Hi GPODers!
24.08.2024 - 15:22 / ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com / Cathy
For the first time in many weeks, or so it seems, rain stopped me from getting out in the garden – no, that’s not true, it deterred me for a while but it wasn’t raining heavily so I girded my loins and went for a belated first-thing-in-the-morning ramble, ducking under drooping climbers and lifting my skirts (decorously!) as I passed overhanging borders. Taking my secateurs, I accomplished some deadheading whilst rambling, picked some tomatoes in the greenhouse, planted out some seed-sown Lychnis coronaria on the terraced beds in the rose garden and pondered what I might include in today’s Six on Saturday, the meme hosted by Jim of Garden Ruminations.
Having focussed recently on what’s wrong in the garden and what I was doing to rectify it, I thought I would share some of the current stars of the garden, things that always bring me pleasure when I see them, starting with the Busy Lizzies above. Except for that period a few years ago when they were not available due to widespread downy mildew issues, they are an absolute stalwart in the summer, performing in whatever conditions are thrown at them. They are one of the few plants I can tolerate in mixed colours, although I do sometimes seek out what I would call magenta (but are usually labelled ‘violet’) for certain pots. These ones are in pots facing north and in the shadow of the hedge, the latter having encroached a further foot or so outwards (and goodness knows how much upwards) this year.
New to me this year is this Gaura, G ‘Gambit Pink’, bought as a filler probably as late as early summer, and getting better and better. Making a statement in the border and a couple of Monday vases with its dark green leaves and magenta (yes, I like that colour!) blooms, I hope to add
The garden is definitely on the turn, but there are still treasures to be found. Helichrysum ‘Bright Rose’, for example, has flowered prolifically this year but, with all the other material, I had not cut it very often and the plants were covered in blooms that were not quite buds but didn’t look like spent flowers**. With little rain in August, it wasn’t as if they had ‘balled’ either but, whatever their status, I took advantage of their numbers and used them as a starting point for today’s Vase on Monday.
I clocked up 46 hours in the garden in August this year, up from 34 the year before, so I have clearly been busy one way or another. I don’t include things like preserve making in this total, but nevertheless found time this week to make my first batch of tomato chutney (recipe here). This time last year I had already made 3 batches and had enough tomatoes to make a fourth batch, which is perhaps as well as I may not have enough ripened tomatoes to make the minimum of three batches I need to keep me going till the next tomato season. Not only have they been very much later to establish and ripen than most years, but the beefsteak tomato ‘Burlesque’, that I grow to make things easier for the chutney-making process, is less than half its usual size, either not maturing as normal, or not the correct variety in the first place.
Asters, rudbeckias and heleniums can be glimpsed behind the giant oat grass, Stipa gigantea
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Including carbohydrates or carbs in meals can be confusing. What foods contain carbs? Which carbs are good for me? Which ones should I avoid?
Spinach is a cool weather favorite, with leaves that sprout up and grow rapidly in both spring and fall. It has a relatively short growing season, but its yield is impressive—if it has the right companion plants by its side to help it thrive.
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Header image: A NASA artist concept of future crews living and working on the Moon. NASA/Davidson
It has been busy in the garden recently, although perhaps it always is, juggling the less exciting seasonal maintenance with more gratifying tweaks and improvements. A number of new plants have been ordered, although where possible I have moved plants from elsewhere or used leftovers from those grown for sale. Meanwhile, the garden ticks over by itself, albeit slowing down but bringing joy with every new bloom, like a fresh flush of roses on ‘Strawberry Hill’ (above), currently awaiting a new structure to support its abundance of blooms during the season, now likely to be a winter project.