Use the Blues

Well June is nearly over. Is it me or does time seem to be speeding up?

Both of our gardens are burgeoning. We are eating salad veg including cucumbers, (tomatoes just about to start), turnips, kohlrabi, broad beans, carrots, garlic, onions, courgettes, raspberries, blueberries. I love it all.

Sweetpeas are coming thick and fast and long. Every room is perfumed with them. My favourite activity this week ... picking a huge bunch and mixing with gypsophila, at 7 a.m, just as the sun comes into the garden at home.

Tatty foxgloves are coming out. Aquilegia seed is being collected. 

The tortoises are enjoying the lettuce gone to seed.

The dahlias I grew from seed are proving to be very pretty.
  There have been a lot of slug pellets spread around to get them to this point. If I particularly like some I can save the tubers.

The first sunflowers are making a very welcome start. Keeping them healthy, untouched and alive has been a challenge this year. Plastic bottle protection has been very successful.

The cucumbers have strong healthy growth ..... until they keel over, that is. I am loving the way this one has coiled its tendrils round the post. No need to tie it.

The flower beds are starting to look lovely.

Lots of deadheading and tying in going on. We do get through a lot of string.

Weeding is important too and the odd 3 foot thistles still surprise me.

Unfortunately I spotted a squirrel near the fruit cage and sure enough some branches of raspberries are broken. I hope they stay clear of the sunflowers as I know they can play havoc with them.

 

At home the blue crochet blanket in granny squares is complete. It took me three weeks.

It is called

"Use the Blues"

because its existence owes itself to the fact that I wanted to use my extensive box of blue wool.

And of course I have added contrasts.

 

Happy days.
 

 

 

 

 

 

God`s Eyes and Cob Shed Door

During the winter months, the cob shed door swung on its hinges during windy weather and broke in several places. It has been closed using rope which has been a bit of a nuisance. Last Tuesday, as Steve had the new hinges and two lengths of wood, we decided to stay for longer so he could repair it.

My sister Paula, brought us a picnic. 

Here are a few pictures.

 Before

 

After

In the meantime Paula and I weeded the long path behind the tortoise run.

After a  nice lunch, admiring the clouds .....

..... and watching a buzzard wheeling round, we settled down to make God`s Eyes with willow sticks and rug wool.

It wasn`t until halfway through that we realised we had chosen wool that matched what we wore.
 

 

Earlier, we had planted up the water trough  near the stables and we were then able to add the creations to that.

A very satisfying day and a relief for the door to be weather-proofed.

 

 

Returning Cuckoos and Happy Frogs

Today has been a little warmer thank goodness though I started off with four layers .... the same as I would wear in February.

It was good to get out in the gardens after a few days indoors. The wind and the rain weighed down new growth so there was a lot of tying in to do ..... sweetpeas, cornflowers, sunflowers.

And lots of weeding after the rain.

I managed to tie the cornflowers to the rabbit wire.

I had some geraniums to plant in the water trough .... 4 lovely plants from Aldi for £1.89.

The rest of the time was weeding or hoeing. 

There were plenty of campers around.

The foxgloves are the stars of the show, being visited by huge bees. It was amusing to watch them disappearing down the tubes attracted by the markings.

 

Alongside the polytunnel is a pure white one. Next time I must see how popular it is with the bees.

The oriental poppies are causing a splash. I`m so glad I staked some of them last time.
 The lettuce survived their encounter with a rabbit and lived to tell the tale.

We had a longer than usual teabreak chatting to Tim and Anne. We discussed the new soil improver that we are trying out on the farm and in the garden. It comes in the form of pellets and we have used it on only part of the polytunnel as a kind of simple test. Tim kindly gave us a cartonful.

In the polytunnel things are moving along quickly. The water botttle protection has been very successful. We have now removed the double ones from the tomatoes but the peppers and aubergines remain protected.

I even covered the tagetes used as companion planting.

Peppers, aubergines, one surviving cucumber thanks to my brother, and odd tomatoes.

These fabulous nicotiania come up every year.

The gnomes are quite at home in the fernery
 

The frogs are very happy in the pond.

And the new secret path is blending into the background.

 

All in all a great start to June.

Oh and the cuckoo has been heard several times. This has been increasingly rare so we are happy that they are perhaps, making a come-back.