July 2022

This month has continued hot and and dry, with two of the hottest days on record recorded. There has been no rain, there are cracks in the soil, and my waterbutt has finally emptied, apart from the thick layer of sludge at the bottom. From the end of the week we will very likely have a hosepipe ban.

Most gardening jobs have taken place in the evening when the weather is marginally cooler. Jobs have included deadheading foxgloves and cowslips, saving seed from the latter, cutting back perennial geraniums and brambles, as well as part of the mallow which had snapped and fallen over. I have also had to throw out several potted plants that had succumbed to the heat and erratic watering. There is a lot of rubbish to take to the tip that cannot be composted at home. I have finally emptied the dustbin of rotted compost around the blackberry and the climbing rose, so will need to turn the big bin next month.

The Japanese Wineberry bush has produced a pleasing crop - I had forgotten how sticky they are, but they are delicious. The thornless blackberry is laden with unripe fruit so I am looking forward to harvesting them soon. I picked a kilo of berries from the wild bushes up a nearby lane today. They are my favourite fruit.

Flowers have been fairly abundant this month too! Over 60 varieties in flower over the month, which is not bad going for a small, somewhat neglected and slug-ravaged patch:

Alchemilla mollis, Astrantia, Blackberry, Cat's Ears, Cephalaria gigantica, White Clover, Creeping Jenny, Bellis perennis, Enchanters Nightshade, Eryngium 'Magical Blue Lagoon', Evening Primrose, Privet, Rosa 'Brother Cadfael', pink patio rose, Rosa rugosa, Tiarella 'Iron Butterfly', Fennel, Feverfew, Digitalis purpurea, Fuchsias, Geum urbanum, Grasses, Hebes, Hydrangea, Lemon Balm, Lavender, Purple Toadflax, Mallow, Salvia 'Amethyst Lips', Sweet William, Verbena bonariensis, Geranium nodosum, Pink Perennial Geranium, Calendula officionalis, Orobanche hederae, Passiflora caerulea, Pelargonium, Penstemon, Pinks, Potentilla, Sisyrinchium striatum, Spiraea, Strawberry, Teucrium, Willowherb, Helianthemum, Bindweed, Sedums, Scabious, Nigella, Self-heal, Ssoapwort, Sow Thistle, Spurge, Sweet Pea, Oreganum, Agapanthus, Echinacea, Lunaria annua, Plantain, Eupatorium, Gladiolus 'Jessica', Knautia macedonica, and Wood Sorrel.

June 2022

June was another relatively quiet month in the garden as I was either busy elsewhere or tired! I managed a few jobs though, which were mostly restorative to my frazzled mind. These included mowing the lawn, which deliberately hadn't been done since the beginning of May to see which wildflowers grew; there were a variety of grasses (no idea which!), white clover, cats ears, daisies, dandelions and self-heal. I decided to leave a patch of clover and cats ears for the bees, and it is still flowering well. I also cut the side of the hedge between me and my neighbour back as it was starting to obstruct the path. I then bought a larger, extendable hedge trimmer so that I could attack the other neighbour's hedge where it was growing over my back gate and shed roof. That hedge has been cut back hard to the boundary!

Once I had finished playing with the machinery, I pottered about deadheading foxgloves, pulling up bindweed and other weeds, watering potted plants - I even remembered to feed them - and potting the odd plant up here and there. I also spent a reasonable amount of time on a sunlounger admiring the flowers and watching the wildlife. The garden is rich in insects, with lots of hoverflies, bees and bumblebees, flies, mosquitoes, butterflies, aphids, beetles (I particularly like the thick-legged flower beetle), grasshoppers, brown and red ants, as well as slow worms, tiger worms, slugs of several species, snails of several species, woodlice, several species of spider and birds,. And cats, but we won't go there!

Flowers this month are as follows:

Alliums, Astrantia, Campanula, Buttercup, Cats Ears, White Clover, annual Geranium, Oriental Poppy, Scarlet Pimpernel, Speedwell, Strawberry, Verbena bonariensis, Chives, Daisies, Dock, Euphorbia, Fleabane, Forget-me-not, grasses, Knautia macedonica, Passion Flower, Sedum, Sweet William, Tiarella 'Iron Butterfly', Alpine Sisyrinchium, Brambles, Foxgloves, Geranium macrorrhizum, Geranium nodosum, purple Geranium, Pink Geranium, Purple Toadflax, Pelargonium, Salvia 'Amythyst Lips', Sisyrinchium striatum, Three Cornered Leek, Lavender, Geum urbanum, Helianthemum, Heuchera, Herb Robert, Marigold, Nectoscordum, Plantain, Scabious, Sow Thistle, Spurge, Violets, Honeysuckle, Japanese Wineberry, Nepeta 'Six Hills Giant', Osteospermum, Nettles, Nigella, Climbing Rose, Cephalaria gigantica, Potentilla, Feverfew, Honesty, Lampranthus, Privet, Pink Patio Rose, Orobanche hederae, Spiraea, Blackberries, Eryngium 'Magical Blue Lagoon', Dandelion, Hemerocallis, Evening Primrose, Feverfew, Fuchsia, Hydrangea, Verbena bonariensis, Rosa 'Brother Cadfael', Pinks, Alchemilla mollis, Bindweed, Creeping Jenny, Willowherb, Penstemon, Self-heal, Rosa rugosa alba.