Right plant, wrong place

The jasmine has gone.  Well, not quite - three layerings have been potted up for future use and/or the Garden Society plant sale - but the actual plant has been dug up and removed.  It was up against the wooden summerhouse, the idea being that we would sit there and enjoy the fragrance; but in fact it never flowered with quite enough abandon, and its over-vigorous growth swamped the space and sent tendrils into inappropriate places, such as the summerhouse roof and under the hedge and into the neighbours' garden.  More seriously, it prevented the summerhouse from drying out properly and rot set in.  Plans to repair the summerhouse turned into plans for a rebuild when the structure was examined closely; but either way, the jasmine had to go.  Lovely plant, but wrong place.  Unfortunately I'm not sure we have a right place for one.

Alongside the summerhouse, I'm gearing up for a replanting of the bottom bed, which needs an infusion of compost/manure and a plant edit to remove the drought-haters.  I've got some alliums to go in there, and I will try to remember to plant the tulips in groups rather than dotted about!  Some more late-flowering plants would be welcome too.  Sedum 'Herbstfreude' is starting to show colour, but the main action around the garden is still the dahlias, cosmos and Phlox 'White Admiral', with the Japanese anemone (hupehensis?) which is tucked away behind rose 'Mme Hardy'.  (The rose is another potential candidate for the green recycling bin; lovely flowers but brief, and terrible disease-prone foliage.)  The late summer show is better than in the past, however, and I managed first prize at the village Show for Six Garden Flowers (the phlox, Dahlia 'Bishop of Auckland', Scabious 'Black Cat', the Japanese anemone, Penstemon 'Sour Grapes' and the one I always have to go and look up the name of, Lysimachia clethroides).  The cosmos flowers were too rain-damaged and the zinnias have suddenly started to flop.  My 'Blush Noisette' rose produced a single, rather fine, spray of flowers for the Show, which won the 'Best Rose' cup.  It's a plant I acquired by accident (the nursery sent the wrong variety), but it's a good one: late into flower but continues on and off until December, and, unlike Mme Hardy, with healthy, glossy leaves.

The plum crop (another first prize at the Show) was good this year - plentiful enough without being overwhelming - and we're now into the apples, which have also produced well.  The courgettes (only third prize!) are cropping nicely and the runner beans have started to produce.  There are also some Borlotti beans, but the French beans haven't done anything.  This year, however, I have managed to plant out the leeks (better late than never), though it's proving difficult to find places for them that haven't grown leeks, garlic or shallots in the last three years.  There is some rust on the leaves so I hope that doesn't persist too much.  Some potatoes turned up under the broad bean plants, and perversely produced a better crop than the potatoes I planted this year!  This year's varieties were 'Belle de Fontenay', which didn't produce much, and 'Ratte' which did virtually nothing at all.  I must remember not to keep trying 'Ratte'; it obviously needs better conditions than I can give it.  I think the volunteers under the beans were 'Charlotte', which does not too badly with us - but then, you can buy 'Charlotte' easily in the shops.

The weather has continued variable, with short spells of warm weather broken by cool and windy weeks.  This week has been particularly chilly at times, with no sign of an Indian summer, and despite brief flashes of warm sun the central heating beckons.  I haven't worn tee-shirts much this year, nor have there been many lunches outdoors; I did start lunch on the bench the other day, but was driven inside by the threat of a shower.

I don't know if it's the weather, but butterflies haven't been particularly plentiful.  When the buddleja first came into flower, it only seemed to attract bees (we still get plenty of them).  Eventually the red admirals turned up, but only one peacock; there have been a few tortoiseshells, and one each of painted lady, comma and brimstone.  One or more speckled woods have been about, and of course the cabbage whites; and a big dragonfly was clattering about for a few days.  I've seen hardly any ladybirds either.

