What have you done in the garden today? Part 5

[MereDintofPandiculation]

What have you done in the garden today? What went well? What surprises have you had? What could have gone better?

We had a blackbird in our fruit cage too, so I watched where it got in and out, and got DH to secure the perimeter while it was out.
I think we have the better of it, but saw it scoping the rest of the netting for weaknesses.

Yes, I have been doing that for weeks, somehow they always find a way in. I would hide in the greenhouse and just watch the netting for ages until a blackbird finally showed me the route they were taking that day. Another day, another route in.

It was such a drag that DH bought a HUGE net to cover the whole bed (I had patched together three smaller ones at first, all I had) but even it just went around, not completely over, with the bushes being about eight feet high! So another was put over top. Stones securing all the edges. Still they got in, only now they could not get out again and were very distressed when we found them.

I love my garden's blackbirds but I knew I wouldn't crop any ripe berries if they were allowed access. Turns out they got quite a few and so did I!

Another one to look at is clover - if you look at it closely, each "flower" is actually a flower head of many tiny flowers, and if you look at an individual flower carefully, you'll see that also has the "sweet pea" flower structure that puts it into the pea/bean family.

And like them, they're nitrogen fixers... Clever plants. When I was an undergrad chemistry student I did a mini project in a group trying to find a synthetic way to do what these plants do naturally. Afaik there's still no commercially viable method to replace the old Haber-Bosch ammonia process to make nitrogen fertilisers.

@ErrolTheDragon - sent you a PM

After a dreary and wet June Summer has burst into being here, it’s peaking at 30C+ and everything is looking rather, well, hot! So much is late up so hopefully this will mark the turning point. Suspect all the brassicas will bolt but I don’t love eating them anyway so not to worry.

Some of my rather pathetic seedlings have finally gotten their mojo and are shooting up, I have a couple of anise hyssops sown this year approaching the 2ft mark that a month ago looked keen on dying.
Only job done today was digging up yet more bellflower from the borders (weeping inside at the futility whilst eyeing the neighbours infested lawn) and watering everything.

Does/has anyone grown John Davies roses before? What a plant, really soldiering on in this heat with totally unaffected and beautiful blooms.

John Davis*

Can anyone identify this please? My plant app seems confused.

?verbena hastata @Hedjwitch ?

Was that an app?

This plant has compound leaves made up of three leaflets, which are arranged alternatively up the stem. Verbena hastata, like almost all the other Verbenas, has simple leaves, not made up of leaflets, and arranged in opposite pairs on the stem. Hence my suspicion that the Verbena hastata suggestion was made by an app

The leaves suggest Melilotus. I can’t see the flowers clearly enough to see what shape they are. If they are pea flower shaped, ie they have a sharply downward folded petal with two petals hanging one each side over it, and another petal standing erect, try White Melilot, Melilotus albus.

No, not an app @MereDintofPandiculation 😀, I was googling another similar flower when i came across Verbena Hastata…….

No, iy's not Verbena hastata Did you manage to id your other one?

I'm trying out Flora Incognita at the moment (I've a lot of photos of alpine meadow flowers I want to try to ID!) - that's what it suggests with a 93% probability.

Meanwhile ...arrived back home this afternoon, delighted it seems to have been damp and not overly hot so the garden is looking ok. The only thing I've done is deadhead some of the sweet peas which must have been lovely in my absence. Glad I did some more sowings so I've got more to come! Quite a bit more deadheading and propping up to do - my campanula latifolias are bowing down despite their supports

Well all I have done is have a walkabout.

A few things look dead/on the verge of death but generally it looks happy.

The big news are I have more flowers - campanulas have started flowering, as have the violas and the miniatures.
Alpine strawberries appear to be going nuts and have runners all over the shop.
And it is possible there is movement on the cannas, which I had been writing off.

Dahlia are doing well, had quite a growth spurt since the last rain storm.

Sea holly has turned a beautiful vivid blue - they're such photogenic plants.

We'll get another crop of rhubarb in a week or so it seems to have turned into a triffid in the past 10 days!

I was given some lavatera by a friend so I've potted up some soft wood cutting to see if they take root.

Just before the weekend I sowed a new batch of lettuce to replenish our crop. They've already germinated - the temps in the greenhouse are getting up into the mid 30s every day, which is proving heloful. Probably got another couple of weeks of the current batch of mixed lettuce and cos so that's good timing.

need to plant out my anterrinum as they are spilling out of the trough - will maybe try to do that this afternoon if the rain forecast to arrive at lunchtime has stopped.

We'll get another crop of rhubarb in a week or so it seems to have turned into a triffid in the past 10 days! When do you stop cropping? My mother told me you shouldn’t pick rhubarb after Pershore Fair, ie end June. It’s not just about giving it chance to build up strength for next year, it’s also rising levels of oxalates.

The RHS suggest to stop harvesting rhubarb in June (because otherwise it weakens the plant) but I wonder whether the strange growing conditions this year create a little leeway?

I think I'll probably look at the rhubarb growth and see if I pick it but not eat it. Or should I just leave the stems attached to the crown. I don't want to compromise next year's growth.

how do you stop it from growing though, especially with the very strange conditions in July, very cool in mornings and evenings, plus atypical rainfall.

Funnily enough I was looking at our rhubarb this morning and thinking it’s doubled in size in a week. Unlike lots of other things in the garden. A month ago it looked dead.

The idea is you encourage it to grow as much as it can, to store up food in its roots, ready for a good start putting out thick stems in the spring. It’s the growth they do now that determines the crop you get next year

I've been doing very ordinary things like weeding and dead heading the roses, hoping they will flower again. I threw loads of Nigella seeds onto a patch of the garden about six weeks ago and am delighted that they are starting to flower.

I bought a few bargain dahlias at Waitrose yesterday, reduced from £15 each to £5 so planted them in one of the flower beds. Am still cutting sweet peas which smell gorgeous. Today has been warm with a bit of sun but I'm really not sure if my tomatoes will grow in time. Tomorrow we have thunderstorms forecast and heavy rain. They just need some sunshine. The pumpkins on the other hand are doing really well with all the rain 🎃

I’ve given the greenhouse its big weekend water with fertiliser (yes I know it’s Monday), picked a few strawberries, broad beans, sugar snap peas, and loads of raspberries, tayberries, loganberries, and moved a few pots around. That’s taken me all day so far (apart with dealing with troublesome emails this morning and a long leisurely lunch on the sunny terrace - must make the most of these opportunities when they present themselves). Now a drink before heading back out to pick the alpine strawberries. Hopefully some weeding too. That’s the pleasurable side of gardening.

Sounds like you've had decent weather today Meredint. I can't believe how beautiful it was this morning and how badly it deteriorated into sheeting rain from lunchtime until now, when the sun decided to make an appearance. How ridiculous.

I took a quick snap * of one of my rhubarb crowns which has grown very quickly since I harvested my one and only batch 2 weeks ago. I feel cheated.

So I just let it grow on and it will eventually die off in autumn. Hopefully a bit like leaving the leaves on bulbs the messiness will be worth putting up with, for the benefits next year.

The rhubarb is at the back. The front is hellebore which is also triffid-like!