised to flower for weeks.

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Six on Saturday: 15 January 2022

Published on 15th Jan 202215th Jan 2022 by Eileen's Tiny Welsh Garden8 Comments

Here we are again! There is more than a hint of sunlight coming through the window, and no sign of fog despite dire warnings on yesterday’s weather forecast. Like most participants of Six on Saturday, my garden was – and still is – in need of a good tidy up. But I’ve made a start and Nature is doing her bit too!

I spent an hour in the garden on Tueday morning, taking a break from studies to clear my head. It was time for the fuchsias in the raised beds to have a haircut! It’s times like these when I wish I had asked for three narrower beds instead of two as they are just slightly wider than I can comfortably reach from either side and I had to turn to the long-handled loppers to attack that centre fuchsia in the first photograph. When the weather warms up, I’ll move a couple of fuchsias from the front garden to fill the gap on the other bed.

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Six from the Archives (2): 1 January 2022

Published on 1st Jan 2022 by Eileen's Tiny Welsh Garden6 Comments

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone survived the recent festivities with waistlines and tempers intact. Here in North Wales, the weather has been grey and wet for two weeks, with a little wind thown in for good measure – not at all condusive to walking off those extra calories, though we have restrained ourselves and the chest freezer in the garage remains full.

I managed to get up to date with my OU course by Christmas Eve so took the full four days off from studying or writing. On TV, Gardener’s World – the final winter special on Christmas Eve – was a haven among the mayhem. The Weakest Link in its new incarnation was amusing. Anything by Aardman Animations is a joy; and where would we be without a Christmas themed Sewing Bee or two?

That was last year, though I am sticking with the theme for the first Six on Saturday of 2022 – with Part 2 of my look back over my 2021 garden.

July

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Spring Bulbs

Published on 18th Oct 202122nd Feb 2022 by Eileen's Tiny Welsh Garden

I don’t usually bother planting bulbs each year. Those in the front garden – crocus, grape hyacinths and dwarf narcissi – have been there for several years, with the addition of alliums and nectaroscordum in autumn 2020.

In the back garden, I have daffodils and narcissi rescued from various borders and dumped in pots. Apart from an all too brief few weeks in spring, they live at the back of the garage. The only things I took any trouble with last year were my four ‘Blue’ pots containing Pickwick crocus, anemone Blanda Bleu, and grape hyacinths.

This year, however, I ordered some new bulbs (snowdrops x 50, anemone Blanda Alba x 20, and white fritillery x 15) which arrived on 6 October and had to be dealt with. (I’ve just noticed that the anemone is ‘White Splendour’ but have no idea if they are the same as ordered or a substitution, not that it matters. A white anemone is a white anemone is a white anemone!)

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Six on Saturday: 18 September 2021

Published on 18th Sep 2021 by Eileen's Tiny Welsh Garden8 Comments

Another bright and sunny morning. We’ve had good weather for a few days now – warm enough to sit outside for coffee. And I have been walking round with a big smile on my face since Thursday evening when I overheard my neighbour discussing his trees with The Gardener. I think it will be a few weeks before we see any action (waiting for the leaves to fall), but at least – finally – there will be daylight!

So lets get on with this week’s Six, courtesy of The Propagator.

I’ve been calling these plants begonias, though I’m not sure if they are or not. Online research suggests they are wax begonias, so if anyone can confirm one way or another, I would be grateful. These were one plant from our charity pot bought summer 2020 – no labels provided. I split it in two and kept it ov erwinter in the Tiny Greenhouse (watered sparingly – when I remembered). I shall do the same this year.

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Monthly Round-Up: August

Published on 1st Sep 202130th Aug 2021 by Eileen's Tiny Welsh Garden

August has been a long month, concentrating as we were on house and garden maintenance; not so much gardening, more prettifying the area around the garden by painting exterior walls and paintwork, as detailed here and here. A month that, as it neared the end, found us running out of energy and time to do the things that had to be done.