Sparrow bath

The birds have started returning after their moulting season.  There are still lots of sparrows; it's not uncommon for a couple of dozen to come to the patio at once for food or a bath, and even larger flocks come to the seed container.  The blackbirds don't seem to have dispersed yet, but the robins have staked out their territory; there are blue and great tits, and the nuthatches are still about too.  A warbler appeared the other day, and at the other end of the size scale, the green woodpecker turns up from time to time (and could have been responsible for a big beak-sized gash in one of our best apples!).  The ripening of the hazelnuts has brought in the squirrel as well as the nuthatch.  The peanut container has for some time now been suspended from the tree by a length of strong wire in order to deter squirrels (I don't like using the squirrel guard as it puts the birds off), but one day we saw a squirrel slide head-first down the wire onto the peanuts - impressive, but unwelcome.  The wire has now been replaced by barbed wire - even less attractive, but quite effective, and the birds don't seem to mind!

Biological control

I've been aware of there being quite a lot of ants in the garden this year, but hadn't noticed too many of them in the greenhouse.  Then on Saturday suddenly there were flying ants swarming over the greenhouse flagstones and taking to the air.  A lot of them had been trapped by spiders (I hadn't noticed the number of spiders, and their webs, either until the webs were full of insects!) which were doing a very effective type of biological control, and the ants wouldn't do any harm anyway, so I left them to it.  Then a little later, passing the greenhouse, I noticed that biological control of a different sort was dealing with the ants ....

Biological control in the greenhouse

I think this is probably the little blackbird that was still being fed by its mum last week; she (I think she's fledging into adult female plumage) has been hanging around the soft fruit bushes which are alongside the greenhouse and she's fairly comfortable with my presence around the place.  Fortunately she was quite clear about where the door was and was able to get out (and later back in again!) without any problem; she seems to understand about glass and wasn't trying to fly through it.  She made no mess and didn't explore the place, just concentrated on picking up an easy meal - a most acceptable guest.  She was there again the next day, but the ants had largely gone by then, so it was back to the raspberry canes for food!

Unfortunately a little sparrow and one of the other little blackbirds weren't as glass-savvy as this little one.  A bang at the window, and when I looked out a baby sparrow was lying quivering on the ground, its dad (probably) hopping around it.  It was only stunned; after a few minutes it pulled itself together, looked about and hopped, then flew, off.  Not so lucky was the blackbird, which I found dead on the path yesterday, looking as if it had broken its neck after hitting the window.  I found a spot between two of the gooseberry bushes to bury it in; appropriate given how many of the fruit it had probably eaten.

Bark from the nuthatch nest

One job this weekend was to clean out the nest-box, now that the tenants have moved out.  Nothing as wimpy as grass and moss for baby nuthatches; they were reared on a bed of bark flakes, apparently gleaned from next door's silver birch.  The mud that the adults used to seal up the nest-box openings took quite a bit of work to remove; they're obviously very effective nest-builders!




The last lot of dwarf French beans, germinated in the cold frame, has gone into the ground and I'm now clearing another bit of the veg patch for the leeks.  The first courgette flowers will open soon.  The broad beans are nearly over; there might be more peas if I'm lucky; otherwise it's lettuce, kale and cabbage at the moment.


The dahlias are mostly doing quite well, though 'Jescot Julie' and 'David Howard' have been eaten by something (why just them?  they're not even next to each other).  'Juliet' and 'Bishop of Auckland' are doing well, and the first 'Blue Bayou' flower has opened.  The roses are mostly going over, but I'm pleased that 'Glamis Castle' has not only survived being dug up and moved (for the second time in its life - this time because of some impending path-widening) but has managed to put out a flower, despite the upheaval and an attack of blackspot.

Dahlia 'Blue Bayou'

Dahlia 'Juliet'

Rose 'Glamis Castle'

This weekend saw some pleasantly warm weather; gardening in T-shirt, and lunch on the bench.  Back to overcast and breezy today, and cooler and windier tomorrow.

Sawdust puzzle

The tomatoes in the greenhouse growbags are doing well so far, but the presence of sawdust on some of the leaves had me puzzled for a bit.  Sawdust, in an aluminium greenhouse?  Then I spotted the hole in one of the bamboo canes supporting one of the tomato plants - a neat little circular hole where something has bored into, or out of, the cane.  If it has gone in, why?  And if it came out, where is it now, and what is it doing?  I suspect it may be woodworm, of which we have plenty in the woodstore, but I wasn't expecting it in the greenhouse.  I would have thought that a bamboo cane would have been hard work for a woodworm.  The canes came from the garden centre; usually I use buddleja prunings, but I needed something slim enough to fit the holes provided in the new ring culture pots.

