Playing catch-up ~ yet again!

image from Freepik

Apart from my reading round-up post earlier this week, I've been very remiss in posting recently.  It's not that I've been doing nothing, but I must confess that it's been a struggle to push myself to get on with things.  I mentioned in my last "proper" post that I was feeling pretty tired, and to be honest I've found it rather hard to shake that tiredness off.  Some of it is genuinely feeling tired with the physical work as I'm extremely overweight and unfit, plus I'm not as young as I used to be 😄  

However, there has been a large splodge of procrastination thrown in!  I worked my way round the relatively "easy" sections of the garden/kitchen garden but all the while the spectres of the ornamental borders in the front garden were dancing about in my head, most of which haven't been tackled for about three years 😱       

Behold, one of the overgrown borders 😏  Actually, I forgot to take a photo before we started to tackle it so this is after Adrian had dug out three overgrown shrubs!  I guess it doesn't look too horrendous from a distance.....

but once you get up-close-and-personal the disarray is plainly evident 😯  This photo was taken after some shrubs had been dug out, sadly not all of which were salvageable.

The poor rosa rugosa (which we inherited when we bought the house, and transplanted from the other side of the garden) had what I'd bought as a dwarf fuchsia planted in front of it.  Turns out that it wasn't such a well-behaved shrub after all ~ it just kept on growing and pushing into the poor rose.  Still, rosa rugosa are hardy buggers so I'm sure it will soon regrow into a better shape 🤞

Everything in the right-hand side of the border had got out-of-hand, too.  

We are still working on the border but already it was starting to look better by this point last week.

Whilst it's probably not the best time of year to trim it, I nevertheless decided to cut back the escallonia somewhat.  I didn't cut it down as low as I really wanted to as I didn't want to lose all the flowers.  I'll save the final chop for later in the year.  It doesn't look particularly pretty at the moment but like the rosa rugosa, escallonia are tough shrubs and I'm confident it will bounce back in due course.

We did manage to save three of the smaller shrubs, which have now gone into the low bed in the front patio area.  Needless to say, they have all lost their labels and I can't remember what they are called, although I believe the middle shrub may be Rose of Sharon 😕 

As you can see, I also moved the brazen mermaid bird bath (she was already in the garden when we bought the house) into the bed; one of these days I will get round to giving her a verdigris-type finish.....don't hold your breath, though, 'cos I've been saying that for the last seven years 😄

The peonies have been beautiful again this year.  I have no idea what variety these lovely red ones are as they were already in (different parts of) the garden when we moved in.  I planted a white-flowered one two or three years back which has been very slow to do anything, but this year it has a number of buds so I'm hoping for a good display in due course.

I'm way behind with greenhouse photos; these were taken a couple of weeks back.  As I mentioned in my last "proper" post I was contemplating tying the tomatoes to canes to help straighten them somewhat, which I have now done.  I'll try to remember to take some up-to-date photos to show you their progress.

The sweet pepper plug plants, Peppers from Heaven Orange, arrived looking a little sad.  They were pretty dry so I soaked them for a while, then put them into larger pots.  They looked like this for a few days but I'm happy to report that they have since perked up considerably ~ photos to follow in due course 😉

In the end, 15 of the 16 sunflower seeds germinated which I found immensely pleasing.  They are, of course, a fair bit larger by now 😄

Ta-daa!  I now have the perfect little spot for sheltering some of my plants that are not-so-keen on the cold and wet Orkney winter weather.  I can also use the shelf above the little grow houses to store the garden décor that might otherwise be damaged by being blown all over the place!  I'm so pleased with what Adrian has done with the old arbour seat, it's made such good use of something that was just going to waste.  I'm thinking of swapping the large tubs and chair display around at some point ~ I'll break the good news to poor 'ole Adrian in due course 😏

Catching up with me!

image from Clipart Library

By Friday of last week I must confess that I was feeling very tired, so decided to have an easier day just pottering about in the back garden. 

