Garden Tips70

The temperatures are cooling down slightly this week after the dry days of Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday and Thursday will bring more showers. Friday should be a sunny day before a damp weekend.

Have we not been so lucky with having some “proper” rain in the past week? It has done our garden no end of good. I even had to take a photo of the rain flowing down our driveway, what a happy moment that was and a great relief.

We have started giving our Tomatoes and Courgettes a weekly feed since they have started flowering. The Red Peppers I have potted on and they will stay in the greenhouse for a more even temperature.

Walking round our garden I have noticed that there are some gaps in the herbaceous borders and so I am filling them with perennials and annuals which I have grown from seed, the former plants might not flower this year, we will need to wait and see. Of course one can always buy plants of your choice and fill gaps in your garden with them.

We are still laying stone paths, about one metre a day, doing odd jobs too with weeding every day if possible, tying up roses and cutting back and deadheading spent flowers on Rhododendrons etc.

I have been hunting the Red Lily Beetle and so far have caught seven and they are no longer with us! Aphids on the Roses, Erigerons and on other perennials get squashed. The Ladybirds do not seem to keep up with the onslaught of the Aphids.

The garden is now filling out thanks to the rain we have had, colours bursting in all different places and it is so exciting to watch nature creating the many patterns of the petals and shades of colours. It is just wondrous to see.

We are getting the garden ready for our first Open Day on the 15th June which we are looking forward to and always enjoy.