July 1st 2017

Tin bath makes a great pond

We’re now really looking forward to our Village Open Gardens Weekend.  I think most of the hard work has been done, although every time I walk round the garden I see all sorts of very tall weeds waving in the breeze and wonder how I’ve missed pulling them out.  The only thing to do is take a bucket with me each time so I can deal with the offenders.  We recently planted up an old glazed sink with a selection of thyme that’s starting to fill out, and hostas in pots are looking attractive and still relatively free from slugs.  A recent small project was making a pond in an old tin bath.  This was a spur of the moment idea and within a very short space of time it had been placed near some of the larger hostas, filled with rainwater from the water butt and a pile of pebbles placed at one end to aid access for wildlife.  It didn’t take long for resident blackbirds to come and take a dip!  Many of my favourite plants are now coming into flower, including Geranium magnificum and Cephalaria gigantea whose pale yellow blooms are much visited by bees.  I particularly love old fashioned roses and current favourites in flower include ‘Charles de Mills’ and ‘Tuscany Superb’.  I don’t mind they only flower once, they’re well worth it.  Peonies that I’ve planted over the years are now maturing and flowering well.  ‘Monsieur Jules Elie’ has very large, double, pale pink flowers and there are a couple of red ones whose names I’ve mislaid, but they’re lovely, whatever they are!