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TUESDAY GARDEN RAKE

We've seen more breaks of sunshine this week, with very little rain.

The photo above shows dusky fatheads of French Lavender, a plant more suited to these conditions.



I like to dot old garden tools around the garden.

I bought this nice ladies fork for a £1 at a local carboot sale at the weekend.



There's been another trip to the plant nursery!

I had herbs on my shopping list, but came away with a Heuchera Ginger Ale plant instead!



It has such pretty little creamy yellow flowers.

Who could resist?



We've both had time off this week, and on Tuesday with the in-laws, we visited Exbury Gardens in Hampshire.

I'm really pleased we brought these copper-affect birds home, after seeing a pair in the plant area.

They look just the part whirling around, and should help to keep the real thing off the vegetable patch?



There's new fresh growth on the Lemon Balm which seeded itself next to a Gooseberry bush.

Little did I know what good companions they are.

Click here for herbal jam and jelly recipes, which includes one using gooseberries and lemon balm, together!

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my photos

TUESDAY GARDEN RAKE

It's been another busy week!

Gardening isn't just about meandering around with your snips, cutting flowers and dead-heading, the majority of work is hard, and back-breaking.

It's always my job to clear the Bramble, and ending up looking like I've gone four rounds with the neighbour's cat!



The weather has been mainly cloudy with spells of rain, and there's been a drop in temperature.

Like me, the Centaurea Montana above is most happy when in sunny conditions, and manages to catch the very little there was this week.

Unlike me, as a rule, plants with fuzzy hair or silver leaves will tolerate being baked.



A plant more suited to semi-shade is Solomon's Seal.

Once established it will spread, and goes well with shade loving ferns in a woodland setting.



At this time of year, I do my best to keep on top of the weeds!

Aaargh! Two weeds new to my garden last year are Bindweed (which I promptly treated with a Glyphosate-based weedkiller) and sticky Cleaver,which I pull out by hand.

One weed which makes itself at home is Herb Robert (a member of the Geranium family). It does have a very pretty pink flower, so I tend to leave some, making sure I pull up before they set seed everywhere!



The butterflies in the garden have been a welcome distraction.

Holly Blue, Small White, Peacock and Speckled Wood.



Deadnettle and Sweet Woodruff work well together, just like our new coalition government?



The semi-shade border is filling out nicely with Campanula, Potentilla, Geranium, Astrantia, Japanese Anemone, Heuchera, Lamium, Sedum, Aquilegia and Alchemilla.



Potted on plants bought mail order.

Gaura Ballerina Blush and Salvia Mystic Spires for the borders, and Dahlia Bishop of York to plant up individually into large pots.



I enjoy keeping a watchful eye on the birds in the garden.

As well as House Sparrows, Dunnocks, Starlings and Blackbirds, there's been Great Tits, Blue Tits, and a pesky Magpie!

There's been daily visits from the Garden Warbler, and Chaffinches are in and out of next door's Hawthorn tree.

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my photos

TUESDAY GARDEN RAKE

Sitting pretty in my garden is Aubrietia.



This week sees the first sighting of the Speckled Wood butterfly. Infact there were three engaging in a dogfight!

This one takes a moment to rest on a Euonymus hedge.


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I bought these lovely terracotta vegetable markers in Wilkinsons, and a pack of Gladiolus, Nanus Charming Lady, a pink variety, to be grown in clusters of five. Perfect for filling in the gaps.

I've done well for plants this week!

Coming away from our local B&Q with three Stachys byzantina and two Geum 'Mrs J Bradshaw' plants, (5 cottage garden plants for £5), also a pack of bedding White Salvia and New Guinea Impatiens, and a Carex 'Rekohu Sunrise', a very attractive evergreen grass.

A visit to a local plant nursery in search of more grasses, I find and buy a pretty yellow Verbascum called 'Primrose Path'.

Just to put the icing on the cake, my step-Dad-in-law surprised me with a Rhubarb Champagne crown, and a Blueberry bush!



I do work to some sort of plan in my garden, and forever moving and dividing plants.

Certain features you inherit, and short of hiring an excavator you have to work around what you've got.

I do discover happy accidents though, where plants self-seed themselves in just the perfect spot!
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The plants have been loving the soaking they've had this week, with heavy showers.

I think this Oriental Poppy flower bud looks a bit like a bunny rabbit!



All the neighbourhood cats love the garden!

The one above, who just happens to be my favourite, wears a bell, so hopefully the birds do get an early warning?



There's lots of places in the garden where cats like to explore and hide, ready to pounce on the first thing that moves, butterflies, moths, frogs, and birds!

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my photos

TUESDAY GARDEN RAKE

Well it's been another glorious week of sunshine, with the occasional dose of cloud here and there.

