A Voyage of Discovery

That's what this garden continues to be - but more of that later. As usual here is the pic of the borders taken this morning - before the rain started again !!

Today was a bit of a mixed bag weather wise - dry for most of the morning and warm too,  but it started to rain more as the day wore on.

Anyway, to begin the day I was feeling energetic so I carried all the remaining logs in the top third of the garden out the door to await removal for winter firewood. and the I  dug over and weeded the area planned for the raspberries. It is now going to be two rows of varities as yet unknown but probably an early and a mid season variety, one row of each. I have asked both Richard and Sally to get 4 x deer fence posts so that I can put the framework and wire supports  in place.

After that was done (and it took a while to remove all the thistles, nettles, dockens, ground elder and creeping buttercup), Sally came down and we taked about what was due to arrive soon by way of plug plants (more Phlox and Astrantia, Echinops, a double Hemerocallis) and about setting up a compost area.

Now, at the far end of the garden, beyond the hedge that may or may not be ripped out (as mentioned a couple of weeks ago, there is an area hat is not yet touched at all. There is a gateway through the wall  to allow trailers to tip manure from the field down into the garden so that would be an ideal place to put the compost area.. All I need now are some pallets and some old fenceposts and Bob's my Uncle and Fanny's my Aunt.

Afytre Sally had gone, I gathered up all the hedge clippings from Richards final foray with the trimmer, and then I cut back both the white and purple Buddlieja bushes and in doing do opened the borders right up. I gave these bushes a severe cut-back last year but they need an even more drastic cut-back this year.

After this I filled the box with this week's vegetables

We have tomatoes (Tigerella, Black Cherry and Golden Sunrise), Runner Beans, Carrots, Rooster Potatoes, a Red Iceberg lettuce and Rainbow Chard.

And finally here are some pics of the Sky High Dahlias that are in bloom - there is one that has yet to open, but time is getting on now and we might not see it this year! I know you have seen most of these - if not all before, but here they are all together. Enjoy!

Bitty!

Today was a"bitty" sort of day with lots of the little jobs that needed done finally being accomplished. First off, here is this weeks pic of the borders from the potting shed.

The roses against the SF and WF walls have their second flush in full bloom at the moment, the Sweet Peas are still going strong, the Geums are still hanging on in there, there are a few poppies dotted, the Phlox are still about - in fact, pretty much everything is still there to a lesser extent, though some are starting to look a little bit jaded. There is however another new dahlia on the block - well, the first bloom opened last week but eejit here forgot the camera, so here it is, taken this morning - it honestly looks better in real life !

Dead headed the Achillea, some more Lupins, the Scabious and the Astrantia.

Cut two branches off one of the cherry trees as although they were leafy at their extremities, both had long sections with no new growth at all. This also serves to make the tree a better, more balanced shape against the wall and frees up space for either a new climber or fruit tree or for the Ceanothus Skylark at the base of the bare space to be pulled up into.

I also finished digging out the last of the shrub rose roots which were left from last week. Whilst removing the last large chunk, I disturbed this chap but I'm not sure who got the bigger fright - anyway, he waddled off to find somewhere else to settle down, though he did look slightly pissed off about being uprooted !

On the veg front, I harvested the first of the Savoy cabbages - a conical variety called "Samantha" which look really nice, not too big and as I havealready harvested and eaten some of my own, I can vouch for them being tasty too. I also picked a heap of runner beans and cleared the broad beans out. I have saved about 50 pods of the Broadies for seed for next year as they are the Crimson Flowered heritage variety. The tomatoes are ripening slightly quicker now but it might be time for the rotten banana trick soon - hanging a couple of ripe bananas amongst the trusses helps promote ripening due to the ethylene gas given off as the banana starts to brown. The leeks and PSB are looking good though there are still a lot of flutterbies about so I'll leave the PSB under their netting for a week or so yet.

Took three cuttings from the productive redcurrant bush and these are now planted in situ where hopefully they will grow to be as good as their mom!

Sally came down to the garden and we talked raspberries and our initial decision is that the garden will have three rows, each about 5m long - an early variety, a mid season variety and possibly an autumn variety, though varieties have yet to be decided.

