Garden Blogs

On reading the other blogs, I feel like a real light-weight in terms of the time I put into the garden! However, having two toddlers, another one on the way, a puppy and a heat wave does give me some excuse, surely?! We've been away this weekend and I've come back to a quite luscious garden - to my surprise! Everything's looking green and bushy - it must've rained while we were off! Has the whole coutry had the greenfly plague that we have had in Staffordshire? Fortunately, ladybird larvae are hatching all over the place, so, hopefully, they'll sort out those pesky flies! Doing well in the garden are: my hostas, all flowering nicely; one of my apple trees (lots of fruit for a small tree! Other two not showing any signs of fruiting...); my plum tree (lots of fruit, very few leaves!); thornless blackberry bush; sweet peas (awaiting Husband to attach trellis to the wall to grow them up!); and the tiny chive plants that I finally planted out a few weeks ago - they now have four leaves each and are twice as tall! Also, the borrage has gone crazy! It's about 3ft tall, there are new ones appearing still and the bees love it! Not doing so well: tomatoes - they're not dead (yet) but are still fairly short and no sign of fruit; the strawberry plant - the dog has found it and keeps picking the fruit just before they're ripe enough for us to pick for ourselves! A mysterious plant has appeared on a barren part of the flower bed. It looks like fennel but doesn't smell like fennel. I've left it (about 5 plants) in the hope that it's something interesting and not a deadly weed! If you can identify it from the poor photo, please leave a comment! On a positive note, the big daisies (can't remember the type) that I planted last year are growing with gusto and are about to burst into flower. They look lovely along the fence framing the view over the rolling fields and woods. And another lovely white flower is blossoming well, above it's rich blue-green foliage - again, not sure what it is so if you can help...! To my delight, we still have fish in the pond! I found a small toad/warty frog in a flower bed (alive!), the pond plants are growing fantastically and there are lots of pond-friendly creatures living on and around it. The water is still green and yucky-looking but I'm sure the plant-life will re-balance the mini-ecosystem! After discovering holes in my and my eldest daughter's lovely pink and spotty wellies, we decided to plant something in them! Pansies in little boots so far. Not sure what to put in my spotty ones! Until next time...