The Spring Garden

 

The weather is glorious, but the house is already getting hot. I'm glad I moved into the downstairs room in preparation for the heat.

Meanwhile, the garden is looking stunning. The Camelia is in bud,

 the Choisya is in full flower, 

and the Spring border is full of colour.

New layout

 

I decided to move the climbers and the Camelia from the yard, to the sunny side of the shed. First, re-sited the Camelia beside the Choisya. 

The Jasmine had died, so I bought a new, hardy, evergreen version - the Star Jasmine. 

I bought some netting to support both the Jasmine and President Clematis (in the blue pot temporarily), up the back of the shed.

I needed a new trough in which to plant the Jasmine and Clematis. It fits in front of the trellis that supports last year's blackberry, on the side fence.

The border in front of the shed is now full of perennial flowers and shrubs, and is beginning to mature and look wonderful throughout the year.

Beside the conservatory the pots fill the terrace with colour and scent, from Spring to Autumn.

Fresh Beginnings

 

Spring has sprung.

Despite the recent storms, the garden has survived pretty well. I've moved the bird feeder to its new place beside the Arbour Seat. The Arbour took another tumble against the fence, so the Carpenter who is installing the new raised bed and trellis is going to anchor it firmly for me.

The birdhouse has also been moved, and pegged down. It ended up across the garden twice in the storms and lost both its rabbit topping and the ceramic bird from the feeder tray. 

The crocus are coming along nicely. I had thought that the squirrels had been digging them up, but it looks as though they were burying the monkey nuts. 

Lots of white crocus, but no sign of the other colours yet.

Some plants have continued to thrive through the winter. 

This Santolina has grown and looks as though it will provide some flowers this season.

The Physic Garden is looking particularly healthy, with miniature daffodils and snowdrops.

In the main border, the common scabious has been flowering throughout the winter. 

Beside it, the miniature daffodils look very fragile and pretty.

The Carpenter is coming back in April, to build a large raised bed along the back of the shed. I hope the Camelia and a new Jasmine will be happier there.

Heading into winter

 

My gardener, Bex, spent her penultimate visit this year, tackling weeds. They're thriving in the borders and nooks and crannies of the hard landscaping. We talked about the raised border planned for next year's climbers for the back of the shed. I'm not sure if I'll get a ready-made or have one built in situ. One thing I do know, I want to keep all the bulbs that have brightened that part of the garden, and continue to do so as we head into winter. 

Alf continues to enjoy the garden. He was happily hunting among the shrubs and perennials while Bex was weeding in the Physic Garden.

He's tracked Rodney Rodent (s) to the yard, particularly the garden store and shed areas. Rodent-hunting is reserved for dusk and Dawn. The garden provides daytime opportunities for surprising pigeons and squirrels, 

and late-insects feeding on the late-flowering Sedum. This bumble bee barely escaped with its heavy load of pollen.

 

Planning next year's planting and hard landscaping cleaning and renovation. There are lots of back-issues of Gardening World to devour from the comfort of my favourite chair - if Alf allows.

Autumn in the Garden

I need to take stock of what needs doing before the winter sets in.

It's been a long time (too long) since I ventured out into the garden on my own. Alf is with his Pack, the sun is shining.  A quick check of the Physic garden shows that there's not much to do as most of the herbs have died back for the winter hibernation.

There's quite a lot of Autumnal colour, with berries, Sedum, Cosmos, and Salvia continuing to attract the birds and insects. I was going to cut some flowers, but they were covered in bees and flies, so I couldn't bear to bring them indoors.

The sunny border is thriving. Both fruit bushes are doing well. The trellis has been moved from beside the kitchen door, when the yard was cleared and tidied. The yard needs cleaning and the surfaces repairing before the frosts set in.

There's evidence of water-damage on the yard's wall - a common problem on the street which is built on a hill. No drainage was provided in the garden walls. I will have to see if this one is fixable without knocking it down.

On the opposite border, my gardener still wages fortnightly battles with ground-cover weeds and ivy. The Arbour Seat has not been used all summer, mainly because of adverse weather - both heat and wet - and also because the Dogwood was beginning to climb all over it. The Dogwood will need some hard pruning when all the leaves have fallen.

The Arbour seat itself needs a good clean and a fresh coat of paint.

Planned raised bed behind shed

I have made plans, with Bex, my gardener, to move the climbers that were in pots in the yard. The Jasmine will have to be replaced, the clematis will need repotting. The Jasmine didn't thrive in the pot, and can't be planted in the chalky soil, so there is a cunning plan to create a reaised bed along the back of the shed, with more trellis added there.

After only 20 minutes in the sunshine, I'm feeling brighter. A little bit of exercise (washing the yard) and my BP has dropped to 140/72. That may sound high but it's 40 points lower systolic reading than it was only a few days ago.

Heading into Autumn

 

The garden is still full of colour. The beginnings of the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness is about to begin. 

I am still harvesting the Black Cherry tomatoes. Despite a reduction in numbers, they are just as deliciously tart as I remember them. 

The Cosmos is putting on quite a long-lasting show, 

and Red Hat Lady Rose has a late flush of magnificent blooms.

I brought the last of the Sweetpeas in yesterday, 

then cleared the seed pods from the border. They do rather dominate the front of the border, to the detriment of the Sedum behind.

The last of the wildflowers is nodding its cheerful yellow heads beside the Arbour Seat. This year, I have hardly use the seat at all. It's been too wet, or too hot, or too windy.

The wild strawberry is providing me with some berries for breakfast, I was wrong in thinking I could leave them for the birds - they're just not interested.

As the herbs in the Physic Garden begin to seed and die down, I've ordered more Lemon Verbena, which I will keep in  a pot and bring indoors over winter.

The feverfew is spreading and still in flower. It makes a good tea to counteract migraine apparently. I sometimes have an ocular migraine - no pain but flashing lights, vertigo, and nausea. I will bear it in mind.

The garden is slowly beginning to prepare for winter. I am doing the same indoors. The first big move is that I will return to the main bedroom upstairs, where I get a better night's sleep in the darker months.

Foraging for crumbles

Recent foraging expeditions at home and away resulted in enough blackberries and elderberries to add to Mr Ocado's Braeburn apples to make individual low-sugar crumbles.

                                   

First, I need to prepare the fruit.

Elderberries must be throughly washed, de-stalked, and cooked for 15-20 minutes. Raw elderberries, as well as the seeds, leaves, and bark of the tree, contain a toxic substance. Eating or drinking raw elderberries or another toxic part of the plant can lead to nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. drain the juice into a jug and use as the basis for cooking the fruit in the crumble.

Blackberries wash thoroughly, de-stalk

Apples - Peel, core, chop into small chunks

I prepared the topping - flour, oats, butter, and sugar in the trusty, 30-year-old Kenwood Chef food processor. It had just finished mixing in the sugar when the machine started smoking, Need a replacement asap.

Topping made, I added the crumble mix to the waiting fruit-filled bowls and cooked it for 40 mins. 

I forgot to sprinkle the top with sugar, and the finished crumble went back in the oven for browning off. Didn't really work and I didn't want the fruit to burn.

I'm looking forward to using fruit from my garden next year. Raspberry and blackberry pie sounds good.