Violet’s Garden Diary

Annabelle has been star helper today: we’ve trimmed herbs, including a pretty brutal hacking on the rosemary, which was sticking too far out into the path. We’ve collected both coriander and lovage seed, and sown Giant Winter spinach (2 half rows, in the sunniest available bed, as instructed on the packet) and the last few sprinklings of mustard, some in the cleared grow-bag and some in a wettish bit of soil. We’ve even got round to layering the penstemons, although the blasted pegs turned out too long for the pots, even though I specially chose the deeper pots. Never mind, as long as it works.

The lemon balm had gone ever so manky on the top, with most leaves peppered with brown holes and unusable, so that got a serious trim. Quite a lot of the apple mint is covered in mildew, as are most of the peas, especially the later sowing. One of the cucumber plants is all mottled yellow, I am hoping that’s just mildew as well, and not something more serious.

We picked a Lakeland lettuce today, which was a lot easier to wash than the really crinkly Cos, but still quite a pain. And enough carrots that I got to try one (still the Fly Away), and I didn’t think they were anything special, compared to shop ones. Maybe that’s the price you pay - the pests don’t like it much, but neither do you… Or maybe I’ve just gotten spoilt somewhere along the line.

So we actually did some proper gardening!

Maria helped to weed the veg patch, which needed it badly. I also summer-pruned the espalier apple, and bent down the new tier, a bit late and with a temporary string rig-up, but it’s something. The apples are nearly ready, we’ve had a few windfalls and maggoty ones, they were pretty good. Finally cut down the original planted canes of the raspberries. The Polka has plenty of strong new canes, about 5ft high, and a bit of air round the bottom should do it good. Only picking a handful of berries from it each day, as there are only 5 plants. The Galante is playing catch-up, it might actually survive, who knows.

We had two good-sized carrots yesterday from the little row next to the herbs. These were sown near the end of April, called Fly Away, and they were indeed remarkably clear of carrot fly, so far. Also good pickings from the bean-den, although had to get the stool out to reach the top runners - they’ve gone way beyond the 8ft canes, some are dangling down and curling back up themselves. Tomatoes and cucumbers keep on coming. Somebody (possibly Tigger chasing a mouse, but I have no proof) has knocked off the one pepper that had set so far, it was barely two inches long. We did eat it, just to see what happens, but it wasn’t very nice.

The new Gertrude Jekyll is absolutely splendid - the colour shines from the across the garden, and the smell is detectable from meters away. The stems are a bit lax, it has to be said, but I am hoping that this will become less of a problem as it matures.

Still plenty of work for the weekend, hoping that the weather holds out, that is.

The season is progressing, and I can’t keep up, as usual. The purple beans have finished, but the climbing ones have started just about in time to take over. They are much thinner than ones we’d had before. Broad beans all cleared out now, they’d got rather over-ripe and floury by the end. Steady stream of tomatoes, and quite a lot of cucumbers, although the round ones are somehow much smaller this year. Have done the first borsch of the summer. Bit of a herb shortage at the moment, most of the tonnes of dill have gone to seed, and there isn’t much to replace it, apart from a few very tiny parsleys, although they are getting established now. Courgettes have started, a bit late really. The remontant strawberry keeps on going, but quite a lot of the fruits hang right down to the ground, so will have to raise the bag higher up next year, somehow. Blueberries are few, but the bush looks in reasonable nick.

The streptocarpus didn’t die afterall, but one of the African violets has rotted off at the base. Dahlias are pretty splendid by now, except for the three in a single small pot, which is too small for them. The annual rudbeckias are gathering momentum, and the colours do work well. The perennial ones are barely flowering at all, except for a new self-seeded one by the pond. The poor pond is completely swamped in duck-weed…

White phloxes have just started in the last few days.

The feverfew and campion out the front, by the cycle path, are completely dead - it must be very dry there. Although the fuschia is surviving and even flowering, but is pretty small.

Planted out the aquilegias at long last yesterday evening. Annabelle planted one all by herself, and did a pretty good job, even though the soil was very dry out there.

