June's Floral Favourite's ...

Good Morning!

It's been a little while since I've had the chance to post on here so today I thought I'd share with you my favourite's from around the garden this month. 

Right back at the start of the month the Hebe 'Pearl of Paradise' of which i'd grown from a cutting came into flower. Even though they only flower for a few weeks of the year the blooms on this variety are well worth the wait.

Geum 'Tangerine' has also been flowering prolifically throughout the month ...

slowly followed by Geum 'Cosmopolitan'

My David Austin Rose 'Princess Alexandra of Kent' has produced some lovely blooms with a perfume to match.

The new variety of Cosmos called 'Xanthos' has recently come into bloom the past fortnight, so far the flowers are sparing but they are lovely to look at.

One of my favourite plants that I like to grow as an Annual each year are Nemesia's. Along with the Vanilla White variety dotted around the garden in Pots and Baskets I have a pot of the variety 'Easter Bonnet' of which you can smell straight away when walking past. 

The Hanging Baskets are slowly starting to fill out and establish themselves ...

Astrantias 'Rubra' and 'Buckland' have started coming into flower this past week ...

along with the Alstroemeria Inca Ice 'Koice' sitting outside the Greenhouse door ...

Finally followed by the first blooms from the Sweat Peas in the past 2 days.

Thanks for popping by, I hope you all get the chance to spend some time in your gardens this weekend!

HAPPY GROWING!

XXX

Garden Checklist ...

Good Morning!
Well I can't believe we're into November already!
Here are a few things you can be getting on with over the next week.

1. Rhubarb - Tidy up Rhubarb plants by simply pulling away any fallen stems that are below 45degrees, they should come away easily from the base with minimum effort. If preferred you can leave them until they have totally died back. Give them a good feed with a mulch but don't cover the crowns as this may lead to rotting. This is best on plants that are 5 years old or younger. If you have older plants you can dig up the crown and divide into separate plants.

2. Seeds - If you find yourself with a rainy day, we've had them all week! Now is a good time to sort through your seed collection, throw out any seeds that are past the expiry date printed on the reverse of the packet. However I do like to get rid of any seeds that are more than 2/3 years old. If you come across a few that you don't plan on using in the future but are in good condition, why not donate to a fellow gardener or local group?

3. Winter Protection- You can provide some winter protection for insects and hedgehogs in your garden simply by making a little shelter for them. I have used a broken pot laid on it's side in a place that doesn't get disturbed too often. I then filled it with a little soil and fallen leaves. Insects and hedgehogs will find their own way in.

4. Hardy Fuchsias - Protect Hardy Fuchsias planted outside from frosts by piling a thick mulch around the base.

5. Astrantia's - Cut down any dying stems on Astrantia plants down to ground level over the coming weeks.

Thanks for stopping by, don't forget you can find all the previous Checklists on the page tab above.

HAPPY GROWING!

XXX

Weekly Garden Checklist ...

Good Morning!
It's time for my Weekly Garden Checklist ...

1. Dead Heading - I know I may sound like a broken record but don't forget to keep up with the dead heading. Not just the with the Bedding plants either, Perennials such as Astrantia's and Phygelius as you can see below need it to. It will also encourage more flowering.

2. Roses -Keep an eye on Roses for signs of any Pests & Diseases, remove any affected leaves with Blackspot and if needed, spray the Roses with Rose Clear every 6 weeks. When spraying make sure you do it either early in the morning or late at night to limit the chances of it affecting any Bee's.

 Also don't forget to pick up any fallen leaves as that can help spread disease.

3. Lavender - Another plant to dead head is Lavender, as you can see here my French Lavender has finished flowering so it needs cutting back. When doing so make sure you cut back into growth where fresh growth is still visable, if you cut back into the woody growth there's no guarantee that it will grow back again.

4. Damp Down - If you are finding that your Greenhouse is reaching high temperatures during the day, damp it down by spraying the floor with a hose pipe. This will increase the humidity and help prevent pests such as red spider mite which thrive in those conditions.

5. Stake - Stake and help provide supports for plants such as Dahlia's and Lilies that can get a battering in the wind & rain, what looks good one minute can look like a bomb has hit it within a few minutes!

Finally I thought I'd leave you with a photograph that proves that a Reindeer isn't just for Christmas ...

Thanks for stopping by, don't forget you can find all the previous Checklists on the page tab above.

HAPPY GROWING!

XXX

Late Bloomers ...

Good Morning!

Today's post is a few snaps of what's still looking good in the garden! 

The Rose 'Joie De Vivre' had another flush of rose buds a few days ago and we were treated to this lovely bloom.

