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| Jon's napping chair, plus reading matter. |
We haven't seem much of the garden for the last month or so, as we've been taking the narrowboat on an epic journey across the north of England. I've been home a few times for work, but my good intentions to spend the long summer evenings pottering outdoors have come to nought.
Luckily, just as the garden reached the point where it would have made the perfect set for any of the new
Star Wars movies requiring a return to Yoda's place of exile in the Dagoba System, we had a couple of weeks of enforced 'shore leave' while we await a date for our assisted passage into Liverpool. So, blessed with a dry and sunny weekend, it's been out with the strimmer and shears.
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| Pot plants - geraniums in big pots are unlikely to dry out too much in North Staffs! |
My plans to deal ruthlessly with the
Clematis Montana were partially thwarted by this spectacular display from the
Jackmanii and also the 'moss roses' which have straggled up through it, as I don't have the heart to hack bits off of either. As a result, the pergola on the left side of the garden is still thoroughly blanketed with
Montana and I've been unable to reach through this to train a lanky tendril of Kiwi Fruit growth horizontal rather than vertical, though the roses will finish in the next few weeks, leaving time for the clematis to put on some new growth before the winter and flower next spring.
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| Clematis 'Jackmanii' in the late summer sunshine |
My old-fashioned roses would all be happier with more light and the odd treatment for blackspot, but have managed to do their romantically fragrant thing without either. In fact, the neglected 'Secret Garden' look of the plants around them - faded aquilegias, floppy alchemilla, a mixture of allium pom-poms and the first new flowers of
Verbena Bonariensis rather suits them, as they can look scruffy in overly neat borders.
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| 'Lady of Megginch' |
I have some lilies in pots in the greenhouse - in an attempt to keep them clear of lily beetle - to add to the borders or to the 'herb garden' - I haven't decided which yet, but they will have to go out soon as I won't be able to keep them adequately watered when we're on the next stage of the boat trip, and I need the greenhouse space (and watering trays) for tomatoes.
At the productive end, we've had some good pickings of strawberries over the weekend - and eaten the lot! - and put the first two pickings of redcurrants in the freezer. The fruit bushes are loaded and although I'm sure the blackbirds will have their fill while we're away they crop over several weeks, so the jam-making should begin in earnest on our return.
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| Sunshine on the herb garden |
Having tamed the worst of the tangled growth and removed the weeds, it would have been lovely to come home from work this evening to dinner on the patio and an evening's pottering but - you guessed it - it's raining again. So much for summertime!
