Peace...

 

www.allposters.co.uk

Father, Mother, God,

Thank you for your presence during the hard and mean days.

For then we have you to lean upon.

Thank you for your presence during the bright and sunny days.

For then we can share that which we have with those who have less.

And thank you for your presence during the Holy Days.

For then we are able to celebrate you and our families and our friends

For those who have no voice, we ask you to speak.

For those who feel unworthy, we ask you to pour your love out in waterfalls of tenderness.

For those who live in pain, we ask you to bathe them in the river of your healing.

For those who are lonely, we ask you to keep them company.

For those who are depressed, we ask you to shower upon them the light of hope.

Dear Creator, You, the borderless sea of substance, we ask you to give to all the world that which we need most.....PEACE.

Maya Angelou

(4th April 1928 - 28th May 2014)        

Meanwhile, out the back.....

Adrian has been very busy working on our soil mountain and has now got most of the weeds wild flowers removed ~ for now, anyway!  The odd one is already starting to poke through again though, which he seems to take as a personal insult 😄

He's pulled the soil along the garden, onto the paved area ~ hence the blue tarp covering the latter, otherwise it will become an unholy mess when it rains ~ to start to move it away from being piled against the wall.  You can see the rubble in the soil, and just look at those big pieces he has pulled out already!

We've come across a fair amount of animal bones whilst we've been digging in the garden, both front and back, including large ones like the this that Adrian dug out of the mountain.

I'm not sure what it's from ~ a cattle bone perhaps?

Another load of garden waste waiting to be taken away, mostly from the soil mountain although I have been adding to it with stuff from the front garden, too.  Thank goodness for our local man-with-a-van, who we'll be contacting again shortly methinks!

I don't often share photos of this part of the back garden as it's not really interesting to be honest.  There were three rhubarb plants in the raised bed but only the one in the middle, Fulton's Strawberry Surprise, has survived.  Who knew that it was even possible to kill rhubarb!  I intend to move it into the front garden in the autumn, and get another one to go with it.  I'll then just leave the two rosa rugosa and the Balfour willow to their own devices LOL 

This was one of the original raised beds we had had made when all the work out the back was done but it wasn't very easy to manage, so we cut off some of the length (it got wider as it got longer) and made it one sleeper lower.  It's become totally overgrown but I've decided not to weed it until I'm ready to plant it up so that the local cats aren't encouraged to dig in it.  I got the bay tree from Tesco (from their potted herbs in the vegetable section) a number of years ago, and it lived in a pot in our old garden.  I brought it with us when we moved (obviously!) and kept saying to Adrian that I really needed to re-pot it as it was looking very sad and unwell.  When we re-made this bed, I thought I'd take it out of the confines of it's pot and plant it in there.  It's gone from strength-to-strength and is now looking very happy indeed.

The tomatoes, Paruche and Chocolate Cherry, have lots of fruit developing...

...and just look at the fruit on Buffalosun!

Peppers are starting to develop...

 ...with the promise of more to come.

And we've harvested our first Mini Muncher cucumber ~ very tasty it was too 😌

Aching joints!

Work in the garden progresses but by 'eck, my poor joints ache ~ I must be getting old 😄  The "scorched earth" scenario in the centre of the lawn is where Adrian has taken his weed wand to the pesky weeds that had made it their home!  Eventually we will sow grass seed there to make the lawn whole again.

I've been working my way round from the hedge border ~ as you can see, the humungous thistles have now gone!  I expect they will make a return visit, though, judging by the amount of seed-heads on the bloody things!

I've only got about halfway along this path border as the rest is filled with dwarf elder.  My friend is taking at least some of it for her garden and as she's a fair bit younger and fitter than me, she's going to dig it out when she has some spare time LOL

In case you were wondering, that pile of sleepers on the path is for a new project in the back garden ~ more to be revealed on that in due course 😉

I mentioned in my new hedge post that I have creeping jenny along the back of each section of the border; this is one of the plants that has been in situ for two or three years now.  They are all growing really well and are adding a lovely splash of colour at the moment.

