Lovely Sunday

Although quite cloudy today it remains warm and windy so I got another lot of washing dry easily! I had a go at wiring up the climbing rose at the back and tying in the honeysuckle & main blackcurrant bush. This made it easier to see my wee forest of red-hot pokers which are sadly rapidly going over.

The first of my courgettes are just starting to grow in the pop-up cloche / mini-tent. I put the other courgette plant into the other pop-up cloche today

The cauliflowers have been well chewed by slugs & snails but the curly kale so far is looking more healthy. I have uncovered it today so we shall see how quickly the pigeons destroy it.

Saturday & Still Windy

Its still very windy here and the temperature is cooler again but we’ve not had rain. I spent ages tidying up the north corner of the Magic plot & having taken out chunks of the blue centaurea montana out as an extended deadheading, filled in spaces with cosmos. I re-positioned the plant supports so hopefully there will be more light getting to the gravel path side of the corner

I took some cuttings from the erysimum while I tidying the patch. I am going to try and take more cuttings over the next few weeks to see if I can up my propagation success rate

The potatoes have taken a real battering but despite the snapped stems are looking surprisingly ok. I’m cropping my salad regularly now and have got the next generation of lettuce and salad leaves growing on nicely now.

Windy Again!

Its still warm & a little muggy here but combined with a gusty wind that is knocking things over again in the Magic Garden including the flowers.

The Canterbury bells are standing up reasonably to the elements and are scattered through the central part of the Magic Garden. I plan to thin out the red valerian a bit tomorrow as it is turning into a bit of a garden thug.

A Warm Day

It’s been unusually warm, if not sunny today and I was impressed at how quickly all my washing dried! My important ‘garden’ purchase today was a spray attachment for the hose so I could direct it a bit more successfully - the aim being to decrease the need for hefting watering cans as my back is bad currently.

I am happy with how the components of the Magic Garden are working currently. I will need to do some more pond maintenance and there is an area between the pond and gooseberry that I want to use as a damp area. I’m not sure what to put there but might move my pitcher plants from their trough.

I am tempted to get another ligularia as my Rocket has become one of my favourite plants and I’m pleased with its new pot mates of the gazanias.

More sweetpeas out and they are still mostly blue. Their scent is lovely but the flowers are getting lost in the mass of lush growth.

Wednesday

Its warm and sunny here today. I had a few moments in the Magic Garden after work and before going out for dinner but today’s photos are from walking to the metro and back. I love seeing the poppies and will take the ‘real’ camera out soon to get some good macro photos.

Tuesday 14th June

I always think I will have more time than I really do to get on and do things in the garden. I failed to get much done today beyond a lot of watering. I potted up another courgette which I’ve put in the cold frame for now and then had a moment of enjoyment as I noticed how many blue sweetpeas ( my favourites) had come out - there are plenty more to come of the other colours but these seem to be the earliest ones.

Next to the sweetpeas there is a rather mini but very pretty lupin. I am pleased with the overall effect of the colours in the Magic Garden.

Monday

I’ve been busy tidying up in the garden again after more windy weather and then I had a spell of watering in the garden. I find it quite hard to carry watering cans so I just watered 1/3 of the garden today and the vegetable bags, troughs and pots. The carrots are a bit sporadic in their germination but the parsnips are coming up now fairly evenly

Ben was content to watch me as I watered the garden and then sat and enjoyed the garden including the now blooming rose

Ben's Magic Garden Pawty

Not a proper blog post today as Ben & I have been busy with #BensMagicGardenPawty for his 17th birthday - its been a mad night on twitter with 550+ tweets to the hashtag. I am blessed with some lovely friends on social media - #cattwitter is the best!

Saturday 11th June

Its extremely windy here today and its doing quite a bit of damage ripping foliage and snapping stems including of my potatoes in their sacks. I spent the afternoon putting in temporary stakes and planting out more of the collection I have amassed.

I did a bit more tying in of the blackberry and gooseberry and then a thorough watering of the whole of that back corner. I am really pleased with how it is coming on and particularly proud of the foxgloves.

Ben patiently sat and waited while I watered everything and then put water ready for the birds. He does like the catnip but has been much less interested in the patch than I thought he might be.

Friday 10th June

Today is the first anniversary of my father’s death so I have been thinking about the things he would have said to me about my garden. I have his secateurs and was using them this morning as I was persuading the blackberry and goosegogs to create the spatial barrier that previously the bulk of the gooseberry bush had provided. This evening I sat with a cup of tea in my garden rocking chair and watched the bees going in to the foxgloves but feeling too lazy to pick up the camera. Ben is in summer mode enjoying being out in the garden and around me.

Thursday 9th June

Despite rather unpromising weather forecasts it managed to stay dry if mostly rather grey. The garden is looking very lush after the recent rain and mild weather.