The tomatoes are definitely straighter than they were, but I'm considering tying them to small canes to help the process.

I was so tired by the end of Thursday that I completely forgot to take the sunflower seedlings back into the greenhouse overnight 😳  Thankfully they were none-the-worse for my neglect and I've decided that they can now sit outside all the time.

I decided that I would spend my day of pottering about by doing some "tweaking" to the containers in the kitchen courtyard area.  By the way, just look at all that potential fruit on the standard redcurrant (Jonkheer van Tets) ~ I'm so glad I decided to keep it!

My first task was to pot up the pelargoniums, Sunflair Eva White, that I had managed to overwinter.  They were bought as a group of six little plug plants from Marshalls last year.  The four that survived didn't get anywhere near the 40cm x 40cm the description of the plants suggested they would reach; as you can see from the photo above, they are still only small!  I decided to put three into this one pot.....

and the odd one leftover into a pot of its own.  Hopefully they will put on some growth this year, and fingers crossed that I will be successful at overwintering them again 🤞

That single pot of Eva White isn't the only pelargonium on the display bench, as I included three scented-leaf plants of Attar of Roses with my order from the RHS.  I really like the scented-leaf varieties of pelargoniums but have never been successful at overwintering them.  If these grow well this year I will most likely take them indoors where they can spend the winter with my houseplants.

Next on the agenda was to put some more plants into the container with the chives and rosemary.  I split the basket of tulips Moon Blush, that I had been growing for cutting, in half and planted the two clumps either side of the old bird bath.  At the front I planted armeria pseudameria Ballerina White and Ballerina Red.  I bought these with my recent order from Shire Plants as a collection of three armeria, and had already planted Ballerina Lilac in the water bowl bed earlier in the week.   

Despite my constant moaning about the dreaded dandelions, especially in the front garden, I just couldn't resist this pair of "ornamental" varieties of our native weeds wildflowers 😉  This one is taraxacum albidum (white dandelion).....

and this is taraxacum pseudoroseum (pink dandelion).  The advice on the plant descriptions say "doesn't seem to self seed as readily as our native dandelion, but pull off the spent flower heads if you want to avoid it completely".  Of course if I was more on the ball I would have been doing that with the bloody dandelions that are plaguing me elsewhere in the garden 😏 

I also dismantled the water dish display and redid it, as it just kept tipping to one side.  I now have a terracotta saucer nestled into the compost, with an old slate roof tile set on it and the edge of the planter for a bit more support.  I sat the dish on the tile but it was a tad wobbly.  Looking at the base of the dish I could see that it wasn't flat, so got another terracotta saucer to place beneath it which seems to have cured the problem!  I felt that the large fairy could do with something a tad more stable to sit on; luckily the piece of stoneware that I had beachcombed a few years back made an ideal seat for her.  The little fairy also now has a better seat, perching on the terracotta balls. 

I was pleased with all the little jobs that I managed to get done, but was pretty pooped by the end of the week 😴 

Someone else who was obviously pooped was next-door's moggie!  I walked from the kitchen into the dining room on Friday evening and there he was, sprawled over the edge of the border with his face planted into the gravel path.  My first thought was "oh my god, he's bloody died in our garden", swiftly followed by "oh my god, what are we going to tell Helen and Paul" 😱  Thankfully he then stood up, had a big 'ole stretch.....and promptly settled back down again to finish his snooze 😄

Wall-to-wall sunshine

image from Clipart Library

We are currently having a run of glorious weather ~ warm and sunny.  This has made it very nice indeed to be out working in the garden, although I have had to water the beds and containers a couple of times.

The sunflowers are still doing well.  They are starting to develop their "true" leaves so I'll be potting them on soon.

The difference is probably not so noticeable to you, my lovelies, but I can see that the tomatoes are starting to look a tad healthier.  Fingers crossed their recovery continues!

I mentioned earlier in the week that I had moved the tulips, Apricot Beauty, out of this pot.  I've now replaced them with an erodium chrysanthum, from my recent delivery of plants from Shire Plants.  It has pale lemon flowers, and looks a little like a geranium I think.

