72 plug plants

Back in March Thompson and Morgan sent me an email offer to buy 72 plugs of perennial plants at a reduced price.
I'm not quite sure what made me think 72 plants was a good idea. 
72! 
Possibly it was March and the garden was low and empty. More likely it was because there were Echinacea included and I wanted some Echinacea plants. Probably I thought it was a good price as they can be quite pricey for just one plant.
There were 12 varieties:
Aqualegia
Delphinium
Gaillardia
Penstemon
Geum
Chrysanthemum
Coreopsis
Digitalis
Echinacea
Papaver
Carnation
Scabious
Anyway I bought them and, some months later (April or May, I think), they arrived. They were smaller than I expected. I hadn't really looked up what sort of size they would be but I did expect to be able to see them with my naked eye.
They came in one packet about 25cm by 35cm and 2cm deep. The plants were in these tiny plastic holders:

I suppose postage costs  and ecological issues have to be taken in to consideration and so the packaging gets smaller. These little modules were in a plastic case and had a cardboard sleeve, so were protected. But I am amazed that anything can grow in these,they are not more that 1cm square.
Some of the little plants looked very healthy and some looked quite sickly. I don't think plants are supposed to travel in this way, that's why they have roots. I didn't complain to T&M at the time (about the health of them) so I shouldn't make too much of it here. 
Also the carnations were substituted by some extra Penstemons. Again, though I wasn't happy about that, I didn't contact T&M at the time. I would have been happier with six of something different.
So I pricked them all out into seed trays and one large module tray that I had empty.

 

I had more than 72 by the time I had planted them all. Tiny though they were, some of the modules had two or more seedling in them. I managed to separate some of them  but some were tightly bound up with each other. This was because I wanted the best for the plants you understand, not because I'm tight or anything!
I forgot to take photos of the tiny seedling in the modules but look at them last week:

There is one tray missing here. 
A few plants died. They didn't look great when they arrived. Interestingly the plants in the seed trays are bigger and healthier than the ones in the module tray, they have more root room. I have to confess that I didn't get them planted out soon enough. Holiday and life got in the way. 
So now when the garden is at it's fullest, I have had to try and find space for them all. A few are now in bigger pots, some went straight into the flower borders but most are squeezed into rows between other things. Now it's a case of remembering where they are and watering!
I have at least 70 little plants including 9 Echinacea. Which is interesting as there were only 6 modules of each. 
My verdict:
Plants are amazing and can recover from difficult conditions. 
Check what you are buying.
I now have 70 healthy plants with not much effort from me so -                                                                  yes - they were worth buying!

Best bee plants

I am happy to say that my garden is buzzing with bees and other insects. I have never made a conscious effort to plant things to attract bees but I don't use any chemicals, and never have done here, so that must help. I have lived here 18 years so I guess any residue from anything previous occupants used is long gone.
We are told that bees like open single, rather than double flowers, which have not been over bred. These are the current bee favourites here:

 Oregano vulgare (probably) also available in white:

 I always find it strange that they are attracted to prickly plants but they love these teasels. Dipsacus follonum

 And this echinops.

Buddleia is well know for attracting butterflies but bees also love it. I bought this years ago and subsequently learnt that butterflies prefer the more common paler, lilac coloured one. I think this is 'Black Knight'. Sadly I don't get many butterflies.

 Winter savoury. This is fully hardy here and makes a small unruly hedge.

I clip in autumn or after it has flowered but it is now all over the path again. It is not very tall, about 45cm at most. It's a good flavoured herb and is evergreen which is useful. I grew these plants from seed but it also takes well from cuttings.

 This is hyssop. Which is great for bees and such a lovely blue. 

 Comfrey is pretty and bees find it very attractive. 

Hebe. I'm not sure what this one is as I grew it from a cutting. It has pink and white flowers and as last winter was so mild, it flowered right through until spring. A great bonus. It is about 75cm - 1m tall.

Perovskia atriplicifolia or Russian sage. 

 

This has also turned into an unruly bush which needs to be tied or staked. We had heavy rain which has probably not helped. This shrub is aromatic and architectural. If you leave the plant through winter the stems turn white. 
I am glad to be doing my bit for the bees. It is very worrying to hear of their decline but everything we gardeners can do will help. They also need water so it is good to leave a saucer or bowl out in hot weather if you don't have a pond or water feature. I have seen bees on the surface of the pond on hot days. 
It is no hardship to have any of these plants in my garden as they are all lovely.