The bees are still really enjoying the garden. I’m hoping that my soft fruit crop will be good with their efforts to assist pollination. I’m pleased to see how much the ligularia has perked up after being potted up.

Wet Wednesday

We’ve had a fair amount of rain today with some quite heavy showers. This was probably as well for the getting on with things in the house but did cut down the amount of time spent in the Magic Garden. I potted up the Ligularia ‘The Rocket’ up into one of the big statement pots. I’m not sure its destined to stay there but I need to find something as a foil to its beautiful dark stems and bright green leaves.

I was sad to see that the slugs have chewed up my supermarket dahlias. I’m a little surprised as they tend not to like the red dark leaves. My response was to give the back of the garden a dousing in anti-slug nematodes.

Tuesday 7th June

The sun came out this afternoon and so not only did I get a load of washing dry but I also had a bit of time in the garden planting out some of the contents of the collection that has been sitting either in my dining room or the patio. The heuchera, leucanthemum and a blue isotope have gone under the rowan tree and the bergamot into the west quarter.

Leucanthemum Madonna

Heuchera ‘chantilly’

Bergamot ‘Croftway Pink’

Ben was busy watching the paving stone cracks, while the blackbird has been finding the suet block is more of a challenge than the balls.

Monday

I’ve taken this week off work to try and get on top of ‘life’ including of course spending some more time in the Magic Garden. It was cool & grey again today but the threatened rain didn’t happen. I pulled out some weeds, deadhead some more geraniums and checked in on the sweetpeas and climbing beans to persuade them to twine upwards rather than their preferred horizontal. I also potted up the two ‘patio’ tomato plants, the bigger of which I’ve put with the courgette in the pop-up cloche. Ben spent sometime in the wilderness at the back before settling into his favoured fabric trough

Sunday

It was surprisingly cool today and grey but the rain has held off. I spent some time in the back corner pulling out nettles and chopping down the spent geraniums. I tied up the blackberry again and inspected the gooseberry bushes. I am pleased with how its settling out as a border but remains in the ‘wild’ corner. I’m very pleased with the white foxgloves as these came from collected seed from home.

I like the leaves & look of the red shiso plant that I bought yesterday but I’m not entirely sure about its taste - its quite astringent.

The garden is full of bees at the moment - I rescued this one from the spider’s web & cleaned the silk off its legs.

Saturday 4th June 2022

I spent this afternoon in the Magic Garden enjoying the sun.

I bought some anti-duck weed treatment for the wee pond today having taken out another bucket load. I’m pleased that the flags are coming out so there is a bit of yellow to be seen on the far-side of the pond. On the ‘rock’ garden the fox & cubs are out - I always think of my Dad when these flower as he called them the Gairloch weed and gave me the first ones for my garden.

The flag irises complement the blue dutch irises under the rowan tree. These always cheers me with their beautiful blue. I planted out a new scabious today too with another pretty blue at the front of the patio and further round a Chinese foxglove or dragon flower

I planted out the violet-podded climbing beans and potted up the yellow courgette plant to go into the pop-up cloche at the back of the garden. The other courgettes are not big enough to come outside yet. I hope the cloche survives a while as its a bit nippy at night still.

Platinum Jubilee bank holiday

I have had a lovely day off and spent the afternoon in the Magic Garden with Ben - I did a fair amount of weeding, tidying and took an enormous amount of weed out of the pond. Even after removing a bucket full of weed there was still loads left. The valerian has seeded all over the garden now from its place by the pond but as its loved by the bees I tend to let it be.

I’m quite pleased with the progress of the cauliflowers and the broccoli at the back of the garden and my salad troughs are doing really well and so far are not slugged so may be the copper tape does work. Ben wasn’t impressed and snoozed the afternoon away

Thursday 2nd June

Despite the Bank Holiday I was working today and watching blue sky through the theatre windows. I was sorry to come home to wet although it was just showers. I still had a quick look round and enjoyed a few moments of watching the birds at the feeders.

Wednesday

After another long day at work it was rather lovely to come home and sit in some sunshine in the Magic Garden. The nematodes against my sawfly caterpillars arrived today so I drenched the gooseberry and surrounding garden with them. I will follow up tomorrow with another drenching with the rhubarb leaf drench

I find something new to see each day - today the little aquilegia under the rowan tree gracefully swinging in the breeze while Ben was watching the bees

Tuesday

Its been disappointingly chilly today and damp. The bees weren’t deterred though and besides enjoying the white & blue centaurea & cirsium, have been helping pollinate the raspberries - I’ve totally failed on the photography front when it comes to this so only a blurred image!

My soft fruit crop is looking promising with the blackcurrants forming and the blueberries are still blooming too. I will get a little gooseberry crop but nothing on the vast amounts I used to get from my poor battered bush. I drenched it again in rhubarb leaf spray again and hopefully will be able to apply the nematodes tomorrow evening when I come back from work.