Updates on the garden

The weather is still rubbish, chilly and windy and rainy sometimes. I'm afraid it may well set back many of the plants I have planted out.
No further evidence of the rabbits or cats.
Ray witnessed a big rumble in the jungle this morning between two magpies, two blackbirds, starlings and a plucky sparrow.
I planted some annual climbers but if they get too blasted by the wind I still have plenty more waiting in the wings to take over their places.
We have planted some water plants in the pond and I am thrilled to see the water lily growing so vigorously. However I hope the ripple effect from all the wind won't set it back. Oh, and the young starlings who have all turned up seem to have a death wish and keep trying to jump on the leaves to get a drink. I must put an escape ramp in soon!
We have discovered that the patio (gravel, yuk) isn't actually level. We have discussed putting decking in instead. It's a pain because I really don't want to be doing that on top of everything else we have done this year. Might have to wait.

A planting day

Lovely day in the garden, lovely perfect sunny weather at last. Ray got the lawn done and used his new strimmer, which although tiring was mucho better than his last one. Good thing this one starts, too!

I did a bit of planting, an Oriental Poppy, a Nandina Domestica, a Water Lily and a marginal American Iris. The Water Lily was a bit of a performance, I repotted it first into the biggest pot I could and it was ridiculously heavy. I had to drop it in at one end and shuffle it along. I also did some weeding and general tidying. All in all a very satisfying day in the garden, and stress-busting too because I was very stressed out in the morning having not slept well and with some worries and hassles on my mind.

Lovely cottage garden and a donkey

Today we went to see my friend who is recovering from an operation. She has a lovely low-maintenance cottage-style garden which is mainly shrubs and a few perennials, quite a bit of lawn, but looks absolutely charming, even the rougher bits.

And on the lawn there was Sam the donkey. Yes, the donkey. He is an absolutely lovely old boy who is mourning the passing of his friend, my friend's pony who used to share his field with him. He was keen for apples and biscuits and allsorts though, very sweet and tame indeed, just like our dog but steadier. What a charming experience. And my friend seems quite well too, which is good news, although she can't do very much physically for a while.

It just illustrated to me how you can still have a very charming garden even if you don't have all the annuals and things I have grown this year. In a few years ours will be fully mature and flowers should be dripping from the shrubs everywhere. I think more shrubs will find their way in to the mix over time, because they are easier and very interesting in their season. My garden is looking just great except the lawn is growing a bit too fast and it's too wet for Ray to mow. Oh, and so many things haven't really taken off yet. There's only a little more planting now to do for this year.

The bad news is that the bananas have been fairly decimated by the recent strong winds. They had been overwintered indoors and so their leaves were very tender, even though they had been outside in pots for a couple of weeks. It's just unfortunate that as soon as they were planted in the ground the horrible winds came. Still, there is plenty of time for them to grow new leaves this season and hopefully they will be tougher leaves because they are now growing in the full force of the weather. I hate what wind does to the garden though, it's as bad as frost in some ways.

Cat deterrents and rabbit repellants

So yes, hmmm, that little bunny has been seen a number of times going under the gate into the back garden from the front. Touch wood I haven't seen anything nibbled yet.

The other problem is cats, we find them stalking the birds by the bird feeders and jumping over the back fence and leaving their dirt in my bark mulched border.

We went out and bought a number of deterrents. We got another electronic cat scarer (we already have two Catwatch-es but the garden is 120 ft x 120 ft, just at the back, so another won't go amiss. Do they wear out?

Also we got the usual assortment of get off my garden type granules and some Silent Roar. The guy at the garden centre is very keen on birds and says he has found some success with Silent Roar, which contains essence of lion dung. Haven't actually put that down yet, or the granules, the weather is so wet it would all run away and also perhaps the cats will be deterred by the wet weather anyway.

Also we bought three "Piss Off" plants or "Verpiss Dich" in german. It's Coleus Caninus and it has a strong foxy smell, which is supposed to put off cats. It also would surely deter rabbits then? So they have been placed in strategic spots. Apparently it is tender and one should take cuttings to be assured of more plants for next year. Oh what fun.

Of course if we trial all this stuff at once we will never know which one worked. Hmmm.

Also my husband put some boards under the gate (which is little used by humans) and, as we had found a hole in the border next to the gate, he blocked that off too with a stone. We await further developments.

