July Garden

I do so love my garden. Having been at this house for 5 years I'm now reaping the benefits of established planting and knowing what works in my soil and with the weather conditions.

My main emphasis is on bee-friendly plants, so herbaceous perennials interspersed with annuals. This means the garden looks pretty bleak over winter but is worth it for the show during the growing season which here in the Sussex is long and bountiful. I find perennials such hard workers and they just do their thing, year after year and a bit of timely dividing every other year keeps them healthy and allows me to spread the lurve - either in my own garden or by selling or giving away portions of good performers to other gardeners. And I can sow the seeds. Honestly, what's not to like?

In the spring, the look is all about cottage garden, as I have lupins galore (they seem to love my clay) and a lot of random Veronica; honesty; hardy geraniums and alliums, irises and the glorious verdant herbiness of the awakening summer plants. I live in a cottage: I have a garden so I am so pleased I have the chance to indulge this method of planting - a tumble and jumble of colour and greens and an exuberance which is so welcome after the winter. 

The insects love all these too. Not only my bees but hoverflies, bumblebees of all kinds, solitary bees and early butterflies. The wildlife adds a dimension to gardening - a sense of purpose I suppose for me as it rubber-stamps that I'm doing a good and valuable job. Our gardens are such important spaces for pollinators, amphibians, small mammals, reptiles and birds since their 'wilder' habitats have been encroached upon: we really should feel obliged to accommodate their needs as much as possible. It's not exactly a chore...

Summer approaches and the garden subtly changes as the spires of Verbascum, Verbena bonariensis and Nepeta, Foxtail lily, Digitalis cilata and Leucanthemum reach their maximum height, joined by the audible buzz and hum from the insects. I've added some grasses this year to provide some movement and a different texture and I'm really pleased with the results. I've had great success with annuals from Higgledy Garden - I'm not very good with them normally but the blue of the cornflower looks wonderful and a happy accident that it clashes so brilliantly with an orange Achillea that I'd forgotten was lurking underneath. Ammi majus is another new one for me this year and have given an airy element to the border which is useful when the plants are so crammed in!

I'm looking forward to August as the asters and Echinacea start to flower, the grasses signal the coolness of an autumn breeze and the apples begin to ripen. But just now, I'm happy to sit in the shade of those apple trees and watch the summer garden perform.

New Things

The garden is underwater at the moment as we've been deluged thanks to some low pressure weather systems recently, but I have noticed that my crocuses have emerged which is early - presumably because of the mild weather so far this winter; we've only had a couple of days where the temperature's nudged below zero.

These are Crocus 'Gypsy Queen':

I have finished my Kate Davies First Footing socks and apart from a few furrowed brow moments with the heel flap, I'm really pleased with them:

I used Shetland Heritage yarn which was delightful to knit with, and the whole kit had been a Christmas present from Nicky so it was fun to do. I have quite big feet so used the pattern for the larger size up and actually they fit perfectly.

The desire to sow seeds and encourage spring to arrive is almost overwhelming, but I know from previous years that sowing too early just produces leggy spindly seedlings, but I have been ordering some packs. One batch is from Chilterns Seeds but I have just received my seeds from Higgledy Garden - a selection of Bee/Butterfly seeds at the bargain price of £10 for 10 packs, plus a few other goodies such as Cosmos 'Pied Piper' and some climbing nasturtiums. It was beautifully packaged:

So lovely!

I had a bit of a worry earlier in the week as my cockerel Emu, who had been suffering with a swollen foot before Christmas had a bit of a relapse. I spoke to the vet on the phone who advised me that the prognosis was not good, but once we were at the vets and he'd given Emu the once over, we decided to give him another course of antibiotics so I didn't have to deal with the awful feeling of leaving the vets with an empty basket, and he had his first dose last night when we got back so hopefully they'll get to work quickly.

It's probably time I washed the kitchen floor...