Flyways and highways

Up early this morning and I opened up all the windows and doors in the office to catch the morning breeze. And would you know it I didn’t realise I was creating a little bird highway. A bird has twice used the office as a short cut. It flew so fast I didn’t have time to see what type it was, and then I was too amazed that it would do it twice to see more than fast feathers. It flew in the open door that faces the courtyard and out the window to the safety of the wisteria. Quite a nifty shortcut and a baffle for whatever was chasing it.

I have experienced one of those days where time just oozed rather than raced. I came in today thinking it was at least five o’clock but actually twas only quarter to three. Perhaps all the weeding made me flag. Or the idiotically foolish attempt to tidy away all of Nicolas’s spare tree trunks. He does leave things in rather an abandoned state when tasks are completed. One finds tape measures in paths, tools abandoned on slopes and this time, logs. I was dying to get the good pic of the new terraces, so heaved and hauled the spare logs out of the way.

And you wonder why afternoon tea was accompanied by a hefty dose of nurafen plus and almost half an hour’s remedial stretching on the yoga mat. One never learns. Bad backs are bad because we are idiots. But I was sufficiently recovered to power out again and do more weeding. Must have been the cool cloudy sky. Almost threatening rain.

The east garden was the first area that needed attention. The eryngiums and asters are now staked, the lilac bed weeded utterly and then watered. And then it was time to try and decode the wisteria bed. Lots of lush weeds in between the plants. There are red hot pokers that were labeled as Green Jade. Hmm. Does that look green to you? I would say screaming orange – which isn’t the colour scheme I am after. Mind you, there is no colour scheme here right now, just green leaves rather than flowers. So I ought to be grateful the peacock orchids, the nasturtiums and the new Rudbeckia green wizard seedlings are alive and not crisp after this heatwave, and just hope for more colour soon.

And while it was still cool I decided to plant out all the seedlings that travelled over from England. Apart from the coriander plant that came from the Camden Garden Centre, I bought plants galore when Jan and I visited the Open Gardens Scheme Coach House garden in Hampshire. More Allium sphaerocephalon for the herb bed. I bought five pots of those. And it was one of those spooky coincidences that I had seen them the week before at Andrew’s and yearned for some of my own. Came back to tidy the weed bed and lo and behold I had some they just hadn’t come into flower yet. They were planted two years ago as miscellaneous bulbs and there they were peeking out over the sage bushes. But I needed more. And what is the first plant I spy at the stall at the garden? Allium sphaerocephalon. And that’s the last time I’m going to spell it. Great to have taller colour in the herb garden now that the allium purple sensations are just dry sticks.

I bought two veronicastrums as well as trial plants; these went up to the shade garden.

Long pause there while I trudge up to the plants, scrabble about their roots, read the label, write them down and trudge back.

Veronicastrum virginicum ‘Roseum’ and veronicastrum fascination ‘Pointed Finger’. The pointed finger is much showier, but it looks more fragile than the Roseum. I shall give both a go over the seasons and then decide which to buy more of.

I bought a pot of Nepeta Walkers Low to see if it will behave itself better than the Six Hills Giant of which I have small floppy clumps sulking on the edge of the shade garden. And also some (wait for it) omphalodes linifolia. It is an annual but I am hoping it will self seed a bit around the shade garden and make for a bit of variety in the ground cover department. There’s going to be a dull Geranium glut next year if I’m not careful.

I also planted out a hemerocallis called Summer Wine which fell into my shopping basket at a London plant nursery the day before I travelled. I only went in to Clifton Gardens to see if they had any more Verbena Bonanriensis seeds, honest guv. It has gone in front of the Molinea in the courtyard and is already flowering away.

Next up were the peas that had germinated in the potting shed during my absence. I am trying to extend the season for the vegetable garden a bit this year. Hence more peas. In they went and I decided to give a try at more beetroot. But under the safety of a well netted cloche. I sowed a row of the Italian variety Da Orto Paonazza D’Eggitto… what is it about the spelling today. Why can’t I just get away with short squat beetroot variety? And also put in a row of mixed radish for good measure.

In the potting shed I sowed more spinach to replace the ones that slimed (Mikado) and did some kale, coriander and more radish and beetroot to keep up the numbers.

One more thing I brought out from London was a packet (small alas) of shady and dry grass seed mix. This came in handy as I now have more space to sow and create paths. Down went the seed on the elderflower path, and then it was time to weed the chestnut steps in preparation for a bit of seed sowing there.

Now I know that this isn’t the idea time for grass sowing. But at least I am here to water morning and night to try and get the little blighters germinating and up.

They are shady and it is dry. Fingers crossed. I was thinking of also sowing seeds on the steps up behind the pottting shed, but this was the mad moment when I saw the logs lying about nearby and tidied them away.

Refreshed from drugs and stretching I sat down in the shade of the corn and weeded away while the sun came out and any hope of rain from the cloudy cool morning departed.

And speaking of shade it was time to actually reduce it. The chestnut tree that shades the part of the garden where most of the plants are growing was doing the same thing. It was sprouting everywhere. I gingerly stepped into the shade bed and started in on the suckers with my secateurs. Hah. Not good enough. Time to go for the bigger guns.

Out came the loppers and I had that tree trunk bald and smooth in no time.  That ought to let in more light where it is needed.

I weeded around the grasses on the bank. One curious thing about this hot weather; the weeds are shrivelling up on the surface of the soil. It does make removing them easier.

But not so the brambles that are threatening the side of the vegetable bed down near the house. In the very cool of the evening I started to with some thick gauntlets and secateurs. No idea how long it took but it it certainly an improvement. Tomorrow when it’s light I will photograph and see where I have been.

And to finish on a fruity note, look at the bumper crop of Mirabelles we are going to get this year. I kept bonking my head on the branches as I walked along Alice’s path. Can’t wait to taste them. And bake them in tarts, and make jam. And stew them. Fruit on the brain. There are even a few plums in the trees in front of the house. I can see some purple orbs glinting through the branches when I stand on the terrace. But they are too high and will be almost impossible to pick. Perhaps I shall just wait until they drop and hope I reach them in time.