State of the Garden

Just look at the flowers the Hub brought me yesterday for my birthday! Aren't they lovely? The lilies aren't even open yet so in another day or so they'll be spectacular. There's alstroemaria and lisianthus in there too with the chrysanthemums and statice and gerbera and phlox. I'm so delighted! Before I show you the dodgy parts of my garden, here's the fucia. Its wild and grows along the road and here and there. You can tell I haven't had a hand in it because it's doing so well! I love it though, the flowers are so perfect. When they visited Ireland as little people the girls used to think that dandelion 'down' were flying fairies, and fucia blossoms were dancing fairies!

This is some of what is waiting to be planted out...I've been gathering cuttings and other people's throw-away plants, and bought some for the last nine years whilst waiting for a garden of my own. You can imagine moving it all from the rented house...and that's only a part!

These photos I have managed to get in the wrong order, as usual, sorry. This one below is a pointsetia I've nursed along for nearly three years. In Nairobi they grew wild and were great for sticking in to fill gaps in the hedges as they generally grew to over six foot tall, so I had to have one for here even if it only goes outside in July! Last Christmas the bracts turned red with lovely yellow flowers.

Don't know whether you can see, but the broad beans are coming along. I think I need to pinch out the tops to prevent blackfly. I'm really looking forward to eating these, my favourite vegetable!

This is -ha!ha! a flowerbed. I wanted a profusion of flowers and mixed the seeds when sowing them...BAD mistake...now I don't know which are weeds and the whole thing is a jumble. Last year I carefully sowed everything in pots and then the weather was so bad they withered before getting out into deeper soil. Perhaps I'll get right next year? Mar ya, sez you!

The strawberry plants look great but have produces exactly four strawberries. They did flower, the pots are deep enough, though I plan to plant them in the deep raised bed next year, they aren't particularly foliage wild, so I dunno. Mind you, the berries they did produce were delicious.

The broad beans got totally smushed the last fortnight, I'll know to stake them for next year. This photo was supposed to be above. Some plants have been broken off and withered so I removed them. They've collapsed onto the three french bean plants I left in that bed, and something has eated all the other beans so there won't be many french beans this year. At least the Swiss Chard is doing well, no photo as we ate it during the week, so are waiting for more! Its brilliant as we've eaten it almost to the ground at least five times this summer and back it grows! Onions, rather battered, as are the mangetout to the right of them, but didn't take photo.

Spring onions, quite a few eaten already, as are the carrots. I've also found several gratuitous tomatos in with the rogue potatoes, so we'll see how they do. Obviously the compost wasn't as composted as I thought! What hey! Its free!

Should the rhubarb be growing this vigorously at this time of year? Its 'Timperly Early' and brand new, only got it in May.

And herewith one Hub hard at work on his shed! He drilled 16 holes into the cement plinth (for which we can't afford to build a breize block shed as the planning specifies) last night, inserted the dowel rods and is waiting for the putty/glue to dry. Tonight he hopes to bolt down the base. Tuesday,he returned home clanking oddly and proceeded to extract 16 x 7" (?) bolts from his pockets! Is it any wonder his trousers wear out??

Yesterday afternoon Sos presented me with a little bar of chocolate tied up in ribbon: 'Happy Birthday Mom, and can I have the ribbon back?' Hmmm!

Dilly has been home since Monday afternoon (she was suffering withdrawal symptoms from my Georghette Heyer books), though she leaves this afternoon, and its been great. Sos and B have talked endlessly with her, but yesterday afternoon the conversation waned. Firstly they played a murderous game of 'Risk!', ignoring all the strategy cards and going for world domination. I tell you, even some terrorists could learn from these three hoodlums! When Sos had won (I really don't know how as the other two were cheating), they then started singing all the Disney songs they know, which is A LOT! That carried on for over an hour and was deafening- not very musical either!

I meant to include a progress photo on the little quilt, but that'll have to wait til tomorrow. Its not finished, but it is taking shape.

Tomorrow I'm off to London for four days with the folks, to stay with my brother. I'm really looking forward to it as we're going to two Prom Concerts, another recital, and a Show. Also a flower Market on Sunday morning, and Oxford Street. I wonder what Aer Lingus would say if I pitched up at check-in with a trolley load of plants? More to the point, what would my Dad say...

Hope you're not bored with the long post?