Friday 6 August 2021

Friday.

 Good morning.  Yesterday was very much a day of two halves as far as the weather was concerned.  The morning and early afternoon were both beautifully warm and sunny but then the clouds rolled over and the rain started.  Right now it is too dark to tell but it doesn't feel too cold, thankfully.

Chris and I had a lovely chat in her garden yesterday while the bees buzzed and the birds sang their little hearts out.  I do love these chat hours with her - it's always good to laugh.

After breakfast, I decided to focus on the garden first as it was starting to irritate me whenever I looked out.  So I hacked and snipped and dug and weeded and planted and moved soil and pots around and by the end I was very happy.  I wish I had taken some before photos to show the difference, but here's some snaps anyway.

I completely cut back the oregano because there was new growth underneath and the old stuff was smothering it.  It's to the left of the chives and can't be seen in the photo all that well.  I dug out some spreading chives, planted a sage and trimmed the thyme.  I was ruthless with the mint because it will all grow back just as thick and young and fresh again.
The bin smells lovely!
I had a lovely big rosemary bush.  Too big, in fact and Jeff dug it out for me but not until I had taken some cuttings which have been rooting merrily in a jug for ages.  
I don't need three, I only need one, but just in case . . . I will eventually just leave the strongest one and have any other survivors out.
Tomatoes - just because . . .
The flower bed which was just totally overgrown and messy.  It's much nicer now.
Not a clear picture but in the bed there's a new dianthus and a penstemon while the alstroemeria is now in its own little pot (thanks for the idea, Eileen).
The fig also has its own little pot and, sadly, some of the emerging French beans were getting nibbled down so I've covered them with those half bottles I used to protect the strawberries from frost damage earlier on, for protection.  Hope it works.
I took this because the black bamboo has more or less doubled its height since I bought it earlier in the year.
More 'just becauses' - because . . .
One of the apache chillies - spot the fruit!  They should start turning red soon.

















After lunch, I ummed and ahed about going to the allotment but decided to see what the weather did first.  The main point of going was to water and, as it turned out, it would have been a waste of time.
So that was yesterday and I'm so glad I got the garden done.  It's not perfect but it is so very much better and I like looking at it again.

First thing today is Slimming World and I'm looking forward to that.  Then I need to get the house in order for the cleaners and I have just a bit of shopping to do for the weekend.
Depending on weather, I might honour the allotment with my presence but I'll decide about that nearer the time.
Have you had rain too?  Stay safe, dry and well.  xx


10 comments:

  1. We had some rain yesterday but nowhere near as much as we'd been forecast. Today looks similar, so I'm hoping we will get out for a walk at some point. X

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    1. Good luck with the walk . . . maybe dodging the raindrops?
      xx

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  2. We had a lovely day yesterday until about 5pm when back came the rain.

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  3. A nice amount of rain here too.
    Your tomatoes are looking amazingly prolific and thats a good size Fig to start with. Mine is just one main bit but has shot up by 18 inches since I planted it. I'm wondering if I should nip out the top sometime - never did it on the two previous fig trees - need to research

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    1. Thanks, Sue. I'm very pleased with the tomatoes so far.
      I've printed off a very helpful article on the RHS site and one of the things it says is that in March following planting, plants with a single stem should be pruned back to about 15 inches. Plants with side shoots should have their central leaders removed and their side shoots shortened by a quarter to a third to stimulate the production of further shoots. I'm not sure if that relates to training it in a fan shape though. I need to research further too, I think.
      xx

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  4. We had rain yesterday and looks like some over night or early this morning as well. Maggie commented about reading that you still need to water pots even if it has rained and by coincidence I read the same advice from Gardeners World today. The article is saying that the canopy of leaves means that the compost doesn't get enough of the rain so additional watering direct to the compost is needed. I'm not sure whether I agree or not. I suppose it depends on the amount of rain as much as anything.

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    1. Yes, definitely. I always have to water the pots under next door's tree unless it has been a torrential downpour. I check and water if necessary.

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  5. You have such a lovely garden, Joy, it must give you a lot of pleasure. Your tomatoes look amazing! Our weather here is very mixed indeed - lots of showers interspersed with blue sky and sunshine, albeit briefly. Annoying, as we've more or less finished the inside work on the van and need to get on with the garden now, but the forecast for the weekend is not good, so we've come home.

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    1. IT does, Sooze, thank you very much. A shame you've had to come home because of the weather, but the van will be there when you decide to go back. I think you've really hit gold there.
      xx

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