I finally got round to sowing some seeds.

Flowers - Calendula, Nasturtium, Sunflower, Morning Glory, Venidium and Cosmos.

Vegetables - Summer Squash, Runner Beans, Beetroot and Tomatoes.



Bees really love to get their noses into Lamium, otherwise known as Deadnettle.

My garden is full of many different varieties of bee at the moment, including a small dark black one who has set up home in our hose reel!

Lamium makes great ground cover, either in sun or semi-shade.



Over the years my Dad has given me lots of clumps of Cowslips.

I've had no success with it when planted straight into the borders, so not wanting to see another one just disappear, I planted the latest one in a medium sized terracotta pot.

It looks lovely in the sunshine, on a South facing wall.



Have you noticed how lush the garden looks at this time of year, with so many vibrant shades of green?

The Euphorbia above is one of my favourites in Spring, with its zingy lime-green bracts. Another plant given to me.

Be careful when handling all parts of the Euphorbia plant, the sap is highly toxic and an irritant to the skin and eye.

Will happily multiply in sun or shade.



The Lily of the Valley in my garden, is another plant which originated from my Dad's garden. You'd think I never bought any plants!

Planted in a damp position, it looks as if it will be another rampant spreader!

My Mum loved Lily of the Valley, its flowers and scent always remind me of her.



I've noticed a lot of wildlife this week, including this neighbourhood cat which visits my garden from time to time. It's got a very dappled grey coat!

Butterflies include the Small White and Holly Blue, also lots of Hoverflies and Mosquitoes.



This loved-up pair of Woodpigeons are around much of the time.

And well off-course, we had a couple of ducks waddling across our drive the other morning!

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my photos

TUESDAY GARDEN RAKE

I love my garden in April.

One of the plants which is looking its best right now is the yellow Primrose. The one above having the most perfect of flowers and foliage.



Thank goodness I've finally got around to moving those Raspberry canes!

Given to me by my Dad a few years back I ended up planting them in a spare patch which I had at the time. Enjoying the morning sun, they did well, too well infact and where growing high, were seriously restricting my view into the garden.

To restrict their spread underground, I'm experimenting by re-planting them in groups, in cheap small black storage containers, having drilled four drainage holes in each base.

They are now on a West facing fence, where they will get most sun late afternoon and evening.

I shall let you know how they do?



Another plant which I may have regrets in planting is Lysimachia ciliata, Firecracker. It's sure to spread like fury much the same as the two other varieties I have around the garden. I know I shall curse the day I ever saw it, but having a definite liking for dark foliage plants I couldn't resist it!

It's teamed up above with Forget me Not, another plant which once introduced to your patch, will self-seed and be with you forever onwards!



The birds in the garden are getting through food at a rate of knots! Stocks of bird food have been running perilously low.

My on-line order from Haiths arrived.

As much as I like to see Stock Doves and Woodpigeons around, I've bought Premium Wild Bird Food, a mix with no wheat, to deter them from using the birdtable.

Also, I've noticed an increase in finches around at the moment, so to attract more into my garden I've bought Native Finch, a mix containing oil rich seeds.



My garden with its ivy and high hedges provides lots of food, shelter and nesting sites for birds.

It sees many of the most common species ie House Sparrows, Dunnocks, Blackbirds, Starlings, Blue Tits, Great Tits, Robins and Wrens, so to spot something a little less ordinary and unusual to my garden, is always a treat.

Not having a long range zoom on my camera, with it taken through a window, and being cropped to the extreme, the photo above is not of the sharpest quality. The bird with its flitting movement, I'd say is some kind of Warbler?

On two occasions this week I've spotted a female Blackcap around the garden too.

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my photo

TUESDAY GARDEN RAKE

You really couldn't have asked for better weather over the past week for gardening.

It's been bloomin' gorgeous!

I've spotted my first Painted Lady of the year.

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If something does well, I use repetition, rather in the style of a Cottage Garden.

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At the end of flowering seedheads were left on Japanese Anemone plants, and they've rewarded me with lots of little plantlets.

I've potted up ten new plants, and will leave their roots to establish. They will be planted out either this Autumn or next Spring.

This variety has a lovely pale pink flower.

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This spider's not backward in coming forward in making the most of this lovely sunshine. Behind the rock is Sedum.

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Big hedges surround most of the garden, ideal for nesting sites.

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Having spent a lot more time outside this week I've noticed a fair amount of Blackbird activity, with male and female both busy in and out of the nest.

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This saucer of sultanas will help build up their energy. That's if the starlings don't get to them first!

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Simone from Linden Grove came up with the idea of a Tuesday Garden Rake. Pop over to her blog to find out how to join in.

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