Monday 30th May

It rained while I was at work today so I got damp when I opted to sit on the garden rocking chair this evening. Ben wisely chose to enjoy the sun sitting on the coldframe. The view from the chair is a bit different and I noticed a few new blooms out - the main ones of note being the Dutch irises & my wee white jacob’s ladder. I’m pleased that my broad beans are looking healthier as the salad cropping continues.

A bit of birdwatching followed as the goldfinches in particular appreciated the fill up of the nigella seed. The robin seemed to appreciate the suet balls being topped up too. I did a bit more caterpillar squishing and doused the bush again in rhubarb leaf spray.

Sunday

It was wet this morning when I toddled off to work so it was a pleasant surprise to come home to find it had dried up and even has occasional sunshine.

The usual distractions meant that I was busy with the macro photography. I also did a bit of real gardening including starting to plant gladioli bulbs out. I’m planning to get the remainder in tomorrow and Tuesday together with some peacock orchids. I think they will need to go into troughs as I’m running out of empty garden.

I had a very satisfactory, if probably futile, session squashing caterpillars on the gooseberry bushes and then I made a rhubarb leaf solution and doused the bushes in it. Hopefully this will help and the nematodes should arrive soon so I can get better protection in place.

Sunny Saturday

I’m aching all over this evening having been in the Magic Garden all afternoon. I tidied up around the gooseberries and back corner including tying up the blackberry. The poor gooseberry has got sawfly caterpillars trying to defoliate it - I squashed a whole lot and have ordered some nematodes to try and control the problem.

Ben has stayed around me all day which has been lovely, snoozing while the bees enjoyed the garden especially the chives and alliums scattered through the Magic Garden.

I planted out the celeriac in to a new trough and watered it heavily. I then harvested some more salad and some rhubarb.

Friday

I had a busy day at work and so was rather late home. It was sunny but still quite windy so I did another tour of the garden retrieving things and putting things back upright. The garden is looking a little battered but still in lush green with enough colour to show promise for when the wind eventually stops.

The stocks that I rescued yesterday ar looking ok in their new pot. The other main task of the day has been to water the multitude of seedlings and newly sown.

Wind damage again

I spent the afternoon waiting in for the men who came to fix the security alarm - they were rather late and rather foiled by the system’s fault. Meantime I had spent the afternoon potting on the golden globe buddlea cuttings and some of the young plants gracing my window sills. Ben went and sat by the potted apple trees - I’d had to move them together because the wind was blowing them over again.

I opened the backdoor to find that the tiered troughs had blown over. I rescued three nasturtiums but have just had to accept the loss of the planned crops.

Its lovely to see the late spring / early summer flowers starting to appear with the start of the geranium next to the rhubarb.

Windy Again!

Home this evening to it blowing a hooley but it is beautifully sunny. I did a quick tidy up and returning things to where they should be!

The sunshine catches my summerhouse perfectly in the evening. The wind was really blowing things around in the garden but it didn’t stop Ben enjoying his catnip patch.

Tuesday 24th May

We’ve been having really heavy showers today which somewhat curtailed my activities. I did plant out two supermarket dahlias & the catmint I bought as a teat for Ben on my way home yesterday (Nepeta Six Hills Giant) into the back border.

I planted out the broad beans into a trough and hope they survive better than the first lot I planted into the ground - hopefully Ben won’t sit on them! In between rain showers, I enjoyed watching the bees still enjoying the bloody cranesbill and the new cirsium. I also had my first proper tea of leaf salad this year.

Back Home

Not much to post about today as I drove back down to Newcastle today through at times torrential rain. We don’t seem to have had that level of rainfall here although the garden is damp and it started to rain gently when I went to sit with Ben in the Magic Garden. Early night for me & hoping for a bit of dry weather this week to get my new plants in and to plant out the forest of seedlings and young plants.

Tulach Ard

My parents have created a garden over the last 30 years creating a wooded part with rhododendrons and azaleas s well as native planting. The flowers this year are spectacular - my father would have been delighted. The bluebells are true natives - their bells are all the same direction as well as the beautiful blue

The sides of the drain ditch are now covered in ajuga binding it together as well as being another source of blue in the garden. Dad’s grevillea is blooming & its spider flowers are feeding the bees above the main garden.

Dad planted a cordon fence of apples for their blossom rather than the apples - in fact they are good fruiters despite the northern climate but they are lovely at the moment - later than the ones in the Magic Garden

Inverewe Gardens

If you have never been to Inverewe, you really should and this is the time of year to do it as it has the most amazing rhododendrons & azaleas. Mum and I had a bit of a damp walk round but there was so much bloom around it was wonderful. I was originally inspired to garden by a visit as a young child one summer holiday and have been hooked by plants ever since.

The walled garden was looking lovely today too despite the rain.

Friday 20th May

I took my mum to the local plant nursery today, the Garden Cottage Nursery at Tournaig Lodge, Poolewe. I bought mum some alpines and had an extravagant moment for my own - as well as these I bought another broom Cystisus ‘Killney Salmon’ and a scented geranium.

