Six on Saturday:Views of the Garden

I am trying to write a garden update showing the finished product (I know, gardens are never really finished) and I was looking through my photo collection and realised I have very few that are not a super close up of a flower or vegetables. So since I am uber slow at getting the bigger post written these days and usually can manage SoS; I present to you, six views of my garden.

Starting from the back of the garden – we have two main features; this is a Syrian hibiscus (and the garden shed but that is not much of a feature). When my mother came over I thought she told me it was a Siberian hibiscus because I misheard (or maybe that is actually what she said) her reason was because it was so hardy. This plant is not only cold hardy but somewhat squirrel proof. It was stripped of all its buds by the squirrels in early spring as the snow had reduced the amount of food making them desperate. There was not one bud left; I assume that it would die or at least be somewhat maimed. However, no, a little delayed in leaf production and then flowers galore at the start of July. The bees absolutely love it and fly away white with all the pollen – some are so heavy with pollen they have trouble getting over the back fence. Below is one resting in the birdfeeder; having miscalculated the take off over the fence.

(Ok, so I can’t help but have a few close-ups – got to get my money’s worth on the camera)

Here is the other half of the back wall; it is the raised vegetable bed with a massive bean ‘tree’ using the brick wall as a trellis ‘Lady Di’

At the start of the bean growing up the wall I complained that the flowers were not being pollinated and I was only getting one bean per bunch of flowers. It turns out that all the beans were over the fence; luckily we have a park behind us so Mr Urbanfarmer went around with a ladder and pick many a bean. I think that we will end up leaving them to be dried beans to have in soup as these are not my favourite to eat fresh. They get bitter very quickly and it is hard to see them and pick them early before they get really long. I am going to leave them and collect them at the end of the season when they have grown fat beans inside.

Pinkberries are growing along the wall (blueberry bushes that make pink berries) ‘Pink Lemonade’ I think. I only put them in this year and I am not sure if I will ever get berries on them as they are in the shade half of the day. They have nice red stems in winter so they will still look pretty and add something to that part of the garden.

In the raised bed, Brussel sprout; parsnip, kale; celery; an overgrown courgette that doesn’t produce fruit; a sad achocha and a small bush bean ‘teepee’; also one of the ‘one too many’ fruit trees I have in pots – this one is a granny smith that I bought as a cooking apple before the allotment appeared with a giant Bramley.

 Moving further back is the bed I don’t know what to do with – it has ended up a higlety-piglety mess of all different plants with a vague colour scheme. There are gladioli ‘Plum tart’ and various dahlia that you may have seen on twitter or Instagram. Hiding behind all that is a couple of supposedly red hydrangea planted too close to the fence.

The giant plant in the front is a cape gooseberry or ground cherry as some may know it Physalis. It has exploded and now has many flower and lanterns plus branches galore that seem to fall over at every turn.

This is a view from the other side but you can still see the front (nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition)

Cherry tree in a pot as well as a plum right in the corner of the picture; the cherry has been made ‘weeping’ as I didn’t want it to get too tall. This means that when it grows cherries they are very easy to pick as the tree is only five foot tall.

Moving back on the other side, it is the second raised bed and as usual I don’t have enough room for all I want to grow (but then when do any of us) I have various pots dotted around the place. The box is Jerusalem artichokes and along with another pot in the first picture this is the first time I am growing them. I recently cut them down so they could put more energy into tubers; a little early (they suggest October) but they were wilting so much I guess we will see what happens. I also have a few at the allotment that look far more leafy so we will find out which are the more productive (my guess is allotment as there is far more sun there)

A better view of the front bed where I grow all my tomato and rampant courgette – this courgette is actually producing fruit but shading everything in its way; it is supposed to be dwarf but I don’t think courgette know how to be dwarf.

The tomatoes are growing at such a fast rate it is like a jungle scene where I have to use a machete to cut through the thick of it each week. The plant of the left side is cucumber; producing so many cucumbers that I made two jars of pickles so that they would not go to waste.

In the front right hand side is rhubarb and asparagus and some overgrown strawberries; the strawberries are having a rough time as they keep getting shaded by the rhubarb and the courgette so they have grown many leaves but few berries. I will move them next year to a better place and plant some annual things in the gap.

View facing the house includes sunflower; lavender; camellia; gladioli murielae which haven’t flowered yet and a tiny pot of leeks.

Behind that is the patio that was here when we moved in; usually holding my array of plants that I can’t fit in the garden or don’t want to. A mini kiwi and passionfruit I hope will grow up the fence eventually; some lilies; a pot of carrots and beets; random geranium; and four bags of potatoes; also an ‘Elliott’s Orange’ apple tree and a couple of clematis. Unswept as we had a storm last night and everything was blown around; no damage to trees luckily though.

Last view is the opposite side of the patio; ubiquitous BBQ and numerous pots; I have a lime tree that I don’t think will survive the winter and a dead rosemary as I think I am cursed and destined to never grow rosemary. Next year I think I will put the strawberries in the wall baskets so they can get more sun and hopefully some netting from the squirrels.

There you have it – I need never post ever again as that is every plant in my garden – for more six on Saturday head over to the creator and master of it all; The Propagator.

So, until I get my act together and post again I hope you have a loverly weekend and enjoy the weather.

 

p.s for those who don’t get the random reference https://youtu.be/LvN2vuWpuOM