windy day

Its been threatening to rain for about 4 days but hasn't managed it. Today it came very close and spitted a bit - but not enough to water the plants. I gave the toms some water anyway. It is really windy though - just when the plants started getting taller!

Planted the three fuchsia tubs today and put the last of the red geraniums in the hot bed.

There are a few gaps still but now I'm really trying not to buy anything else till next year (or the autumn at least). The gaps will just have to stay there for now.

We've been eating lettuce and salad leaves from the garden for a couple of weeks now as well as the herbs. The tom plants have some flowers now and got their first feed last weekend. The strawberry plant has some almost ripe strawberries so has now been covered with some netting. The strawberry planter seems to dry out very quickly though. In fact i've just eaten my first strawberry from the garden. Wow.

The cottage bed is definitely coming alive. There is a rogue red geranium in there though that I might just have to move.

The table is due to arrive on Thursday - really looking forward to seeing it!

Ant and blackfly control

Last weekend we had to start controlling some naughty little creatures that were eating my flowers. There were a couple of plants in the cottage border with blackfly so had to give them a bit of a spray. We've always had ants and I've always let them get on with their own thing even though they have nipped my ankles. However at the weekend i noticed they had practically killed one plant by having a nest underneath it. Also they were beginning to make quite a few mounds in the lawn so they also got a blast of any killer at the weekend.

The slugs are beginning to take over. No matter how many I throw into the bowl of beer there seem to be more and more and they seem to be getting a taste for more and more things. THis weekend the slugs will get it.

Photos are of the beds that are really filling out and there are bits of colour in their now. The hot bed isn't that hot yet though. The coreopis doesn't seem very happy as the leaves have gone wrinkly. The red hot poker came out but then lost all its colour and looked a bit washed out. The poppy came out and then the rain last week turned it into a black mush. There are the orange marigolds there which at the moment is the only colour in that bed.

The bed on the other side (still needs a name) was still a bit bare for my liking. I bought some more heuchera at the weekend. The garden centre had osteospermum which I love. I was trying to work out where I could fit them in. So rather than buying the pink ones I got some in orange and gold to go in with the heuchera. I think they are just annuals although i think the pink ones they had are perennials - so maybe some of those will find their way to my garden at some point. They are sitting in position waiting for me to plant them.

Pirton Open Gardens

Some lovely gardens again. Mum and dads the best of course. Especially the bonsai trees..

The other gardens weren't as in full bloom as much as last year. Didn't take as many pictures as last year. Had a lovely bit of cake though (thanks K).

My friends down the road had a garden market which was a great idea. Bought some Chinese bowls to put little plants in. And met lovely baby Rose.

The weather was great and all 700 programmes were sold. It certainly felt very busy for Pirton!

Behind?

Although my garden is growing it does seem to be behind other gardens in the area and the magazines. Maybe its because its the first year?

I was away at the weekend again so nothing much has been done. I've been outside for the odd hour or two after work, mainly to pick snails and slugs off the plants. They are beginning to take over.

It's been raining quite a lot of the last couple of weeks but been relatively warm as well. The plants for the fushia pots have arrived so i need to plant them up at the weekend.

Bank holiday weekend 2

We were away this weekend and visited our friends allotment and helped them plant some tomatoes.

On Monday it finally rained after a week of not doing so. And it rained and rained. Wearing my Glastonbury cagoule I managed to plant out some of the bedding - nicotina and pertunias and some of the cosmos.

The foxgloves have started to come out and everything else really seems to be growing.

Chelsea was fab

Read Tams review of the day.

I'll get some of my favourite pics up at some point.

My favourite gardens were:
The Laurent Perrier garden by Tom Stuart-Smith. It won best in show. It had the greatest trees. Plus i got some really good ideas for planting my side and back bed.
The Cancer Research garden by Andy Sturgeon. I liked the pools and the tree ferns.
The daily Telegraph garden by Arabella. The Japanese pool with the line of lillies was inspired. As was the mirror and slate behind the bamboo.

Oh and Cleve's garden. I liked his planting, the big ball and the path.

I liked the elevations garden because the planting was quite different to most of the others.

We saw lots of:
Iris's - which i don't have yet - but plan to get
Green and white - my fern bed is SO on trend
Aquilegia - I love it. There will be more in my garden. I saw all the ones I've already got in show gardens as well.
Heuchera - I may be unable to say the word but my garden is bang on trend

I managed not to buy any thing other than pimms but I do have lots more great ideas.

