My gardening Diary
MONDAY As well as deadheading, some of our roses will benefit from having some of their excessive springy growth cut back hard. Cu ing back to an outward-facing bud will help promote strong new growth and we might even get a few late flowers.
TUESDAY Our runner beans ‘White Swan’ are growing almost too well. They’re in big pots outside our caravan and have made such extensive growth they help camouflage its white walls. This is a beautiful variety, with white flowers opening from creamy buds. Although runner beans are supposed to be wind pollinated, these flowers seem to be visited frequently by bees.
WEDNESDAY If the weather’s dry enough, we’ll lift the rest of our garlic. If there’s not enough sun we‘ll move it to the big greenhouse to dry out on the benches on paper put down for drying flowers for my daughter Alice’s impending wedding. Don’t want to get them mixed up, though!
THURSDAY Two big square iron pots at the foot of the front steps are full of sweet pea ‘Matucana’ and ‘Cupani’. They’ve reached the top of their supports but are making numerous sideshoots. It’s quite a time-consuming job to deadhead efficiently and remove shoots and tendrils that have died along the way, but it’s well worth it in terms of further flower production. A sulphate of potash feed helps, too.
FRIDAY Travelling to Southport for the Southport Flower Show. When I was a very li le girl, my grandma used to take me to this show. It was quite an adventure on bus and train and then looking up at the displays in the tents. Some of the cabbages and marrows seemed bigger than me!
SATURDAY Everything a summer flower show should be. The Grand Floral Marquee, with its Celebrity Theatre, lots of plant and garden societies in the Amateur Growers’ Marquee and even a ‘Bees and Honey Marquee’, not to mention a bandstand with programme introduced by Paul Crone. My only regret is that my friend Martin Fish won’t be there.
SUNDAY Having stayed the night at my younger brother’s house, he’s taking me to the airport to travel home. Wonder what awaits me – masses of weeding I know, but there’s apprehension, too, at how wedding plants are doing. That’s a point, other people have wedding plans whereas I have wedding plants!