Reasonable pickings from the purple beans, we watched them turn green as they cooked, and made the most amazing hue stock. The first few tomatoes are ready, although they are different from the Sungolds we had before, smaller and with a pointy end, so the different seed suppliers must have slightly different strains.

Lots of cutting back: helianthemum, thyme, trollius, bits and bobs.

Ripped out pretty much all the Aquadulce, as they’d gone so rubbish, and planted out the leeks, which were getting pretty desperate.

Have been picking the most monster huge remontant strawberries. The Cambridge Favourite have finished, and I have chopped off all the leaves, as instructed by the reverend Ken Muir’s handbook. Found and destroyed an adult weevil in the process.

The broad beans: Aquadulce are a disaster zone, with defoliation, very bad set - loads of empty pithy pods, and they all fell over despite the net supports. The Optica, on the other hand, are an unheard-of success, with lots of pods on each plant, good regular set, smaller beans but actually nicer to eat. And they are still standing, mostly, completely unsupported.

Held a (raw) pea tasting yesterday; the mangetout were the least favoured, not much taste at all; sugarsnaps were good, but low yielding. The own-seed peas for peas, that have been left to grow up the bean den because of such bad germination elsewhere have done amazingly well, and were very popular.

The last sowing of mustard went to seed very quickly, and so is rocket etc. Coriander and dill are both flowering, and the lovage seed head is so heavy it is leaning half-way over the patio. Lost a pepper plant to soil-level nibble, probably the blasted leather-jackets. Purple French beans are nearly there, with a few tiny sticks teasing the impatient. Left rather too much self-seeded dill in between them at one end of the row, and they are swamped. Florence fennel is bulging up nicely. Courgette and cucumber are still being very slow to get going, except for the one on the fence.

Annuals are starting to flower - first dahlias, salpiglossis and nemesias, purple fluffy poppies (very small this year) and gazania finally opening. Rock rose has finished, and needs cutting back promptly.

Something very odd has happened to the Stargazer lilies - the leaves went purple, then brown, over a few weeks, but the flower buds continue to grow. Mystery.

Today’s singular achievement is planting out a couple of sweetcorn in between surviving raspberries.

Yesterday we harvested half a dozen carrots, of a decent size, from the row next to the early broad beans. Planted out the teeny weedy lettuce cells in their space. Been having a few good salads from the garden, especially helped by the dill and coriander.

Umm, where do I start? With the absolutely glorious white lily, filling the evening with scent? Or the plant fair at the weekend?

Last Saturday Annabelle insisted on accompanying me to the Selbourne rare plants fair, at the Gilbert White’s House. I’d been meaning to go for a few years. And of course the whining started within 20 minutes of getting there. Which is not long enough to explore all the treasures. However, we did manage to acquire:

• A Seale Super Rose, by name of Super Fairy, which has now replaced the sickly honeysuckle on the wall outside the garage. It is purported to reach 5m spread ‘eventually’, so we shall pray for it. And feed it. Slosh the feed on, the lady said to me, and you won’t have to worry about the blackspot. Let’s hope she is right. Except the food has run out today…
• A Greek basil, which is the one and only basil suitable for growing in the open soil in England. It was the last one, of course. I got one from Wisley a couple of years ago, but haven’t been able to find it since. This lady told me that Chiltern can supply the seeds, so guess where next year’s seed order will be coming from…
• A delightfully delicate Jacob’s ladder, which fades from the palest lilac to cream. Fell in love. And it was the last one, too. And we got there not long after it opened. This one has now gone into the shady side of the rockery, braving the conditions somewhat.
• A pink Lampranthus for the rockery, from a coastal nursery. I know, definitely braving it. It did survive at Island for quite a few years, and I’ve taken cuttings.
• Also an Echeveria, which I’ve never had before, and definitely will have to take cuttings of
• A mini yellow potentilla. Had to rip out a load of oxalis to make room for those two, but they didn’t go to waste, as the school fair is next weekend, and there are a lot more pots for it now
• A non-smelly thyme, which couldn’t join the culinary selection, but has nice flowers, so has gone at the foot of the rockery
• A lovely new addition to the primula collection: P. poissonii, my favourite shade of mauve.
• Some outrageously expensive seeds: coriander and purple sprouting.
• A recycled-metal bee on a spring. I wanted the big frog, to sit by the pond. But was running out of purchasing steam by then, so didn’t get both. sigh.

