Summer

The hard winter has had a limited effect – not too much damage evident so far. Two small shrubs in tubs looked brown and unhappy, one in particular a ceanothus looked totally hopeless -- but in cutting back it seemed as though there was still healthy fibre and, amazingly, it is now growing vigorously. Where there’s green there’s hope?

All the general garden effort seems to have paid off. The garden is awash with flowers and blooms and am hoping that for the next few weeks there will be less basic work to do in the garden. I can just enjoy it. The lack of rain is causing the lawn to look a bit ragged but some feed and some water will keep it looking reasonable until ‘the rains’ arrive.

The tomatoes and cucumbers in the greenhouse are rocketing upwards and so far they look very healthy - no bugs evident but ready for whitefly if it appears. Saw slug trails - but slugs deterred round the cucumbers especially, without using pellets (the cats can get into the greenhouse) – by taking a cheap nylon sponge/foam roll, the sort used on a roller for painting, and salami-sliced some rings about 1 cms thick. Cut through to form a collar, and sprinkled with only a few grains of fine salt round the collar. The salt goes into the foam and the collar then fitted at the base of the plant. I remove the collar, of course, for watering. So far – no further signs of slugs. On the large bags used for salads near the house I’ll try coffee grounds to deter the slugs.

Back to the flower garden – dead-heading is a job enjoyed by ‘the one in-doors’ and that keeps the flowers coming on, and the perennials I might cut back later and at least they’ll put out new growth. The roses are hardly troubled by greenfly at the moment – hard winter effect perhaps? – but black-spot already showing and I’ll treat that with wetted sulphur.

Planning for next year, I shall find a warm spot in the garden, prepare the soil fairly finely, and sow some herbaceous perennials. I can thin-out and transplant later. I’ll do the same, for a change, with foxglove and hollyhock. Obviously I am planning to sow salad vegetables on a regular basis. Difficult to match freshly cut lettuce and rocket.

Unfortunately, I missed trimming a hedge at the right time and I suspect there are now nesting birds still in there – so I’ll have to squeeze past on the path by that hedge, grind my teeth and remember for next year. It’s beech so it’ll be late summer when it gets a trim.

My greenhouse, I discovered last year, is in a flight path – for young birds – so last year and now, I’ve made sure the birds can see the glass so to speak, and avoid untimely deaths.

My neighbour’s pond is looking clean and the vegetation is fairly restrained but the water level is dropping (no rain to speak of and evaporation) and I’ve suggested the use of the rain-water they’ve collected – it’s bright and clean – but if tap-water is needed then it will have to be added very gradually.