Where the Wild Things Are...

The sun is shining.  It's a beautiful day.  So I'm inclined to put the Minoans on the backburner for the time being, and do a garden post instead.

I went cycling this morning.  Same run as yesterday, but with the temperature about ten degrees higher (approaching 19 as opposed to what felt more like 9), it was actually quite pleasant.  The obnoxious north-easterly was still lurking, and was indeed a damned nuisance.  A dodgy front derailleur added to the excitement - after feeling terribly pleased with myself because I finally got into the big ring, I then realised I couldn't get out of it.  Eventually, I stopped and kicked it, and it moved ("Did you try oiling it?" my husband helpfully suggested on my return....)

I'm beginning to think that my husband has a weather jinx upon him.  Every time I ride out solo, the weather is beautiful.  Every time we venture out together, it's windy, damp and cold....  Hmmm....

I've now got the garden to a stage where I'm finding it a pleasure to spend time there.  I finished weeding the front garden over the weekend, and have now started to make inroads into the back.  To show how things are (not) progressing, I'm posting a picture of the Accidental Flowerbed:-

 

This area of partially reclaimed ground came into being when our fence blew down a couple of years back.  When the new fence was put up, it cut right through a pre-existing flowerbed on the other side, leaving a few prize plants stranded.  'Sod it,' I thought last year.  'Let's make the best of things and create a NEW flowerbed, so we get two for the price of one'.  It's an awkward space, because it's where the bins and the recycling boxes live.  We have great ambitions for this space.  We're hoping to build a low revetment wall and create a raised flowerbed, with a formal space for the bins/boxes, but whether we'll ever get round to it is a different matter.  Life's always a work in progress...  In the meantime, it's nice to have something pretty to look at when you open the kitchen door to put out the rubbish!

This ramshackle space will be planted this year with sweet peas, verbena, poppies and various other things.  The pots at the side contain begonias.  Weeding so far has been minimal - I've progressed up to the point where you can no longer see bare soil.  The rest of the bed has been taken over by... wild strawberries.  At least, I think that's what they are.

God knows how they got there.  I've tried to grow the plant from seed once and failed.  I think a passing bird may have taken pity on me and ejected a viable seed on my flower bed instead and voila!  We are now inundated with wild strawberry plants.  Makes a change from couch grass, though sadly we're plagued with that, too.

Soon the wild strawberries will all be gone, ripped up by the Head Gardener (aka me).  Except for one token specimen, which I shall move to the wildflower bed, where it can happily do its own thing.  And if it delivers us wild strawberries, so much the better!

Here's a view of the wildflower bed, which is looking quite good at the moment:-
 

 

There's quite an assortment of plants in flower at the moment: English Bluebells, Bistort, Cuckoo Flower, Blue Alkanet, Red Campion, Herb Robert, Herb Bennet, and the ubiquitous Ground Ivy.  All are archaeological refugees, or 'weeds' transplanted from various gardens.  My husband was really wary of letting part of the garden grow wild like this, and I have to admit that the 'containment zone' strategy isn't foolproof (Red Deadnettle is rather invasive...), but when the shaggy overgrown portion contrasts with a neatly clipped lawn, I think it works just fine.  I don't know how much use it is to the local insect population - I grow the Deadnettle and the Cuckoo Flower to encourage the butterflies to breed, but I don't think they use it... 
 
Oh, a helpful hint for all those plant-sniffers out there...  If you can find yourself a Clematis Montana, stick your snout in a flower and take a very deep breath.  Ours is giving out the most delectable perfume just now.  I'm sure it makes me sneeze (it's fast approaching that time of year!) but I don't care!

Where the Wild Things Are...

The sun is shining.  It's a beautiful day.  So I'm inclined to put the Minoans on the backburner for the time being, and do a garden post instead.

I went cycling this morning.  Same run as yesterday, but with the temperature about ten degrees higher (approaching 19 as opposed to what felt more like 9), it was actually quite pleasant.  The obnoxious north-easterly was still lurking, and was indeed a damned nuisance.  A dodgy front derailleur added to the excitement - after feeling terribly pleased with myself because I finally got into the big ring, I then realised I couldn't get out of it.  Eventually, I stopped and kicked it, and it moved ("Did you try oiling it?" my husband helpfully suggested on my return....)

I'm beginning to think that my husband has a weather jinx upon him.  Every time I ride out solo, the weather is beautiful.  Every time we venture out together, it's windy, damp and cold....  Hmmm....

I've now got the garden to a stage where I'm finding it a pleasure to spend time there.  I finished weeding the front garden over the weekend, and have now started to make inroads into the back.  To show how things are (not) progressing, I'm posting a picture of the Accidental Flowerbed:-

 

This area of partially reclaimed ground came into being when our fence blew down a couple of years back.  When the new fence was put up, it cut right through a pre-existing flowerbed on the other side, leaving a few prize plants stranded.  'Sod it,' I thought last year.  'Let's make the best of things and create a NEW flowerbed, so we get two for the price of one'.  It's an awkward space, because it's where the bins and the recycling boxes live.  We have great ambitions for this space.  We're hoping to build a low revetment wall and create a raised flowerbed, with a formal space for the bins/boxes, but whether we'll ever get round to it is a different matter.  Life's always a work in progress...  In the meantime, it's nice to have something pretty to look at when you open the kitchen door to put out the rubbish!

