Catching Up - Diary Update

Ooooooops - almost a month has lapsed since my last diary update. I'm not sure where that time has gone but needless to say I've been busy. June seems to have been quite a dry month so far and we could really do with some of the wet stuff at the moment. Whilst parts of the south of the country received more than a month's rainfall yesterday there were just a few spots here and looking at the forecast no sign of any on the horizon in the immediate future. It has been cooler during the last few days though which has made it easier on watering duties.

The new raised beds are beginning to fill out. One is planted with a wigwam of 'Cobra' climbing French beans, a wigwam of about to come into flower sweet peas and 'Sunburst' patty pans. I sowed some 'Romanesco' courgettes for a bit of contrast but not one germinated. The seed was past it's sow by date though but still worth a try and note has been made to order some afresh. In the other bed there are herbs, calendula, shallots, enough for a meal or two of dwarf French beans, beetroots, a trio of sunflower 'Procut Plum' anemone coronaria 'Mr Fokker' and some strawberries. There are plans to put up a third bed but where remains to be decided.  The new apples tree which looked like a mere stick when it arrived has grown but I expect that it will be a few years before it produces a decent crop so I will treat us to a mature specimen before the year is out.

Work on the ongoing 'Lockdown' border also known as the 'Border Of Doom' continues. This like a lot of the garden has suffered whilst there were not really enough hours in the day to tend to garden and allotment. It is about thirty feet t long by four feet and is sadly riddled with marestail. I've come to the conclusion after years of battling with the stuff that there's no way to get rid of it so it's a case of living with it. However I was dismayed to see it also raising it's ugly head in the new raised beds which were filled with a newly delivered vegetable growing medium this spring. Grrrrrrrrr! 

Meanwhile the 'Lockdown Border' in search of a new name is slowly being replanted. I have planted a few annuals in it this year but in future the plan is that is filled with perhaps two or three roses, mainly perennials as well as some annuals/biennials that can either either be sown in early summer September or sown directly in the ground. The colour scheme is purples, mauves, orange, burgundy, plums and perhaps some bronze shades. It is going to take some time to sort out and is still very much a work in progress. Giving me most pleasure there at the moment is papaver 'Patty's Plum' (photo above) who although planted last spring didn't flower last year.

More seed sowing took place in late May and this month of hesperis both mauve and white, lunaria annua 'Chedglow', calendula and foxglove and I hope to sow some sweet william this weekend. I planned to sow some wallflowers but so far haven't been able to track down the desired colour. Then a bit of a rest from seed sowing until the September sown annuals when another year starts. 

There have been some most enjoyable garden visits squeezed in too - one to a local beautifully maintained and planted NGS open garden and the other to a famous garden which we had not visited for some years. More of the latter visit very soon. Needless to say plant purchases were made at both but I'm pleased to report that especially when it came to the first garden my purchases were on my wish list rather than falling into the spontaneous buy now and think where I'm going to plant it later category. Another diary update soon hopefully.

P.S. Although there wasn't a single hint of rain on the last Met. Office weather forecast I saw before going to bed yesterday there was some considerate rainfall in the night. Even though the sound woke me up at some unearthly hour it made me smile.