Getting ready for open gardens..........

Chief Blogger has been so busy getting the garden ready for Open Gardens weekend, there's been no time for blogging!  It's been gruelling long days and I wonder why I even like doing it!  However, we are getting there.  Judith has been a star as despite being right in the middle of a house move, is undertaking the duties of Officer in Charge of The Plant Emporium!  Chris rolled up with her trestle tables and the first of her plants.  How organised is that?  Steve has also been busy growing contributions which also arrived today.  Brilliant neighbours have offered parking.  Rob offered an orchard and Roger has cut and baled his hay in time to offer his field which is nearer and, more importantly - no long uphill haul! We even have a full size NGS flag to fly!  Tomorrow, is last minute mowing and edging everywhere and then setting up the conservatory for use as a tea room!  The weather forecast is excellent so let's hope we get the odd visitor!

A Rose Garden by any other name?

Locally made rose supports

Following the recent thunderstorms and heavy downpours, I happy to say that the roses haven't suffered too badly.  This is largely due to their new metal supports.  As they are planted in front of a hedge they naturally lean out for light and then flopped dangerously over the lawn edge.  This meant that they were a perfect target for any heavy rain. 

Trellis roses

  I thought long and hard about how best they could be supported.  In the end, I paid our J.W.Lanes, our local agricultural engineers a visit over at Stanford and they made some up for me to my own design.  They are actually backless - less metal so less cost.  They will of course be allowed to rust naturally.  The roses have been underplanted with Golden Marjoram.  This replaced the geraniums which also flopped everywhere!  No flopping is allowed here!

As we now have roses on 3 sides of the top lawn, are we allowed to call it a rose garden?

Open Gardens Countdown

Trimmed box

Only 1 Saturday left before Open Gardens weekend!  Am I nervous?  You BET I am! The 'Panic' list seems endless and it's not just gardening jobs.  Now, I have catering to consider too.  The very worst thing is having no idea of visitor numbers. Will anyone even come?  Could the kettle be overwhelmed with thirsty visitors?  Will it pour (the weather not the kettle!) with rain for both days?  Oh well - no going back now! At least the violent thunder storms and equatorial rain we had yesterday didn't quite flatten everything! For once, I'd got around to doing some staking so only the meadow grass was smashed down.

Re-upholstered Yew Sofa

More weeding, mowing and edging needed!  Geraniums to plant out, Forget-me-nots to pull out - I said the list was endless!  Chris did lots of hedge cutting yesterday including the circular Box hedge around the well and the Yew sofa  which had some serious re-upholstery as it had outgrown its frame and its allotted space!  A few patchy places but nothing that won't green up - that's the advantage of Yew!  And - yes, you can actually sit on it! Going back to the Box, it's gradually being reshaped on the top and we hope that the shadow thrown by the pump means that we can make it into a living sundial.  Well - that's our idea!!

An ipod for Octavius?

Octavius

Octavius is promised his own ipod for Open Gardens!  Well that's what Chris said when I rested my ear defenders following excessive decibel output from all the hedge cutting.

D Day Anniversary Beans

Sarah and Roger

When it comes to runner beans, I've never known such poor germination.  I wasn't able to find any of my usual varieties and so this year, I sowed Suttons Best of All.  They have turned out to be worst of all!  I sprinkled slug pellets around as usual as I didn't want them eaten as they popped up and so I'm not even blaming slugs despite plague proportions after such a wet winter. Germination was so very poor, I even resorted to a second sowing to fill the gaps and then - right on cue, our neighbours dropped in and guess what!  They gave me 5 super healthy bean plants - 4 Enorma and 1 French climber.  Not only were they lovely healthy plants but they were about 18 inches tall!  Those which have decided to germinate are less than 2 inches high.  Now it's one thing when neighbours drop round with plants but it's a bit special when they plant them and then carefully tie them in!  It was the perfect excuse to sit down and enjoy a glass of perfectly chilled Chablis! After this rather convivial little interlude, it was time for me to mow the West lawn.  A gardener's work is never done - sigh!

Looks Fab - Smells Awful!

Chris grows these spectacular huge lilies in his garden and brought one to show us.  It looks like a Dragon Lily and has a dark purple and velvety spathe and looks sort of sinister.  It emits a fairly powerful and unpleasant odour rather like decomposing flesh.  I have been surprised how well it's lasting in water.  For the purposes of scale, the vase is 4 inches square! Can anyone out there identify it?

Tale of Two Tanks!

In a dull and shady corner we now have Hostas where there was once nothing at all.  Presents of 2 galvanised tanks from 2 Chris's meant that we had perfect planters and the dreaded plastic vents imposed by building regulations are now obscured.  You're probably thinking it looks a bright and sunny corner but the photo was taken in the evening when this little area has some low sun for a very short period at this time of year.  Now I had spent ages and ages making piles of odd sized and coloured bricks to support the planted tank but, not only did they look awful but, the whole thing was wobbly and insecure.  The planter has to be raised above the (now obscured) plastic vents in order for it to fit snugly against the walls.  As soon as Chris brought the second and smaller tank, I realised that lifting a galvanised tank full of compost (well - not quite full cos I put polystyrene in the base) was going to pretty heavy. Undaunted, he lifted it aside and onto the chair, placed the base tank and then lifted it back again.  Oh and before you ask about drainage; someone else had already drilled holes in the bottom!  Had it not been for that, I would have used it for water storage.  Another little feature in the garden!  Who's a lucky girl?