Reflecting on my week #88

Well that was quite a week. And quite a wet week at that. I half-joked about the drop in temperatures from the much balmier days in Lisbon, but it wasn’t any fun persevering with your summer clothes - and footwear - and getting wet every day. Eventually even I had to cave and wear proper shoes again.

Usually when I get back from holiday I can’t wait to get out into the garden and see how the garden has fared, but this time it took a couple of days for there to be a sufficient break in the rain. I realised that my tomato plants would most likely be swimming in the trug I’d left them in by now. So there was nothing else for it, the tomatoes needed rescuing. However when I got out there, it was clear that these cowering peonies also needed some help.

And I’m sure you will have seen the rescued peonies either here on Friday or on my social channels. It’s only today that they’ve drooped and are once again looking sorry for themselves again, so their next stop will be our compost heap where the whole cycle will begin again. And while I was out there, I couldn’t help but have a longer nose around. The tomatoes were also rescued and returned to the greenhouse, where they’ve since been planted and will need feeding as it looks as if there’s tiny fruits appearing. I’ve only got two tomato plants this year - which is far from my usual tomato farm, but that’s probably representative of our garden endeavours so far this year too.

But look at the cherries. The pigeons have saved us some! Well for now at least.

Over the weekend the weather improved and I’m sure the sun has helped them ripen even more. It’s also made them appear even more attractive to our local bird population and now I’m sure even more have been pecked. Today MOH could wait no longer and he picked a tupperware tub to bring inside so that we at least get to eat some. Our garden has become very popular with all sorts of birds, so I think it’s a wise move.

It wasn’t all good garden news though, we did arrive home to this.

NOT LOOKING SO HEALTHY…

In fact it’s looking rather dead, rather than not healthy. It’s right on the patio too so wasn’t a great sight. I can only assume that it’s been snipped on the other side of our fence by our newest neighbour, who does seem rather keen on having things just so. I was all for having A Talk with the neighbour, but they weren’t in. I know neighbours can cut back overhanging branches, but they don’t have the rights to kill plants.

As the weather was nice - it was much nicer on Sunday - out came the ladder for a much closer look. And it was worse when I got up the ladder, as there was further deadness, as I looked. It’s quite dense in here, and is a mix of honeysuckle and the small pink flowered plant I shared here a while back. And it did need a trim, but even so, this was more drastic than I had in mind. And just so you know, if a garden is deemed to be overgrown or unkempt (and ours certainly isn’t) that doesn’t give neighbours any more legal rights to take things into their own hands.

I’m still all for having A Talk with our newest neighbour, as I don’t want our other plants along this boundary to suffer in the same way. Having looked at this from up the ladder, it’s possible that it was snipped in error - but it’s still quite a lot of dead plant to do by mistake. There is a lot of ivy on their side of the fence, which I know they’ve been trying to remove, sadly I know that as the fence is in places showing the wear and tear of their efforts, which I’m also not happy about and is also another reason why I still want to have A Talk.

As I tried to untangle live growth from slightly crispier growth it was clear that I could rescue a fair amount of what was there, and give the rest of it quite a severe trim. It has given us some extra space on our patio, and has made me cut further back than I usually would, but even so, I’m still not impressed. I’ve a new plan to grow more of the plants lower down the fence, but allow it to grow up again to cover the trellis and retain our privacy.

But after a full day’s gardening yesterday, that will have to wait as there’s still some severe pruning that needs to happen. As the weather is due to turn (again) the parts I’ve rescued have temporarily been tied back in place, as I’m sure in the wind they’d really look quite wild.

And I still think I’ll be having That Talk. Would you?

An abundance of roses

I’m a relatively new convert to roses, since our cycle trip to the Loire in fact. Before that I’d never really seen their appeal, or rather smelt their appeal. But on that holiday the scent got under my nose, and I started to get it. I don’t have the greatest sense of smell, which I always say to MOH is to his advantage, but even since I’ve learn the roses scent (that sounds better than smell), it’s one that’s stayed with me and I can sniff it out. Not quite a thousand paces, but it’s definitely identifiable, even in a tent full of flowers.

That tent was the Grand Pavilion at the Chelsea Flower Show. But just look at the roses, and how inviting does that bench look?

There were roses everywhere, including these arches.

And roses clambering over and through ‘abandoned’ stone walls. We know it’s in a tent (or pavilion) but how effective is this, and wouldn’t it be great to incorporate some old architecture like this into our own gardens, just to fill it up with roses?

If you weren’t convinced before, then this surely has to help?

Once again nature demonstrates that not everything has to be colour coordinated, with the various shades of roses looking great together. I think sometimes we get a bit too caught up on having everything matching, or matchy-matchy as I often call it.

It was at this stand that I bumped into Su Pollard, who was all too happy to post for a photo as you can see. She was lovely, completely zany, and full of life. I think that comes through in the photo too! And also a fan of roses it seems, not sure I’d wear them in my hair, but her bag now that’s a different matter…

Post Comment Love 14-16 June

Hello there and welcome to this week’s #PoCoLo a friendly linky where you can link any post published in the last week. Both Morgan and I know you’ll find some great posts to read, maybe some new-to-you blogs too, so do pop over and visit some of the posts linked and share some of that love.

Well, what have you done to the weather? When I left the country it was perfectly fine, when I came back not so much. I persevered with sandals for a couple of days this week, but reverted to trainers yesterday, though admittedly I was rather warm.

There was a slight break in the rain one evening and I took my chance to check on the garden, rescuing these peonies while I was out there. They were a bit damp, and have been in the conservatory drying off and allowing any bugs I’ve brought inside unintentionally to make themselves known. Later I’ll be moving them to where we can see them, as it seems a waste not to view them, with all their frothy loveliness.

Blogger Showcase: Michael from Your Money Geek

You can read more about this week’s blogger showcase over on Morgan’s blog this week, but before you go, let me share a snippet or two. Michael is married to Mrs Money Geek and they have two children, who like many others, are growing up way too fast. Michael says he wouldn’t survive without coffee and says that he thinks the kids appreciate his enjoyment of Lego and video games just as much as they do.

Connect with Michael on his social channels: Twitter - Facebook - Pinterest - YouTube

If you’d like to be featured in a future bloggers showcase, then please get in touch with Morgan or I. Our waiting list is once again empty, so there’s a chance it could be you here next Friday. It would be great to feature any of our regular linkers, if you’ve not been featured yet or of course new-to-us blogs.

You can find out more on my PoCoLo page, and if you’re not sure about being featured yourself then please share this request with your followers. Thank you.

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