The weather has become even cooler - mid-teens and colder at night - and there have been a couple of miserably wet days (which is quite genuinely good for the garden, but not with wind and cold).  This has prompted some belated work in the greenhouse: seed-sowing and potting on of cuttings.  On dry days I've also started digging out the 'volunteer' raspberry canes in the veg patch, and getting at the nettle roots and other weeds around them while I was at it.  I need to clear more ground in the veg patch if all my new seeds are to find a home!  Most of the broad beans have been used, so their patch will soon be vacated (although it's not long now until the autumn-sown beans for next year go in ....).  The garlic bulbs have been plaited and hung up, and there were a number of little bulblets in the stems which I've potted up in the hope of getting next year's crop for free; if that works, they too will soon need a home.

The shrub roses are coming to an end, at least as far as pickable flowers is concerned, though I managed a nice posy of 'Felicia', 'Koenigin von Daenemark' and Gallica officinalis.  The other posy currently on the go is a much less tasteful, but definitely zingier, mix of dahlias ('Juliet' and 'Bishop of Auckland'), mixed zinnias and Crocosmia 'Lucifer'.  The zinnias are doing well and are quite a success; I'm pleased with them this year.

Last roses

Zinnias, dahlias and crocosmia

 Another success has been the fleecing up of the blackcurrant bush, resulting in several pots of jam and still more berries to come.  We've also had the first of the 'Belle de Fontenay' potatoes.  The first courgette buds are showing, so that's another glut on the way soon ....

Just as I thought that we'd had all the baby blackbirds for this year, a youngster, still with his gape and noisily demanding food, turned up in the raspberry patch this afternoon.  I think Mum was glad of the bare soil where I dug out the nettles yesterday as a source of worms.  There are still quite a few little sparrows being fed; a little dunnock showed up briefly the other day and three young starlings appeared this afternoon to pick over the lawn.  A greenfinch comes occasionally for a drink, as does Lefty the lame pigeon.  Today the pair of pigeons who 'own' our garden decided to have a spa morning in the birdbath, bathing and preening happily together (a bit of a squeeze - it's not that big a birdbath!).  There are other birds around in the background: a wren glimpsed briefly, a nuthatch heard pecking in the ash tree and a yellowhammer calling somewhere in the distance.

The first truss of flowers on the buddleja is out, but it hasn't been weather for butterflies to emerge; it's long sleeves and sweatshirt weather, even indoors.  And hot soup for lunch.  In July.  The forecast for August is no better.

Unaccompanied minors

Looking for ants: young green woodpecker (and blackbird)

Nesting time for the birds is pretty much over for another year, and the adults are feeding up the last brood (still one young blackbird being fed, and a lot of young sparrows).  We've been seeing quite a few young birds which are now independent and going about their business on their own.  The blackbirds have three youngsters in all, including two who seem to be doing their own thing, even though mum and dad are still about.  There have been a few young blue tits on the peanut container, at least one spotty little robin down in the damsons, a little goldfinch and a few woodpeckers, both great-spot and green; the green woodpecker plucked up the courage to come down one day in search of ants on the lawn, probably having noticed the blackbirds raiding the ants' nests that developed in the cowslip patch (which has now been mown down).  Other bird visitors have been the first nuthatch seen since they left the nest, and the goldcrest, searching for spiders on the rotary dryer.  I suspect that the goldcrest is around much more than I realise, but being small and inconspicuous he probably goes unnoticed.  They're usually birds of conifer woodlands, and conifers are few and far between around here (unless you count our Leylandii hedge).

The pigeon visitors have also increased, almost certainly as a result of the hay-cutting in the fields around us.  For most of the summer so far we've had a single pair, but as soon as the hay was cut Lefty the lame pigeon and at least one other pigeon appeared in the garden.  Lefty has been raiding one of the alpine strawberry plants, but I'm too soft-hearted to chase him away; it's good to see him still around.