Flies, ants and Zaluzianskya

The good news is the flies seem much reduced in my black bin. I put in a layer of paper and some grass clippings and then stopped adding loose kitchen waste. I wrapped it in paper first whenever I added it. This is supposed to prevent the flies from laying eggs in the fruit. 
This was a few weeks ago and it is much better. I have kept the lid on too. 
Yesterday I dug out a bucket of compost from the other black bin. It looks quite well rotted down and I was going to sieve some of it out. As usual lots of egg shells are left.

Exciting photo of the inside of a compost bin.

Then I discovered it was full of flying ants. I was reluctant to sieve as you can imagine. They are black not red ants but I don't want to risk being bitten. 

I don't think you can see the ants but I have disturbed them several times and I'm sure you know what they look like so I'm going to stop trying to take photos! Trust me they are in there.
I think the heap is quite dry. The weather has been hot and the lid was on so they are probably thriving in those conditions. 
I pondered various options. There are plenty of solutions on the internet for getting rid of ants including some rather strange ones. (Feeding them semolina which they give to the queen and she explodes!) I thought I might just spread the compost straight on a bed.
But in the spirit of Live and Let Live, I'm going to leave them alone. 
I don't have much bare soil for spreading compost at the moment though I do like to add a little when I take out one crop and plant another immediately. If I need some I'll dig it out and the ants will have to take their chances. Until then I'll just leave them and hope they move on somewhere else soon. Hopefully that hot day when they all fly off in imminent, unless they all flew into my bin!
The good news is that ants turn the compost into a lovely, loose crumbly mix basically doing all the hard work. 
I might consider keeping a bit wetter in future though.  
So while I was out trying to take pictures of ants I found these flowering:

Zaluzianskya capensis (yes I did look it up) or Night scented Phlox. They are the most beautiful little flowers. About the size of a penny. The undersides are a gorgeous reddish purple and the tops pure white. They curl up in the day to make tiny little purple balls. The petals curl in on themselves. I'll try and take a photo in the daytime.
The most amazing thing is the powerful scent which is just like Parma Violets. I have three stems here next to me on the table and they are filling the room with scent. I'm so glad I managed to grow them, I've tried before without much success. I don't think they are hard, I just neglected them. They are annuals so easy if you take a little care. 
PS Just lovely!

 

A tour of my garden in July.

I have noticed that whenever I take a photograph there seems to be some eye sore in the background. A broken greenhouse pane or a blue barrel( full of leaf mould) or general sticks and rubbish.
Our garden does have it's Heath Robinson areas but most of it is very beautiful. Especially just now in July.We've just had a tidy up to be open for our local Hidden Gardens day so I made the most of the opportunity to take photos. Some of them look a bit washed out so imagine vibrant colours...
Here is a tour:

Just outside our house. This is a shady patio with a few pots and a grapevine growing over a pergola, which I seem to have missed off the photo.

Looking up the garden from the patio.

 Look right and you see our pond, complete with water lily and our new fernery in the background. 

 Two angles of the same bed where you can see Cleome, Ammi, Scabious and Perovskia flowering among other things. This is really much more colourful but I can't get a good photo.

Looking back down the garden. My favourite view just now. Plants exploding out of the bed.

Our fire pit in the foreground.

Gateway to the vegetable garden - calling you in. 

Courgettes and tree onions in the front.

 Brassicas netted to stop the pigeons but it won't stop the butterflies so I'll need to add another layer.

 Side view of the same area. Everything growing like mad and just starting to crop. Lots of colour and things to eat!

Small flies in compost and other highlights...

One of my black compost bins has hundreds of small flies in it which all fly up at you when you go near it. It is not very pleasant. I have tried leaving the lid off as that is supposed to solve the problem but it hasn't.
I understand this is can be caused by the mix being too wet. I forked it around a bit, amid a plague of flies, but it seemed very dry. We haven't had any rain here for several weeks and it is also under a tree. But I suppose that once the flies are breeding in there, if they were attracted when it was too wet, they'll carry on.
Several solutions are offered:
-wrap up wet food waste in newspaper. Flies are especially attracted to fruit- fruit flies!
-cover the bin with paper or carpet
-add more carbon/ dry waste. Paper, card or twiggyness.
As my bin seems to be quite dry, I think I'll try wrapping the waste and maybe be cover it all with paper and see if that helps. 

A few weeks ago I sowed some Snap Peas in short pieces of gutter pipe. 

