June in Your Garden! - Page 7

First day in the garden for a few. The weather was warm and sunny today, warmer even than what the weatherman predicted.

So, I had a massive list of to-do jobs, starting with feeding the veg (since watering on a wet day don't make no sense to me) but I got distracted tidying up after the recent wind damage. Inevitably this led to tidying the borders when I noticed a lot of manky leaves on my Kniphofia which I'm always clearing away. My two established clumps also needed de-snailing (some of the flower-stalks have nibble damage which I guess is inevitable this year ) and I also turned the compost bins and added the rest of the pampas grass compost to those bins, just about squeezing it in and leaving a small pile that I'll fork into the ground. Bins are all coming along nicely!

After lunch, I returned to the garden to discuss planting combos with my ever-accommodating hubby who left for Parliamentary debates whilst I hacked back some of my Ivy clumps.

Now, I love Ivy for many reasons, both climbing and the mounds of the stuff that I let develop in the border. They are like breathing spaces to me, with incredible foliage that offers freshness and greenness between more showy planting, but they can get out of control, spreading through the undergrowth with extremely long stems. I must have filled a bin liner with these today and it looks a lot tidier for it, although the clumps remained untouched.

There was more tidying after dinner and then the lawn got mowed and trimmed although it's more a lawn of clover than grass. Ho-hum.

All in all, I'm pleased with the garden this year and now all the mess has been dealt with, I think I deserve that glass of Pimms on the patio

Well done, Wintersong--nothing like a good clearout and mowing to achieve that well-groomed look; short-lived as it may be in this weather. Have a glass for me, too! Well deserved.

I tend to pounce on the lawn whenever we have a dry few days, otherwise it gets out of hand really quickly. I also have to keep an eye on grass growing in the borders after a wet spell. Given how overgrown the borders were when I started, I suspect I've got a while to go before that's sorted.

wintersong.. you have worn me out just reading it 

as it was warm here..but no sun still after tea today..i got in garden. and oh my has everything gone mad.. i stood looking at it..and thought..it looks so messy.. everything has shot up and filled out.. and somethings are not in right place..so marked them for moving later..

my penstemons htat my mum hacked back have filled out and are starting to flower so she is forgiven had to cut down most of my foxgloves as they were flattened.. such a shame.. saw some huge bumblebees in the garden today..

and they say tomorrow will  be good and dry for half day..so out there again.. i cant remember the last time it was june and i had not been in the garden everyday..

hope to mow lawn at weekend.. well hubby will

I bless whoever invented the electric strimmer--that's all the mowing I do. Come summer, the lawn area grows brown, which is the colour it should be then. In the meantime, I just try to keep ahead of the weeds going to seed. Thank goodness for ground cover. Today I planted out some wintergreen I had in a pot-good winter berry  colour in shade and hopefully the deer will leave it alone.

It's official-we are now on record as having the coldest June so far, and it's another gray day.Nevertheless, I took some photos---

Splash of colour from the Orientals

Love this colour--gift from a neighbour-first bloom

The enemy--tent caterpillar on Lamb's Ears-but not for long

Moved this last year, as it was growing in the path--don't know where it came from, but I love it!

Some pictures from today

^I like little gravel paths very much with plants billowing onto them. 

The photo through the window is marvellous, - artistic, almost Monet-esque...?

You could frame that one

Inka! Jeez! You are proper plagued with em!! Best of luck ridding that pest!! 

Well, I myself have had a full, very productive, although tiring but really enjoyable day on the allotment today! Got absolutely loads done! n loved it!

n I have been researching for some time a product pretty new on the market called Autopot! Don't know if any of you guy's have seen it? But ironically a few days back, my boss found one n asked if it was any good! (I'm really, really lucky in the fact I work where I work) Couldn't believe it was the said same thing! So set it up today! Cucumber in one side, Chilli in the other! see how we go!!

 and if it actually says what it does on the tin! then I am in!!

Do's what it say's! Idiot!!! Lol! 

n Figrat! Lovely pictures!! 

Awesome gardens chaps and chapettes  loving the framing of the views with trees and such and the compositions are marvellous.

@figrat, don't ever part with the window photo, it is artistically magical.

Well, the weather was beautiful once more and I managed to grab a couple of hours this afternoon in my own garden dodging the vibrating Photinia davidii along my path, the bees are going nuts on it, the foliage is gorgeous and it has a heavenly scent to boot!

Having got the mundane chores out of the way yesterday, today I managed some fun bits, inspecting the elegant red stems of my Euphorbia Silver Swan popping new buds aplenty with eagerness to spread, and my bottle-brush bush that got flattened by the snow and is now making a vigorous comeback, hurray!

I also adding five more Geum Lady Stratheden to a drift of five I already planted this Spring, making ten plants in total from a single 2Lt pot I bought last autumn. Now that's a bargain  (when I split it, there were five decent sized divisions that went straight into the border and six tiny plants that needed to be potted up, and one died)

I will be doing the same with any other plants I can throughout the summer and Autumn, all of which will hopefully survive the winter and make large drift plantings next year--always thinking ahead--!

I've already decided next year's garden budget is going on plant supports and structure for the garden, which means no more buying plants!  It's a bit like buying a really expensive dress and wearing the wrong underwear isn't it ladies?

I must create larger swathes of the same planting instead of my tendency to be bitty because I impulse buy at the GC, but I'm also fed up with storms wrecking some of my mature herbaceous stuff like my Eryngium that rewards me with a mountain of skyward thistles in spring only to be a spectacular blue flop by the summer, and the thing is buttressed on all sides with large twiggy prunings!

Anyone know what design of plant support is best on what plants, I would be glad of the tips!

Enjoy your gardens!

Lost the best one of my Delphiniums Today, even with it tied in

 On the upside, it was sprouting some nice healthy new shoots from the base, so might even get another flush of flowering from it.

Big score at Wilkinsons today. They have 75% off loads of seeds so I got about £25 worth for £6. It was looking a bit bare though, so hurry if you're going to look at your local one. Most of them are too late to be sown this year, but stocks me up for next! I've sown Morning Glory, Cosmos and Cornflowers. I know it's a bit late for them, but at that price it's worth a shot and plenty of seeds left of all three.

@Inkadog and @Figrat - Beautiful pictures. @Figrat. I echo the comments on the window shot. Very nice, like something from a magazine.

Rob, what a shame about that lovely elecric blue delphinium. Hope you get a second flush from it.And @figrat, I agree that is a stunning photo through the window.

Yesterday, I worked on my refurbished rockery--planted some Mondo grass, a passion vine, and some ground covers. Dug a huge amount of grass from the deer proof shady garden and planted some sweet woodruff. It can spread there to its hearts content.

Raining here today, and everything smells wonderful.

Figrat- what a beautiful garden you have.

Sorry  Rob to hear that you lost that gorgeous Delphinium, fingers crossed it will come back. The weather has been appalling.

Been  to Wilkos- like you picked up loads of bargains- even bought a packet of sunflowers seeds which I don't normally grow but at 13p I couldn't leave them there.

What a lovely tree that is,@figrat--the peeling bark reminds me of our native arbutus, but a different colour. What is it?