Friday

Ben is surprisingly chirpy today and has had a day indoors while he still has his donut on and while I was busy at work. I said hello to the garden!

Thursday

Today has been busy because Ben has been in vet hospital having a small cyst removed. I kept myself occupied in the front garden today planting out heucheras and pulling large amounts of weeds. Ben came home with his soft cone on and is barely miaowing to me but he is fine if a little wobbly on his paws

Hollyhocks

Herchera Cafe Ole

Heuchera Silver Scrolls

Bronze fennel

Heuchera Red Lightening

Heuchera Paris

Heuchera Midnight Rose

Heuchera Licorice

Acanthus Spinosus

Sea Holly

Geranium Johnsons blue

Heuchera ‘Mega Caramel’ PBR

Heuchera Pink Panther

Heuchera Lava Lamp

Much Cooler!

Both Ben and I are happier with the temperatures down to a temperate 20C today. Once I came home I sat in the Magic Garden with Ben having noted that it had mostly come through ok after its thorough watering last night. I think the roses are over faster than they would have been which is a shame as they really did demonstrate the importance of pulling the shoots horizontal to increase flowering.

I was pleased to find the chard had revived & under the black elder the Japanese anemones are just coming into bloom

I think the flowers that have really shown their worth this year for the bees have been the echinops, globe thistles. The bees seem to find these particularly attractive together with the liquorice agastache and the white lavender in the rock garden.

Hotter still

36C here today, ridiculously hot! I was out for a short time but it was really too warm to do more than take the hose round and then water the tomatoes.

I’m hoping my patio vegetables survive this weather -the courgettes and tomatoes are looking good but the rainbow chard was looking very sad.

Heatwave Monday

I’ve not ventured into the Magic Garden today because I’m keeping Bencat indoors - its still 28C now at 2100 at night.Yesterday’s 24C seems quite cool now! Its supposed to be hotter tomorrow so we shall see how we do at keeping cool.

Warm Working Sunday

I had to go to work today but even when I got home at 6pm the temperature was 26C. We’ve had some rain but even so I decided a quick watering was in order before I had a sit in my rocking chair and enjoyed just being out and doing nothing beyond watching the birds - my long tailed tits are especially fun to watch..

I skimmed off a lot of duck weed from the pond yesterday and together with some rain I topped it up. I gave it a “treatment” dose today & will re-skim later in the week. I planted up the two pumpkin plants I bought the other day, one into the random bag where I’ve plonked the sunflowers & garlic and the other into some fresh compost in one of the fabric pots.

Warm Saturday

Its been warm here today although not quite to the heatwave levels of further south. I got quite a bit done this afternoon at the back of the garden with a bit of pruning and tying in of bramble, rose and jasmine. I then took the heads off my kale that’s trying to go to seed and pulled up the remains of the cauliflowers.

I dug up a couple of the garlics & planted out the red ball Brussel sprouts both at the back of the garden and in a trough. I harvested some courgettes too

Friday

I spent all afternoon in the Magic Garden beyond a few minutes sheltering during a particularly pelting rain shower. There were various jobs to get on with so I started by weeding the back corner - I don’t mind a few weeds but occasionally they threaten to strangle the other plants. I tied the blackberry up to the fence and encouraged the jasmine towards the fence at the back. I then planted out a rather lovely dahlia “Bishop of Llandaff”, two different Coreopsis & Gailardia & Rudbeckia “Prairie Glow”.

I picked more blackcurrants and raspberries today and my redcurrant crop. The broad beans are doing really well and show it does work growing them in a trough. Similarly I’m picking salads and rainbow chard.

"North" Quadrant

I did quite a lot of work in the “North” and “East” quadrants of the Magic Garden today. The “north’ quadrant stretches from the oak tree to the asters - this is the first collection of the plants in it. Next lot tomorrow!

English Oak

Catmint

Echinops - globe thistle

Perennial geranium under the oak

Heuchera

Silver thyme

Tuesday

Its still muggy & warm here but has been grey and cooler this afternoon I did very little in the garden today beyond water & despair at my cauliflowers. Ben is sporting an Elastoplast over his scratched cyst to try and keep it clean - I fear that will be another vet visit soon.

Back home

I had a very long hot journey back home today. I’m very pleased to be home and very tired. Ben cat is not very impressed as I have put another new collar on him - he’s been fighting. I was pleased to find I had some nice raspberries to consume for tea.

Mum's Garden 2

The weather has been drier today but only the shortest moment or two of sunshine. I again did a pile of stuff in the garden including planting out some very indifferent sweetpeas and pulling up armfuls of bracken and horsetail. I then cheered myself up with a a quick visit to another Ben, the owner of Garden Cottage Nursery just north of here & near Inverewe Gardens. The plants I bought were for Mum’s garden but I did do a bit of ‘window-shopping’ for my own too!

I bought 2 geraniums, a delicate dark leaved one for the alpine bed and another one that has gone under the clematis behind the pond. Beside this and between two supermarket heucheras I put in last time I was home I have put two contrasting heucheras.

I also bought two Bergeranthus glenesis - these are rather interesting as they open their flowers after the heat of the afternoon & are very pretty. I will endeavour to catch them open tomorrow as they had closed again by the time I planted them.

Busy day

I’ve been a bit on the busy side today and conscious that I’m going north again tomorrow so have done some major watering and will need to do some more before going north tomorrow. I also got round to planting out some stray plants that will hopefully settle in while I’m away. In the north quadrant I planted a stray from the front garden and am bemused at how much slug damage it has already sustained.

I planted out a silver feather centaurea today - I am looking forward to seeing its pink flowers in the west quadrant. Its filling in a gap and I’ve moved a lavender to make it fit better. Hopefully the lavender will do better too as it was too much in the shade before and hadn’t settled into the ground.

Overall I have to say Ben’s attitude to the Magic Garden is relaxed! I’m pleased he leaves the catnip plants alone mainly and there are several getting well established including this one in the north quadrant.

Working Monday

I was late home from work today but still paused to enjoy the garden. Each year I enjoy the appearance of my Arisaema - I’ve forgotten exactly which one it is and each year I make a mental note to get some more so may be I will this year! I like the snakes head appearance complete with forked tongue.

It is very windy again this evening but dry so after a few moments sitting in my rocking chair, it was out with the watering can!

There’s not much space left but I have identified some unoccupied paving stones! Ben is beginning to find it hard to pick his way round the patio pots and troughs.

Sunday

I went down to North Shields Fish Quays today as there was a plant stall at Low Lights for charity. I bought a borage, red orach & a persicaria red dragon.

In my ‘alpine’ troughs my sempervivum are blooming - much more exotic in flower than I expected. I think I will try taking ‘cuttings’ again from these - some of the wee rosettes should take I think with a new crop of flowers next year.

I took out some of the red valerian from both the north and east parts of the central Magic Garden where it was going to seed. This left room to place one of the bush fuchsias that I bought recently that I hadn’t found another home for. I stopped to do some more dead heading and I also trimmed back the arch a bit - I think I will take it out entirely this autumn as an idea that hasn’t really worked. Ben watched all activities with interest.