Keeping on top of the watering is quite a task
The weather is a real trial at the moment. Any rain that was forecast passed us by! The pots in the vegetable garden and greenhouses have had a good drink every evening and we’ve been trying to keep pots and any new plants in the ground well watered with a weekly soak, but the sudden heatwave turned that into a daily task, too! Already the wild grass area has turned brown and is already looking quite autumnal. The roses are flowering profusely but unfortunately are past their best in a matter of days. I try to keep up with the deadheading but as we planted more roses last year this has given me quite a task ! The grass and geranium bed has started to lose the freshness of early summer and the Geranium palmatum have got so big they’ve begun to take over the whole bed at the expense of other plants, so we’ve had to remove several of them. We’ve left the odd one or two but we know next spring there’ll be plenty of seedlings as they’re very prolific. We now have some vacant spaces, so we’ve decided to fill these with more ornamental grasses in autumn.
The main herbaceous bed hasn’t done as well this year and several plants have suffered due to the conditions. Some plants have been removed as part of the revamp, which we were already planning, so at least they won’t need to be watered! Plants have been bought and are being kept on the sidelines so we can get them in place in autumn and established while the soil is still warm – as long as we’ve had some rain by then! In the meantime it’s easier to keep them well watered while still in their pots. Some of the replacements will be bare-root roses; they’ve been ordered, but won’t be delivered until November and that will finalise the revamp. The small herbaceous bed is filled with a selection of salvias. Some are cuttings I took last year and some were a present from Pete. Together with some other already established specimens, they look lovely and seem to thrive in the hot weather.
The vegetable garden is productive. So far I’ve had more than 90 snack cucumbers. Tomatoes are hanging with fruit and peppers are coming along nicely. The peas did well, producing a bumper crop from four large pots, and dwarf French beans are coming into their own. We harvested the first of our cabbages, which were very tasty.