Some of the dahlias are starting to come up: Cafe au Lait Twist and Cafe au Lait.  Hopefully the other three will follow on soon.

Whilst the tomatoes are starting to recover, alas the same can't be said for the poor French beans 😒  I'll leave them in situ for the time being and hope for a miracle!

The strawberries are starting to look lovely with their pretty white flowers.  I wasn't sure how well they would do after being moved this year, but they seem to have taken it in their stride 😊

The compost I ordered last week arrived on Monday, so I was able to top off bed 5 which holds this years potato crop.  I should think this will be the last time I top the bed off as there really isn't much space left to do so now 😄

Two more dahlias are coming through, Creme de Cassis and White Aster, beside the wooden tubs on the patio area in the front garden.

I've had a large tub either side of the dining and living room windows for a while now, both planted with similar plants.  Unfortunately I can't remember what said plants are called and, of course, the labels have disappeared 😏  I think the shrubs, though, are varieties of euonymus.  I had planted them in the borders originally but they weren't doing so well to be honest, so I moved them into these large tubs where they've been much happier.  The tub in the photo above is by the dining room window.....

but the little plants in the one beside the living room window died.  The euonymus is absolutely fine, and indeed is happily sprouting new leaves, so I don't know what happened to the two little plants 🤷  Anyhoo I've now replaced them with another of my favourite little garden plants, erigeron karvinskianus ~ let's hope they fare better than their predecessors!

To round off my working day, I decided to spruce up the wheelbarrow.  I was too lazy to completely replace the old compost but added a good sprinkling of chicken manure pellets to add some nutrition and did top it up with fresh compost too.

I've left space between the plants for them to spread out as they are perennials.  I may well lightly cover the barrow with some fleece, or even netting, over the winter to protect them a little from the worst of the weather.  I've planted pratia pedunculata, which apparently has sky blue flowers, in the back two corners, with two fuchsia Pink Galore between them.  There are two more pratia pedunculata, Alba, in the front two corners.  In the middle of the wheelbarrow are yet more of my garden flower favourites, this time three little bellis perennis.  This is a variety called Dresden China which has very pretty pink flowers.  Hopefully the blackbirds won't keep picking over the compost like they did when it was planted up with pansies!

A flatpack weekend

The latter half of last week saw a flurry of deliveries winging their way to St Abbs ~ including this pair of flat-pack growhouses.  As you may recall, my lovelies, we were to-ing and fro-ing over whether to convert the arbour into a growhouse ourselves or just purchase something to stand inside it.  In the end we decided we really didn't have the skills to build something ourselves ~ although to be fair, fitting suitable shelving would have been fine but constructing doors is definitely beyond our skillset!

I had to do a fair bit of hunting around on the internet to find something that was a) the appropriate size, and b) that suppliers would actually deliver up to Orkney ~ the latter in particular can be really difficult 😒  In the end, the RHS came up trumps, although I was also tempted to buy a few plants from them at the same time 😄 

They came together without too much trauma, although we did have to drill pilot holes rather than simply screw the pieces together as per the instructions.  They are quite cheap 'n' cheerful so aren't the most sturdy of things, but hopefully standing within the arbour will help to protect them and prolong their life somewhat.

Adrian kept the seat sections that he dismantled from the arbour so he is going to put in a shelf for me, spanning the whole width, for some additional storage space.  The set-up is mostly to provide protection for plants and garden ornaments/lights that I don't want to leave out in the elements over winter.  Although it won't be quite as suitable as a coldframe would be, I should also be able to use the growhouses to transition plants from the greenhouse to their eventual places out in the garden. 

Talking of the greenhouse, the tomato plants are looking a teensy-weeny bit less sorry for themselves.  Hopefully they will continue to straighten up as they grow.