Butterflies are becoming a little more numerous in the garden - speckled wood, tortoiseshell, one red admiral and of course the cabbage whites.  The mullein moth caterpillars disappeared, presumably having turned into chrysalises or whatever their next stage is.  Lots of bees, enjoying the clover in the lawn and the oregano.

The vegetable patch is still very dry, though there has been a little more rain recently; it has been less warm but very breezy, which dries the soil out.  (This has been quite a breezy year so far; I haven't been tempted to eat outside very much.)  The new rhubarb plant is settling in nicely, though, as have the courgettes and borlotti beans.  We've also had the first few potatoes.  On the fruit side, the gooseberry harvest has been good.  I did some pruning and thinning out in the winter, which I've seriously neglected in the past, and it has paid good dividends; the pruned bushes are healthier, with bigger and sweeter fruit than before.  The raspberries (when I can get at them before the blackbirds) are also good; the plants really need replacing, but I'll give them a bit more attention this year.

Sweet peas ('Royal Romance' and 'Athena')

There has been a steady supply of Sweet William and sweet peas for the house, as well as roses, and the first dahlias are out.  'Juliet' is good, and 'Jescot Julie' would be but for a serious infestation of the ubiquitous blackfly.  The Cosmos are starting to flower, and the first Zinnia opened the other day.  The patio pots have finally been planted up; they still need to fill out a bit, but don't look too bad grouped together in a corner.

Spem in Allium

I must get better at watering the garden, particularly the veg patch.  The weather has been mostly warm, dry and breezy, and thin, poor soil like ours dries out very quickly in conditions like that.  The shallots, which hadn't made a lot of top growth, were looking very parched, and the garlic tops had started to fall over; I noticed that other blog posters were lifting theirs, so I did likewise and let them dry off for a day (now moved into the greenhouse in anticipation of rain).  I have to admit that I grow the edible alliums more in hope than expectation; they don't do particularly well in our dry conditions.  I gave up growing onions - the sets tended to come out of the ground not much bigger than when they went in, and good onions are easy to come by - but have persevered with shallots and garlic (and leeks, but they were sown late this year and are still very small).  The shallots are always small, but that suits my cooking style, and I can live with small garlic bulbs.  Actually, this year's garlic (Early Purple Wight) has produced a couple of decent-sized heads, so I'm quite pleased with that.

The broad beans, now de-topped, have fewer blackfly, but the pesky critters are appearing everywhere - on the runner beans, the parsley, even some of the poppies.  A few borlotti beans have gone in, as have a couple of the plants from the second sowing of the courgettes.  In the greenhouse, the tomatoes and aubergines are in their growbags and doing well.

Earlier in the year, I took advantage of a non-windy day (we don't get many of those) to use up old weedkiller sitting around in the garage and sprayed the overgrown half of the veg plot.  I have finally started to clear the dead grasses from this, starting with a space for a rhubarb plant ('Timperley Early') bought during the winter and languishing in its little pot since then.  The existing rhubarb plants are very elderly, seriously overgrown and in poor soil, so this is by way of starting again.  The prompt to plant the rhubarb was actually the need to bury deceased wildlife, always a bit of a problem in shallow soil unless the dear departed is quite small.  I once had to bury a fully grown rabbit found dead on the front garden path, presumably left there by a fox as rabbits don't usually expire naturally outside people's front doors, even in the country.  My usual practice is to put them under a plant which isn't going to be moved for a very long time, so that they don't get dug up by accident (my squeamishness rather than respect for the creature, admittedly); the rabbit went under a hellebore at the side of the house, which responded by growing extremely well.  The soil in the rhubarb patch is relatively deep (a full spade's-depth), so it was a good spot to dispose of the latest carcasses - the remains of a pigeon found under the aquilegia on the edge of the patio, and a squirrel found under the big ash tree at the bottom of the garden.  I'm guessing that the pigeon may have been an old bird that chose the shelter of the plants as a place to die - pigeons do seek out a sheltered spot when their time is up - although there wasn't a great deal left apart from the wings by the time I found it under the leaves.  The squirrel is a bit of a mystery; it looked like a young one, and it was almost under the bottom fence, which would have been a strange place for a cat to have left it.  There was some dead wood from the ash tree nearby, so I suppose it's possible that the squirrel's weight brought down a rotten branch and it was killed in the fall (do squirrels ever fall out of trees?).  Anyway, both are now contributing to the fertility of the soil under the rhubarb plant, and I hope it thrives.

