Garden Blogs

Not much activity in the garden since last time due to the windy weather and now we're having a heat wave and it's too hot to keep the kids out in the sun while I garden. Weeds are taking over the world! What has been done though is potting up the tomato seedlings that my eldest daughter planted, trying to keep my hardened-off young plants alive while I haven't had time to plant them out, and the arrival, building and painting of the new Man Room (that's a new room for men, not a room full of new men!) - aka "The Shed - Not For Girls". My husband and daughter set to, painting it a much more subtle dark brown than the flourescent orange it arrived as. And the old shed has been swapped for some bark from the local saw mill. It's changed the whole feeling of the garden and I'm loathed to fill the gap back up with a green house...not sure what to do now as I would love a green house! Still no sign of any fish in the pond. I suspect that the heron did get them. Although the water is greener than ever now so I wouldn't be surprised if there are hundreds of fish "lost" in the murk... Something strange has started sprouting next to my herbs - reluctant to pull it up in case it's some beautiful flower...if you can identify it from my dodgy pictures, please leave a comment and any tips! Strawberries are starting to appear on my ancient plant and some lovely fresh shoots are showing on a bamboo that my sister-in-law gave me last year. I divided into three and it just sat there in the border neither growing nor dying so I'm delighted that it's springing into life. My olive tree has also come back to life. I moved it outside and all the leaves fell off and I thought it was a gonner :o( But, hooray, it's covered in leaf buds! :o) And finally...a dandelion-eradicating tip from my neighbour which I haven't tried yet. He used to own a garden centre so I am certain it works! He said chop off the plant near to the ground and put about a teaspoon of table salt onto the "wound" and it seems to kill the dandelion. A fairly organic method I do believe :o) If I ever get round to trying it, I will report back on my success! Until next time...