I had another delivery from Marshalls, this time via Royal Mail's 24-hour delivery.  The good news is that these little brassica plants arrived in much better condition that either the tomatoes or French beans, the less-than-good news is that they got somewhat dislodged in their packaging.  This meant that I had to make an "educated guess" as to which little plugs were which 😏 

Fingers crossed I've got it right!  I decided to pot them up for a little while so that they can grow larger and, hopefully, stronger before I plant them out into one of the kitchen garden beds.  I also need to sort out some fine netting to keep the cabbage white butterflies away.

Whilst I was potting up the brassicas, I noticed a couple of sparrows were coming to drink from the water bowl.  I shan't not be adding any more of the chemical to the water that helps to keep it clear, obviously.  They seemed rather precariously perched on the edge of the bowl to drink, so I thought I'd make a little platform for them.

As you can no doubt tell from the photo above, I had a bit of a mishap 😯  I had rummaged around in the greenhouse for a suitable plant pot to use as the base.  Nothing I had was quite the right height so I had the "brilliant" idea of filling one pot with some of the grit I still have, and nestling a shorter pot inside it to bring everything up to the right level.  All was well until I was very carefully placing the two pots into the bowl.....the large pot split completely in two, disgorging all the grit into the water bowl 😱  Had I had the foresight to wash the grit before using it, there wouldn't really have been a problem ~ sadly, I didn't 😏  The water bowl was filled with a cloud of grit dust, you couldn't see anything at all!  Although the water has now cleared, there is a layer of grit "silt" on everything at the bottom of the bowl *sigh*  I've just left it for the time being but will have to empty the bowl to clean out the silt at some point.  I must love to make unnecessary jobs for myself 😒

Anyhoo, on to more cheerful things!  I planted the supermarket rosemary into the container with the chives.  I shall be interested to see how it fares over the winter.

As I'd also had a delivery of plants from Shire Plants, one of which was destined to be planted in the pot behind the bins, I removed the tulip bulbs (Apricot Beauty) from said pot and relocated them to behind the standard redcurrant.  I also added two of the overwintered fuchsias, trailing Pink Galore, to the front.  I shall leave them in situ and keep my fingers crossed that they manage to survive the winter outside!  

Amongst the plants in my order from Shire Plants were two that I intend to put in the large tubs either side of the arbour.  On the left is sambucus nigra Black Lace, on the right choisya ternata (Mexican orange blossom).  They arrived in rather small pots, which they had clearly outgrown, so I potted them on into something bigger for a while.  They both have the potential to grow quite large, it seems, but equally can be kept pruned to a suitable size for life in a large container.  Well that's what life has in store for them in my garden, anyway 😉 

Last year these two bowls contained nemesia Wisley Vanilla, which had the most divine fragrance.  Alas they didn't survive the winter, despite being in the greenhouse, which was a shame.  I've replaced them with potentilla ~ x tonguei in the larger bowl, and verna nana in the smaller.  I will most likely overwinter them in either one of the growhouses or on the shelf above, just to keep the worst of the wet weather off them really.  

The broken pot on the display bench is now planted up, too.  I've put chaenorhinum origanifolium Blue Dream (dwarf snapdragon) in the top, with delosperma sutherlandii (ice plant) in the lower section.  Again, I will move the pot into the shelter of the arbour over winter.

The little bird was originally one of three that decorated the now-cracked bird bath (standing in the container with the chives and rosemary).  They snapped off one-by-one, so I just placed them as little garden decorations.  When we made the nature pool in the kitchen garden out the front, I sat them on a big lump of tree trunk beside the water.  I don't know what's happened to the other two ~ hopefully I'll come across them at some point ~ but thought I'd better rescue this little chap before he too gets lost!

Finally, here's Sunday's update on the sunflower seedlings progress.  Because I wasn't convinced that any seeds would germinate, I put two in each little peat pot.  Every pot, bar one, now has two little seedlings 😄  Once they start to produce their first "true" leaves, I shall gently remove one seedling from each pot into one of their own.  It will be interesting to see how many continue growing on into fully-fledged sunflower plants 😊