Saturday 12 May 2018

Tidying and Harvesting


Some more pics from yesterday up in the veg garden. Busy tidying and harvesting our veggies from last season .  Preparing the beds for 2018 veggies .
 That is some cardboard there which is waiting to smother the weeds ....I prefer to "no-dig " ...not saying that I never dig though..I have had to prize up some large clumps of weeds ...and well you know ...sometimes I really enjoy a good ol' dig !

 I do like to feed the earth and put back the goodness that she has given into last years vegetables and flowers . Generally speaking it is better not to disrupt the structure of the soil ...all the little creatures in there ..and microbes ...and fungi all working so hard ....dont you just love the smell of the earth ? I just love her fragrance ..


                                      So here are the last of my leeks .


 There's my Birdie ! She loves it when I have a good ol' dig ! She is busy too collecting grubs, bugs and worms for her young .


 The Runnerbean frame ..which reminds me..Congratulations to everyone who ran the London Marathon for so many good causes...including my beautiful sister who ran to raise money for teaching people how to do CPR and save lives .
 In this bed I have an enormous clump of Rhubarb which my  husband says I should take out ...but I love Rhubarb ..so it has to stay ...the thing I really should have taken out is the little Rosa Dorothy Perkins cutting which has sneakily grown into a huge clambering shrub ....but I haven't got the heart to dig it out and now it's about to flower and it is so lovely ! I have wound it along the beanpoles and all along the top and this year it will mingle with the Runner beans and French  Beans ...in front of this I have sown Love in a Mist ,Nasturtiums and Calendulas  for this old romantic and the Bees ...and will probably squeeze in some Cabbages and Kale .


 I did pull off a nice rooted piece of R. Dorothy Perkins to give away to anyone who'd like it .

A year and a half ago we visited Tilshead , pretty little village on Salisbury Plain . We lived there for a while and the children went to the school there. We walked around the village and remembered old times . Up the old school lane I found a scrambling Rose bush ... I cant remember the colour of this rose even though I must have walked past it many times ....it had the most beautiful hips . I gathered a few of the hips and sowed them as soon as we got back home to Mullion .
 They didn't come up the first Spring ,but I think the strange snowy winter that we had has now woken them up and I,m delighted to see three seedlings coming  up .

 I searched on line to try and find out which rose it might be and finally have been told that it is a Geranium Rose or Rosa Moyesii "geranium" which is a very old Rose . It has deepest pink/red  five heart shaped petals and a slight perfume too . Thankyou Tilshead ! I,m going to take good care of these and look forward to seeing them bloom .


 Anyway I then got bitten by a cactus on my bedroom windowsill and so today I think I will just sit back and enjoy the flowers in the Ornamental garden .


 The Acers are all waking up and putting on a lovely colourful show . That is Acer "Bloodgood " in the gravel bed..it is probably the only one that can be planted facing South.  Generally speaking Acers do prefer some shade . That little one in the foreground has got to be moved as the tree that was originally shading it has been cut down .....sigh... I will wait till next Autumn/Winter to move it .


                                   Lots of pretty Apple blossom .


 Paeonia delavayi lutea ...which I grew from a handful of the most gorgeous shiny beans that my brother gave me from his bush . The bees are so happy !


                                       Happy bee on the Berberis flowers .


           The garden is looking so lush at this time and smells so sweet .
                                      Happy Bees and happy me !

2 comments:

  1. How busy you are! I have cut back on vegetable growing this year, and just have some potatoes in bags, some lettuces and a small row of broad beans, just for my husband! The greenhouse will be full of tomatoes too.
    What a delightful rose your DP is, I remember my grandmother having one which roamed everywhere.

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  2. Happy bees,happy you and very very happy us too..coz we get to see all this beautiful pictures..

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