We also talked about what plants we would use to fill in the spaces vacated by the shrub roses when the time come for lifting and dividing clumps of perennials.

Up at the house I weeded the small borders along the front and lifted three geranium clumps that had outgrown their allotted space - these were taken down to the herbaceous borders in the walled garden and one was split further so we now have 4 new clumps of pink  geraniums in the borders.

I also cut back a couple of rose bushes to allow the hips to be seen to their best advantage.

For those of you who have been with me for a while, you might recall that I sowed some paeony seeds (and some tree paeony seeds too) last year and these were just stuck outside the potting shed and left to either grow or not. Well, I checked them today and they all have tap roots forming - no guarantee that they will all make it to adulthood but if they do, we 'll have 20 paeonies and 7 tree paeonies to find home for.

Other than weeding round the entrance and the potting shed, that's about it for today but I'll leave you with one more photo of my potting shed resident tucking into a windfall apple that was left on the bench last week. Later..................................

Wet Wet Wet

And I'm not referring to the boys from Clydebank. Although we seem to have missed the winds from the tail end of the Hurricane, unlike those firther south, we have had non stop rain for 36 hrs, and the ground is sodden.
Anyway, first off this week, an apology. I forgot to puit the camera in my bag this morning so I'm afraid that there are no piccies today, not that there would probably have been very many with the rain being so heavy - at least this morning - it did brighten up to a drizzle this afternoon but as I sit here typing this it is raining outside the window.
To start the day I thought I would try and take advantage of the shelter offered by the Garrya Elliptica tree and weed the bed underneath it - shame no-one told the tree to stop the rain for me. So, already soaked through the waterproofs, I set about digging out another three shrub roses. The amount of space their removal (and the removal of those taken out last week) has created in the border is quite astonishing and will take a bit of filling, but there are more plants on order. I staked one clump of Echinacea as they had been using one of the shrub roses for support and it's removal left them flopping around quite a bit.
Of the six T&M Sky High Dahlia tubers that were planted, all have now flowered bar one. So far we have a yellow, a red velvet, a dark red velvet, a pink/white and the newest arrival looks like a double with a very frilly centre which is red with yellow edges and reflexed red petals surrounding this - this is where a camera would have been handy! It looks really good so hopefully we'll get loads of cuttings from this tuber in due course - photo to follow next week. I relabelled all the dahlias with the colours so we know what tuber is what when we put them down for the winter.
I gathered up a box of windfall apples, leaving those that were badly bruised or slug damaged on the ground for the birdies to enjoy - there is another huge crop of apples this year and the trees look healthier this year than they did last year - possibly due to the winter wash they received.
Harvested another pile of Rooster tatties, carrots, runner beans and picked some more plums too.
Whilst picking the plums, I noticed small green round fruits on the tree in the corner of the west facing border. This tree did not have these last year, or at least they went un-noticed. They are the size of a very large cherry and have a stone in the centre and I think they ripen to a red colour. The leaves however are definitely not cherry tree leaves. I have taken a cutting with leaves and two fruits attached to try and identify them, so will hopefully be able to let you know soon.
Started into cutting back (I'd prefer down) some sort of Viburnum by the rose bed - it is full of pests and looks nondescript - however it does perform one important role - it is support to a very large and very old climbing shub rose, so for that reason alone, some of it will have to stay.
Anyway, that's about it for this week, aplogies again for no piccies.
See you next week

Happy Birthday to Richard !

If the recent weathet is anything to go by, we ain't going to get any kind of summer and now that the leaves are turning ( as well as the temperature) I guess Autumn is just around the corner, if not here already.

However, all is not doom and gloom in the garden. And as usual here is the view from the potting shed this week.
So, the Sweet Peas are still flowering their little heads off and are definitely amongst the star performers this year, the Echinacea purpurea are looking well as are the Sea Hollies, and some of the climbing roses are having a second flush of flowers too. The Crocosmia is in full bloom, there are Alastromeria in flower, as well as the Dahlias, Sunflowers, Scabious, Phlox, Verbena (bonariensis and hastata), and lupins by the hundred. The oriental poppies are making a late bid too, along with Geranium "Splish Splash" and the Geums just haven't stopped all season.

