My gardening Diary
MONDAYto the east, then I wondered realised why the my native broad hedge beans next were to all them leaninghas grown enormously and is shading them for the second half of the day. Cu ing hedges must wait until birds have reared their young, although we won’t disturb them if we just lop off the extended branches.
TUESDAY Filming for Gardeners’ World. It’s such a privilege to visit gardeners and see their gardens for the programme. The wealth of knowledge shown, and the infectious enthusiasm that radiates from them when they’re talking about their favourite plants, make my job a huge pleasure.
WEDNESDAY Martagon lilies in pots are flowering beautifully. The recurved petals of their handsome flowers reveal exciting, strikingly-marked pa erns, all evolved by mother nature to help pollinating insects but appreciated by us gardeners, too. My favourite is ‘Mrs. R.O. Backhouse’, whose pink-tinged buds open to apricot flowers, marked with crimson.
THURSDAY Each year, we leave a few plants of cow parsley to flower in the shady part of the garden, but although most of us are enamoured by the sight of its frothy flowers in hedges and ditches in late May, it can become a thorough nuisance in the garden. We’re pulling them all up before they go forth and multiply.
FRIDAY Mixing up another stack of compost. The recipe we use was passed on by one of my best gardening friends, Richard Lee from RHS Garden Rosemoor: 150 litres of multi-purpose compost, 100 of sterilised loam and 10 buckets of grit.
SATURDAY It’s my birthday, traditionally Midsummer’s Day. What be er treat than to enjoy my garden. Walking in it and working in it is my favourite present. Since I’m away a lot I don’t always get the opportunity, but today that’s where you’ll find me!
SUNDAY Po ing on Calamintha nepeta ‘White Cloud’. Most are now in two-litre pots and the hope is they’ll make bushy plants. To ensure they’ll be in fifine fe le for Alice’s wedding at the end of September, we’ll nip out growing tips to make bushier plants that should come into flflower later than usual. You can do the same thing in the garden, too. Bees and bu erflflies love this plant.