My garden in July

I bet you weren’t really expecting to see my July post, so soon after June’s - especially in October, but I’m happy to prove you wrong. Just looking through these photos, it feels like only yesterday and I’m struggling to work out where the intervening months have gone - and how we’ve done so little in a single year. But I guess, that’s 2020 for you.

These roses are from our patio, during one of my gardening sessions I got a bit over-enthusiastic and snipped these without realising. Not wanted to compost them while they were in their prime, they were soon indoors in a vase to be enjoyed for a short while.

With veg growing in the garden, I was very much in the habit of checking it every morning before opening my laptop. One morning I got more than I bargained for, and found some of our beans completely upended onto the grass.

The beans look like they had been carefully placed aside and much fun was had with the earth and the pot. I’m blaming the foxes, and hastily shoved everything back into the pot and gave them a drink. They survived a bit, but the didn’t really recover and beans from these plants were few and far between. Never mind, our other pots turned out to be pretty productive, but I didn’t know that at the time.

July is the month that our agapanthus really gets their game on. The flowers breaking out of the paper casing early in the month, and looking a lot more delicate than I think they really are.

There was good weather, and evenings to enjoy in the garden - a cocktail or two helped, as did the barbecues.

There’s always gardening jobs to be done though and it was time to tackle the Chilean potato plant that goes wild early in the season. The ladder was out and the green bin filled pretty quickly. As you can see the neighbours on this side had scaffolding up, it’s been a time for most of our neighbours to have work done - and who can blame them.

I wanted a sunny spot for my chillies, and tried tin cans on the trellis. This was a little too sunny it turned out and I lost one of these as it fried in the sun. The others were hastily moved back to the greenhouse and while they’ve not grown as I’d hoped they would, they are still alive. I’m thinking of potting them up to have in the conservatory, which I think will be marginally better (and warmer) than the greenhouse.

The nasturtiums soaked up the sun and provided flowers in an array of colours from bright yellows to the deepest of reds, and everything in between. I really wasn’t expecting the colours, especially as they need very little attention or care, and in fact prefer poor soil - they’re my kind of plant!

The colour wasn’t far off the orange of the runner beans, and we’ve had a good few dinners courtesy of a pot or two of beans - but not many from the one the foxes interfered with. Our beans are still limping along in October, but they’re due to join the compost heap relatively soon.

Back nearer the conservatory, the agapanthus blooms were starting to stand up straighter and the buds were thinking about opening, but not just yet.

Our squash started to flower and that became a regular spot to visit and encourage each morning. A squash did eventually form, but I won’t spoil the ending just yet.

The peonies which had given so many fluffy flowers the previous month finished, leaving a stubby flower centre left in their place. The rain didn’t help, and despite the sun, there was plenty of that. The snails seemed to enjoy it though.

And it didn’t stop the agapanthus doing their thing.

Another ritual for the month was picking salad for lunch. That in this strangest of years felt like an incredible luxury. And a tasty one too.

We popped up to Norfolk catching up with family for just the second time this year. As usual we left with gifts including this purple oxalis, a favourite of mine and which grows freely in dad’s greenhouse.

The morning garden inspections continued, and so did the beans. On this particular morning so did the rain, so for this picture I was sheltering in the greenhouse waiting for the shower to pass. It didn’t pass as quickly as I hoped, and shortly after snapping this shot I was running back to the house.

We also had visitors indoors, this dragonfly flew in, flew around our downstairs and stressed me out during an online meeting. I lost sight of it, but after a little while found him having a snooze on the curtains. He wasn’t up for moving, so we spent the afternoon in companionable silence tolerating each other. Once his strength was restored, he decided to head off and managed to navigate out as easily as he’d come in. This, it turned out was just the first visit - we had another two visits as the summer continued. Of course, it may not have been the same little fella - and not all of them were quite as well behaved - but this year, one positive is that we’ve seen much more wildlife in our garden (and in our house!)

My garden in June

Yes June. Let’s just call this a bit of a throw back post. I’m putting my tardiness down to a change in how I’m editing and storing my photos, which although it’s not hugely different has thrown me a little. But looking through the photos I’d added to this post, the memories were strong, so I couldn’t not share. And yes, updates for July and August should also follow, hopefully this side of Christmas.

