SoS 8/2/20

February 8, 2020

It’s been such a long time since I SOS-ed.

The main reason is the ongoing drought where I live.

Deciduous trees are yellowing and losing leaves, not because autumn approaches, but because of lack of water. Our subsoil is dry for at least a metre, if not more. The above is one of two massive sixty year old willows in our garden, favourite hiding places of our grandson and our terrier.

My borders stopped flowering weeks ago and whilst we can keep the borders alive, it’s as though the plants are going into hibernation. So there’s little to photograph as even in the city, trees are beginning to shed, street verges are dry and in some cases just dirt. And gardens of the less interested are looking awful.

However, on a quick walk yesterday, I took pics of what caught my eye and gave me hope that this pervasive dry will end one day and it will rain.

Acorns in a street row of oaks. I love the trees – so shady in summer.

Down a little lane and shaded from the worst of the westerly sun, this tiny little clematis (unknown?) which I found so pretty. I wouldn’t mind a cutting, as I have a thing for clematis.

Which brings me to seedheads of Clematis Montana in my own garden.

Nasturtiums. Love the colours, love the taste of the flowerheads in a salad.

And finally, Pachystegia insignis. This plant that grows down the road from our little city-bolthole is the one that caught my eye a while ago with its leaves. It has papery white flowers and now these wonderful seedheads. It’s very hardy and I purchased three last year. All in tubs as a plantsman friend says they do best in tubs, she has found.

And that’s it from me for this week and probably for a little while because of the drought. It will soon be time to begin reading catalogues, to separate seeds and think about propagating, but without adequate water, it’s hard to divine anything beyond life-support for what one already has.

So pootle on to other wonderfully wet northern hemisphere gardens with The Propagator, folks. It’s envy on steroids!

Toodles.

SoS 27/7/19

July 27, 2019

I’m back in the Matchbox Garden away from the coast as I prepare for further eye surgery on Tuesday, so had a trip to the nursery, bought a few things and had a little bit of a plantathon… not that one really gets a sweat-up in the Matchbox, unlike my Northern Hemisphere friends who are sweltering!

Today I offer up a bit of a mish-mash of pics because in all honesty, there’s only so much to see in a garden that’s tiny.

SoS: 20/7/19

July 20, 2019

We’ve been in the city for 10 days, but are now back in the big garden. Despite lack of water and freezing conditions, the garden has surprised us, doing things with a distinct ‘Where’s spring?’ attitude. My six might show that our garden is gradually waking from winter (such as winter was…)

SoS 13/7

July 13, 2019

In town for ten days or so, it’s been possible to check on the progressions of the Matchbox Garden. Walking around it takes a whole ten minutes. 🙂 But love and care of same can take as long as a piece of string. I’m sure gardeners out there know what I mean. For example, one of my new auriculas is struggling and as its a new cultivar from a breeder-friend, I am hoping it will survive. Hope comes with necessary research and so the piece of string has no end…

Anyway, here’s my Six on Saturday and the fact is that I could have put more in as spring is starting to push up from beneath the soil. There’s only about 40+ days till spring and less than 100 to daylight saving!!!!

SoS: 6/7/19

July 6, 2019

It’s been an age since I joined in posting on SoS, partly because it’s been a busy month, with the publication and release of the new novel.

Lots of new nerves as its a new genre (contemporary fiction) and there’s a need to entice new readers. Writing a book is so like gardening. You plant a seed, you feed it, water it, support it as it grows and you prune it and shape it, you feed it again, then you watch and it flowers and you can sit back and admire it (if you are lucky!).

SOS – 1/6/19

June 1, 2019

The first day of winter!

This year is absolutely flying and still we haven’t had meaningful rain. The domestic water catchment is right down and the village’s streets and public areas are dusty and sad.

We’ve been away for 10 days and our big garden and the coastal surrounds look terrible. Worse is that the garden and lawns are covered in a fallen leaf mulch. The mulch would be good if I could get the soil deeply wet first of all. But it’s not to be. We do what we can though – hand water and blood and bone fertiliser.

SoS – 27/4/19

April 27, 2019

I haven’t uploaded for awhile, what with having my first cataract operated on and Easter etc, and I’m being very naughty and shoving a couple of extra images on board.

It’s incredibly dry here – no truly meaningful rain since last year. As I sit, I listen to a rabid west wind and the swishing of the sprinklers on the borders, desperately trying to moisten ground that hasn’t been touched by the gardener for over 14 days.

SoS-16/3/19…

March 16, 2019

Six odd ones…

SoS 23/2/19

February 23, 2019

This summer is so dry. We had slightly mad rain burst about 3 weeks ago and since then, nothing. The only bonus is that the weather is cooler and tonight, it has the chill evening feel of approaching autumn. But the truth is the garden is tired. There are few flowers and very little colour.

The vegetable garden still gives most generously on a daily basis and we continue to eat very well. Not missing meat at all. We have yet to pick Beurre Bosc pears, Sturmer and Granny Smith apples, and quinces.

So what do I have to show in the borders, if anything?

Gardening SOS! 19/1/19

January 19, 2019

As summer continues to bake our garden, it becomes more difficult to find anything to talk about. One can bemoan the cost of the water with which we irrigate the garden on a heavy daily basis. One can whinge about the dry thunderstorms and the humidity immediately after. Or whine about the longing for an autumnal-styled day so one can work happily in the garden.

Tag: The Propagator