I think we did quite well, really. And the village fair later the same day has also resulted in a Streptocarpus. I think I have almost recovered now. At least I’ve stopped saying ’streptocarpus’ for no apparent reason every few hours. It’s called Stella, and is pinky-purpley blotchy. I really hope that I won’t kill it. Too quickly.

So, there was all that to plant out, and also a couple of climbing beans to replace the slug victims. Also re-sowed one end of the bean den, and planted out one of the Monardas into the main border. We have sampled the first few Polka raspberries, they are pretty good. Same day as I cleared out the dead remnants of the Galante, which have definitely got some soil/root disease. A few canes have survived, and might even fruit, but are nothing like the vigourous growth of the Polka. Broad bean picking is going apace, although Maurice can never have enough of those. Also been having lettuce and leaves, and strawberries from the pot, and mopped up the last few redcurrants. The remontant strawberry is flowering again, so they will be some more later.

The African violet has not been mentioned, but has been gracing the dinner table for a few weeks, now joined by the lily that broke off despite being staked. And the achimenes get brought out onto the patio table when we eat outside.

Survey of the state of things towards end of June:

Patio

• Lilies are not quite open
• Passion flower has started, and is covered in a million buds
• Currants are nearly all picked
• Blueberries coming on nicely so far, but still a long way off ripe
• Glamini in pot have shot up their spikes, but not yet open
• Primula Littoniana flowering in both pots
• Geraniums
• Feverfew in full blast
• White campion

Rockery

• Helianthemum Ben Heckla still resplendent, has been going for at least a month now
• Golden garlic going over now
• Verbascum Letitia glorious, swamping over some of the gentian
• Californian poppies of every hue
• Drosanthemum Hispidum - love it
• Diascias
• Alliums: orephilum pretty much over, unifolium well finished, but still has the purple bulbils to make it interesting, cernuum doesn’t actually do too well in the rockery, but has self-seeded into the gravel around, to my immense relief
• The odd flower on the phlox
• Oxalis of both flavours

Main border

• Last few yellow aquilegias
• Penstemons just starting
• Welsh poppies still going, but running out of puff
• Salvia roemeriana Hot Trumpets - why do I think it’s not what it says on the label? Because it isn’t. Knew it. What is it though? That’s a harder question to answer. Scabiosa atropurpurea is my best guess.
• Endless stencilled geraniums
• The fag end of the bleeding hearts
• Thalictrum is pretty much done now
• Yellow foxgloves have put up the spikes, but are not yet open
• Some more white campions and feverfew

Pond

• Orange globeflowers, lots
• Primula bulleyana and florindae
• Cork-screw rush

Veg patch

• Lovage - it’s 7ft high!
• Tomatoes pushing 3ft by now, most have set the first truss
• Early beans are picking, the second lot are still quite small, but look set for a good crop
• Peas can be counted on the fingers of one hand, as can any decent carrots
• A few ready lettuces
• Raspberries: Polka are shooting up new canes very fast, and have set a good bit of fruit on the old ones. Very few of the Galante look likely to survive at all.
• Dill absolutely everywhere!
• Thymes along the path - some finished, some just starting
• Self-sown nasturtiums under the apple tree
• Morning glory up the posts - still a bit weedy, only one flower at a time

Front

• Escallonia ‘Apple Blossom’ (aka the hedge) has done rather well this year, might keep it after all
• Wild and oriental poppies, although the oriental’s pretty much finished now
• Jacob’s ladder - a bit wee
• Last of the aquilegias
• clematis Trevor Lawrence - just starting, hope it doesn’t blow down again
• Lady’s mantle
• the usual suspects - campion, feverfew, geraniums

Honeysuckles: most are OK, except for the one out by the garage, japonica methinks, which will have to go, as the powdery mildew has got it AGAIN.