POTTERING IN THE GARDEN

The weather has been very pleasant - not too hot and not too cold - just like Goldilocks and the Three Bears.  Just right, in fact, for a gentle potter in the garden, doing all those undemanding, rather time consuming, jobs.  

1. The Long Border

In the long border, I've been cutting back all the browning stems, deadheading and tying in flopping plants.  





2.  The Box Hedging

I've cut the box hedging and the stand alone pieces that are cones or pyramids or something.  This has been done with trepidation in case cutting them allows in the dreaded box blight, which we've not had yet.  I chose fine sunny days with a light wind and low humidity, so now it's a case of fingers crossed and hoping for the best.

By the way, I've cut everything by eye (no canes or string or measuring) for the country garden feel and not because it seemed too much of a faff. 




3. Teeny weeny weeds

I read a review of a garden once where the writer complained about the bare soil.  I would rather see weeds than bare soil, they wrote.  I'm firmly in the opposite camp.  I rarely have the time to remove all the teeny weeny weeds, but it is so satisfying to do it and see all the lovely crumbly brown earth instead.  (And the cat likes it too, but the less said about that the better).




4. Up close and personal

I recall Alan Titchmarsh writing that he liked weeding because it gives you the chance to get up close to your plants and enjoy them.  Here in this weeder's eye view of the Rose garden borders, are the Penstemons I grew from cuttings last year, and behind them the Sedums covered in bees.



5. Courgettes

I love courgettes, but my success in growing them has been hampered, I think, by lack of watering.  The only year I've been really successful with them was the year the tap was leaking, and the resulting overflow was diverted to the courgette patch.

This week I've taken to watering them at least every other day.  So far its looking promising.



6. Red Peppers

A few weeks ago I wrote about the peppers I had grown from seed. I'm please to report that they are now turning red.



That's all from my garden for this week, but there are plenty more to visit on The Propagator where gardeners from around the world share their Six on Saturday posts.


 


Comments

  1. The border still has plenty of colour for this time of year.

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    1. The dahlias are the best bit at the moment. The other end of the border is not so floriferous.

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  2. I love weeding too, getting my hands in the earth...and yes your watering is paying dividends with the courgette. Have a good week gardening.

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  3. You're right! ... The cat loves having a soil without weeds! And there are weeds ... and weeds. Some are cool and others are painful so the chore of weeding is essential, that's what I'm going to do this afternoon! My peppers and chilies have a second life, the mild and wet weather made them bloom again and I have a lot of new fruits. Yours are very pretty and look tasty.

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  4. I do like a bit of box hedging and topiary. I have several box balls and cubes and I always worry about the dreaded blight. The Long Border is a riot of colour. Lovely.

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    1. Fingers crossed the dreaded blight passes us by.

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  5. What lovely red peppers in such small pots, by comparison! I have to remind myself, my best green peppers were grown in a plastic cat litter container!

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    1. They get watered with the tomatoes so get their feed too. I think that's helped keep them growing despite the small pots.

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  6. You have a lovely long border, just packed with plants.

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  7. Sigh, space envy. I'm a happy weeder but an hour on hands and knees and I can barely stand up. Perhaps on reflection, not so much space envy after all.

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    1. If I spend too much time kneeling when I weed my knees pack up. I read somewhere professional gardeners weed standing up - but that just makes your back stiff instead in my experience.

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  8. It’s worse when the neighbourhood cats like your soil without weeds!
    Your long border looks magnificent. I’ve made a note to myself to plant more dahlias in my borders.

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    1. Dahlias (and rudbeckia which are less work) seem to be the best for late summer impact.

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  9. The long border has filled out - it’s looking wonderful. There must be a lot of work involved in shaping the box plants - I do hope that the dreaded blight escapes your garden.

    I’m with you on removing weeds (and for me - fading plants too) and being left with bare soil (raked). I think it also shows that you care and are willing to pay attention to small details - and put some work into it. I don’t mind weeding, as long as I don’t have anything more urgent to attend to in the borders.

    Congratulations - those red pepper look fabulous!

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    1. Thanks Catherine. The box plants are much quicker to do now they are larger and I'm prepared to be less reticent about cutting too much off.

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  10. Oh my goodness, your long border looks incredible. Healthy plants and well dead-headed. Top work Hortus!

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  11. What a beautiful garden! Those peppers look great too :)

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    1. Thanks Nikki. The peppers are going in the oven tonight, stuffed with tomato and feta cheese.

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  12. i do hate to see bare soil, but i also hate to see weeds, and as you say, weeding is such a quick impact task. my preference would be to stuff the space with more legit plants! your dahlias in the long order look splendid. mine are beginning to recover from being eaten alive, but that has required lifting them and putting in pots on the patio. i just have two 'cafe au lait' left in the ground, too big to be more than mildly inconveniences by the slimy enemy. the earwigs are doing their best, mind....

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    1. I think the solution is to buy more Dahlias. If you have lots and lots the S&Ss won't be able to eat them all 🤣

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  13. Those tall dahlias have caught by eye. I wondered if they were 'Admiral Rawlings'? Re bare earth: I'm afraid I would be in line for a lot of criticism. We grow a lot of spring plants, a lot of snowdrops, especially, and they are in areas which are dry and shaded in summer, areas which are challenging to fill and I don't put myself to any great pressure to do so - there are other areas which have interest. I reckon we finished the courgettes today - breaded and fried for lunch! Many thanks for a very enjoyable read.

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    1. Your courgette recipe sounds yummy. I'll give it a try when they are ready to eat. The tall dahlias are Karma Naomi.

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