My small potted Dahlia is still going strong, unfortunately I don't know it's name as it was just labelled with 'Bedding Mix'.

One of my last remaining Cosmos plants is still going and this particular bloom caught my eye!

My pot of Begonia's is providing a lovely splash of colour by the conservatory door.

Along with the Dianthus 'Crimson Rim' ...

One of my Astrantia's under the shade of next doors tree has been flowering it's heart out too in recent weeks.

The Cherry Rudbekia still has one or two flowers going strong and I love the deep red.

Finally my Osteopermum has had another flush and is providing some eye - catching colour!

Thanks for stopping by,

HAPPY GROWING!

XXX

Blooms, Blooms, Blooms ...

Good Morning!

I added a Hardy Fuschia to the main border in the back garden earlier this week. I know your all thinking how on earth did I manage that considering how full my garden is already! Well I simply replaced another plant which was moved to the part of the garden behind the GH. Where there's a will there's a way! 

The Hardy Fuschia is the variety 'Hawkshead' and with it's beautiful white flowers it brightens up the space it's in. It's a great contrast to my other Hardy Fuschia which has striking red & purple flowers!

When planting in the border I always incorporate compost and some fish, blood & bone into the planting hole to give it a head start.

I then filled the hole back up with fresh compost and gave it a good soak!

In the same border the Astrantia's are flowering and with their dainty blooms I couldn't resist sharing them with you. These are perfect for Woodland areas or shade as they do well in those tricky areas.

TIP - If you haven't already started it's time to start cutting your Sweet Peas! I know you may be thinking that you don't want to but not only do they look lovely in a vase and fill your house with their perfume, but it helps promote more flowers on the plant so it's a win win situation!

Lastly another Rose in my garden bloomed this week and this one is called 'Champagne Moment'.
Me and Andy bought it last year and seeing that was the year we got engaged it's sentimental.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you all have a lovely weekend!
HAPPY GROWING!

XXX

A Summer Border ...

Good Morning!

Last weekend amongst the rain I managed to get my Summer border planted up at the front of the house. Usually you are meant to wait until the last week of May / first week of June to plant Summer bedding but I got impatient. It wasn't too far off anyway! 

So to start off I moved all the plants I needed so that they were ready, removed all the Primroses that were previously in the border and got a bag of compost ready for the planting. 

Before planting I positioned the plants first where I wanted them to go. I have used a combination of 'Yankee Doodle' Dahlia's and Antirrhinum's 'Day & Night'. I laid them out in a mix of the both.

When planting I added compost to each of the planting holes for every plant.

To finish the planting I added a top mulch over the complete border with the compost and watered in.

I repeated the planting in the back garden with my larger tuber Dahlia's. I have decided to position them in the border against the shed.

Before I go here's a few snaps of some plant closeup's I took the same day. Starting off with one of my Alliums 'Purple Sensation' ...

The border along the fence near the shed is full of blooms from the Geum's & Aquilega's.

The first Sweet Pea flower of 2014 has bloomed!

One of the Calendula 'Sunset Buff'' was starting to open ...

Finally the Hebe in the far corner has filled out and is showing it's blooms along with the Astrantia next to it which is putting on some growth!

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you are all still enjoying my blog.

HAPPY GROWING!

XXX

Catching Up ...

Good Morning!

In my Greenhouse the Tomatoes have certainly put on a lot of healthy growth, 2 of which in particular! I have a selection of varieties growing this year but the 'Sungold' seem to have shot ahead of the others. They're actually large enough to pot up into their final pots (although I don't have the space for this yet lol) but I managed to fit them in, just! I always use large plastic pots for my Tomatoes but there are a variety of other ways to grow them.

TIP - When planting tomatoes make sure you bury the plant right up to it's first set of leaves.

Over the past weekend I also finally managed to put something into my raised bed. Although there's not much in there atm there is more stuff to go in, but it's just not ready yet. So far there are some Spring Onions, Lettuce and a row of Radish seeds.

In the Garden I noticed that finally my Astrantia's are starting to show through the ground, I had to share as I was starting to give up hope on seeing these again seeing they were taking so long!

Both of my new Apple Tree's are coming into leaf ...

'Tickled Pink'

'Cox's Orange Pippin'

Remember those Grass plant plugs I shared a few weeks ago? Well they were ready to put up into some larger pots and are starting to put on some healthy growth, I think the 'Carex - Frosted Curls' (first on the left) is my favourite of the four so far. I shall have to get a better photograph of them each sometime for you all as this one doesn't do them justice!

Thanks for stopping by,

HAPPY CRAFTING!
XXX