Hello Garden...I'm home...

...how have you been doing while I was away?

Home

The garden...when I go away in spring, summer or autumn there is always the worry about the garden.

This year I found 'a man'.  CADDT have an office just round the corner so I called there and asked if they knew someone who would be willing to 'keep an eye' on it and water when and where necessary while I was away.  It worked..  For the vast fee of £10.00 a week a very nice young man came and took care of the watering and basic grass trimming.

OK - so the garden wasn't a show-piece when I got home but hey, £10.00 a week...that is slave labour.  The garden was alive and very much a jungle of growth.

It still is...I will tell you why later but first a few pictures...

Divinely scented yellow jasmine

Double orange day lily

Crocosmia, Lucifer.

Lacy Hydrangea

Single day lily, Pink Damask

So...there are plenty of flowers and colour.
Though lots of things are 'over'.  Strawberries are definitely over, but black currants and red currants looking amazing.   Some of the black currants are a bit over ripe.

The 'mange tout' peas are just beginning to fruit.   The courgettes too.  But the everlasting spinach is going to seed.   Weeds abound in the strawberry, spinach and radicchio beds.

The remaining sweet peas and poppies that I managed to salvage from digging Seren are beginning to flower.  The Marguerites need to be cut back, they are over but I should get a late flush of the daisies if I cut them back now.   They have self-seeded everywhere and are even growing out of the concrete.

Another  hardy 'doer' is the buddleja.  The big one was a weedy specimen I pulled from between the concrete slabs at Yew Tree House a couple of years ago.  Now it is a fountain of purple and covered in all kinds of bees and butterflies when Jonah and I looked at it in the sunshine today.

So here I am chatting about my garden - and lamenting mildly about the weather, the way the garden is a bit of a jungle.  Four years ago though, there was no garden, not in the recognised sense of the word.  So here is the annual comparison of pictures...a bit later than usual but not enough to make that much difference, still summer.

Looking towards bottom left corner

Looking towards bottom right corner

It was a rather sad place.  How anyone could voluntarily live and look at this day after day  is something I can't understand....

Well, it's a jungle now, 4 years later, and still needs attention but here is how it looks this morning.  Photos are taken from the same places I took the above photos.

Looking towards bottom left...but you can't see it now for growth.

Looking towards bottom right corner

Now, for the past few weeks I have been enjoying produce from the garden, potatoes, currants, peas, spinach, courgettes, not to mention herbs of all kinds....so, an indifferent summer notwithstanding, I will stop moaning ....

Gardener's Delight variety

The tomatoes are there and with a bit of sunshine and warmth they may ripen.
The same for the apples, a little Orange Pippin

Hope they swell some more and ripen.

One of the goals I kept in mind when planting this garen was that it had to be a fun place for children.  Children play in a garden, although they need to respect it they also need to enjoy it at every level possible.   Leah and Jonah seem to love mine for all kinds of games...hide and seek is a favourite.  There are plenty of hidey-places.

Scooting off ...to hide?
No!  ..."I hun'gee Marnie!" in answer
to my shout that supper was ready!

One of the nice things about going away is that we can bring things home as a memento of a holiday...

My memento this year took on a rather surprise element as I wasn't intending to buy anything...

I was trawling through ebay looking for curtains for young S, soon to move into her own house, and found a pair of out door cushions.   I'd wanted bright cushions for my bench so I had a look.  Ah, no bids and auction to close in an hour.   I bid 99p, the current level of bidding.   Bear in mind the outdoor cushions go for about £16 to £20 each....  I won the bid and the cushions were mine.   BUT, oh dear, they were collection only!   I thought maybe they would be in some place too far to make it worthwhile, but guess what?   They were a 4 mile detour on the way home.   R kindly made the detour and look at the new garden cushions!   99p...

eBay bargain cushions...99p!
So the bench gets a holiday memento.

Shortly after coming home a midge or mozzie bite I had sustained on the way home, probably in Dorset somewhere, developed into a nasty problem knocking me out of garden commission (or any reasonable activity of any kind) for almost a week while doctors found an antibiotic to treat it with effectively.   I can't take penicillin.    So the garden is still a jungle....I am so far behind any chores that it is becoming more and more of a jungle ....  BUT...I am absolutely fine now, no more excuses for a jungle-garden.

Things need cutting back, tying in, roping up, cutting down, planting out...harvesting!  On and on....

WHY, on this cool Saturday morning am I sitting here tapping this post?   Why indeed?   My hat, my boots, my gloves...let me get out there without any more delay!

Chat to you again soon...happy gardening.