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| Swingtime fuchsia |
With that job done, and the back lawn mown too for good measure, I was faced with trimming the grass borders. I've been ignoring that for weeks as although I have long handled shears for the job, I still find it difficult; harder even than mowing the lawn because I have to look down more.
I also took this opportunity of throwing down some grass seed onto the front lawn. I do that every year on my grass. That front area was scarified with a machine and paid gardeners earlier this year and a chemical Complete 4 in 1 by Evergreen was applied to kill the weeds and feed the grass which I find a great product as long as the instructions on the box are followed. I've had to wait all this time to dare to put down grass seed for fear that the weed killer would destroy young grass seedlings. I think that this is a good time to do it as we are approaching autumn, the weather is sunny and rainy, and the ground is still warm enough for germination. Fingers crossed. I want the front lawn to look as dense and weed free as the back lawn and it's just a question of perseverance. Grass is not necessarily a lawn; a lawn demands attention. The front lawn, like the back garden before I moved in, had been neglected for years.
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| Hoverfly on Swingtime fuchsia |
There is always dead heading to do. It's a constant job in a flower garden and I cannot emphasise enough the need to do that unless you aren't bothered if your plants stop flowering. I have plants that are spring flowerers and they are still providing my garden with colour to a lesser degree. The tiny plants, like the little alpine Campanula pulla Blue and Campanula cochlearifolia White Baby, also need dead heading but the tiny flower buds and the tiny seed heads look very similar unless you look close up. That's the benefit of growing such plants in a pot so that you, I, can bring them up to eye level to give them scrutiny and some tender loving care.
The Penstemons have flowered and all but Penstemon Purple Passion (my favourite) have finished and started to make seed. I've cut down the flower stems and now the plants are bushing out with new stems and bright green growth; I am wondering if I am going to get yet another display of flowers for autumn. I did the same today with Geum Lady Stratheden, Campanula Medium White, Campanula persicifolia Alba, as well as the pretty Veronica spicata Ulster Blue which have flowered for weeks and weeks. I want the plants to put some energy into leaves now. I pretend to know what I am doing but mostly it is guesswork based on past experience, if that makes any sense at all.
I had to cut down the two Malva moschata Roseas last week. They had grown so big that they were blocking out the light needed by nearby plants. They had flowered so prolifically, encouraging the bees and hoverflies, but were starting to look very unkempt and out of place. They are now making now leaves and new shoots, and maybe I'll get another flush of flowers. I find that you have to learn to make sacrifices in the garden, to cut down things that are getting out of hand, to discard things that are diseased, to dead head constantly. It's a mistake not to. You cannot be soft. Off with their heads!
I took a lot of photographs this morning of my garden and what should have been some great macro shots of the sweet little bumblebee (white head, white bum, so fat, and golden wings) on the Coreopsis 'Sunray' flowers but, unfortunately, yours truly had the wrong setting on the camera (Canon EOS 6D) and messed up the lot. I should have had it set on automatic but I have ambition beyond my present capabilities.
I noticed that the strong winds had broken some of the shoots on the Arthur Bell roses (so that was another job, cutting them off and decapitating the flowers before the plants start putting energy into making seed heads (hips) instead of more flowers. I'm sad to say that Arthur Bell, erstwhile trouble-free, is showing signs of aphids, as well as blackspot and rust, two diseases that heretofore have been happily absent. The thing with aphids is that they deposit a sticky residue upon which fungus spores can get a hold. That's most upsetting and I am going to have to spray them with a systemic spray to stop that. I don't like to do it but 'needs must...'. A neighbour of mine is a keen plants-woman and does not spray, or feed, or prune. I'm afraid it shows. Her roses and many plants look exhausted and unwell, as if they could give up the ghost any time now. Big mistake.
Well, all the morning chores were done and I was absolutely bushed. It's swing time. You guessed, the minute I was going to sit out, and get back my strength, stop my head spinning, the skies opened, the rain belted down, and wet all the cushions. I have had to lug all the cushions back into the shed and now the sun has come out again. grrrr