My gardening Diary
MONDAY Our new module trays have small compartments, 126 of them per tray! So po ing up foxgloves means masses of plants. It takes a long time though and if all works out well, the rewards next year should be spectacular. TUESDAY Some nights when you go to bed, you close your eyes and all you see is weeds! Small grasses in the paving and on the track seem to make seed within a week of being spo ed in the first place.
WEDNESDAY Broadcasting seed of hardy annuals in any bare patches (there aren’t many of them) in our beds and borders. Opium poppies are the most effective, making eye-catching plants in a couple of months. The trick is to thin them out when they germinate so you get fewer, but more spectacular plants. THURSDAY Last year some our best peonies were fla ened in a bout of stormy weather. We’ve a ended to some of them but the rest must be staked before I leave for Chelsea, otherwise I’ll worry about them all week. FRIDAY Po ing on eucomis ‘Sparkling Burgundy’. The ‘pineapple plant’ is so-called because of the similarity of its inflorescence to the fruit. Although we’ve always treated it as tender, this year we’re going to risk planting some of our pots on the raised bed and leaving them out next winter. SATURDAY In one of the raised beds that has been taken over by cut flflowers this year, are two rows of phlox. We need them to flflower in September rather than August so they’re ge ing the ‘Chelsea chop’, with stems cut back to 8-20cm (3-8in).
SUNDAY The garden is full of birds, lots of fifinches, titmice and warblers, too. We heard the enchanting sound of the chiffffchaffff a few weeks ago. It’s lovely to welcome back our summer visitors.