Readers’ gardens
It was such a relief to find that the garden had been transformed by some rain during our holiday. The lawn was bright green and in need of a cut, plus the border plants and shrubs were lush and framing the edges.
With an offer of manure from our neighbours, I got straight on with deadheading, weeding and tidying up in a steady downpour, before spreading a good inch of mulch and lightly forking it into the soil. After a few days, everything looked greener and fuller and, hopefully, the nourishment will stimulate some repeat-flowering from rudbeckia, cosmos and other summer annuals.
The hanging baskets have really benefited from the rain that soaked in the manure to feed them. With days still warm, it feels as though some plants, like the busy Lizzies, are only just getting into their stride while the lobelia and petunias are noticeably leggy.
The triangular border of geraniums, busy Lizzies and marigolds has been very successful and I’ll repeat that combination next year. My GN sunflower ‘Valentine’ looks fresh and bright. The red, orange and yellow begonias are still flowering their socks off, like hyperactive traffic lights, and the GN zinnias have looked striking next to cannas.
After sorting my seed packets, I’ve sown poppies, cosmos and sweet William straight into the soil to see if an autumn sowing improves next year’s show. There are pleasing signs of developing berries and ripening apples.
Our first post-holiday visit to the allotment yielded marrowsized courgettes and we dug up a satisfying amount of potatoes, collected cheery bunches of calendula and picked lots of big, juicy blackberries.