This ramshackle space will be planted this year with sweet peas, verbena, poppies and various other things.  The pots at the side contain begonias.  Weeding so far has been minimal - I've progressed up to the point where you can no longer see bare soil.  The rest of the bed has been taken over by... wild strawberries.  At least, I think that's what they are.

God knows how they got there.  I've tried to grow the plant from seed once and failed.  I think a passing bird may have taken pity on me and ejected a viable seed on my flower bed instead and voila!  We are now inundated with wild strawberry plants.  Makes a change from couch grass, though sadly we're plagued with that, too.

Soon the wild strawberries will all be gone, ripped up by the Head Gardener (aka me).  Except for one token specimen, which I shall move to the wildflower bed, where it can happily do its own thing.  And if it delivers us wild strawberries, so much the better!

Here's a view of the wildflower bed, which is looking quite good at the moment:-
 

 

There's quite an assortment of plants in flower at the moment: English Bluebells, Bistort, Cuckoo Flower, Blue Alkanet, Red Campion, Herb Robert, Herb Bennet, and the ubiquitous Ground Ivy.  All are archaeological refugees, or 'weeds' transplanted from various gardens.  My husband was really wary of letting part of the garden grow wild like this, and I have to admit that the 'containment zone' strategy isn't foolproof (Red Deadnettle is rather invasive...), but when the shaggy overgrown portion contrasts with a neatly clipped lawn, I think it works just fine.  I don't know how much use it is to the local insect population - I grow the Deadnettle and the Cuckoo Flower to encourage the butterflies to breed, but I don't think they use it... 
 
Oh, a helpful hint for all those plant-sniffers out there...  If you can find yourself a Clematis Montana, stick your snout in a flower and take a very deep breath.  Ours is giving out the most delectable perfume just now.  I'm sure it makes me sneeze (it's fast approaching that time of year!) but I don't care!

More Flowers...

I'm sorry.  I couldn't resist another garden foray...

Today, I'm dedicating another post to the lovely Aquilegia.  Here's some of the more exotic variants I've managed to accumulate over the years, starting with 'Green Apples', which starts out a pale lime green, then matures into this beautiful white double flower:-

 

This is one of the stragglers that got left behind in the Accidental Flowerbed.  If it's not worth building a flowerbed around, I don't know what is!

The pink and white double-flowered form below is called 'Nora Barlow', I believe:-
 

 

Another pink double form, of unknown name but rather lovely:-

 

And for goth gardeners everywhere, a black form, with a beautiful white picotee edge to the petals:-

 

And just to show you that I've got something other than columbines growing in the garden, here's a heuchera.  I love these plants - they're always nice to look at, whatever the time of year:-

 

Here's our token allium.  We used to have loads of these growing throughout the garden, but over the years, they've declined, with just a few left.  I'm sure some are still flourishing and multipying in places, but they just won't flower...  This one remains stalwart and vigorous:-
 

 

The rear of the garden ('the awkward damp shady bit') is doing quite well just now.  The compost bin is a real pain - my husband bought two because they were going cheap, which is great, because two compost bns is really the minimum required for home composting to work, but in a small suburban garden, where space is at a premium, it's a bit of a nuisance.  We're hoping the clematis to the left will hide it, eventually:-


 

Meanwhile, the cheap clematis from Lidl (to the right) continues to impress.  It was certainly good value for money!

More Flowers...

I'm sorry.  I couldn't resist another garden foray...

Today, I'm dedicating another post to the lovely Aquilegia.  Here's some of the more exotic variants I've managed to accumulate over the years, starting with 'Green Apples', which starts out a pale lime green, then matures into this beautiful white double flower:-

 

This is one of the stragglers that got left behind in the Accidental Flowerbed.  If it's not worth building a flowerbed around, I don't know what is!

The pink and white double-flowered form below is called 'Nora Barlow', I believe:-
 

 

Another pink double form, of unknown name but rather lovely:-

 

And for goth gardeners everywhere, a black form, with a beautiful white picotee edge to the petals:-

 

And just to show you that I've got something other than columbines growing in the garden, here's a heuchera.  I love these plants - they're always nice to look at, whatever the time of year:-

 

Here's our token allium.  We used to have loads of these growing throughout the garden, but over the years, they've declined, with just a few left.  I'm sure some are still flourishing and multipying in places, but they just won't flower...  This one remains stalwart and vigorous:-
 

 

The rear of the garden ('the awkward damp shady bit') is doing quite well just now.  The compost bin is a real pain - my husband bought two because they were going cheap, which is great, because two compost bns is really the minimum required for home composting to work, but in a small suburban garden, where space is at a premium, it's a bit of a nuisance.  We're hoping the clematis to the left will hide it, eventually:-


 

Meanwhile, the cheap clematis from Lidl (to the right) continues to impress.  It was certainly good value for money!