Cirsium r, ‘Atropurpureum’

Dodecatheon pulchellum ‘Red Wings’

Epimedium ‘Akebono’

Pelargoniium Vancouver centennial

Thursday 19th May

I’m back up in Badachro for a long weekend and so am enjoying azaleas and rhododendron flowers and bees galore. The NW Highlands seem to be a perfect place for these as the peat soil is of course acid.

Wednesday 18th May

I was meant to have driven home today but life got in the way. Instead I spent some money and bought two new lavender plants for the front door pots. I also bought some old fashioned cottage pinks to do a little gap filling and then Ben and I had a happy few hours in the Magic Garden together.

I put out fresh prayer flags too as the old ones are just worn through - there are now three generations of them across the garden.

I pruned out some of the woodier bits of the spirea now its finished flowering and I’ve taken some cuttings to see if I can propagate it. They are all wrapped up in a plastic bag.

Tuesday 17th May

Another busy work day followed by a sit in the garden with the cat! The birds quietly ignored us and got on with that important business of attacking the bird feeders. There were a fair number of midges about and a mix of bees, hover flies and flies. My robin was introducing his family to me.

I had a brief spell removing snails and slugs from their more obvious positions - pointless really given their large numbers. I’m not sure how much good nematode treatment is for snails but I’m planning another treatment for the Magic Garden together with a nematode treatment for ants. The latter worked well with the ant hill under the olive tree and I’m optimistic that I can get on top of the ants in the hotbin and in amongst the patio slab stones. I inspected the gooseberry again and I am happy that there does not seem to be any more rot occurring. The currants are looking as if I should get a good crop and my wee blueberries are also looking as if I should have several meals from them.

Busy Monday

It was tipping down with rain this morning and so when I came home from a busy day at work and it was sunny I was straight out into the Magic Garden with my camera and with an accompanying cat. It was still a bit damp but the garden had a lovely fresh smell. I only had a few minutes but it was enough.

Sunday 15th May

Today felt like a bit of a bonus as I had rather expected it to rain. It wasn’t sunny but I was able to get on and do a lot of the wee jobs that just take a few minutes but stack up a little. I planted a Heuchera Tokyo and added a Bacopa Barostps Golden Leaves into the edging mix together with the dainty little red leaved clover. I sowed as an experiment some parsnip (Gladiator) seeds into a container - the depth should be good but I’ve never tried to do this before so am not sure there will be enough space for the plants to develop. I’ve sown a few more between the cauliflowers that are doing quite well currently.

I added more copper tape around the troughs to try and deter the slug / snail population from chewing my vegetable collection. I fear my wee carrots might getting cropped before they truly get going. I added feed from the hotbin to waterings of all the soft fruit bushes and apple trees.

Ben has spent a lot of the day in the Magic Garden with me again today and spent quite sometime attacking his catnip and looking as if he was watching mice. I know from the tracker camera that there are plenty around so maybe he’s waiting for them to have nibbled on the catnip too for extra flavour!

Saturday in the Sun

I’ve spent much of the day outside enjoying sunshine & a mild day. Ben also elected to be outside for most of the day and even went further away than the Magic Garden to enjoy the sun in the Community centre’s grass while I sat on the bower seat and enjoyed its view

I took a lot of weed & sludge out of the pond and left the bucket on its side to allow any wildlife to escape. I had turned the compost in the hotbin too so a bit of a messy day. I have a problem with ants in the compost bin so will have to find a nematode solution.

I cleared away geranium and creeping buttercup from under the gooseberry bush. I have checked carefully and not found any more disease. The goosegog crop is going to be rather small this year but better than none. The other fruit crops are coming on well so will fill some of the gap.

Friday 13th May

Another late return from work and the wind is ripping the garden to pieces again - its difficult to convey the motion in a photograph!

The carrots are just coming through while everything seems to be growing so fast that I see changes everyday.

The golden globe cuttings have rooted and are growing and the rudbeckia are growing fast. Another set of plants arrived today - little lavenders. They aren’t in the best condition but hopefully a little water will revive them

Throwback Thursday

I ended up not getting time in the garden today because I had to go and sort things out at work. I took a couple of photographs of the goldfinches while they demolished more of the nigella seeds but the other two are photographs from the same day 2 years ago

Windy Wednesday

Home from work to a sunny but very windy evening in the Magic Garden. I was not surprised to find the tomato ‘house’ has been blown to shreds. I think the tomato plants will recover but they are now inside the summerhouse until its a bit warmer outside on a regular basis. On the good side the potatoes are beginning to come through with Casablanca just sprouting ahead of the others. On the other side of the Magic Garden as far away as I can get them, the raspberry I brought from the allotment is in flower, belying its ‘autumn’ status. Raspberries and potatoes are the opposite of companion planting.

I had a lovely wander round inspecting the progress of the garden and noting where I need to rescue plants from more robust neighbours.. I have some delicate looking alliums coming out. The white version of the centaurea montana is out and is much more delicate than the common blue version.