Once again it’s very hot here with temperatures around 30 degrees plus. The rain of last Sunday – really, the one day I have the family over and it rains – was welcome and filled two of the large water butts and one small one. Total 868 litres plus some odds and ends from the greenhouse butts and I’m nearly through it already. I am looking again at the garden to see what I can add in to extend the colour but planting will have to wait until September. Here’s what’s happening at the moment.
One
A melon update: My second year of growing melons and you would have thought it would be a bumper year. There have been plenty of flowers but only one has come good as a melon. Two or three other melons formed but then rotted off. I’ve been hard at work cutting back the side shoots and stopping the main stem. Now I have to decide when is the optimum time to pick this precious fruit.
Two
The grapevine over the pergola regularly produces grapes but at this time of the year they split and never ripen. The previous owner said it was a Black Hamburg, which, as many of you will know, is an indoor variety. Today the wasps are having great fun and it makes sitting under the welcome shade a little nerve wracking. I think in future I will cut off all the grapes and have beautiful shade and no wasps!
Three
The Hollyhocks have been to be featured again. They just keep on growing. There was a touch of rust on the lower leaves early on but the hot dry weather seems to have kept it at bay. Reader, I measured this one. It is eleven foot six inches! Does that sound like a challenge? Bring on the hollyhocks. This one is growing up into a dead fruit tree. It never got to fruiting stage so I can’t identify it, other than to say that I suspect is was a stone fruit, maybe apricot, which succumbed to leaf curl and oozing this year.
Four
Also doing rather well are the rudbeckia ‘Goldsturm’. I have my eye on these for dividing this year. Spreading this wonderful colour around the garden will be a pleasure.
Five
I was late sowing the cosmos this year but they have started to come into flower. This one is Cosmos bipinnatus ‘Click Cranberries’. I’ve planted them in a block but I think this one will look good dotted around the border next year.
Six
Lastly a zinnnia. This is taken as a close up because my planting scheme went awry. I planned to mix the zinnias and some ammi visnaga together but the ammi germinated late and is only just looking good enough to plant out. Without the ammi to add some froth the zinnias look like soldiers on parade. Maybe it will look better in October.
From here it looks like crispy lawns and parched plants for a little longer. See what else is going on at The Prop’s blog – there you can find links to all the other great SOSs.
The trees in the garden are beginning to put on a show. First up is the persimmon tree. There was a bumper crop last year but I’m not a fan. I inherited it with the garden and it does look fabulous in winter when the leaves have dropped and the orange fruits remain.
I also inherited a number of apple trees and here is some delightful apple blossom from one of them. Again, there was a bumper crop last year, we don’t store the apples and there are only so many we can eat so the majority of them are taken off for juicing. We are still drinking the 2017 vintage.
The leaves on the fig trees are just opening. Not such a good year for figs for me last year and the squirrels always get the best of them. I managed to bag a handful!
And after my winter pruning efforts it is always a great relief to see new leaves on the vine. It does produce grapes but so far they have split before we get the chance to taste them. The grape variety is Black Muscat, which I understand is also known as Black Hamburg. Again, I was fortunate enough to inherit this well established vine which shades the pergola.
There is a great foaming wave of Choysia in one sunny corner of the garden. It’s perfectly lined up with a view from the window. Many thanks again to the previous owner.
Finally, all my own work! The white triumphator tulips are still hanging on and are a great companion to the irises that have just begun to flower. There is also a glimpse of the almost open allium ‘purple sensation’ – something for next week!
n20gardener 