|
|
|
Bambi
Slowly Learning Gardener
Kent, England
Springtime in North-West Kent11 May '07 2:18 am
Well, here I am, nearly four weeks back from holiday (it feels like four months!), and I’ve only now managed to finish writing this post about my time off! Mind you, as so much more time has passed, it’s really now a springtime post rather than just a report on what I did during my week off work! Since I’ve been back at work, things have got manically busy (spring traditionally being the busiest time of the year in this game) so I haven’t had much time to stop by recently, but I have poked my nose in a couple of times to try and keep up with things, but unfortunately it’s just not possible to do so to the extent that I’d like!
Anyway, enough of my complaining, let’s get started! Oh, just one more thing, I apologise for the sub-standard quality of my photos – I’ve been having to take piccies with the camera on my phone, which is ok, but nowhere near as good as our proper digital camera which doesn’t seem to be working properly at the moment. 
Apart from gardening-related things, during my week’s holiday, hubby and I had a rather expensive trip to the opticians (sight tests, entire new glasses for him, new lenses in my glasses for me, and three months’ worth of contact lenses for both of us – phew!  ), we generally did some pottering around the house (you know, getting some of those jobs done that you never get around to normally) and we also made a trip up to Crystal Palace in London to one of our favourite reptile shops and we bought ourselves three more corn snakes  !! Hee hee. We got one adult male who we planned to mate with our adult female, Mrs Hudson, but when we put them together, (s)he started to exhibit all the signs of being a male, so it looks like we’ve got two boys and we’ll have to rename him/her! Oh well, we’ll just have to get an adult female at some point!  We also got two more babies, both girls (definitely!), and both different colour morphs to the ones we already have, so when they grow up (probably 2/3 years) and have babies of their own, we should get some really interesting combinations! I’m not going to promise pictures, because I’ve done that before and failed (life tends to get in the way!), but I do promise I’ll try and, one day, I’ll bore you all rigid with my snakes!
Well, although there aren’t a great deal of plants in bloom right now, things are definitely happening in the garden. My first four photos show lots of new growth on stems which, up until only a few weeks ago, were bare twigs and (for all I knew) dead wood, particularly the clematis (the first two photos). I also worried that I’d gone and killed my hibiscus by cutting it back so much (remember what it was like last summer? Hmm, can’t find it in the forums, best post a pic here…). I did get a bit carried away with the secateurs in January, I know, but it was getting totally out of hand before and now it’s got lots of lovely little green bits beginning to cover those brown stems! I’m sure it probably won’t flower as profusely this year, but at least I won’t have to fight with it to get out into the garden!
I cut my fuschia back quite hard too in the winter, and now you can practically watch it growing! Since I took the photo below (about 10 days), it’s started to look really bushy and the stems are almost completely hidden with green.
There’s also an unknown (no. 4) which was just a slender trunk about 2/3 inches in diameter and which I had tried (admittedly with not a huge amount of effort) to pull out, but now I’m intrigued as to what it’s going to turn into.
My precious acer seems to have survived its own pruning (I was considerably more careful of this tree than the others, as it’s so special to me!) and has burst into leaf too – I love the reddy-purple edging on the leaves, which seems to promise the fiery red colour they turn in the autumn.
Another ‘recovery’ seems to have been made by my clematis, which I honestly thought was completely dead and hubby was going to dig out the stump for me. Lucky he hadn’t got round to it yet, as it has produced three tiny green shoots right out of the old, woody trunk! The photo isn’t very clear, I know, but I think you can just make out some green in the close-up.
I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it before but, during my big old clear-up of the garden over the winter, I uncovered a lovely smoke bush-tree-type-thing which I actually thought belonged to next door, but it turns out it’s mine, and I love it! I trimmed it back a little as it had huge-long stems reaching over the fence, and it’s now also bursting into leaf and even had a couple of stems with blossom on them (I tried to take a few pictures, but because the stems were high up and I’m not very tall, I had to reach up with the phone and take the picture without being able to see what I was doing, so they were totally blurred!). I did cut one of the stems and have put it in my flower press so hopefully it’ll come out ok.
