Sunday 12 June 2011

Gardening








At last we have had a wet day. It began to rain at lunch time and is still raining now as I write. Already the gardens are looking better for it. But before it began to rain this morning the farmer and I did our hour's stint - we make sure to do this every Sunday - fill at least one wheelbarrow with weeds and hope to keep top side of them.

My philosophy in the flower garden is to fill it so full of herbaceous plants that there is not room for weeds to grow. Then it has to look after itself for the summer. In theory this works, although the weeds are there, you just can't necessarily see them. Our biggest problem, our bete-noir, is couch grass (the farmer calls it wickens) closely followed by climbing columbine which winds its way round the delphinium stalks. All we can do is try to keep it all under check until the Autumn when we try to dig out, clear out and replant at least one side of the garden.

There is not a lot out at the moment - the remnants of some very pretty aquelegia, two or three of the herbaceous geraniums (pink one is Patricia and blue one is Russell Pritchard) the first of the delphiniums is coming into bud and the first roses are out. But as you will see from the photos - on the whole the weeds don't show!

Much easier in the vegetable garden, where everything is planted in rows and it is easy to walk up and down with the hoe. Things are all coming on well here but the strawberries have been waiting for rain and the poor raspberries took an awful beating from last week's glaes. The plants you can see are peas, runner beans, broad beans, leeks, lettuce, french beans, courgettes, strawberries, gooseberries and then my sunflowers, sweet peas and calendulas, which I always grow among the veggies. The green hut is my chicken hut and inside the vegetable garden my little green hut where goldie is sitting on her eggs (only another six days to go!) is hidden behind the raspberry canes. The faint figure in the background is the farmer weeding my sweet peas.

The down side of the wet day is that we have silage grass lying - we got half way through picking it up when the rain started yesterday. The forecasters say it will be fine tomorrow and Tuesday and then wet again on Wednesday - so we must work hard at tossing it about to dry it before then.

13 comments:

Bonnie Zieman, M.Ed. said...

Your gardens are lovely Pat. What a large vegetable garden! Do you can or freeze veggies for the winter? BTW, I love your new header!

steven said...

weaver, to look at your gardens, plant and vegetable is humbling and reminding of the very purposeful efforts that must go into successful stewardship!!! (and of course the rewards!) steven

Titus said...

Looking lovely Weaver, and you can't beat a great wall! I'm only aquilegas and geraniums at the moment too, but the roses are just about to open. If we get just a little sunshine, please...

Unknown said...

Oh your gardens look great! Also it a fulltime job! You and your hubby are brave souls!
My son in law started a vegetable garden (in Saceamento-so it's small) and he's so proud of it:)

John Going Gently said...

thaT VEG PATCH , GARDEN is a credit to you... and I absolutely LOVE that wall!!!
delightdul!

Share my Garden said...

I too am very admiring of the beautiful stone wall, a wonderful backdrop to your flower border.

angryparsnip said...

Your home, garden and fabulous stone wall are beautiful.
I enlarged the photos bit couldn't see Goldie's little green hut...

Everything looks so green. Glad you got some much needed rain.

cheers, parsnip

ChrisJ said...

Thank you so much for your permission to draw your banner photo. I'm looking forward to doing it. You have quite a garden there!Hope Goldie stays put until her time is up.

H said...

My bete noir is cleavers! They wind and choke everything in sight and it is a constant battle to keep them in check. I also have a plague of Herb Robert, which is very pretty in so many ways, but likes to take over!

Your garden looks wonderful and I love the distant views beyond!

John "By Stargoose And Hanglands" said...

Fantastic - a proper veg patch, largely held together with baler twine and not a garden centre ornament in sight.

Maggi said...

I am very envious of your vegetable garden and the borders are just so lovely.

The Weaver of Grass said...

Thanks for the compliments - entirely due to the farmer I must say. As to what I do with the veg - I make jam and pickles, we eat a lot of them and I freeze the rest.

Mary said...

What an amazing garden Pat..............I'm truly impressed! I feel terribly guilty this year as we've not planted any veggies due to travel, and the terrible heat and drought we're having. I'll be at the local farmers' market often this Summer!