My garden in July

It’ll be no surprise to anyone that the hot weather from last month continued into July, with a heatwave forecast including a red weather warning and temperatures of 40 degrees. Not something any of us really expected, nor enjoyed I’m sure. My garden definitely didn’t!

At the start of the month I was keen to add some more colour to the pots so headed off to our local garden centre. Thankfully most of these plants have survived the warm summer remarkably well, and I’m hopeful that the non-bedding plants will be able to recover even more once the temperatures cool (assuming that the temperatures will cool, that is).

Last month the long awaited tree work took place and it was glorious to have so much light and ‘head space’ in the garden. All of the trees that were cut have since sprouted new growth, and are looking much less bare than they were. One of the sycamores especially, but we’ll come onto that - for now, keep this image in your mind.

The acer which we brought back from my FIL’s garden has had a couple of spurts of new growth, and it’s the reddest of all the leaves - colour, which is most welcome and can be enjoyed every time we use the patio. Considering the plant needed to be temporarily repotted and pruned for transport, it’s picked up and is now thriving. So much so that I’ve needed to turn the pot so that it doesn’t become too one-sided.

Our grass is coping less well with the weather. But reassuringly lots of the grass in the gardens around ours now have a similar hue, as does the grass in Greenwich Park and on Blackheath, so that’s something. I’m sure it will recover once there is rain, and plenty of it, but that didn’t arrive in July. Storms and flash floods have been forecast for August, but it wasn’t until the day I posted this that we had what I’d call ‘proper’ rain.

Elsewhere in the garden, and in sight of the patio, the hydrangeas are flowering. They’ve grown flower heads bigger than your fist, which have turned from green to the loveliest white. I’m so glad I opted for the ‘Annabelle’ it’s definitely a variety I’d have in a future garden.

Despite heading to the garden centre for pops of colour, the antirrhinums I chose were a zesty yellowy-green, but even so they couldn’t help but make me smile. Alongside the rich cerise of the ‘everlasting’ sweet peas, it’s quite a contrast but one I’m keen on.

The pear tree at the rear of the garden is full of pears. Which sounds more exciting that it’s likely to be. In all the time we’ve been here, we’ve not had one edible pear - they’re rock hard, even the squirrels reject them. But not until they’ve taken at least one bite, of course. They’re probably cooking pears, but for me it’s just good to watch them grow.

The much forecast high temperatures arrived, with temperatures reaching over 40 degrees celsius. Whatever your views on the heatwave and/or climate change, here in the UK we’re just not built for those kinds of temperatures. MOH was very much of the ‘how hot can it be’ opinion to start with, and after a brief foray onto our north facing garden’s patio, quickly returned and declared it to be ‘hotter than Barbados out there’ and therefore unsuitable for al fresco dining!

For the warmest of those two days we followed the advice on opening doors and windows early, then closing them and curtains during the peak warm hours. Even much later in the evening, it was still very warm and while a few spots of rain did fall - and were briefly refreshing - they’d pretty much dried up before they hit the ground.

Our plants were also drooping, and they’ve continued to droop and scorch as the thankfully-not-quite-as-high temperatures have continued. Seeing our usually perky fatsia with scorched and droopy leaves is very much a first. Of all the plants, in those two days it looked very much as I felt!

Throughout July we’ve continued to water our pots and the shrubs which seem to be affected most, giving them a good drenching every few days for the pots, or when needed for the shrubs. We’ve adapted how we wash up, using a bowl so that the water can be used in the garden too. Every time rain is forecast the garden trugs are positioned around the garden to collect rainwater, but not all of the rain forecast has arrived so it’s not been successful at all.

Despite this, the plants continue to amaze us - with pops of colour from the roses, bedding plants and sweet peas appearing for a few days then retreating to replenish themselves.

But most of all, it’s been the pollarded sycamores that have been the most amazing and adaptable. Though they clearly have deeper root systems, the difference in the photo here and the one earlier in the post is almost unbelievable isn’t it? No rain to speak of, and already they’re putting on a good show of fresh growth. I’ve been taking photos of them every few days, and feel an Instagram reel may be coming on at some point, as throughout August they’ve continued their growth.

Isn’t nature amazing?

Drying bay leaves

It seems funny to be writing a post sharing drying bay leaves on the day when we have finally got some proper rain here, but it’s a good as time as any. And by proper rain, I mean that is actually collecting in the trugs and watering cans I’ve left out specifically to catch the drops. Up until today, we’ve had some drizzle and light showers, but nothing that even covers the bottom of the smallest garden trug. Like many areas, the rain is much needed so hearing it about 3am this morning it was good to know that the forecast had finally come true. One spell of rain won’t fix the current issues, or the drought, but it is a most welcome start. Ironically, our hosepipe ban came into place yesterday…

But anyway on a much sunnier day last month I took my pruning shears to our two bay trees. They used to be in a similar spot in the garden, but somehow had got split up with one finding itself under more tree cover than the other. As a result this one was much leggier, and the leaves less dense - and it was in need of a good trim.

And there were too many leaves to just compost. The less-nibbled and better leaves were saved and washed so they could be dried, and with a needle and some offcuts of embroidery thread I had a mindful morning threading leaves into the very simplest of garlands ready for drying.