The raspberry suckers have started bearing fruit (they're always well ahead of the 'official' plants), and there are lots of gooseberries, mostly on the old plants that I haven't dug out yet.  My pruning of the plants I want to keep was obviously too severe; there are a few, nice big, fruits but not many.  The blackbirds are very partial to them but fortunately are focusing their attention on the smaller fruit, which are easier for them to get at; I picked one side of the bush while my friendly female blackbird picked the other side.  The newest blackcurrant bush has some lovely strings of fruit on it, so it has been fleeced up to keep the birds off.

The sunny and dry weather is to break down into rain from tomorrow - a chance to do some potting up and sowing in the greenhouse.  It has been a bit too hot in there to do much of that lately, although it has been ideal for drying off the bulbs lifted from the patio pots.

Bugs and beasties

At this time of year, the garden changes so rapidly that, after being away for more than a week, it's something of a shock to come back and find lots of new colour in the beds.  Most of the roses are out, as are the Dianthus, sweet rocket, Allium cristophii, the big red poppies, the rampant pink geraniums and the Alchemilla mollis (and a whole lot of other smaller things).  The Sweet William are also coming out, and looking quite good.  The Philadelphus is coming out too - even the big one in the back garden which I've been threatening to remove for ages now.

Closer inspection, however, shows not all is as well as it might be.  The Verbascum 'Violetta' in the bottom

Mullein moth caterpillars on 'Violetta'

border have thrown up several spikes of bloom, which were doing not too badly until the mullein moth caterpillars moved in.  Decision time: should I consign the lot of them to the recycling bin, or be wildlife-friendly and leave them be?  The plants probably won't flower again this year anyway, but then the caterpillars will presumably turn into moths and come back again next year.  Maybe they'll come back again next year anyway.  'Violetta' isn't the chunkiest of Verbascums and doesn't make as much of a statement as she might - and a statement is what is needed down there if it's to be visible from the house - so should I keep them?  For the time being, they're still there, caterpillars (growing fatter by the day) and all.

There is also a proliferation of blackfly on the broad beans.  In recent years I've been disinclined to pinch out the tops, as recommended; blackfly stopped being much of a problem, and one year there were none at all.  This year there are lots of them, which serves me right for being so cavalier; I must remember to do it earlier in future!  There is also a lot of aphid infestation on the apple trees, and some powdery mildew on one of the cordons.  I've been going over the trees, thinning fruit and pulling off the contorted leaves that show where the aphid eggs are.  Some of them have hatched in the recycling wheelie bin, and have climbed out and are sitting on the bin lid; since it's green, perhaps they assume it's a plant, albeit not a very edible one.  They don't seem to be going anywhere, which is good.

Before we went away, I managed to plant out the Cosmos and Didiscus in the cutting bed and the bottom border, and the runner beans and remaining brassicas in the veg plot; all a bit haphazard, but most of them are doing ok.  The current job is planting the tomatoes and aubergines in growbags in the greenhouse, and planting up the patio pots (a bit belatedly).

Several weeks ago, while weeding dandelions out of the lawn, I noticed a couple of long, spotted leaves

Common Spotted Orchid in the lawn

growing near the smaller apple tree.  They were immediately fenced off from the lawnmower, and have now sprouted a flower: as I suspected, a Common Spotted Orchid.  I hope it seeds.  (The two Twayblade plants by the plum tree have also been protected from mowing, but neither has flowered.)

