Garden Log - August Update

This has been a really exciting month for things getting going and loads of fantastic flowers appearing. It's nice to start getting a proper idea of how things are going to develop once the planting ages and gets denser.

The shot above shows the view from the back door. I'm pretty pleased with it. There are a lot worse views to have out of the back door, and this is only going to get nicer. The Sweet Peas are flowering nicely, so fast in fact that I'm having trouble keeping up with them and getting the flowers off quickly enough! My only gripe to ponder with them is, why do most of the flowers seem to be at the top? Something to look into for next year. The Snap Dragons are doing well as they were planted quite densely (the benefits of growing from seed - trouble packing all of the plants in!). They're starting to go over now, but I suspect that to be a fault of the crappy weather. We had sideways rain the other night that has flattened loads of stuff. The Nasturtiums seem to be going over in some places, and taking over in others. The difference between the soil grown and pot grown is riculous.

The Lilies on the right have flowered since this was taken. It's pissing it down at the moment, so I really can't be bothered to rectify that. I'll post a photo next time I'm out there.

The potting table. Most of the seedlings and cuttings on here have taken nicely. On the floor and in smaller pots on the table are sections of a Hardy Geranium that I was given by my Granny. I'd taken it out of the two pots it came home in and washed the roots as I'd apparently taken a large chunk of the lawn with me. While doing this, the plant came into 5 largish pieces and several small bits came away. Most of the sections had perked up when I looked at them earlier, so if all take I'll probably end up with about 9 plants. I love this propagation malarky!

This is the nice new pot I acquired recently. I really think it transforms this bed. It's got an Oxlis and some Morning Glory planted in it at the moment. I'm not expecting either to come to much at this point in the year, but you never know. The Morning Glory climbing the obelisk aren't up to much either. Once they've given up I really must point that obelisk. That silver is horrible, it looks like a cheap bookcase. Some black Hammerite should so it. The other plants are doing well - The Heuchera is flowering, as is the Crocosmia. There a poppy seedlings coming up in a couple of places. Come on! you know you can get flowering in time!

I've put up some trellis-work on the fence and the Clematis (I think this one was Doctor Ruppel) has been planted in a bottomless pot. This is because this bed can get quite soggy and I'm told Clematis doesn't like wet feet. The Nicotiana, Nigella and Corn Flowers are doing well. The Corn Flower has also started blooming since this was taken. And I still can't be bother to go out in the rain!

There are some Rose and Clematis cuttings above from my mother-in-law's garden that also seem to be doing nicely. Lots of new growth since I re-potted them. The Pelargonium cuttings need repotting again. Lots of roots poking through!

Nothing new as such in these beds. Things have grown on a bit. Things have been blown over.... I've planted a couple of Euphorbias in here that were grown from cuttings and I've planted out my Wallflower seedlings. I know it's early, but I have the space a the moment, and it was either that or pot on 36 seedlings that were too big for their plug tray. Hopefully it'll speed up recovery from the slug mauling they've had. At the sunny end of the bed I have Kos Lettuce, Beetroot and Radishes (French Breakfast) growing in a spare space. We've had a couple of the Lettuces, which are nice, and the Radishes are fantastic. Really peppery and spicy.

The Lavatera, Crocosmia and Hydrangea make a brilliant combination that I wish I could claim to be deliberate.I've recently found out that I'm apparently deeply uncool, even for a gardener, for growing the heather at the bottom left of this photo, but I don't care. It's pretty and it was rescued from the nearly dead plants shelf in B&Q.

The veg down here isn't doing too well. Still not enough heat and light. There is however a single, solitary tomato about to ripen..! The Lavatera and the planters down here are going great-guns.

These Nicotiana are MASSIVE. They're almost as tall as me and they smell awesome. The Bidens has also grown a stupid amount. To the right is a before shot from a couple of updates ago.

So, the back garden is shaping up nicely. I've got a list of stuff to start growing come spring - either repeats of annuals I've done this time, or perennials that I've seen and want to use to fill things out a bit. There are also plenty of cuttings that will have grown on enough to be planted come spring.









The front garden is also looking pretty good. The Roses have been putting out a fine showing of blooms. All of them seem to be suffering from blackspot to one degree or another, but hopefully digging out the beds they are planted in and giving them a good prune and mulch should sort that out for next year.

The Delphiniums have put on a good second show and the Snap Dragons and Nigella are doing very nicely. Those two are definite ones to repeat next year. The Geraniums have all been hacked back so hopefully we'll see another show from them too.

The Festuca Glauca "Elijah Blue" has grown in nicely. I'm quite keen on using more grasses in my planting, particularly in the back borders so I have seedlings of this and a Molina growing on at the moment.

I want to finish the post as it started, with a picture of Nigella. I'm very taken with her and she'll be a very prominent feature next year.