This week the temperatures have been rising in my corner of England. Friday afternoon reached a hefty 30°c; too hot to be out in the garden working. I’ve been playing with some different photos of the garden, rather than the close up of flowers, I’m showing you a wider picture so you can glimpse more of the plot.
Let’s start with the flower bed which I created in the New Year. Much of our back garden is covered in Astro-Turf. Not a problem when we moved in as it meant no mowing, but now that we have been here three years, I am expanding my gardening plans. So new beds need to be cut out. Adding more areas for plants is a long-term project and one that I need to do in workable chunks. I had a drawn up planting plan for this bed, but some of the plants have done their own thing. For instance the green manure – purple tansy (Phacelia Tanacetifolia) is wildly taking over, but is covered in bees each day.
Along to the right of the New Year bed, is my Sunflower plot. As you can see, some of them are almost to the top of the fence. Some are in flower (I featured them a couple of weeks ago) The dwarf ones are looking like they will be next to flower.
Back to the left of the first bed is a bed that was here when we moved in. I think it only had Sedum in it and weeds. I’ve added Marigolds, Foxgloves and Hollyhocks which I try to tie to an old iron gate that we found behind the garden shed. It is now hosting some of my potted Dahlias.
Let’s cross the lawn now and this photo is of my current project. The Astro-turf has been laid for several years now and with next door being empty for at least five years, the trees in that garden have been spreading themselves out. There are several fast growing invasive ones and their tree roots are extensive. So much so that they are lifting our ‘lawn’. Although we now have new neighbours, the garden is not their priority and the tree roots are getting worse. So we are rolling back sections of the ‘turf’ and cutting back roots. Eventually I plan to have a lot more flower and vegetable beds, but I need to implement it in ‘doable’ sectors.
Photo five is of the flower bed I call my Easter project. We cut this one in around Easter. It is very shaded by the overhanging trees from next door. Recently the neighbour on the right had two large Cedar trees cut down and already this bed gets more evening light. I have more Dahlias here and Anemones, plus several more of the wildflowers that I’m growing.
Last photo: There is a bumble bee at about 7 O’clock in the bird box entrance. When I was cutting back the Korean Spice plant in front of the box, a bumblebee was buzzing around, I didn’t take much notice apart from saying ‘hello’, then I noticed another one and I spotted it heading into the bird box. There were also tell-tale signs of yellow pollen dropped down the front of the box. I think they are the Buff-tailed ones which are all around the garden.
Thank you for joining me for this #SixOnSaturday post. I hope that you enjoyed it. If you would like to know more about this hashtag, read founder Mr Propagator’s post here also find him on Twitter here.
Happy gardening
Rosie
Links:
1) Linky to Mr Propogator’s post for this week.
2) Winter begins in New South Wales and Jane’s garden.
3) Off the hedge has a new garden pond.
4) Fred has a growing tip for garlic.
5) Butterflies caught on camera by Graeme.
6) Chris has some lovely California poppies and notes on garlic.
7) The deer have been nibbling in Up The Garden Path’s garden.
8) Lovely Salvia in Granny’s graden.
9) Noelle has been collecting Tulip seeds.
10. Just look at these roses!
Rosie Amber 