#plums

Six On Saturday: Ouch

/ n20gardener / 17 Comments

This is getting painful now. There are so many wilted plants in the garden. Surely the persicaria will come back, the pachysandra has disappeared, hopefully lying dormant until it rains again, the hebes are beginning to look distraught. We are all longing for an end to the drought. Can I find six to show that offer a glimmer of hope. Here goes.

One

The first flower on the miscanthus has showed up this week. This is a plant that is surviving without watering. Yay to it!

Two

The basil by the back door does get watered regularly and is flourishing, providing the appropriate accompaniment to the continuing crop of tomatoes.

Three

I have a number of hydrangeas in the garden and these are suffering badly. Here is dwarf variety called ‘Little White’ that I planted out in a line of three last year. They present a goldilocks situation. The one in the most shade is doing okay, the one in the middle is not so bad but the one in the sun is really not very good. This is the middle one. As new plants to the garden these are getting a weekly watering.

Four

The apples have been falling for some weeks now and I can see that we will not get the usual quantity of apple juice this year. There are less apples and they are smaller in size. The idea of picking them in this heat is not appealing. We may skip a year.

Five

The plums are as bountiful as ever and must be nearly ripe. So far they still feel hard, maybe in a week or two we will have these to pick.

Six

The verbena bonariensis seeds itself happily and has popped up amongst the grass ‘Karl Foerster’. It makes for a good combination. Both of these do well without additional water.

There, it’s done. I am holding in reserve for weeks to come the idea of sharing six suffering plants. I am sure we all have them, perhaps it is time to share! I am sharing my shower with a bucket and the water collected goes to the hydrangeas. I hope it will keep them alive. Wishing you all well in your gardening spaces, we can only do our best and hope that nature will surprise us when finally arrives. Jim at Garden Ruminations is suffering too and has garden open days to come. I’m sure the visitors will be sympathetic and appreciative of all his hard work. Jim also has some great pictures of the solar eclipse – well worth checking out.

Six On Saturday: Back to the gardening fold

/ n20gardener / 17 Comments

Having had a sprained ankle, a family function and other distractions going on for the last few weeks I feel I am finally gardening again. The season has shifted and there is plenty of garden-keeping to be done. I have ordered a few bulbs: I am pursuing my Spring idea to have pots of small but interesting narcissus to enjoy and I needed some Maureen tulips to infill a gap. Here’s my six from this morning’s walk.

One

The apples have been picked. We have six sack fulls to take off for juicing. Quite a haul, given the great number of windfalls we have had this year. I checked with our Juicers and they confirmed that apples with codling moth damage can be juiced. I’m sure we’ve always had some damage but this year it seemed to have affected more apples.

Two

I did find a new person to prune the apples and the plum but as yet he hasn’t been able to visit. The plum tree is far too large now and I am wondering how late in the season the necessary pruning can be done. We’ve been picking plums for several weeks but it might be time to call it quits.

Three

The rain has energised the garden, the grass is growing again and many plants are looking happier. Here the Corsican hellebores and a fatsia that have really developed a backbone again.

Four

The verbena bonariensis seeds prolifically, often leaning over the path or other plants. Here it seems to have found the perfect spot. It has remained upright and is looking especially good in the Autumn light.

Five

I’m sowing Autumn seeds. The echinacea ‘White Swan’ came good but I am on my second sowing of Orlaya and Gaura. Let’s hope they get going this time.

Six

I’ve also been shopping for my troublesome border. The hydrangeas went in earlier this year and are a dwarf variety called ‘Little White’ which should reach 60cms and I’m just about to fill in the gaps with hakonechloa macra.

Here’s hoping I’m back in the groove again! The walk round revealed plenty of slug damage to my new delphiniums and much that needs dead-heading. I’ve yet to pull up the tomato plants but that’s just about due. In a taste test on the cucumbers ‘Burpless’ were a clear winner over ‘Marketmore’. Plans for next year are being made. Wishing you all a happy Autumn in your gardening spaces. Jim’s Garden Ruminations is full of Autumn inspiration.