Also new in flower this week are some Kaffir Lilies

And the small White Echinacea are looking good too

And so to what was accomplished this week. I weeded one of the small "bulb" beds at the side of the Summerhouse, stalikg up some of the dwarf Gladioli as I went, and cut back all the growth on the sycamore trunks that were beginning to get out of hand again - as soon as I get a dry day I will paint these over with the stumpkiller. It should have been done before now but it hasn't been easy getting a dry day recently!! I then cut down three shrub roses that were given a second chance this year but didn't deliver and then dug out the roots - no mean feat as the roses had been in the garden for a long long long time - I also broke a spade into the bargain! However, their removal has let light in against the wall for one of theclimbing roses by the garden door, and has cleared a fair bit of ground for new plants.

On the veg front, I lifted another lot of Rooster potatoes and carrots, picked a cabbage, some beetroot, a load of broad beans, some runner beans and some carrots. Add to that the tomatoes and cucumber Sally took away in the morning and the veg is starting to pay it's way. We also got a punnet of plums off the unidentified tree against the West facing wall.

Anyway, that's it for this week folks. See ya next week.

I'm back

Sorry for not updating this blog for the last couple of weeks but things have been a bit hectic what with organising and particating in the local horticultural show and going away for the weekend to Airth Castle with Maggie and the girls to join a family party for my mum's 70th.
Anyway, back now so here we go.
First off, Congratulations to Sally for winning the Mounteagle Shield for the best Sweet Pea Exhibit at Tain Horticultural Show on 20th August. - she is already talking about defending the title next year so cordon growing of a show variety is a must (along with the purchase of a couple of Bikini Vases).
Richard's cousin, Tim Patterson, who is a Garden Designer over in the USA was also over visiting and although the timing conspired against us meeting up, I am told that he has measured up the garden, discussed various options with Richard and Sally and has now returned to the States where he is going to draw uip a design plan for the garden which I am looking forward to seeing very much.
On the garden front, the last couple of weeks were spent doing not much more than weeding various beds, tending the greenhouse where all the tomato plants have now been stopped as there are more than enough fruits to try and ripen and given the summer we haven't had, there is no point in letting them produce more. The aubergine plant that survived the aphid avalanche has two fruits forming, though the capsicums have produced absolutely zero fruits.
On the veg front, the onions have been lifted and dried, the Brokali is over and the plants have been cleared away, the early and second early potatoes have been lifted, the cabbages are hearting up well with a couple already lifted, along with some of the beetroot and broad beans, the runner beans have also started cropping now and  and the carrots are just starting too.
The border is looking okay but the weather last week, especially the strong winds has wreaked havoc on some of the plants but here's a piccie for you anyway

As you can see, Richard has started to prune the box hedges to tidy them up, but if you click on the photo to enlarge it, you will notice the sweet pea wigwams on the left of the photo have collapsed - partially due to the huge amount of sweet pea growth and partly due to the recent strong winds. Following a tip on GW from Monty Don about picking every fully open bloom on the plants every ten days or so, Sally has been filling the house with Sweet Peas and they have responded fantastically with a huge number of blooms still being produced.

As I mentioned previously, the runner beans have started to crop and as well as on a wigwan in the temporary veg bed, these are also growing in pots round the archway entrance to the Potting Shed and are doing well.

The onions have now been strung up a la Onion Johnny (if you wanna learn how to do this, go on You Tube and search for "Jack Hargreaves, onions")

Elsewhere in the borders, the "Sky High" Dahlias Sally got from Thompson and Morgan have started to flower

As has the Sunflower "Pastiche"

Anyway, back to what I did today. After trying (and sort of succeeding) to add supports to stay the collapsed  Sweet Pea wigwams and dead-heading both the Lupins and the Mulleins I also harvested Rooster potatoes, Runner Beans, Apples,Cucumber, Carrots and a cabbage, as well as picking a bunch of Sweet Peas.