But anyway, let’s head back to June and roses in bloom - can you smell them?

Although it does look a little nibbled doesn’t it?

June was also the month of the Little Shed and the Great Greenhouse Clearout. The photo below is one of the before shots and on reflection it doesn’t seem that bad, but I couldn’t move in there so it needed some tidying, at the very least.

The chillies I ordered arrived and survived - in fact most are still going strong. I’ve even had some padron peppers, which if I’m really honest I probably wasn’t expecting. Only a few, but a few more than I thought.

We made friends with two little cats from a couple of doors down. They both quickly became known as #notmycat and both provided much entertainment, even for MOH, who - well let’s just say, he’s not a natural cat fan. This one - we started to call her Bob-alike because she looked like my Bob. She spent a lot of time that month on our fence, and was young and impressionable enough for us to talk her out of chasing birds, but our talks are less effective now.

The little shed was reassembled after spending a fair time in parts behind the pizza oven, where it had lived since it came back from the laptop. Clearly that it’s not its final home, as that would just be odd.

Ah yes, cherries. This year we had so many. It was also the year that MOH needed to pick them all before the pigeons got them. He brought them indoors and left them, so then needed sorting again as those with bugs in made themselves known. To be fair though he stoned all the ones we kept - it’s a thankless task, and I’ve a feeling that he won’t be so keen next year! He also made cherry conserve, some runny, some more set than rubber - but I’m sure both will be tasty.

We cleaned out the big shed, and discovered this in a cardboard box. I was both fascinated, curious and scared - though as it turned out whatever lived there had long since moved out. It was beautiful too, but from a distance.

Once everything was out of the greenhouse, it felt so much bigger. As you’d expect. The photo above is a midway shot. It clearly filled up again pretty quickly, but even so, the resulting layout is working much better.

My nasturtium leaves went speckled, and very pretty they were too.

We saw wildlife. In our kitchen. This stag beetle wasn’t the only one to fly in - but oh, the noise. They are fascinating creatures, but they’re a little pre-historic. I think each of us were equally stressed, and I’m still not sure if the ‘dropping into the garlic pot’ was a planned move, or a stroke of genius. Either way that’s where it ended up, well just before it was rather rudely turned out onto the patio table.

Peonies. Sigh. They were great.

This is only part of the contents from the now empty greenhouse. And a fair bit of it ended up in the little shed.

Our lettuce was just getting going in June, and it quickly became a daily ritual to pick lettuce for lunch, shortly before we ate it.

The roses on the patio went wild, and the petals dropped as the weather changed. We patched up next door’s broken fence during lockdown, and have spent most of the time since threading the plants through the trellis to regain that privacy. On the whole it’s been successful.

Above is the final layout of the greenhouse, with much smaller plants than I remember.

We had quite a few home grown strawberries despite neglect.

There was extraordinary weather. It teamed down. And of course MOH was out on his bike in this. So was rather wet when he got back.

The sun shined and the jasmine smelled sweet. It was a good year for jasmine too, and it seems an early trim and shape really helps.

We moved this plant - and split it in half. Only half survived, but not as you’d expect the half that moved to another part of the garden - that was fine, and flowered successfully. The half that stayed in place was less lucky and I think we’ve lost it - which is peculiar, but one of those things.

The sweet peas found ways to flower, and the agapanthus threw up 9 flowers between them. Now it was just a case of waiting for them all to break out.

Ah yes, the other #notmycat and as you can see, clearly making himself at home.

Reflecting on my week #142

We were lucky with the weather for our day trip to Whitstable. After a day at home, on top of many months mostly at home, it was good to escape and have a relatively normal day out. We hadn’t been to our favourite Kent coastal town this year, nor for a few years probably, but it was good to see that many of our favourites were still there, some had gone, but some new ones had taken their place. The town was probably at more normal levels, after experiencing many day-trippers during the summer, and who as we spoke to some shopkeepers weren’t what I’d call covid-compliant, or happy to respect the rules. Thankfully none of those were evident on our visit, which coincided with the first day of the NHS Covid-19 app, which we downloaded and made use of in a couple of places with no trouble at all. I’m not going to comment on the app, and the flaws that are being reported on, or how long it’s taken to arrive, because I don’t think I’ve really got anything new to add.

