Categories: uncategorized
Date: 03 May 2005 19:35:39
Hooray for Bank Holidays! We really ought to have more of them. Spent yesterday afternoon pottering in the garden - mostly routine weeding (the sun and rain of the last month meant that you'd never tell I'd done a good weeding a few weeks ago) and also fighting my ongoing (and mostly losing) battle to keep my arch upright. At the moment it is tethered on one side to the garden fence, and as there's nothing on the other side to tether it to this means it's really quite wonky. But at least it's upright.
The garden is lots of blue (mostly forget-me-nots, which always put on a good show and appear in the most unlikely places, plus a cluster of bluebells) and pink (especially the clematis and honeysuckle over the arch), but the other clematises (clematii?) and honeysuckles are all showing their buds so hopefully I should get some more colour throughout the summer. I do think that May and early June are the best months for my garden - I think when I move I have learnt a lot about what flowers when so will try to plan my next garden better so I get more colour for longer. The Nelly Moser clematis (like Smudgie's!) has loads of great big flower buds, they should open out in a few weeks' time to reveal really in-your-face saucer-sized flowers, and never disappoint. I've got rosebuds too, and for the first time ever my peony has a flower bud too! I love peonies - I remember my nan and grandad having a couple of huge peony bushes in their garden which had the most humungous flowers, that's a really strong and fond memory for some reason, so I'm so happy that my peony is going to bless me with one flower before I leave.
I will also remember that, although I really like lemon balm, I need to plant it in a pot before planting it in the ground. For the first time, this year it has really gone rampant, and is appearing in places nowhere near where I planted it. I pulled bits of it up, and unfortunately discovered that some (very similar looking) stinging nettles had settled next to it, so I spent the evening with stinging arms. Thankfully that was my only gardening mishap this time (I usually manage to walk into the bracket upon which I hang my hanging birdbath, despite knowing it's there, and give myself a lump on the head!).
The compost is looking good, and I'll have to start spreading some of it over the bits where I pulled up weeds before others arrive to take their place. But some ants had taken up residence in the bin over the last couple of days and built quite a busy looking nest, so I'll make sure that's well and truly killed before I spread it.
So, here are some pictures of the garden yesterday, complete with wonky arch and peony bud. Too bad it wasn't sunnier, but hopefully when I next take pictures it will be sunny which really makes the garden look even lovelier.
By the way, the Easter egg on Sunday evening was wonderful!! I put on a pound overnight, but it was SO worth it!
PS Had a very apologetic email today from the uni tutor about the form that wasn't sent to the ESRC. So it's all in hand again, no harm done (apart from giving my Inner Drama Queen a quick but dramatic outing) and I've just got the normal things to worry about rather than this as well.