Under this tree is my wild flower bed into which I’ve sown Agrostemma milas (Corncockle), Chrysanthemum leucanthemum (Ox-Eye Daisy), Chrysanthemum segatum (Corn Marigold), Primula veris (Cowslip), Scilla nutans (Bluebell) and Papaver rhoeas (Wild Poppy), some of which are already coming through which is lovely (I always get over-excited when seeds I’ve sown start showing their little heads above the soil!). I know it doesn’t look much right now, but I’m hoping for a good showing in the summer.
Talking of seeds, I’ve got quite a few on the go, as you can see below, with sweet peas, tomatoes, basil, coriander, rocket, chives and asters. I’ve planted out the only two sweet peas that survived over-winter (all the rest were sown a few weeks ago) and they’re doing well; I’m training them up the canes until they reach the trellis above. The two varieties I’ve got are called Heirloom Mixed and America, both of which are supposed to be highly scented so now I’m wishing the Spring away and longing for the summer! Hee hee.
My sea holly plants seem to be doing well too, with quite a few leaves forming and more coming up. I planted six, I think. Yes, I know it’s an even number and therefore a complete no-no as far as garden designers are concerned but first, I don’t care what designers say because, in my opinion, most of them have lost that special obsession with nature that all of us share here on the forum and are far too clinical about gardening (at least, garden designers on the tv are certainly like that!) and second, they came in packs of three and they had a special offer if you bought two packs – hence my having six plants!
Pumpkin, you asked how my garlic was growing – well see the pics below! I’m quite proud of my first ever garlic crop (mind you, there’s still a way to go yet, but all’s going well so far, I think!).
I’ve also posted below pics of my two lavenders, the slightly more green one which is flowering now was the one I bought last year, and my Mum gave be the grey-ish one a few weeks ago.
To be continued...
|
|
 |
|
|
|
Bambi
Slowly Learning Gardener
Kent, England
Continued...11 May '07 2:22 am
Then there’s the rosemary which has some really sweet little lilac-coloured flowers on it. The anemones which I planted last year have given me three flowers, but I can’t really see much more coming up there yet.
The tulips, which I think I mentioned in a previous post, have gone over now but I thought I’d post some pics anyway because I think they’re really pretty, although they will definitely need moving as they’re rather swamped by the daffodils – I didn’t realise they were going to be a small variety when I bought them (well, I bought them from the local pound shop, so what can I expect? They may not even last another season, I don’t know, but we’ll see, shall we?). Mind you, this autumn, I’m going to have a big old overhaul of the daffodil bulbs because they’re right in the way of everything now! The flowers have all gone over and now I’m stuck with the leaves because I can’t cut them off (I’ve heard from many sources that you’re not supposed to, so I dare not!) and they’re completely in the way in some places! I think I’m going to plant some under the front lawn and just generally plan things a bit better.
Oh, and some of you may remember some mystery leaves which were popping up here and there and there was a suggestion that they may be dwarf daffs or something similar. Well, it turns out that they’re bluebells! And I’m pretty sure they’re native English ones, by the looks of things, rather than the larger Spanish ones, which is FAB! Not that Spanish bluebells aren’t nice but, being English myself, and knowing that our native ones are in danger from hybridisation with the Spanish ones, it’s rather nice to know (ok, I’m not 100% sure, but I think I’m right!) that I’ve got a little colony in my garden, however small! I must be careful with them!
Well, that’s pretty much all I have to report so far, but I’m really looking forward to July/August as it seems my garden is geared up for the summer and I’m hoping for great things!
I’ll stop by here as often as I can in the next month or two, but right now it’s quite difficult as things are so busy at work! When the summer holidays start, though, it’ll be dead as a doornail and I’ll have more time than I know what to do with! 
Signing off,
Bambi
x
|
|
|
|
|
|
GardenGnome
Happily Toiling Away
Regina, Saskatchewan
Quite the showing!11 May '07 4:42 am
Hi Bambi, your garden is looking real nice. I don't think I ever seen such a large clematis, almost like a tree. I love the blue anemones, too. I am finding blue flowers hard to grow for some reason. They just don't seem to like the climate around here.
I must say how I like your brick work around your yard. I am contemplating building Deb a planter with some bricks I scrounged and I particularly like the look of your garlic planter. I wasn't sure how to finish the top edge, but I see it is simple by your pic and not as convoluted as I had imagined.
You know, this might sound harsh, but, if the daffodils are in the way, then just dig them out and chuck them. They have had a good run and now you need the room for other ideas. You can leave a small group of them for old time sake, but why wait another year before you use that spot for other things?
