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SUMMER AND SOWING

This weekend the clocks go forward, and for us gardeners is the best time of the year because it means that at last the light has caught up with all our instincts to get out there and garden for as long as possible - Monty Don on Gardener's World.

How right you are Mr Don, and contrary to an earlier post I have been enjoying the gardening coming from your very large patch at Longmeadow.

I know I am going to be envious of your Dahlias come Autumn!

For well over a week now the UK has been basking in the most glorious sunshine, and today has been no exception and an excellent day for making a start on seed sowing - Beetroot, Tomato, Sweet Pea, Nasturtium, Calendula, and Morning Glory.

The seeds I ordered from Thompson and Morgan arrived yesterday, just in time for the weekend - Runner Bean Lady Di, Beetroot Kestrel, Tomato Vilma, Nasturtium climbing mixed and Patty Pan mixed with Cerinthe major Purpurascens to follow.

I also cut back and tidied foliage around the garden, and potted up cuttings from Coreopsis and Scabious - a simple and cost effective way of increasing stocks of perennial plants.



I love the colours of lemon and lime together, inside and outside.

Looking positively zingy and zesty in the sunshine have been the colourful blooms of the Mahonia and bracts of the Euphorbia.

Two seven-spot Ladybirds and butterflies of all colours have been emerging into the sunshine, a Comma, Holly Blue and Small White.

Also visiting, a pair of Goldcrests and the welcome return of Greenfinches to the garden.

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BACK TO BLACK

If left unchecked, the garden will quite happily revert back to nature. One problem is bramble, and every so often it has to be cut back. I wait for some fruit before it has to go.



Not many blackcurrants this year? It may be down to moving the plant last year, or not pruning?



Ajuga reptans. Use this plant for ground cover in a semi-shaded area.



Scabious (Chilli Black). Flowers on with regular deadheading. Plants easily take from cuttings.



Ophiopogon (Black Grass). A great plant to use in a black planting scheme.

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THE COLOUR PURPLE

I think the majority of us are familiar with Verbena bonariensis with its tall and willowey, candleabra-like stems. The photo above is of one of its many relations, Verbena rigida.

This smaller, more robust version with its much shorter stems, carries vibrant mauve flower heads on each. It never fails to grab mine, or butterflies, bees and hoverflies attention.



My neighbour pulled up some clumps of this from her garden when we first moved here, some ten years ago. Osteospermum, white with a splash of pink/purple. It's a great gap filler and I have maximised on this by taking lots of cuttings to make new plants, which soon establish.



Statice, one of my all time favourites. So easy to grow from seed and one packet goes a long, long way.

All these plants I would describe as a border line annual. With the warmer climate here in the South, mine make it through the winter months.

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ASARINA

I love hanging baskets but I am rather lazy when it comes to keeping them watered, so asarina (sometimes sold as lofos) is the perfect plant for me. This annual is really versatile, the first year I had them climbing, but for the last few years I have had them trailing out of hanging baskets, all you need is one plant for each basket as they really fill out, like surfinia does. Each flower is trumpet shaped and after flowering they develop a lovely seed head.

The plant flowers from June to October, they do need watering, but if you miss a day or two they will pick up again, although you may have to pick off a few crispy leaves here and there. I manage to over winter my plants under cover, they do die down but little shoots will appear again in spring ready to be planted out again after the last frosts, ready for the forthcoming summer.

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COREOPSIS - Always cheerful

This variety Grandiflora Mayfield Giant makes a lovely addition to any cottage style garden or in a prairie style garden mixed with tall grasses; if regularly deadheaded it will happily produce lots of sunshine yellow flowers from mid to late summer. Multiply this plant around your garden by taking cuttings, they are really easy to do. I have found coreopsis to be drought tolerant so they are perfect for any dry areas of your garden.

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GRANNY’S PINKS - Pure affection

This variety in my garden have long stems so I have planted them to plunge over the side of a low wall, their perfume is absolutely ‘out of this world’. A relation of mine gave me the originals as every year she would take cuttings from the main plants in her garden, they are so easy to do, a necessity, as the plants do become untidy after a while.

Edible petals
First rinse the blooms in cold water, then remove the petals and discard the white heel (as this part has a bitter taste). Petals can then be added to sweet puddings or you could crystalise them and use as a decoration for cakes.