I just looked out the window and noticed how autumnal next door's plum leaved thorn is looking; that seemed to happen overnight. It's raining and it's due to last all day. The poor old garden has been given a right thrashing this week and there's more to come. I don't like wind. Even taking pictures…
A propagation roundup
First thing this morning I popped up the allotment, then on to Trago. (Bought 350g bag Onion ‘Electric’ sets, or 102 bulbs, for £1.49; they’re £3.30 for 50 in my seed catalogue, but I digress) When I got back I emptied a quantity of Camellia seeds from my pocket, thinking roughly “you sad git, you…
Six on Saturday – 15/9/2018
I don't know how many different plants I grow, it's several, if not more. Some are rarities, some are not. Some are big and bold and brash, some so restrained they're hard to spot. I'm a gardener, I grow plants; for me, two different plants are more interesting than two the same. Each of us…
Allotment update – 12/9/2018
I meant this to be a monthly snapshot, but there has been slippage, my last allotment post being at the end of July. That was just after we'd had the first rain for ages but before anything was showing any benefit from it. My runner beans had cropped well through the hot spell, sustained by…
Six on Saturday – 8/9/2018
I was going to go and collect my onions from the allotment but it's just started raining. Today may not be the day I had planned. Tomorrow we're off down west to the rare Plant Fair at Tremenheere and a jolly round the Dahlia field at Varfell. I'm expecting it to be one of the highlights…
Dahlias
The honest truth is that I don't have much to say about Dahlias. I grow quite a lot, I love them. When I say quite a lot, I have around two dozen in the garden, almost all named varieties that I've bought, plus 56 seedlings that I've raised myself which are growing on my allotment. The…
Six on Saturday – 1/9/2018
I usually have to pretend I'm writing on a Saturday but not this week. A blizzard of a week, possibly; disorganised, certainly; bit of a sense of things slowing down, not so much changing from one week to the next, let's go with that. Six reflections on the colour red. One. I had a row of…
Top corner.
My polytunnel is tucked as far into the top corner of the garden as feasible but there is still a fair sized space behind it. Until late May the space was home to a large Magnolia, two large Camellias and a mix of hazel and cotoneaster, all making the tunnel rather shady. The Magnolia was leaning at…
Six on Saturday – 25/8/2018
The weather is completely back to normal, a bit of this, a bit of that, nothing to remark on. Except that the effects of the hot spell are still playing out, with early flower here and renewed growth there, meaning that it doesn't quite feel normal. At least there is more colour about now, with…
How to prune apples.
I read a blog the other day entitled ‘How to grow Alstroemeria’ which started with an apology for its pretentious title, used because confident titles attract search engine attention. I imagine there is a lot more written about pruning apples than growing Alstroemerias, so confident or not, I’m not expecting the world to sit up…
garden ruminations 