The power of life and death

Dried-up pond

Summer has continued to be still mostly hot, still mostly dry (a couple of light showers apart), until yesterday.  We had 27C in the shade the other day, the greenhouse topped 35C, and other parts of the country have had temperatures in the 30s; none as hot as temperatures recorded in recent years, but a much longer spell of sun, heat and dry than we've had for a very long time.  The pond pretty much dried up - I really ought to take advantage of this and clear it out, but that means standing in the sun for longer than I want to (that's my excuse anyway).  Then yesterday evening the rain started, with strong wind, and gave the garden a much-needed soaking; the pond is starting to fill up again.  Today has been cooler and fresher, but the forecast is for warmer temperatures again later in the week.

The weather has made me bite another problem bullet, however: the number of plants sitting around in pots waiting for a home.  Some of these have been around for an embarrassingly long time, in very old compost, and the dry weather has not been good to them, nor to those eking out an existence in too-small pots.  A number of these have been hanging around in the area behind the garage, rather out of sight and out of mind; I don't venture round there as often as I should, so I tend not to notice their signs of distress.  Some had succumbed, and others weren't in a good state; the need to keep watering the survivors finally forced me to make some life and death decisions.  The dead ones were easy (straight to the compost bin).  Some others weren't really needed; a good few had been cuttings taken as insurance against losing a favourite plant but no longer required, or things potted up for the Plant Sale and not sold, and the sickly ones also went to the compost.  Some of those behind the garage have put their roots down into the gravel and are surviving (just, in some cases) on that, so they have been left for the moment.  Of the remainder, those that I decided to keep have been repotted, in some cases grouped into big pots where I hope the volume of compost will give them enough moisture to keep them going.  I've also made a resolution to pay more attention to the area behind the garage; I will try to remember to include that area in my walks round the garden, so that I spot signs of distress in time!  As it is, I think I've lost my Euonymus microphylla, which is looking very brown, even after repotting - a timely lesson.

Mixed mini-evergreens in a big pot ...

... and the tiny survivors went into these two pots

Carnations, Sweet William and parsley flowers

Yellow sedum

There is not a lot of colour in the garden at the moment.  The achillea (I think it's the classic 'Gold Plate') is looking good, as is Lilium henryi, there's plenty of oregano and the buddleja is just starting to flower, but Crocosmia 'Lucifer' is fading almost as soon as the flowers open, the Big Yellow Thing is going over and the sweet william are finished.  There are some carnations, which are looking better now that I've deadheaded them, and a sedum (don't know the variety) with yellow flowers that isn't bothered by the lack of water.  The phlox hasn't flowered yet, and there has only been one dahlia flower ('Ambition') so far; they were potted on rather late.  Indoor vases of sweet william and the carnations were boosted by parsley flowers, of which I have plenty; I always leave them to flower and seed as they're great for filling out arrangements.

The lack of colour is largely my fault for not having planted many late summer flowerers.  Every year I note the need to put in some late colour, but by this time of the year the weeds are always taking over and there's never anywhere 'clean' to put them.  This year I do have a potential spot, in front of the new terrace where I'm gradually digging out the weeds; last week I finally managed to remove a stubborn clump of Alchemilla mollis mixed with the blue Centaurea montana (plus couch grass, vetch and other nasties, all tangled up together), which has opened up a few more possibilities.  The soil has really been too dry for much planting, though, and anyway I always prefer to plant a new bed with annuals and other ephemeral planting for its first year, to allow perennial weeds to show before anything more permanent goes in.  I do have a wish-list of summer flowerers to populate it with in due course!

Courgettes (and a lettuce) on The Hill

I've been diligently saving as much 'grey' water from the kitchen as I can, and now that the raspberries are over (a great crop this year) it has been going under the apple cordons, which I think aren't going to produce very large apples.  Some of the 'Discovery' fruit are already turning red - far too early! and whether it's ripeness or sunburn I couldn't say.  A little water has gone on the leek seedlings (the shallots and garlic are now lifted) and on the courgettes on 'The Hill' which are starting to fruit, but interestingly the latter have stood up to the drought remarkably well, perhaps because they're in part shade.  The Hill itself is drying out underneath, with big cracks appearing in the sides, so I should be able to pour some of the spare soil in there to fill out the gaps.  The plums are ripening fast, and today's gales have brought quite a few down; it's a small crop but the fruit are a good size.  I have been watering the tomatoes, aubergines, peppers and chillies in the greenhouse; there are some nice little aubergines coming along, and the first tomatoes have been harvested.  Although the greenhouse has been hot, the watering has kept the soil under my diy growbags nicely moist, and I wasn't surprised to find a frog sheltering in there one warm day.

Tomatoes ('Harzfeuer')

Aubergine ('Ophelia')

I've been more diligent with the greenhouse crops this year, and it seems to be paying off.  I wasn't happy with the growbags I used last year, so the tomatoes have gone into old compost bags, upright and half-filled with (bought) compost; the aubergines have been potted into larger pots than those I've used in the past and stood in a sunny spot on the staging.  I've also been trying to remember to give them all a dose of comfrey tea every week, and I'm happy with the results so far.

