Sometimes things come together nicely. Last week one of my sisters paid me a visit and I told her about my nightly torchlit forays to hunt for slugs and weevils. A couple of days later an Amazon parcel arrived, containing an LED head torch. I often look at plants for sale online. I had been…
Six on Saturday – 29/7/2023
Nearly another month down and with plenty of moisture the garden is slipping into its overblown stage where the paths become impassable and it doesn't seem sensible to try and keep any of it especially neat. Suits me fine. Not having to spend two or three hours a day watering has also added to my…
If only you’d been there….
We had another two NGS open days this weekend just gone. Saturday was a dismal affair, it rained all day and only two people came. Sunday was very different, with a good turnout and fair weather. It hasn't been an easy season to get a garden looking good; too dry in the lead up to…
Six on Saturday – 22/7/2023
Oh dear, my short-list for this six is 13 items long. The garden has got its second wind, especially after a couple of weeks of cooler, wetter weather. We're open again this weekend, though the forecast for Saturday is pretty terrible so we're not expecting many people to turn up. I'm not much bothered, in…
Six on Saturday – 15/7/2023
St Swithun's day, or St Swithin if you prefer. I'm mildly impressed that someone has gone to the trouble of putting a detailed entry about him onto Wikipedia. He was the Bishop of Winchester from 852 to 863. He got credited with a whole bunch of miracles when they moved his remains on this day…
Six on Saturday – 8/7/2023
Horticultural highlight of the week was a Hardy Plant Society garden visit on Wednesday evening to Bucks Head House near Constantine. If you're anywhere near on a Friday afternoon, it's open for NGS; go. That's quite a long way from here, down the other end of the county and well over an hour's drive, so…
Begonias in the garden – 5
Only July and already I am writing about Begonias, stalwarts of my late or very late summer display. I continue to add more forms to my collection and such is the impact that some are already making that it seemed appropriate to write a few notes about them, even at the risk of having to…
Six on Saturday – 1/7/2023
July, half way through the calendar year. Today (Friday) I woke at six to the sound of water dripping; drizzly rain. It hasn't altogether relented all day and now, fourteen hours later, the rain gauge is showing that we have had 5mm of rain, less than quarter of an inch, for those of you still…
Six on Saturday – 24/6/2023
Midsummer is now dropping away in the rear view mirror, a thought I no more want to dwell on than the continuing dryness. We had 15.5mm on Monday, it helped.I have just come back from my allotment where I've been watering. It is 8:50pm. When I consider how much goes in to getting what modest…
Six on Saturday – 17/6/2023
I keep looking at the weather radar, which shows a respectable area of wet stuff heading straight at us. I'm expecting it to fizzle out, or fragment into showers, or veer to one side or the other or to split and pass on either side. We were open today, didn't get many visitors. It's somewhat…
garden ruminations 