 At the far end of the garden, at the end of the fruit bed is a hugely overgrown Cotoneaster hedge, which is doing it's best to hide in amongst the nettles and rosebay willowherb, so today I made a start on clearing down the side of the hedge to see what we have and decide whether it can be salvaged and resurrected or whether it shoud be ripped out and a new hedge replanted. Here is a before piccie

And here a couple of" After" piccies. I came across a chickem wire fence through which the cotoneater was growing too, just to make it a bit more interesting !

A Decision has yet to be made! And to finish off with, here is a photo of a Red Admiral perched on a Scabious.

Thats it folks.til next week.



Good Scottish rain -straight down!

In contrast to the last couple of Wednesdays, today was wet - in fact to say it was wet would be a hell of an understatement. I am typing this at 21.40 hrs and if anything the rain is getting heavier and there has been no let up all day. Who'd be a gardener ? With the winds we've suffered the last couple of days and todays non stop downpour, the borders are looking pretty sorry for themselves - what happened to summertime ?
Anyway, enough moaning - you'd think I was a farmer!
Here is this weeks photo of the boorders from the potting shed

First off the greenhouse. I pinched the tops out on the tomatoes today as we are starting to run out of weeks to get the tomatoes to ripen, but each plant now has sufficient truss numbers.

The greenhouse is also currently home to a Calamondon which is starting to flower.

The leaves however are not their normal glossy green selves

I'm not 100% certain but I think it may be sooty mould that is on the leaves - if anyone out there knows better, let me know.

Elsewhere, I lifted a row of Charlotte potatoes and although one plant seemed to have a prevalence of scab, the rest were nice and clean. However I also lifted the onions today as they had started to go over and those that hadn't had been knocked for six by the weather.

Although those pictured above, hanging in the potting shed are all okay, I did find five amongst them which look to have White Rot

If this is the case then no more onions in this bed. Fortunately this shouldn't be too much of an issue as this veg bed is only temporary and hopefully by next Spring we shall have a set of raised beds to grow our vegetables in.

This leads on nicely to what I did next. Spurred on by the sight of White Rot in the onions, I got my builders line out and marked out where the new veg beds will be going. Including the two temporary beds that currently have veg growing in them, there is sufficient room to have 13 raised beds, each 4ft wide and 8ft long with a 2ft wide path between them - all I need now is 312ft of gravel boards and 52 corner posts!!

Whilst there I staked the broad beans higher up as they too had taken a beating from the winds of Monday and Tuesday.

After that I cut back some of the wilder overgrown roses along the back edge of the lower border, spread some slug bait round the dahlias (first buds showing) and sunflowers (ditto on the bud front) and tied up the Achillea and Centaurea which the weather had flattened.

By this time I was completely soaked through and enough was enough. The only new blooms this week are the Sea Hollies

So that's it for this week

Better late than never

Sorry about making you wait for a couple of days but it's been pretty busy Chez Moi, Anyway, to business - and as usual here is this weeks pic from the potting shed

First things firdst I checked on the greenhouse, where I found two of the aubergine plants sitting outside, one of which was looking very very sorry for itself. Sally later told me of a serious infestation of whitefly over the weekend which pretty much killed one plant and the other is pretty damaged but may recover - anyway, the two healthiest looking plants have been sprayed and we'll wait and see.
The tomatoes were denuded to about 3 ft - or to the level of the latest truss to set - all these plants are still looking healthy and green. The peppers are still a bit slow but the chard and cucumber are both now in full harvest mode. I planted some lettuce along the front of the tomatoes before I moved onto my main objective for the day - further reclamation of the Fruit bed - here it is just after I started

And here is what was achieved - removing tons of fireweed, blackcurrant bushes that had gone feral,, sycamore and ash seedlings, cleavers, nettles etc etc etc

As you may also see, a lot of black polythene was laid on the ground but the bed had been left that long that not only was stuff growing through it but there was a layer of about 3" of well rotted leaf mould on top of it.

As for what is new in the garden,

Echinacea

Self seeded Lupins

Centaurea

The purple Buddleija

And more sweet peas.

Anyway, that's all for this week - will try and get more time next week to update you all on what's happening on the veg front as well as the flower front - just really busy at the moment.

See ya next week