A rabbit in the garden

So today I was planting out new plants like mad, mainly Verbena Bonariensis and Nicotiana Sylvestris, and some other bedding stuff too. It was hard and hubby and I had a big spat when he saw the mess the garage is in. Well that's because when I have finished gardening and I am totally exhausted I tend to dump everything in the garage, and another big dump run is due. Anyway the air was cleared and we are lovers again now.

The bad news is I think I saw a fresh molehill in the front garden tonight when I was taking the wheelie bin out. I put the sonic mole scarer right near it in the hope it will make it get lost. There is some tarmac at the base of the drive that appears to have been burrowed out as well! To add insult to injury while I was doing it I started a rabbit, which ran from the front garden into the back, where all my new plants have just been planted. Arrrgh!

Planting out bedding

So, as Titchmarsh-san my sensei says that we can generally start planting out from mid-May in this part of the country, I started today. I planted some white Cosmos and some Calendula (my oh my don't they look disgusting with their floppy stems and leaves?) and also the Malva, Magic Hollyhock. I hope they are magic and don't get rust, and that the deep purple color doesn't turn out to be too horrible.

We went to our local garden centre at Groveland and got some outrageously magenta colored Verbena and Pelargoniums, all things that I wouldn't have thought I would be planting, and then on to the local DIY place for some common or garden marigolds. I have some Tagetes coming on in the greenhouse but sir wanted some to surround his newly planted tomato plants and protect them from pests, so we bought some. I love orange plants but I hope we will not be too much of a symphony in tangerine this summer!

Went to the Norfolk Garden Show

It was a bit disappointing really, but having said that there were some lovely plants to be had and I'm sure some of them were bargains. Unfortunately we didn't take advantage of most of them because the weather was so hot, we were experiencing a bit of an early heatwave. Our feet were tired and our hearts weren't in it.

I do think it is ridiculous that you have to carry all your purchases a long way to your car. If you were to have bought something big, you can get your car round near the stand you bought it from and pick it up. We did that with a barbecue last year. But when you buy plants here, plants there - sure you can leave them behind their counters while you look around, but by the time you have to go back to the car with them all, it's a bit much.

They should have shopping trolleys of some kind, but they would make an awful noise on the tarmac and there would be awful obstructions. So I don't know how to do it.

Anyway I was a bit cross that I saw a lot of lovely things but didn't buy very much. Went to the local garden centre today and made up some of it there. Can't find any decent oriental poppies though, which is disappointing too. Maybe I've missed the boat on them, have they all flowered by now?

Norfolk Gardening Show

I'm quite excited today because it seems I am getting time off for good behaviour and we are off to the Norfolk Garden Show in Norwich at the Showground. The weather is set to be very hot (which is not necessarily a great advantage in my opinion, as I don't get on that well with walking around in the heat). But it should be really nice and fun to see a lot of new things. I hope I don't come back with too many plants as I already have loads to be planted out which I have grown from seed and rhizome.

Planting up those whiskey barrels

So as I was saying we have some half whiskey barrels that will need planting up. Currently they are in the front garden making a mark on the lawn. It works well but they get long grass around them which needs strimming.

Grass strimming is a sore point here as the Mccullough one we bought last year has proved to be awful, it takes ages for my husband to get the darn thing started and then it doesn't seem to do the job all that well and cuts out at every opportunity. Therefore he bought a new Ryobi one online, with high hopes. Picked it up, remarked that although it was heavy it was also very well balanced, he was pleased - until he tried to get it started. Put succinctly (not like me!) it doesn't start. The supplier hasn't been over-helpful but they are picking it up tomorrow and promise a decent turnaround on returning or replacing it. Awkward ****ers, in this day and age, if you ask me.

Anyway, the barrels are now empty of plants but of course full of compost. I am having to dig out all the compost in order to render them moveable. Then they are going to be put by the garage which is now adorned with trellis, mainly for climbing plants of course. The first planting will be a passion flower which is already champing at the bit to travel over a trellis, and getting quite big in its pot. I have grown a number of annual climbers which will fill in any gaps this year. I want to see how the passion flower goes before I decide which other permanent climbers will be necessary.

Got some more planting done

Yes I finally got most of the planting done. There are still some bits and pieces and then I have to start planting all the things in the greenhouse, like the Dahlias and Nicotianas and Verbena Bonariensis, etc. I spread a bit of compost and manure from a to b. We have some big whiskey barrels in the front garden which need planting.

