Growth spurts, blooms and a gift for the garden

Finally things have started to move in the right direction. I’d been rather frustrated at the slow progress the garden was making and was continually having to remind myself that its only June and Monty Don’s garden is quite a few hundred miles south of where we are! How annoying the way he parades around his garden on “Gardeners World” surrounded by his blooms and making it all look so easy! Well I’ve got blooms now too!

Foxgloves – theses have self seeded and rather spectacular with their big spikes. We also have a purple, smaller variety.

Honey suckle getting ready to bloom

Rambling rector – a rambling rose that puts on a spectacular show year on year. Its just ready to get going in this picture

The conditions in our garden must be perfect for feverfew – this is growing everywhere its allowed and stems from one little plant that we bought several year ago.

I don’t know the name of this black leafed plant but we have had it for several years. It was in a different spot in the shade of the garage and really did nothing at all in terms of growth. We moved it to the cottage garden area and is clearly loving it. Even managed to flower this year which is a first. I’m actually considering trying to take a cutting (if I can work out how)

This anemone was my buy at the garden exhibition I went to recently. Its very pretty and makes a nice contraxt to the purple that seems to be dominating in the cottage garden area just now.

Catnip lady

Its all really pretty and starting to take shape. We are finding the chores are less of a chore as the garden is so pleasant to be in.

Our potatoes and onions are a roaring success which is in sharp contrast to everything else we have attempted to grow in the vegetable patch. I guess its all a learning process and have decided that next year we should grow from seed under cover until we have established plants, then they might be strong enough to cope with the elements and various problems of predators that seeds have to overcome. Weeds are also a big issue in the veg patch but I plan to do something about that this weekend and perhaps see if I can acquire some established plants to pop in. Perhaps some beans or peas… Dobbies here I come.

We have a lovely batch of strawberries and the slugs are having a little party to themselves. I found one ripe unaffected strawberry the other day and it was the sweetest most delicious strawberry I’d ever eaten (or maybe I’m biased). If I find another I have to give it to him indoors as he has been working very hard recently.

The highlight of the month has got to be our lovely new greenhouse. It finally arrived about a month after it was promised to be delivered, but I have to say was well worth the wait. My poor husband spent about 12 hours assembling it and ended up with really sore hands. I had to make him so many cups of tea that day! We have moved in the surviving tomato plants and various other plants that have been grown from seed. It’s looking really good!

Sweetpeas are my favourite flower, the scent of which takes me right back to my grandparents house when I was very little. I’ve never managed to grow them particularly successfully (despite the fact they are very easy to grow). This year I was determined and got some plants from the garden ice and early. I’ve planted them in three different patches and all all producing flowers at a steady rate. We also planted some seed into a barrel and they are doing really well.

Sweetpea