My gardening diary
MONDAY
Umbels (now classified as Apiaceae) are among my favourite plants and, wherever possible, we collect our own seed. Orlaya grandiflora is enchanting, with creamy-white plateaux of tiny flowers, encompassed by a circle of larger, sterile flowers in the manner of a lacecap hydrangea. Its seeds are ripe and ready to collect.
TUESDAY
There are only a few summer-flowering shrubs in the garden here. Two of them, different varieties of deutzia, have finished flowering and this year we’re determined to prune them properly, cutting out all the flowered wood. We neglected them last year and they haven’t looked as good as they should.
WEDNESDAY
We’ve been pulling beetroot, but as we do we make sure only to pull the biggest roots leaving the smaller ones for a later harvest. Beetroot seeds are a cluster of seeds and usually two or three seeds germinate together. This year they’re tender and sweet.
THURSDAY
Nicotiana alata has to be the most fragrant of all the tender annuals. Raised from seed this year, the plants now have 20 or more blooms each. They look nothing during the day but as dusk descends their flowers open wide, exuding the most delectable perfume.
FRIDAY
Soft fruit is superb this season with the exception of the raspberries, which haven’t had enough water. They’re competing with the roots from an overbearing ash tree, too. We may have to start again with new plants in a different site.
SATURDAY
Parts of the track have almost turned themselves into lawn. Self-seeded grass has greened up its width, assisted by excess water from the nearby raised bed. I don’t know whether to weed it or mow it!
SUNDAY
The garden served us well when we plundered it for flowers for my brother Bill’s funeral. We’d decided blue and silver were appropriate as he loved Anglesey and the sea and was a brilliant engineer who adored things mechanical. Agapanthus and sea hollies played their part and Bill’s wife and my daughter Annie collected marram grass and the true sea holly, Eryngium maritimum from the shore.