Tuesday last week found me painting the other side of the gate and the frame around the garage door, which I wasn’t looking forward to as it is fiddly to get at. The old paint was flaking off and required a lot of preparation before I could start. But it’s done now (though with the garage door half open I did spot a couple of patches where the brown paint hadn’t covered the blue; but they’re underneath the dips in the door and can’t be seen when it’s down. I can live with that for a couple of years).

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Six on Saturday: 21 August 2021

Published on 21st Aug 2021 by Eileen's Tiny Welsh Garden12 Comments

A wet and cold day here in North East Wales, and probably for most of the UK. Today’s forcast is rain until 1 pm, rain showers between 1 and 6 pm, light rain between 7 and 8 pm, and cloudy thereafter. Thank goodness I took these photos as the opportunity arose last week.

What better place to start than with this image of a Southern Hawker dragonfly I ‘rescued’ when she got stuck under the (clear) roof between the house and garage and caught up in cobwebs. I took this photograph balancing on a stepladder with the pole holding the sign in one hand and manipulating the phone with the other, while my husband cowered inside the garage door. I’d estimate her at around 3 inches long, wingspan similar – and those wings were noisy (you can hear the sound in this short video I found online. You’ll need to set volume to around 36% to hear it.)

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Six on Saturday: 31 July 2021

Published on 31st Jul 2021 by Eileen's Tiny Welsh Garden14 Comments

Last weekend, the forecast was for thunderstorms and rain. On Monday, we were still waiting – but welcome showers arrived on Tuesday, stayed for Wednesday, all but disappeared on Thursday, and came back yesterday with fine drizzle and low cloud cover blanking out the house just 25 metres than our own. Fortunately, we are too far north so escaped Storm Evert’s strong winds. I hope those of you in its path haven’t suffered any damage to homes or garden.

It’s another grey damp morning, so my selections are from earlier in the week. Apologies if I’m flouting the rules set by The Propagator – but he’s on holiday and won’t notice!

Allium Drumstick – the flowers have lost their green bottoms and are beginning to fluff up. I’d have more of these if I had the room. Lovely colour too,

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Six on Saturday: 24 July 2021

Published on 24th Jul 2021 by Eileen's Tiny Welsh Garden14 Comments

First – drumroll please – some good news. I have managed to pass Year One of my Open University masters’degree – a ‘Pass with Merit’ classification which means – when I stump up the cash – I can go on to Year Two (which will actually be a full calendar year and not eight months). We celebrated on Tuesday with a reduced price Indian banquet (in a box from Tesco) and a shared bottle of Magners! Now I’ve just got to come up with a brilliant idea for my 15,000 word project (dissertation) – suggestions on the back of a seed packet please.

I’ve started – so I’ll finish. While this morning’s weather was in two minds whether to send a shower or some sun in our direction, I wasn’t hanging around. I’ve painted that horrible breeze block wall beneath the lavender border. Now that we’ve finished sealing the drive, it was the final thing that had to be done. I’ve even painted the gate post (not that we have a gate). It’s only taken me thirty-four years to get round to it. Just the garage door to paint (Hammerite ‘Chestnut’) and the white surround, and . . .

Before
During
During
Stopped for a chat
Finished

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Six on Saturday: 17 July 2021

Published on 17th Jul 2021 by Eileen's Tiny Welsh Garden16 Comments

It’s rather toasty here in sunny North Wales, so we have windows open and blinds closed and the coolest clothes we can find. My solar water feature is working overtime and the line of washing I hung out at 8.30 is already dry. It’s too hot for gardening, or anything other than sipping something cool from a long glass with a sprig of mint on top, reclining beneath a slowly revolving ceiling fan with a book. But I’ll have to make do with a cappuccino and a virtual stroll through your gardens on here instead – though I do have a ceiling fan in the conservatory which I shall be making use of later. For now, here is my contribution to this week’s Six on Saturday, brought to you courtesy of The Propagator.

I’ve shown the lavender previously but it really is at its best in this hot and sunny weather; it smells glorious and is usually covered in bees. Last week I mentioned that the colours blend with my beighbour’s hebe, so I’ve included a shot of the two together.