A Rain Check

Peony lactiflora "jan van leeuwen" and astrantia major

After heavy rain yesterday and having not done much since the TV crew were here I did a tour of the garden to take stock. The open garden Day is coming up fast. There's also a dress rehearsal next Sunday when the garden owners visit each others gardens. I'm probably more anxious about them having a look than Joe Public.....

A visit to a garden is always a snap shot of what is going on at any given moment. We all know that gardens evolve and never stand still.
It's amazing how some rain can really make such a difference to the growth of plants. Everything is lush and the plants are starting to knit together and the gaps are becoming less apparent. The down side of rain on sandy soil is that some of the plants such as roses end up flopping a bit.

Rose "Rhapsody in Blue" and Geranium "Tanya Rendall"

The giant Himalyan Lilies (cardiocrinum giganteum) are out at last and are well worth the wait.

There are also another rash of seedlings popping up which I may hoe off or hand weed. Lack of space will dictate the method of weeding. They do form a ground cover under the trees but letting them all go to seed might be a bit of a mistake.

The vegetables are also splashed with mud from the rain and the pigeons have made a nice snack of the small mange tout plants. I'm sure there's still time to re-sow.

The veg garden is always a work in progress and to that end I stand a fork or spade and a trug in the border ready to dig up our splendid new potatoes. (it gives the impression that there's work about to be done!) I still find digging up first of the potatot crop one of the most satisfying jobs in the productive garden. New potatoes and a sprig of mint - what a treat!

In addition to the ongoing strawberry crop (we picked about 3 kilos today) the raspberries are starting to ripen. Seemingly we have raspberry mite so I shouldn't get too carried away. Still it's time to get the nets on.

Glen Ample

  I picked  the sawflies off the leaves of the gooseberries and the redcurrant diligently every day(well nearly every day) but there must have been one or two that got away as we still had some damage. I've made a mental note to try nematodes next year.

The garden is full of challenges but seems to grow nonetheless.
What I would really like to see over the next few weeks is some warm sunshine. We're shivering here at about 13C! Slim chance of a sweetcorn harvest.......