A SUNNY GARDEN AFTER THE RAIN

After a couple, or three, or was it four? days of drizzly rain the sun has come out.  Thanks goodness for that.  The back lawn needed doing, which is easy enough, but the front lawn which is much bigger and on a slope is always a challenge for people like me who are vertically challenged (that means I have a permanent balance problem and struggle not to keel over at the best of times).  One day I swear I will Hover myself to a grisly death.  The gentle but persistent rain has caused the grass to grow lush and green and cutting cannot wait, but it has also impacted on the flowers in my garden.  The rain caused the stems of Campanula persicifolia 'Alba' and Campanula Medium 'White' to bow down and touch the ground but a gentle shake from me alleviated the flowers of their burden of water and back up they sprang, tall and beautiful. 



At the top of the garden, in a narrow gap between concrete paving of the patio and the fencing panels, I inserted some runner bean seeds in the hope that something would come of them.  It seems that I might, fingers crossed, have a crop of beans this year if all goes well.  Usually I will plant them in a border, or in big tubs, so this was an experiment.  I never really expected them to come to much but now it seems I might be lucky.

Runner beans planted in a narrow gap between paving and fencing panel

Meanwhile, I am still picking raspberries and strawberries and giving the birds those raspberries which are over-ripe and the strawberries that are malformed.  It's fair to share, and the birds are not as picky about their fruit as I am.  Also the little squawkers and whistlers give me so much pleasure. 



Although the raspberries are doing well, there are many disappointments in my garden this year.  I cannot tell if the loganberries are going to provide fruit or not.  There are hundreds of tiny developing fruits but they don't seem to be swelling at all.  We had an appalling bout of weather with heavy rain, lashing wind, and cold this spring which set everything back.  Gardens of friends who live not so far away and not so high up on the Pennine Mountains are way ahead of mine with regard to flowers.  My tuberous begonias which were in bloom at this time last year have yet to show a single colourful flower although I do know that many are developing and in due course I should have a display.  The Prunus Avium Stella Gisela 5 cherry tree has dropped most of its cherries and those that remain look as if they aren't going to ripen properly.  Apparently, that can be because of inclement weather.  My hanging baskets are pathetic.  With the weather being so bad, I just didn't bother planting them up until it was rather late in the month.  I've planted up four hanging baskets filled with two types of fuchsias: Swingtime and Southgate.  Although they are in bud, they are still yet to produce open flowers. 



Gardeners need to be both patient and resilient.  I'm trying to be.  Really I am.