Previously when I’ve done this the weather has been less than constant, but this year with heatwave following heatwave, I confidently hung each mini ring over the willow spokes on our fence. It was only when I stepped back that I realised together they had created a festooned effect.

And yes, that’s a lot of bay leaves. My plan is to share the small garlands with family and friends, though I need to get better at remembering to take a bunch or two with me when we go visiting!

They’ve dried really well - as you’d expect with the weather we’ve been having, but I didn’t want them to get too dry. So they’ve been brought inside and have hung briefly on the dresser before being stored in air tight containers. So now I’ll have to redouble my efforts to remember to distribute them!

Uses for bay leaves

As well as using dried bay leaves in stews, sauces and stocks to add earthy flavours, I also use bay leaves:

• when boiling or steaming vegetables or fish,

• in bags of flour to deter mites, and

• on the barbecue with new potatoes, alternating potatoes and bay leaves.

I’m sure there’s many other uses for this versatile plant, let me know if you have a favourite way of using bay leaves and if you dry herbs from your garden.

My garden in June

June in my garden was very much a month of two halves. The first half of the month the garden was green and lush, and then the hot weather hit. Our garden, like many, has become drier and with very little rain arriving or forecast, it looks very different. We also had the long-awaited tree work booked in, typically on the first of the very hot days so our garden had a double whammy to cope with.

We have taken to watering the pots in our garden every few days, as they are suffering the most. But with hosepipe bans likely to be announced we’re also looking at how we can use our ‘grey’ household water more efficiently. This means using our washing up water on non-edibles, and potentially a bucket in the shower for the same purpose. It makes a lot of sense for us all to reduce our water consumption and consider how we treat what is after all a valuable resource. And it’ll take some getting used to, I’m sure.

While I’m missing the green and lushness of our garden in the first part of the month, the trees were long overdue a cut. They were due for their usual cut in the autumn of 2020, but that didn’t happen what with it being a most peculiar year. Once things had started to return to more normality than there had been, we had terrible trouble trying to find someone to replace our usual tree man who had retired. Both our neighbours and us had tried several people, who either showed up, quoted and then ghosted us, or didn’t even turn up after making arrangements to. Incredibly frustrating, but we got there in the end.

At the start of the month we had our bunting up for the Queen’s Jubilee, and it looked so good it stayed there right up until the day before the tree work, when along with the strings of lights, I took it down. The lights have finally gone back up, but I’ve resisted putting the bunting up, though it does look pretty!

I wasn’t expecting many cherries from our little cherry tree this year. It tends to go in cycles with less fruit following a year of abundance. Some years the birds beat us to them, and others - like this year - there’s a truce and we share the cherries. As this was due for a catch-up cut, I didn’t think the cherries would survive - but they did, and they were also enjoyed by the team cutting the trees too. A perk of the job I’m sure.

Flower-wise the mock orange was starting to make its fragrance known, and in the back beds some foxgloves were starting to flower.

Towards the house the fatsia was thriving - it needs a cut really, and it’s easy to do, but I know like anything, cutting it will make it grow even more vigourously. So I postponed its cut in June (and now in July I’m wishing I hadn’t!), mainly because working out where to cut takes more time than actually doing the work.

The hydrangeas which I have in a pot close to the patio started to flower. I thought I’d lost them, but this one came back - the other one under the tree canopy wasn’t quite so resilient. These have been great to watch develop, and I’d definitely buy more ‘Annabelles’ for a future garden. The pretty geraniums I brought back from my FILs garden are flowering, and with a ‘Chelsea chop’ have flowered again since.

The roses on the patio are doing their best to grow within the frame I’ve provided them with, but not quite managing to get in the right spot. But never the less I think they look pretty good. These white roses are pretty prolific and while I’ve been deadheading, they’ve been flowering as much as they can.

You can’t beat home grown cherries! Throughout the month we’ve had regular visits from butterflies, with this orange one (most likely a moth) paying repeat visits most afternoons. I’m under no illusion it was the same one, but humour me.

Midway through the month, the outlook for our garden changed as I mentioned above. The difference in one day is amazing, but with a team of six men working hard all day it’s easy to see why they made such great inroads. But it’s a lot of garden and tree cuttings to dispose of, and as we teamed up with our next door neighbours as they also had some trees cut, we were fortunate that all of it went over the fence and through their garden. We can’t thank them enough for this, though the lads working weren’t quite so appreciative, though they did managed to take one of the trellis panels down to help, the fence panel wasn’t budging.

Isn’t it amazing how much of a difference it makes?

It was the harshest cut we’ve given our tress, but as I said earlier in this post it was long overdue. It is a shame to cut so much of them, but they do need managing. We’re not even two months on as I write this post, and all of the trees are sprouting new branches and leaves, so I’m confident they will re-leaf over the next few months.

Our tallest - and wonkiest - foxglove was a casualty of the day felled by a falling branch. There wasn’t much to be done with this so I cut it down - but that too is showing its resilience and it is now regrown and flowering again - though I seem to have cornered the market in a miniature foxglove! I’ll share the picture of that with you next month!

How’s your gardening coping with the warmer weather?