The rose (A Shropshire Lad) I moved from the arch over the front gate is sending out new shoots despite being cut back so drastically!

I have no idea what this lily is called, nor why I only have one plant ~ it may have been a free gift with a plant order, I suppose.  It's very pretty but alas does not have a scent, which is a shame.

I have a number of these achillea in the borders, and I've been very pleased to see that they are flowering even though they have all been moved this year.  I'm not sure what variety this is as I haven't found any of the plant labels, but it may be Summerwine.

This is one of the new low-growing plants I recently bought from Shire Plants, one of my favourite online nurseries.  It's erodium pelargoniflorum and it really does look very similar to a pelargonium.  Now that I've cleared the borders around the ornamental garden I shall soon be placing another order with Shire for some plants to fill the gaps, as I don't have enough that are suitable to move from elsewhere in the garden.  The bare soil is too tempting to both weeds and the local cat population!

The dianthus deltoides Alba are starting to live up to their name, with pretty little white flowers now opening.  They seem very happy in the pot with the argyranthemums.  Of course, had I got my ducks all in a row, I would have taken a photo after I'd done the deadheading!

I'm happy to let my herbs flower as the bees love to visit.  The lemon thyme has been in full bloom for a while now.  Beside it is thyme Faustini which I'm hoping will start to flower soon.  The Greek oregano in the next planter is looking rather straggly now but I shall cut it back to the new shoots coming through at the base when it's finished flowering.

The osteospermums are now starting to flower; they should make a lovely display once they are in full swing.

I managed to take some photos of the sparrows who visit our garden daily ~ often many times a day ~ through the dining room window.  I don't find it easy to get half-decent photos of them, though, as they move so quickly and of course their brown plumage doesn't exactly make them stand out!

They love to dust-bathe in the borders, leaving bowl-shaped dips, and just generally lounge about.  They spend a fair bit of time relaxing on the wooden border edges and the stone chipping paths ~ I guess they like the warmth that both soak up.  We don't put out bird food but they poke about in the soil, paths and grass and seem to find plenty of tasty morsels.

The tiny bird bath is very popular with both the sparrows and the starlings who also visit the garden regularly.

 

And to finish off, a photo of a magpie moth.  I was sitting on the concrete bench in front of the sun porch contemplating what to do next in the garden ~ I seem to do as much "thinking" as "doing" out there! ~ when I spotted the moth on this spiraea Anthony Waterer.  It very obligingly just sat there whilst I took some photos ~ much easier than photographing those sparrows!

Little words of wisdom

 

Settling in

The transplanted plants in the new borders are really settling in now, and some are starting to put on new growth already.  The birds are loving the little pool of water and queue up on the stones waiting for their turn ~ not always very patiently, I must say!

Do you like my lovely ceramic toadstools?  I saw them on Justpotteringabout, on Etsy, and couldn't resist!  I ordered another set from a different seller at the same time but unfortunately they seem to have gone astray en route, so she is making me a replacement set and hopes to send them out this week.  Over time, I'm planning on adding little groups to all my borders ~ I shall have to remember to take them in for the winter, though, as I don't want them to get broken in the high winds.

All the new borders are now planted up, although I hadn't finished the last section on the left when I took these photos.  More pictures to come, then 😄

Likewise with this border.  I wonder if the starlings will notice the changes if they choose to nest in the stone wall again next year.

The osteospermums have lots of buds coming through, so I'm hoping for a good display in due course.

Do you remember me showing you how full of weeds the blackberry bed was?  Well, Adrian set-to and cleared it all out for me.  It's not easy to see in the photo but all four of the bushes have some flowers so I'm hoping we may get a handful of berries this year.

And look at that: the redcurrant that I cut right back is sending up new shoots!  The original plant was trained as a standard when I bought it but if it continues to grow and survive, I shall leave it as a bush.  The bed the redcurrants are growing in has a stone wall behind it and to one side there is a narrow bed against another stone wall, so it has some shelter on two sides.  I think that bushes will be better protected than standards!  