The weather was a mix of blue, cloudy skies and grey clouds looming. We were fortunate that we managed to eat our fish and chips al-fresco in one of the more blue-skied moments, and that was a tactical decision. I love to house-spot on the coastal path, and try to avoid being caught snapping people’s houses. Even though the terrace below is colourful the greyness seems to suit this photo, later in the week I’ll share a more colourful post.

We did our best to shop in the local shops, eating fish and chips and tea and cake later on. We left with some cheese from the cheese shop, and rather bizarrely a large duck from the butchers for under a tenner. Not everyone goes to Whitstable and buys duck, oysters or fish are probably more usual.

Our luck with the weather ran out though, and of course after carrying our waterproofs around all day, our luck run out while they were in the car. There was nothing else for it, but a mad dash back to the car, launching ourselves into the dry as quickly as we could.

There has been a distinctly autumnal feel to the mornings hasn’t there? Normally we’re not one for having the heating on at a whim, we’ve both come from the “put another jumper on” school of thought. But when we woke on Friday and the radiators were warm, it was very welcome. We’ve come close to relenting though this weekend, but we’ve stuck to the layered approach. The closest we came to breaking was Saturday night after an afternoon outside at the Greenwich Comedy Festival.

This year it was wholly outside and tickets were sold in twos, with each two having a metre box to socially distance within. We were a good way away from the stage, and it must have been tough for the comedians, as the atmosphere was pretty much non-existent. I was hoping that it’d stay dry, but no such luck. During Nina Conti’s set we, along with most of the audience were scrabbling for waterproofs and umbrellas. She had a couple of people up on the stage, and I bet they couldn’t believe their luck at getting under cover.

The show was hosted by Stephen K Amos and Reginald D Hunter had a set as well, but for us the main attraction was Henning Wehn. The show had been shortened, and it felt like Henning’s set had been shortened most, that could be because I’m not a huge fan of Reginald D Hunter (we’ve seen him before and my opinion hasn’t really changed). The arrangements though were totally covid-compliant, even if some of the attendees kept forgetting.

It finished by 5 and our plan was to get some food early (for us) and head home. Though with the new 10pm curfew we thought our best plan would be to avoid Greenwich town centre and the people leaving the afternoon session, along with those arriving for the evening session potentially overlapping with many aiming to eat in restaurants with already reduced capacities. So we headed over to Canary Wharf on the DLR, as we’d spotted that there’s now a Five Guys in one of the shopping centres. It could well have been there a while to be fair, and it’s one of the foods I’ve been keen to eat during lockdown.

We got there fine, the DLR was busier than we expected, but everyone was wearing face coverings and keeping as distanced as they could. In the shopping centre, there were signs up to say that face coverings must be worn. However this was far from the norm, and far from being enforced. There were groups of, mainly young girls, patrolling the centre. We saw two groups of girls, and numerous young couples ignoring the advice, with either no masks or masks under their chins, and it was easy to see why we’re unable to control numbers. The complete disregard for the requirements, and for those around them was quite shocking, let alone respecting the staff working in the restaurants.

While my burger - cheeseburger with jalapeños, my order every time - was great, we didn’t hang around for longer than we needed to and headed back south of the river, walking home from Greenwich. I think it’ll be a while before we head back there, and we won’t be going again on a weekend that’s for sure. Maybe during the week those visiting will be more compliant, who knows. I’ve had my Five Guys fill though, so hopefully that will see me through for a while.

Like many people we’re keeping an eye on what’s happening, and how the R number is managed. We have a week booked in October, and after not being able to go to the Lake District in June, we’re hoping that this time away won’t be scuppered either. We know we may need to change our plans, as we’re hoping to see and stay with family the weekend before, but we’re hopeful that we’ll still be able too. But as we’ve seen so many times already this year, there’s no guarantees, and there won’t be unless we all act responsibly. But that’s another soapbox, I’m not getting onto in this post.

Stay safe this week, and stay warm - it’s October on Thursday, and my heating just might be going on.