Burst of Colour

Exciting times in the garden.

Life

After going along at a gentle speed for some time, it has picked up pace. Some big decisions have been made and all of a sudden I have little time to make any cakes or check in here on the blog.

A bit like in the garden. For so many weeks there have been no real signs of life, then one day you realise that things are moving! There is still not much to look at so for now, you have to really zoom in on the few beautiful things out there. Like this snake's head fritillary which Charles Rennie Mackintosh was so fascinated by. It is easy to understand why, with that seemingly perfect checkerboard pattern. Gorgeous and intriguing.

Colourful Chaos

In the garden, everything has collapsed due to a lack of staking, and now it all looks like a bit of a sorry heap. But, it is a very colourful heap which makes me feel happy when I come downstairs on these dark October mornings. The first frost is around the corner so today I will look at these flowers for a few extra minutes before they turn black and the long wait for the new season starts.

A Bowlful of Sunshine

At last - harvest!

No maintenance gardening

Considering the amount of time I have spent gardening this year (none), it is a miracle that I have any fruit on my tomato plants at all. But nature is amazing and this is the proof. No feeding, hardly any watering. I didn't even pinch out side shoots and kept forgetting to tie the plants in. Now they just need to ripen - fingers crossed for a few more sunny days and then we will have tomato salad.

Sunny Sunday

View from my spot in the corner of the garden.

Another glorious day. The sun is beating down and all the colours are sort of amplified. This morning I sat in the garden and from my corner all I could see was blues and greens. And as a reminder that it is actually autumn, a cobweb suspended between the tomato plants and our neighbours' apple tree.

The other night I went for a walk around North London, I was on the way to dinner at some friends house. The evening light that hit the tops of buildings and trees and was the most amazing golden honey colour. I took deep breaths as if to inhale that light, to store it in my belly. Charging up before the dark months ahead.

Late Summer

It is time for bright, strong colours and plenty of lush growth. Time for Dahlias - they never stop amazing me, so intricate looking with each perfectly curled petal wrapped tightly around the centre of the bud. And time for bright orange Calendulas, so easy to manage as long as you keep deadheading to encourage flowering and to stop their fat seeds from spreading all over the place. And at last, with this summer weather that has finally arrived, time to just sit, look and enjoy it all.

Exotic harvest

This is a dream come true - ripe figs in my own garden! 

I won't be making jam and chutney any time soon as I only have a few fruit, but I am so pleased about this first harvest as it means the fig is in a position sunny and sheltered enough for the figs to ripen. I will pick them at them at the weekend and enjoy them on their own in a ceremonial way.

Love and Peas

It is a funny year for gardens. Things just don't seem to be behaving as expected. With the cold and the wet, I guess you can't expect them too. Plants are living things that may not do what it says on the back of the seed packet in with the most perfect conditions.

One of my favourite things in the world is growing sweet peas, watching them climb up my bamboo canes and eventually cut all the stems off at once, then dot the house with little bunches here and there and get high on that delicious scent. This year, my sweet sweet peas have simply not happened. I understand from listening to an expert on Gardener's World that it is not just me - sweet peas really  have suffered this year. Oh well. Let's not dwell on it. I am already thinking about next year when I am going to have buckets full!

At first it seemed that my real peas (the ones you eat) were going to have the same destiny. I sowed them months ago and seedlings did appear, but just as quickly they were gone, devoured by snails or perhaps put off enough by the rain to simply give up. One side effect of the bad weather is that I just haven't been outside as much and my usual daily snail patrol has been reduced to an occasional check. But I decided to have another go with the peas, and now there are plenty of strong, healthy plants making their way up a wigwam.

So the point of this is I am having to repeat my gardening motto of less stress, more fun and focusing on the good things. And I do love peas!

Phase two

This is the last of the oriental poppies, it got to come inside and sit on display for half a day before the petals fell off in dramatic fashion. The garden has just had a serious haircut. Some plants have done their thing and needed to be be chopped down to allow others to take over. I always feel bad doing it, and it is horrible afterwards when instead of lush, gorgeous growth all over the place you have bare patches of soil. But it is necessary to do this sometime after midsummer. Now there will be a funny couple of weeks before the next lot of plants - marigolds mainly - start to fill out and claim their space. Moving on to phase two of the season.

Drama

Crimson petals petals on slate tiles.

The Queen

So here she is - Queen of Sweden, the first rose to enter my garden. And I have to say it is quite special to watch those buds swell and unfurl. The petals are the softest pink, tightly packed together. One day soon I am going to cut one and take it into the house so I can look at it up close.

Poppies

I just can't get enough of them.

Today it is Summer

You can tell it is going to be be a beautiful day, it is still and warm and there is a promise of sunshine. My garden looks like summer too. The poppies are going for it now and it is so beautiful I can't describe it. I end up late for work because I can't resist going out there to just stand and...look.

Status Update

Time for annual poppies.

Geum and Alchemilla Mollis.

The Lavender is looking good.

Off the wall

How about this - a poppy seed has found it's way into a crack in the wall and decided to grow there. Pretty amazing!

Give me a couple of months and we will have tomatoes

Yesterday we had a lovely sunny day before it started raining late in the afternoon. It hasn't stopped since. I made the most of the sunshine while it lasted, spent a few hours in the garden and got one of the most fun jobs done: planting tomatoes.

This year I have gone for four different varieties. First out is classic cherry tomato Gardener's Delight which I have grown every year since I started. Tasty and reliable. Alicante is a medium sized sweet tomato which worked well last time I tried it. I am not sure if I have had Golden Sunrise before or not...looks good in any case, just hope it tastes nice too. Finally there is Moneymaker which is a standard variety that has been popular for many years. This is the first time it makes an appearance in my garden, and I hope it lives up it's reputation.

Oriental poppy

My heart almost stopped when I came downstairs yesterday morning and saw this beauty outside. Then, during the day, I was worried that the rain was going to shred the petals to pieces. But no, she is perfectly intact and busy showing off. Glorious.

Chelsea Flower Show 2012

Best in Show was Cleve West's garden. We liked it. The contrast between the formal and informal was lovely, and definitely a trend. And of course I like a poppy so 10 points from me. Can't say I wasn't jealous of the people sitting inside the garden having drinks. Oh well.

Joe Swift's garden, unusual with all the copper tones. Loved the bronzy stemmed beeches.

I have to say my favourite was the Laurent Perrier garden by Arne Maynard. So romantic, and super ambitious. Beautiful. Wouldn't mind sitting there with a glass of something bubbly. Again, it had the structure/softness thing going on.

This just looked SO Swedish to me. The birches, the rocks, the grasses and buttercups...like I said in a previous post, Swedish Meadow is so 2012.

My grandmother's favourite plant (except roses), Dicentra. We call it Lieutenant's Heart in Swedish. 

Diarmuid Gavin's structure. The queue for the slide was too long... 

Pimms O'Clock! Most expensive drink ever served in a plastic glass. Enjoyed it ever so much though. Shame half of it went down my blouse.

Not sure what the story was with this psychedelic pine tree cave, but I kind of liked it.

The Royal Hospital. I once had the opportunity to go inside and have a chat with one of the pensioners who had just moved in. He was over the moon to be there. Very interesting.

Could it get any more Chelsea than this? Red coated pensioners and girls in gingham uniforms.

Looking forward to next year already!