Another priority for water has been the various birdbaths, which are greatly appreciated by the avian population.  There's still at least one little sparrow being fed, but the last blackbirds seem to be independent and there are a couple of young robins fending for themselves around the patio.  A pair of bullfinches have been down and a family of goldfinches appears from time to time.  And Lefty, our lame pigeon, has been feeding a couple of youngsters, and treating himself to a nice sit down in the shade when his offspring leave him alone.

Hay while the sun shines

I see I haven't said much about the weather for a while, not since the chilly spell in mid-May.  Things soon warmed up - a few days in the Lake District in May was one of the warmest visits we've had - and from the last week of June or so they warmed up very considerably; despite a few rainy spells, it has been mostly a dry spring and early summer.  The past couple of weeks have been warm and dry, with a stiff breeze at times to dry things up even more, and at the moment there's no end in sight to this.  The farmers have quite literally made hay while the sun shines, and parts of the garden are turning to hay too; the lawn is quite crisp in places.  Keeping the pots watered is a priority.  I have a number of plants in small pots which dry out very easily, and, quite apart from not having much suitably prepared ground in which to put them, it's difficult to dig at the moment because it's rock-hard; they're taking turns to be plunged into bowls of water. 

We have no hosepipe ban (yet), not that I use a hose much at all; but we're trying to conserve water use, and to save 'grey' water where we can.  There isn't much in the veg plot that needs watering at the moment; the broad beans (not a success this year) are almost completely past, the first lot of lettuces were bolting anyway and the potatoes, garlic and shallots will soon be ready for digging up, and it's only the 'hill' (which is bearing up well) and the runner/French beans that need occasional watering.  Washing-up water is going under the raspberry canes, which are starting to fruit.  There are still quite a lot of green gooseberries, but there are always far more than I can use and the blackbirds are very grateful for them; the red ones were protected from the birds and have been picked, likewise the blackcurrants.  For the latter, I used a couple of fabric sleeves that are designed to protect cherry branches from the birds - they even come with little plastic cherries on the end of the draw-cords that seal the ends - and they were quite successful, although some of the leaves scorched underneath (a minor problem).  Other plants in the ground are having to find their own water unless they're really looking stressed (the Lysimachia clethroides has been looking a bit limp, but it's a potential thug anyway, so that's not necessarily a totally bad thing!).

The tomato plants - 7 of them this year - are all planted on into old plastic sacks of compost, an alternative to grow-bags as I wasn't really satisfied with the ones I used last year.  So far they're looking good and fruiting satisfactorily.  The 6 aubergines are starting to flower and have also just gone into bigger pots on the staging.  They and the tomatoes (and the little chilli and pepper plants) are being watered daily.

The heat isn't conducive to much heavy work in the garden, and I've been taking the opportunity to sit in the shade and clear the winter/spring bulbs out of their pots, which should have been done some time ago so that I could get the summer plants in.  As I had thought, many of the daffodils in pots didn't survive the spring cold; 'Tete-a-tete' and 'Elka' were fine (although they were in smaller pots that were easier to protect), and 'Elka' seems to have proliferated greatly, but the bigger varieties had just rotted.  'Baby Moon', I have discovered, is a glasshouse variety anyway; fortunately they were planted in a non-frostproof pot, so I had put them under cover when the freezing weather was forecast!  We seem not to have lost the other plants in pots (the fern that had been looking sad has recovered well), with the exception of the big purple phormium, which was always going to be a bit of a risk and which is definitely finished.

Rose 'Mme Hardy' and Buddleja alternifolia

Over the past weeks we've been enjoying bowlfuls of cut roses, as well as appreciating the show they make in the garden.  I had been considering getting rid of 'Mme Hardy', which always goes horribly brown as the flowers go over, but when newly in flower it made a fine show with Buddleja alternifolia (another plant I had considered removing, but maybe I'll just curb its enthusiasm a bit instead).  There are also some sweet William in bloom, and the Allium christophii have been impressive too.

Allium christophii

The peony ('Sarah Bernhardt') has also been providing some cut flowers; and the big philadelphus ('Virginal'), which I keep threatening to dig out, managed a few sprays as well.

Philadelphus 'Virginal'

Peony 'Sarah Bernhardt'

In this heat I've been ensuring that the birds and other wildlife have plenty of water, especially as the pond level is dropping extremely low; it hasn't been full since winter, and now a lot of the liner is showing.  Is it significant that there were a lot - I counted 9 - of dragonfly larva skins on the pond plants the other day?  The quality of what little water there is must be pretty poor, and presumably they felt the need to get themselves out of there and fly off to find better water in which to lay eggs.  Almost the reverse of rats deserting the sinking ship!  And one day we had a grass snake slither across the patio; it must have been looking for some water as well.

Dragonfly larva skins

There are more butterflies around now: a small tortoiseshell, a red admiral, a couple of ringlets, plenty of small whites, a female orangetip and something that was either a meadow brown or a small heath.  Most striking have been a few scarlet tiger moths that were here over several days; one was found dead on the lawn, which made for an easy photograph! - the scarlet parts aren't always visible when the moth is at rest.

Scarlet tiger moth (deceased)

Scarlet tiger moth (alive and resting)

The birds are coming to the end of their breeding season.  A thrush had been singing daily in the big ash tree but has fallen silent in the last few days, and the blackbirds have stopped singing too.  There are still some little sparrows being fed, but other young birds appear to be independent now.  Time for the parent birds to have a rest in the sunshine.