The best time of year!
This is a lovely time of year in our garden, when everything is growing away abundantly and still has the fresh look of early summer. Having enjoyed the blossom on the fruit trees over the past couple of months we are now anticipating the harvest to come. We planted several older varieties of apple tree in the winter of 2007 as one year old maidens. They were nothing more than sticks then. It is amazing how they have grown and it looks as if we will be able to pick our first apples this year. I enjoy weeding (luckily, as weeds grow well here) but sometimes I’ve felt recently that I needed my bee suit on to get deep into the borders. Our honeybees are much in evidence and we also have a healthy bumblebee population. They are noticeable on Geranium phaeum, which has self seeded all over the spring borders. I love scented leaf pelargoniums and have managed to successfully overwinter all my plants and many cuttings. I keep a selection in the greenhouse and fill terracotta pots with them, which I place around the terrace. In small spaces, scented pelargoniums are a fantastic, perfumed presence. The dahlia plants also overwintered well and having spent weeks in the greenhouse in pots, they are now planted in the garden. The first roses are coming into flower, with ‘Gertrude Jekyll’ one of the first to bloom and looking lovely. Next to it on the pergola are two old-fashioned rambling roses that are absolutely laden with tight buds – I can’t wait for them to open. Alliums are also looking good at the moment, as are delphiniums, lupins, and oriental poppies. I have also been busy in the vegetable garden. Carrots, chard, beetroot and parsnips have germinated in our neat and compact raised beds and I have planted out sweetcorn and French bean plants. The courgette and outdoor cucumber plants are being hardened off and will be planted soon too. I’ve netted the strawberry bed and placed straw under the fruits – all we need now is a bit of sunshine to ripen the berries.
Tales from a Country Garden 