A new hedge

Earlier this month I shared with you photos of the weed-filled area that was to become our new hedge border ~ and here are the new shrubs, patiently waiting in what's become a holding area near the house.  I had trawled around looking at various online nurseries but living off the mainland as we do, some of the delivery costs were extremely high.  I finally decided to try Hedges Direct and the young man I spoke with there was very helpful, even though he wasn't sure where Orkney actually was!  He went off to speak with someone else though and was able to answer all my questions.  I ordered a variety of shrubs from them and was pleasantly surprised by the delivery charge.  I was very pleased with the quality and size of the plants, as well as the good condition they arrived in.  

I had already weeded this first section as I wanted to move the alchemilla mollis into the new border, so at least I didn't have that chore to wade through!  I started by moving out the first of the two forsythia Spectabilis that were already there, replacing it with the poor malus sylvestris that has been sitting up on the holding area for almost a couple of years now ~ I'm amazed that it's survived, to be honest.  Behind the crab apple is an asplenium scolopendrium (hart's tongue fern) that I moved from elsewhere in the garden.  I left the second forsythia in situ and beside it planted rosa rugosa Alba, which I moved from one of the kitchen garden borders.  I realise that this really isn't the "proper" time to be moving plants but it's much cooler and damper up here so I'm taking the risk as I want to get the job done!  The sorbus aucuparia next to the rosa rugosa was planted a couple of years back.  Behind it is dryopteris affinis Cristata, another fern moved from elsewhere.

All the sections of the hedge border now have creeping jenny planted along the back as ground cover.  It has such a pretty yellow flower and even though it can go a bit mad if it likes were it's been planted, it is easy enough to pull out where it's not wanted!  I had thought that I would perhaps keep, and add to, the ajuga reptans Variegata at the front of this section but it didn't seem terribly happy here to be honest so I've moved it to an area that I hope it will like better.  In it's place I've moved the gypsophila repens Rosea from the middle section.  I gave it a good trim when I moved it but it's got new flowers coming through already which is very pleasing.  

This middle section took quite some time to clear of weeds but there again, it is the longest section along the wall.  

I started the run with one of the new shrubs, a white escallonia.  I have a large clump of red escallonia in the front corner of the kitchen garden border and it's a good reliable shrub.  I thought a white variety would make a nice change along here.  Next is the forsythia I took out of the first section to make way for the crab apple, and beside that is buddleja Lochinch; it's been here for a couple of years and has settled in very well.  I removed a handful of the lower stems which were splaying out somewhat and put in a plant support to help keep it a little more upright.  Then back to the new shrubs with euonymus japonicus Ovatus Aureaus, which has lovely golden variegated leaves.

Next is rosa canina, then viburnum tinus Eve Price which apparently has scented white flowers from late winter into early spring.  Then we have the sorbus cashmiriana which was also planted a couple of years back.  It's doing really well and looks very happy now that all those thistles have been weeded out!  Next to the sorbus is another forsythia, this time moved up from the third section of the border wall.  Then it's back to the new shrubs again, this time with a hawthorn.  I've tried to space out the prickly shrubs so that I won't be torn to shreds quite so much when I come to prune them ~ that's the hope, anyway 😏 Finally this section is finished off with another escallonia, a pale pink one this time.

I have actually now completely finished this border using pilosella aurantiaca (Fox and Cubs), that I moved from the path border on the kitchen garden side of the garden, to edge it.  I really like this plant, with it's cheerful orange dandelion-like flowers which the bees love, but have found that it really spreads!  The border I took it from was just too narrow to cope with it but here in the hedge border it can romp away to it's heart's content.  One thing's for sure, with it's windblown seedheads (again, like dandelions!) I'll never be short of new plants should I need them 😄  The back of the border had creeping jenny already in place ~ it'll be interesting to see how the two interact!