Time to get that lawn mowed

One of the more unexciting tasks in the garden and generally one which is allocated to the man of the house. Ours is full of daisies and is way too long. Ray managed to do the first cut and that must have been about ten days ago. The weather or other commitments have been against us ever since. Here in North Norfolk it seems that we rarely get days of constant rain but many days when there is a threat of light showers. I really hope he manages to get round with the strimmer and the big mower today. We also bought a little tiny flymo so that we can do the really tricky bits (like slopes) with that. Ray nearly went over the edge of our bank with the big John Deere mower last time!

Planted Cannas and Ginger Lily

I decided it was time to get our Canna Tropica and our Ginger Lily into the ground. They have been overwintering in large containers heavily mulched and strawed and fleeced, and they are just beginning to show new shoots. We had a terrible job getting them out of the pots, they were so heavy and I didn't want to tip them on their new shoots, and my husband used a sack truck to ferry them across the garden. I had hoped to divide them and I managed it with the Canna but the Ginger Lily was just too tough for me.

It was like gravedigging they needed such big deep holes! Wrestling that lot took me half a day (with a little assistance at the really heavy moments from hubby) and I think it finished both of us off for the rest of the day! Two plants, half a day, tired out. Dear me. But they really were very big plants, even worse in terms of weight than the big shrubs we planted early in the year.

Two fine days for gardening

The met office predicts we are about to have two dry days, days in which I could tackle the weeds and finish the painting on the pond and garage (boy do I hate that painting job!). The bad news is that we have to go out for at least part of today, because we have to get some things for the dog. So I'd better get out there and get on with it. I'll check the cold frame first and see if the slugs have had a feast!

Planted scented shrubs

Thank God my neck felt better today, it was agony yesterday, I was so worried. Today I still didn't feel at full strength and the idea of lifting anything heavy made me feel tearful, so I am thrilled to say that my lovely husband helped me to plant out the scented shrub bed. My only hope is that the philadelphus coronarius aurea (the lovely lime-green leaved one) gets enough shade and doesn't get scorched in the sun.

He also built a cold frame (well, actually it is technically a mini greenhouse) and I put some of the more advanced or hardy plants in it ready for hardening off. I'm finding this hardening off thing the most difficult of all. Making the plants grow from seed was easy and fun, but the taking stuff out of the greenhouse and then putting it back seems crazy and takes up a lot more time than you might think.

pottted on brugmansias

Well that was one of the few jobs I did today, as I was in big trouble with this bad neck. I did a bit of potting on of Brugmansia which were filling their three inch pots with roots, and then I also potted on some Malva which had turned into perfect little plug plants.

Really there wasn't anything much else I could do. I tidied up my conservatory table which was buried in potting stuff and such and is now clear again, and I did a bit of admin at my desk. Other than that it was all about watching the snooker finals this bank holiday Monday. I was glad that Graeme Dott won. I hope my neck is better soon as I need to get back to the digging and planting real soon.

Bad neck caused by resting from gardening!

So yesterday, bank holiday Sunday, so to speak, we decided to take a hard earned rest! We actually left the garden to its own devices (apart from a bit of hardening off - oh what fun it is to carry those heavy pots of bananas and passion flower out to the patio and back again!) and we went out.

We bought some black hosepipe and soaker hose from the local garden centre, and then went to Priory Maze gardens at Beeston Regis near Sheringham. The gardens were nice but very wildlife friendly (read: weedy) and also a lot of the things weren't out to be fully appreciated yet. I will look forward to seeing the tree ferns later in the year when hopefully they will be in full leaf, that should look amazing. It was a fun day out though and the Foxglove Tearooms are especially nice, we had some fantastic food in there.

Then we came home and brought all the plants back in and instead of going to bed for a nap, which is my wont, I sat in the reclining chair in the conservatory watching the birds - especially the blackbirds, who seem to be frantic at this time of year, they will take as many sultanas as we can soak! I fell asleep which is unusual for me in a chair, and woke up with a bad neck. I did some seedling work and such, but once I sat down again for the evening I was quite worried at how much my neck hurt. Had a terrible night with it but now I am sitting with my husband's tens machine on it, it is easing a bit. Well, quite a lot, I'm happy to say. Boy I was worried that I wouldn't be able to garden for another week at least, but hopefully it is already on the mend.

Goes to show: it's not gardening that does you in, it's resting! That'll teach me to have a day off!