I kept them on this table which stopped the mice getting to them but the next door cat did land in them as she jumped over the fence. Also I knocked one off which didn't do it any good. 
I sowed some straight into the ground but I usually find they get a better start like this. I planted them out on Sunday which, if you read the books, is simply a matter of 'sliding them into a shallow trench'. Of course nothing really works simply. I use a small fork or trowel and slide sections out. I watered first and they came out quite well. I have had occasions when they've all landed upside down. Getting a friend to help is useful. 

They make quite a respectable row and I'll put up a net when I am feeling strong. I think they get to about 4 or 5 feet. 

 

This is a Kiwi flower. I have never seen one on this plant before but they are very pretty, a creamy yellow colour. I am tempted to go out with a paintbrush and do some pollinating. 

One of our gorgeous annual poppies. Papaver somniferum. When we first moved here 18 years ago. these came up everywhere as we cultivated. Most of them are single in lovely shades of pink, purple and red but this is a fancy double. 

 The bees love them.

 Sometimes the simplest things are the most beautiful.

Salad leaves all year round

It's been a few years since I realised that you shouldn't ever have to buy a bag of salad - if you were organised! Of course that is the problem. I've tried in fits and starts since then but never managed to grow salad all year round. 

Last year I started well in January and sprouted seeds in the kitchen before moving on to the greenhouse and garden. 
For various reasons I find it best to grow the seedlings in module trays and then plant them out when they fill the module. I use trays with 9 or 12 holes.

 

These have got a little leggy.
That way you can grow in small quantities and keep up a continuous flow of leaves but not a whole row of 24 lettuces all ready on one day and going to seed the next. 
This year I grew some spinach, rocket, salad leaves and radish in the greenhouse border before I put out the tomatoes.

Early May

They were just about to go to seed here when I pulled them up.Please ignore the bind weed in the background.
It was very successful and I wish I had started earlier and grown more. I also wish I had a record of when I sowed these things but again - I am not that organised. Some years I start a list of sowing dates but this year I didn't  even bother, I know I won't keep it up. Also every year is different. This year has been mild but last spring was very cold so I started things off a lot later and planted out later.
I have managed 3 lots of Little Gem so far. My aim would be to start of a tray every two or three weeks so I always have another lot coming along. We could probably use a trayful in two weeks in summer and it allows for a few casualties or some to give away. 
I have another trayful of something which I think is lettuce. Always label your seeds!

Early May

The first ones you can see are the larger ones. When I put the second lot out I put a cloche over without the ends to give a little protection. It was only there for a week or so. Behind the cloche is some spinach which has now gone to seed but I picked it a few times. It is a cool season crop so I'll sow some more in late summer. 

Late May

A few weeks later.

And now, with a few gaps where I have picked. There isn't always much difference in size as crops sown later grow faster but there first sowing are just ahead. 
I also sowed some mixed salad leaves. The first ones in the green house were good but the ones outide were plagued by flea beetles. I pulled them up in the end. I don't mind a few holes but there was hardly any leaf left. Also affected were the radishes. I have just sown some more under the fleece you can see in the background. I am hoping that might keep the worst of them off and give the radishes a chance to grow.
If anyone has any ideas on how to tackle them, I am very interested.
 Now I have had my coffee break, I'm off to tackle a compost heap with a fly problem. I'll let you know how I get on.

Update on compost and cucumbers!

It keeps me entertained, having a blog. Today I wondered why I didn't have a reply button to answer comments. I looked up the solution and found I had all the right settings. Then by accident discovered that it was set to white and could only be seen when I hovered over it. I did laugh. Ho hum.
So back to the cucumbers:

 

 Look at this! I have this labelled as Garden Sweet but I think it must be Burpless Tasty Green. They have little spikes all over them. You can rub them off before eating. And for people who suffer when eat cucumbers, they really do give you less indigestion!

This is Garden Sweet, the skin is smooth. You harvest them at about twice this size so, at the rate they are growing now, not long. Thumbs up! I've never had such good cucumber plants before.
I had a look at the compost heap today. This is the wooden heap which I layered up in May:

You can see how much the compost has sunk down. 

It looks quite well rotted and is crawling with creatures. I won't have much time to turn it out for a month or so so it can sit there a bit longer and will be better for it. Most of the planting is done now so I don't need much for a while.

I am spending all my time watering just now. After the wettest winter ever (we were not flooded here where I live but it's not too far away that they were under water for NINE weeks), we are now in a dry spell. When the sun comes out it is hot so I am having to be vigilant with all the little things I have planted out. I have to admit to some casualties :( 
The water butts are mostly empty which means using hoses which I detest. They always make me cross. 
So to cheer us all up:

The first Sweet Pea. I hope you can smell it. Now in a vase with some Orlaya. A lovely flower related to carrots.