The nuthatches seem to have moved out of the nestbox immediately after my last post, and have vanished completely; I hope they're just keeping out of sight in the tree canopy.  The blackbirds are feeding another brood, and somewhere near there's a thrush singing, presumably while his mate is on her nest.  A few more baby sparrows are about, and there are tits, dunnocks and the usual pair of pigeons around; the robins are no longer much in evidence, and the partridges have gone.  A young woodpecker comes regularly to the peanut feeder.

The weather has warmed up; apparently quite good while we were away, and now a heatwave is building up; hot today, and forecast to be hotter tomorrow.  To be followed by thunderstorms, of course.

Nuthatched

Nuthatch activity in and out of the nestbox suggests that their eggs have hatched and they're feeding the little ones.  This has been going on for a good couple of weeks now, so I would expect them to leave the nest soon, but there's no sign of the youngsters yet.  They're probably in no hurry to leave such a safe place; the nestbox is terracotta, and the parents have customised it with mud sealing up the inspection holes, so it must be quite snug as well.  The weather has been cool all month, with some warmish sunshine but a lot of chilly wind and temperatures still in the low teens, so the great outdoors can't seem all that appealing to a small bird!

The baby blackbirds have dispersed, and the parents are presumably now on a second brood, although the female is around more than I would have expected if she were hatching; I hope nothing has happened to her nest.  There has been a single baby sparrow down, though there's much activity around the nest sites.  Lots of other birds; the pair of linnets is still around, also a pair of goldfinches; a long-tailed tit came to the kitchen window one day, and a goldcrest was hunting for spiders round the waste bins; and yesterday a jay turned up and learned how to get onto the peanut container.  The two partridges still come daily; one of them has been sitting on the fleece covering my cabbage plants, which probably explains why they're looking rather squashed.

The cold weather hasn't encouraged me to plant out the runner beans, but I need to do that soon.  The 'Ferrari' and 'Borlotti' beans haven't germinated well, so I may have another go at them; and only one courgette has germinated, so I'll sow a few more.  The leeks were sown late but are now germinating.  I've taken to starting dill and coriander off in the cold frame and planting out, which seems to work quite well; there are a few parsley plants coming along in the same way.

Yesterday I finally bit the bullet and planted out those dahlias that are ready to go outside.  'Ambition', despite being a bit shrivelled in storage, was the first up and seems to be doing ok; 'Karma Choc' has done nothing at all.  I rescued two half-price bargains from the garden centre, a 'Bishop of Llandaff' and 'David Howard', and they are now also coming along, a little more slowly.  They've gone into the new border between the patio and the hedge, where I can keep an eye on any undesirable weeds coming up, with the zinnias for company.

'Silver Parrot'

'Purple Jacket' with Bellis

'Creme Upstar' with Anthemis

The tulips are now mostly past, although there are still a few 'Havran' in bloom and also the 'Angelique' and 'Black Hero' pairing in the big pot ('Uncle Tom' also did well here but was mostly over by the time the other two came along).  Most of the tulips in the smaller pots did poorly; too dry, too crowded or too overwhelmed by the wallflowers and forget-me-nots?  'Purple Jacket' was good (if rather more pink than purple), and so were the 'Silver Parrots'; I also liked 'Creme Upstar', although it was rather too delicate and subtle to make much of a statement.  'La Belle Epoque' looked very sickly, and I'm not sure if that was just the colour that it was or whether the poor growth affected it; the flowers lasted hardly any time and I'm not sure I'd grow it again.  'Antraciet' and 'Cairo' were both good, but 'Cairo' flowered much later so the combination didn't really work.  'Veronique Sanson' and 'Jan Reus' never made it up through the wallflowers.  Note to self: the wallflowers pair well with the earlier tulips but are going over by the time the May ones come along, which doesn't enhance the overall effect.

The aquilegias are out, and I'm making a note of the good ones for future use.  Some of the ones grown last year from seed are in flower, and include a purple and white bicolour and a lovely plain cream one; there are also several pink and white bicolours.

I'm steeling myself to pull up the forget-me-nots soon.  I always leave plants until all the flowers are finished, but by then the earlier flowers have seeded, and I have far too many forget-me-nots about the place as it is; so they're for the recycling bin sometime very soon.