Six On Saturday: Harvest

/ n20gardener / 18 Comments

I’ve called time on most of the courgettes, it looks like the cucumbers growing outside may be on their last legs as are the dwarf beans. It’s not been a bad year especially given the erractic summer. Here’s my six for this week.

One

This is going to be apple picking weekend. The first photo is of the reluctant ripeners but finally they have caught up, the pips are brown and so they are ready to pick for making into juice. The second photo is of a cox’s apple, also ready to pick and also going to juice.

Two

I have very fruits on the persimmon this year, here’s one I spotted this week and there are about four or five more. They won’t be ripe until December.

Three

I have been picking plums for a couple of weeks. There are plenty with brown rot but there seem be much fewer showing wasp damage. The wasps have definitely been less visible than previous years but one or two have been spotted this last week.

Four

The tomatoes have been slow to ripen, these are a yellow cherry variety which have been wonderfully sweet when ready to eat. These will have another chance to ripen this week and then perhaps it will be time to pick them for ripening inside.

Five

I grew four varieties of courgette this year and this is the last survivor. Probably the best cropper too. They’ve done us well roasted with tomatoes or on the barbeque.

Six

And lastly, I could not resist this photo of the verbena bonariensis. Caught in the early low light. They seed everywhere here but when they look as stunning as this I love them all over again.

I hope you garden is doing well this week. I did get some rain and although it seemed there was a good downpour or two the garden is still quite dry. The water butts filled up again though and so they will soon be emptied out on the plants that need it most. The season is shifting and we’re into the prep and planning stage for next year. I am about ready to start with some re-arranging and some major weeding of the dreaded cinque foil. Jim, host of the meme, has a colourful selection this week. Happy Gardening.

Six On Saturday: Hope springs again

/ n20gardener / 17 Comments

Dare I say it? It is the last weekend of August. September is in sight and a sense of the seasons changing is in the air. This weekend is set aside for apple picking and it seems that the plums are also ready to pick. There was a good long downpour last Thursday and all the water butts are full again. Here’s six from this week’s garden.

One

I’d left my ‘Jazzy’ new potatoes in the ground, digging them up as and when needed. After the heavy rain of Thursday morning I thought I’d better dig them all up for fear of leaving in them the soggy ground. A few forks in revealed that the surface was nicely damp but down below things were still pretty dry. I did dig them all up, collected a few windfalls and picked the outside San Maranzo tomatoes. These are so much smaller than those in the greenhouse, but appreciated nonetheless. The potato haul was 8kgs, which I am more than happy with.

Two

It’s a good crop of plums this year. Variety unknown. As is common, they are suspect to plum moth so the early ripening fruits often have those darling maggots. This means that each plum is cut in half and checked over before use or more usually before freezing. That’s another job for the weekend.

Three

One way or another I always seem to end up with a packet of sunflower seeds and for no reason at all I usually sow a handful. This year’s plants have grown to heady heights, loving the heat and somehow drawing on a secret supply of water. They are going to seed now and have been tracked down by the local parakeets who are managing to balance on the flower heads and are feeding excitedly on the seeds.

Four

I’m slightly more proud of sowing the seed of thalictrum delavyi. From my less than perfect notes it looks like the seed was sown in 2020. Two years on then and they look firmly established. It’s quite difficult to capture their delicate flowers with the trusty phone camera but this isn’t too bad.

Five

Dahlias. Not a fan, but somehow I always have a few in the garden. This one was grown from seed last year and the tuber left in the ground over winter. I prefer the simpler variety. It has perked up considerably after rainfall.

Six

This hart’s tongue fern was also a sad sight before the rain came. Now plumped up again and flourishing. The garden’s resilience is encouraging.

There’s more gardening celebrations to be found on The Propagator’s site. Yes, crispiness abounds but it’s always possible to find something to enjoy. Lift your spirits with a visit to the other SOS garden posts. Happy gardening.