End of the Month Review July 2011

As all gardeners know gardening can be a bit of a mixed bag. This month's review highlights that.   I was going to concentrate on happenings in the kitchen garden in this month's review but I can't resist starting with the zig-zag part of the garden.

The view from upstairs shows that the garden has filled to the point I'm thinking about getting out the machete to hack a way through the jungle. The blue tiled table made by P and the Crocosmia "Lucifer" catch the eye.

 

Looking up the garden from the back door (Teazle cat and all) the sharp eyed among you will have noticed the pot in the right corner of the frame. Another tree?  Changes are afoot...

I love the effect of the grass stipa gigantea as it catches the sunlight and moves in the breeze. There were three of them in the original planting but two succumbed to harsh winters.

One of the highlights in the summer border is the lush foliage of melianthus major with its serrated glacous leaves. It has finally put on a bit of growth although it will never be as big (or flower) as it would in it's native South Africa.

The brick red flowers of the lily add a splash of deep colour. Lilies in pots are ideal for placing in various points round the garden.

 The mix of rhodohypoxsis has been flowering in this salt glazed pot all summer.

 I have gradually begun to introduce hardy geraniums and penstemons into the planting plan. Both provide colour and a wide choice of varieties. This hardy geranium came from a plant sale and was unnamed. The penstemon is Penstemon digitalis "Husker's Red". I think the two combine well.

 

Another combination that I really like is the Phormium tricolour,  the Heuchera "Purple Palace" the Tiarella and the Euphorbia rubra. The flowers of the tiarella and the heuchera are fairly insignificant in themselves but add a sparkle to the image.

Last but not least in this part of the garden is the Paulownia Tomentosa. It was grown from seed and is in it's second year. It would become a tree if I let it but that would be too big for the space so it shall probably be coppiced in future years. There are two others in the garden but they remain quite small. This must be the ideal spot for it, a warm south facing corner.

On to the productive garden.
I think may be a slight misnomer when it comes to the vegetables.

The fruit have given us a bumper crop. The strawberries are finally finished after weeks of fruiting. There's been an abundance of currants, gooseberries and the raspberries (although a slightly sickly looking) are cropping well.

 

In the vegetable border some of the heritage varieties have done well. The crimson broad beans gave the border some beautiful colour and some tasty young beans. The wonderfully named "Gravedigger" peas are sweet and in bountiful supply.  The courgettes, onions and some other root crops are doing well. Apart from the odd pigeon having a snack of the pea shoots these veg have been trouble free.

 Then we get to the potatoes and the cauliflowers....
 A touch of potato blight....

 

A bit of bolting...

We cut down the potato haulms and binned them. The actual crop doesn't seem to have been hit by blight. Time will tell.
And  the cauliflowers are being fed to the hens.
Other  vegetables and salad crops sown later in the season have also bolted. I think it's probably down to the weather and in particular, the lack of rain.

Looking on the bright side we still have sweetcorn, tomatoes, plums and apples to look forward to in the next couple of months.

Join in the end of month review at Helen's site and have a look at what is happening in everyone elses garden.