Dreaming of my design for Chelsea now - one day.

The day before Chelsea

And here is my garden...

Plus my first salad leaves

Pictures of the new bed..

and one of the barby.

The pictures aren't the best as it was so sunny. I'll take more in the week.

The sun is still shining

It has been a glorious week of sunshine and a lovely weekend. On Saturday I planted up the bed on the left of the garden. The bit near the house is in the shade most of the day but the bed gets sunnier the further up you go. I didn't want anything to over the top as that's what the sunny beds are for! The bit near the house had the phorium before but that has died since being moved. I've got 5 hostas on order for there. Then it goes to the bit where the grasses were. I didn't like them as it was too much of the same but now that there is bed in front and we've covered bits up so it is less uniform I've decided to go with the grass theme. So I've got some different grasses to go there. As we move up to the beginning of the (newly painted) fence I was going to get another phornium but then I saw some Cordyline at the garden center. When I went to buy it on Saturday I ended up getting a much smaller (and cheaper) one - it will grow. Then there is the photina "red robin" which is a bit of a funny shape because it used to get overgrown with the lavetera. Now the lavatera is dead the photina will get a chance to grow and I'll start shaping it next year. This is the point wher ethe bed starts getting a lot more sun and I've a sweetpea wigwam and planted some Daliah tubers. Then the bed ends with the lovely silvery shrub. At the front of this bed I've planted 5 Elijah Blue" and 2 Heuchera "coral". I read today though that Elijah Blue are meant to be in acid soil so I don't know how well they will do. There is also a Euphorbia here as well. Going back along the border into the shade are 3 more heuchera; 2 in lime green and 1 in purple. Then you get to the new grasses. I was going to get Carex frosted curls but they needed sun so I got a carex "milk chocolate" and a carex "northern lights" plus a chondspopetall tecturum (need to confirm that spelling!).

On Saturday we also put manure on the new bed by the house and dug it over. I'd like it to be a veg patch but most of it doesn't get enough sun. A bit does though and I'll put the tomatoes there. We also moved some other pots and containers (including the Japanese maple) onto the patch so it doesn't look bare. So that freed up the patio in front of the shed for the table, chairs and the barby. The new table and chairs will go on the slate patio at the end of the garden. They should arrive in July (by which time summer will probably be over!).

I also cut the lawn and trimmed teh edges. Our mower has broken. I think its just the blade but have been having problems finding a new one. In homebase on Friday I bought one that was far too large in a desperate bid to do something other than buy a whole new lawn mowe (wich is what I really wanted - one with a roller that does stripes!). Anyway on Saturday I actually borrowed the neighbours flymo. It annoys me that grass clippings go in the beds. But what I'm not sure about is whether all mowers do that or just flymos. If a normal electric rotary mower didn't shower the beds with grass then I might get a new one. Although I have promised D that I won't buy anything else for a while.

Sunday we relaxed, ate b-b-q, drunk Pimms and generally enjoyed the garden. Lovely.

Today I spoke to P and found out I need to water garden every day. So I'll try and get up 10 minutes early in the morning. Today I left work on time and despite waiting 20 minutes for the bus was still home well before 7 and had a good 90 minutes in the garden. I gave the beds a liquid feed as well as watering them with the sprinkler. I'd been meaning to do that for ages, ever since the tulips started dying back. I also feed the lawn with a lawn liquid feed. I'll try and do that every two weeks for a couple of months to try and get it looking nice.

May bank holiday

It was a lovely sunny bank holiday weekend.
I painted the fence and did some weeding. There are millions of little ash trees in the back beds.

daz made the new storage shed to go behind the shed so I was able to clear out loads from the shed which means I can now use it as a potting shed rather than a storage cupboard. we also tidied up the back area.

There are flowers and colour popping up everywhere. I've been cutting quite a lot of the tulips to bring into the house. The bed by the house has had a good succession of three different types. The other bed is definitely to crowded. I'm not sure the alliums will be able to grow properly. What I'm not sure about is whether I should lift the`tulips now and store them somewhere or move them next Autumn.

There are also lots of slugs about and I've started waging a war on them. They completely eat a delphinium plant.

Look at this little white flower - how pretty is that? I found that hiding away.