This last section looks rather empty in this photo but I have got it all planted up now.  The Balfour willow, obviously, has stayed in place as have the forsythia and Whitebeam.  Between the willow and forsythia I have now planted two new shrubs: olearia haastii (daisy bush) and oleaster.  I moved another asplenium scolopendrium from elsewhere in the garden to the right of the the forsythia, snuggled against the Whitebeam.  Once again there are creeping jenny plants at the back along with some double yellow hollyhock I moved from the front wall border when I cleared it out.  I just needed a home for them to be honest; I think they are biennials, so I don't expect them to last beyond this year if they even come back at all.  I already had some sweet woodruff at the front of this section, so I bought some more plants to make a proper edging.

I think the new shrubs would have been very glad to get out of the confines of their pots as they all had very well-developed root systems!  Hopefully they will soon feel at home and grow into a lovely new hedge.    

Learning new things!

image from Clipart Library

Once again I'm way behind with my blogging but I do sort-of have a sort-of excuse this time 😉

We finally had to get a new computer as our old one was getting decidedly temperamental ~ we thought we'd better bite the bullet and replace it before it conked out altogether!  I hasten to add that we're not complaining about having to replace the old one since the PC and monitor were 8 and 14 years old respectively, so they'd lasted really well.  It's been a little bit of a learning-curve getting used to the new one, though, as our old computer used Windows 8.....this new one is using Windows 11.  Things have moved on a tad over these last eight years😄

Actually, it hasn't been as difficult as we had feared, and transferring all our gubbins from the old computer to the new one went relatively smoothly.  I think the worst part was all the hours poor Adrian spent online trying to decide which one to get ~ I thought it best to just leave him to get on with it and try to look like I knew what he was talking about when he was discussing his research with me LOL

I've still been beavering away in the garden whilst all this has been going on, so have a fair few photos to share with you ~ so watch this space!   

Peace...

www.allposters.co.uk

Father, Mother, God,

Thank you for your presence during the hard and mean days.

For then we have you to lean upon.

Thank you for your presence during the bright and sunny days.

For then we can share that which we have with those who have less.

And thank you for your presence during the Holy Days.

For then we are able to celebrate you and our families and our friends

For those who have no voice, we ask you to speak.

For those who feel unworthy, we ask you to pour your love out in waterfalls of tenderness.

For those who live in pain, we ask you to bathe them in the river of your healing.

For those who are lonely, we ask you to keep them company.

For those who are depressed, we ask you to shower upon them the light of hope.

Dear Creator, You, the borderless sea of substance, we ask you to give to all the world that which we need most.....PEACE.

Maya Angelou

(4th April 1928 - 28th May 2014)         

Little words of wisdom

 

Peace...

 

www.allposters.co.uk

Father, Mother, God,

Thank you for your presence during the hard and mean days.

For then we have you to lean upon.

Thank you for your presence during the bright and sunny days.

For then we can share that which we have with those who have less.

And thank you for your presence during the Holy Days.

For then we are able to celebrate you and our families and our friends

For those who have no voice, we ask you to speak.

For those who feel unworthy, we ask you to pour your love out in waterfalls of tenderness.

For those who live in pain, we ask you to bathe them in the river of your healing.

For those who are lonely, we ask you to keep them company.

For those who are depressed, we ask you to shower upon them the light of hope.

Dear Creator, You, the borderless sea of substance, we ask you to give to all the world that which we need most.....PEACE.

Maya Angelou

(4th April 1928 - 28th May 2014)        

Little words of wisdom

 

Taking over the asylum!

Well, taking over the greenhouse to be more accurate 😉  The tomatoes have all reached the roof now ~ next year I will definitely be growing bush varieties! 

I took all these photos on Sunday and today I noticed that flowers are opening on the peppers. 

The cucumbers have lots of flowers and tiny fruits.  It's been amazing to see how quickly all the plants in the greenhouse grow and change almost daily.

The geraniums are continuing to thrive.  The choisya seems to have settled down ~ I guess it's glad to have been rescued from being swamped to death by the weeds in the border!

I've started to anchor some of the dahlias to their canes now that they are getting taller.

Flowers are starting to appear...

...which makes me very happy indeed 😍

And I thought I'd finish this short little post with a photo of Adrian doing his regular Sunday chore of feeding his "babies" 😄