Summer – Page 6 – Notes From My Garden

The Learning Book

Published on March 18, 2023April 15, 2023 by Catherine6 Comments

Our littlest grandson has been trying very, very hard to understand the seasons. It can be a confusing concept for young children to grasp, especially when seasons don’t behave as expected.

A couple of weeks ago we were treated to a very sunny afternoon. We’d been through a long spell of grey, dark, wet and uninspiring days. It was like that when we left to collect him from the nursery that afternoon. But on the drive home, out came the sun and we made the decision to stop off at a local play park. It was by the sea and bitingly cold. I thought, if I can endure the cold wind for 10 minutes or so, that’ll be enough time for all of us!

When we arrived at the play park he asked,

“Is it summer?”
“Do we have sun cream with us?”
“Can I have an ice cream, please?”

You’ve got to love them at 4 years old!

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A Magical Mystery Tour

Published on March 11, 2023April 14, 2023 by Catherine8 Comments

I thought hard about buying the Itoh Peony ‘Magical Mystery Tour’ last year as it was a bit pricey. The photographs that accompanied the peony were so lovely that I eventually caved in to temptation and bought it.

It was a fairly small tuber, and its home was to be a wooden planter in a sunny spot. It grew well, the leaves were lovely and then buds appeared. I was so excited to see buds growing in the first year of planting! I watched it daily until that first bud unfurled. Well, I’ve got to tell you – I was so disappointed. The young flowers were a fairly rich magenta, and there was no sign of the lovely corals and creams on the marketing images.

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A Walk in my Garden

Published on December 5, 2020March 11, 2023 by Catherine28 Comments

A few years back a friend said to me that paper was dead. We have all this wonderful technology – all books will be digital and paper will soon be redundant. I couldn’t agree less. There’s nothing to beat snuggling up on a comfy sofa with a much-loved book, running your fingers over the paper and turning each page. It might be an old photo album full of fading photographs of great and even great-great-grandparents, a novel, a book of poetry, a family bible or a journal. Words and images on paper – why would we ever want to be without that magic.

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Tomatoes & Cuttings

Published on October 23, 2020 by Catherine6 Comments

Winners & Losers

The 2020 tomato plants have now been evicted from the greenhouse; I’m sad to see some of them go because they’ve been delicious, others I’m a bit disappointed that they didn’t live up to expectations.

But first, a little success story. Earlier in the year when I watched the Chelsea Flower Show, I saw presenter Toby Buckland demonstrating how to make more tomato plants for free. It was such a simple process, that I thought it couldn’t possibly be that easy, and after a few days, when I had freed up a bit of time, I cut off some longer side shoots (those that I’d forgotten to take out, or just missed) and put them into pots. Seriously, it couldn’t be that easy to create a tomato plant? About 10 or so days later I removed them from their shady spot and took a peek to see if any had rooted. They had – all were growing well, and suddenly I had too many. However, I potted them all on, gave a few away and kept about ten plants, which grew at a surprisingly fast rate.

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Six on Saturday 2020 29-08

Published on August 29, 2020September 19, 2020 by Catherine23 Comments

If anyone had told me a few years ago, that I would be out in the garden in the pouring rain, cutting back plants and lifting others from a muddy border I would have laughed and said, “Me? No, not me”. I’ve always been a fair-weather gardener but in recent years I’ve come to realise that you can’t always wait for dry, sunny days.

The border revamp is fairly well underway and this week we’ve removed Sambucus ‘Black Beauty’ and Lavatera ‘Rosea’. It was a wet, messy, muddy job with my husband doing all the heavy digging (he wasn’t enjoying it!) while I was tasked with removing all branches and stems to clear the way. Continue reading “Six on Saturday 2020 29-08” →