Its been a 'British Summer' sort of week weather wise. Rain and sun and the odd grey day suit me fine. There has been a lot of chopping and pruning, with a few opportunities to make cuttings. I even managed to fit in a whole day of visiting a couple of gardens with the HPS. This virtual get together each week is organised by and facilitated by linking in with Jon the Prop, where we share with another gardeners and bloggers six items of interest in the garden.
1. On one of my routes walking into town when I take a detour to peer over front walls, there is a front garden that would do a seaside spar proud. A few weeks back a sign appeared on the wayside offering a few spare plants for sale. This is went I met Rex, and was invited into the back garden. He had taken over a neighbour's back garden and it was a big area of 'production' as in a kitchen garden. In his glasshouse he had grown begonias from seed and they were the size to go into hanging baskets. I put three in a my large pot under the Fatsia. They are looking perfect: I wonder whether they will produce tubers that I can keep for next year?
2. My new tool arrived yesterday from Gardening-naturally just in time for me to prune the bay to allow for the clematis to flower shortly, without being covered by the fresh fast growing new season's growth of the bay. I can't believe I've managed to garden without one! It is very light as amazingly sharp and easy to use. I did clean it down after its first use. I'll be able to do all many of clipping without having to stand on the borders!
3. On another day this week our small gardening 'circle' called "Blooming Fun" visited one of the members' garden. Further up in the Mendips, Ann has a garden with a back wall formed by the rock face of an old quarry. To say I had stone envy would be an understatement! Her formally laid out veggie area was elegant and decorative, and several of us admired her tree onions. These are quirky but in my eyes decorative and interesting, and since we are all into giving away, sharing and accepting plants, I was more than delighted to accept these two:
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| Egyptian Tree Onions |
https://treeonions.com/ gives some interesting facts about them. They were described in an article of 1681 of the Royal Society and called 'Allium proliferum, although Bulbifereum, to be more apposit'.
4. Another plant similar to the Sheep's bit scabious which I have seen growing wild up on the Mendip tops is newly added to the gravel area: Jasaine laevis blaulicht seems to be settling in well.
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| Jasaine laevis blaulicht |
5. Planted in the Spring of 2019, Gooseberry Invicta has yielded her last picking of the season, just over 1.5 Kg, giving a total of just over 4Kg. Gooseberry corner has done herself proud, and soon the red berrier of Gooseberry 2 will be ready to pick.
6. Just before the flowering starts the form of some plants are proving that colour other than green is not everything! However before chopping down all the early summer flowering plants, there is still the business of seed collecting. I bought The Seed Saver's Handbook when it first came out in 1996. I did not have the time then to read the opening chapters, and simply flicked to one or two to understand how to collect...no internet tips etc at that time! Having scanned a page or two now, the authors were, 25 years ago ,well ahead of current ideas currently in the press. Time to have a proper read through.
I shall have seeds of Semiaquilegia ecalcarata, Lathyrus vernus ‘Alboroseus’ fancy leaved Cyclamen hederifolium awaiting ripening, and Briza maxima.
If anyone is interested let me know in a separate comment, in which you can send me your email address. I won't publish that comment, but simply use the details to contact you.
How lovely to have all those gooseberries!
ReplyDeleteI'll take some semi-aquilegia, would you like some trillium in exchange? I'll message you our new (temporary) address. Goosegogs look tremendous, as does that little jasione, the star is definitely that gorgeous begonia and of course a new friend! Have a good week Sis x
ReplyDeleteNo need for 'exchange' at the moment I am not into trilliums, though I would probably be if I had enough shade. I've added another seed, which strangely I forgot about even though I had to crawl around the conservatory floor the next day they were picked, to find seeds in corners, after the pods had twisted overnight and ejected the peas.
DeleteI've never seen Garden Snappers before but after clicking on the link I want some!
ReplyDelete20% off too at the moment, if there are nay left, if you are in time.
DeleteI love the brightly coloured Begonia. It should form tubers you can overwinter (although mine always come up quite late as I don't provide any heat for them).
ReplyDeleteFantastic crop of Gooseberries!
At £1 each, it might not even be worth trying to keep them, but then Rex is an 'old boy', but with his love of gardening to keep him going, I hope he will be around for several years more.
DeleteIt's funny that you talk about tree onions because I'm also growing some this year from the bulbs I was given. They are for the moment much smaller than yours but I don't despair! Once properly installed, they become perpetual, as they say. I left mine in a pot but maybe later I will put them in a corner of the garden.
ReplyDeleteI read that there are red tree onions as well Fred. What colour are yours?
DeleteYour new clipper looks like a most useful tool Noelle. I will have to have a look at the Garden Naturally website. I left three gooseberry bushes behind at the allotment. Missing them.
ReplyDeleteI remember the feeling of missing things from my allotment. Maybe you have room for a bush, or even growing them espalier style against a wall or fence. I spotted quite a few in Midney Gardens growing quite in the fore front of banks of shrubs, and more recently at another garden formally. They had other gardens exclaiming their beauty. One with the red berries looked particularly appealing.
DeleteAh, that Begonia is outstanding! You're on a winner there!
ReplyDeleteGreat too that you got to visit the Mendip Hills and bring some memories back home. Nothing I like more than having a plant in the garden that reminds me of someone.
You are right about the Begonia, it is getting better and better. The Mendips are the hills at the foot of which we live, and I reckon if plants do well there or rather they wild cousins, then similar ones will do well in the garden.
DeleteWE have some long hamdled loppers (probably from Aldi) and like you say we wonder how we had managed without them for so long! Well done for your gooseberries - mine were always plagued by sawfly and I removed them a few years ago, although the neem oil seemed to have prevented last year's lot returning to the raspberries
ReplyDelete