And this from me, who hates to throw away anything that is growing. But if I was stuck for room, I'm not sure I would be so sentimental. In fact, I have plants growing by themselves around they yard. Uninvited guests are escorted to the door, if you know what I mean. Mom said it's impossible to keep all plants and so we have to choose what we really want and get rid of the rest. The more I garden, the more I understand this point of view.
I think your gardens are shaping up lovely.
Christopher
|
|
|
|
|
|
Faith S
Perpetually learning gardener
Alabama, USA
Bambi's burgeoning garden11 May '07 5:00 am
You do have a lot bursting forth in your garden. I'll bet since these photos were taken there has been an explosion of growth. Sounds like you had a nice holiday just pottering around and doing things you enjoy but have not enough time for. Speaking of snakes, I think you might remember the picture of my resident black snake. Well I think that bad boy crept into my garage and probably spent the winter hibernating inside. When I had my baby ducks inside the house, I moved them out to the garage for a couple of days because cleaning up after them inside was such a trial. They had only been out there two days when one of them disappeared. I was totally stumped as to what could possibly have gotten into the garage to steal a duck. They had gotten to be about five inches tall by that time. I moved them back inside and a few days later I found a large suspicious poop in the garage. It was dark brown on one end and white on the other. This will sound rather gross, but I think it was the remains of my baby duck. In researching and talking with experts on such matters, I discovered that what I had in my garage was snake poop. So, I have my garage door open today hoping that he is getting hungry about now and will go outside to look for another meal. I don't know any other way to evict him since I can't find him. He is a very good hider. The local wildlife removal services wanted almost $300.00 to come out and try to trap him. We decided we didn't mind sharing part of the garage with him as long as he kept mice out of my birdfeed and stayed to himself. My neighbor thinks I am crazy. He can't get into the house where we live, so I don't feel too threatened. After all, we have developed a relationship over the years. He didn't show much gratitude for being rescued twice from bird netting when he ate my baby duck though.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dixie
garden enthusiast
Waikato-New Zealand
Spring promises12 May '07 7:03 am
All the pictures are so encouraging ,Bambi .there's nothing quite like bare twigs suddenly bursting forth !I like your hibiscus very much -I didn't know it could be grown in England.
Dixie
|
|
|
|
|
|
Liza
gardening consultant
Waterloo, Belgium
Our Bambi is back in.....12 May '07 7:22 am
....full Springtime action!
You could just say two words you would disappear for so long, soon after you said "I'm back"...I had started being really worried for you , when something inside told me you are all right...
Well, dear lady, your garden has woken up completely, even your dormant Clematis, and your -- poor (why you pruned him so hard??)-- Hibiscus!! Your Acer is a sheer Beuty! You are right you take special care of him!
Well!! A very happy Springtime busy gardening!! And welcome back!!
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anna
Gone to seed
Hamilton, New Zealand
13 May '07 12:15 pm
It's great to have you back! 
Your hibiscus is a beauty! I'm glad it's regrowing nicely for you.
The Acer - gorgeous! And I like your garlic beds too! Nice brickwork. I'm trying to think where I could plonk some in a sililar vein. *racks brain*
And good news about the bluebells. Hurrah!
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jack Holloway
Passionate Gardener
SEQUOIA FARM Haenertsburg South Africa
Welcome back!13 May '07 7:47 pm
Hi Bambi!
It was a good, long, chatty post worth waiting for! Remind us again - what work is it that you do that peaks in spring? Are you in gardening?
How old is your garden? (i.e. when was your house built?), because that is a mighty impressive clematis - I assume it is C. montana or one of the early flowering species, rather than a large-flowered hybrid? And from your 'smoke-bush' discovery it is clear the garden was rather overgrown!
Faith - I loved your recycled duckling story... (well, I guess 'loved' is not quite the right word!)
Keep posting Bambi! And don't listen to Christopher!: hang on to your dafs for a few more weeks, meanwhile growing on something in pots to replace them, before planting them in your lawn - that is if you are prepared to leave the lawn unmowed till the leaves have died back in future years, but it sounds like an excellent excuse to me!
|
|
|
|
All times are GMT + 12 Hours
|
Page 1 of 1 |
|
Thanks for sharing your garden progress and pets! Haha...your episode with 2 male snakes put a grin on my face! 
