Alpine Sink

I had a good go at tidying up the Alpine Sink the other day too as you can see. Cleaned all the old leaves and other debris from around the plants and then put some more gravel around them to help retain the moisture.

They have got some lovely flowers on them.

Herbs

I took lots of photos of the garden last evening and here are two of the herbs which I sorted out the day before yeterday. To the left is the basil I had from my parents, and then the thyme, rosemary, oregano, and the applemint and garden mint. The second picture shows a new parsley plant and two pots of chives which I halved from one plant.

Herbs

For over a year now I have been meaning to separate two mint plants and a rosemary plant into two pots. The rosemary plant has tended to simply grow upwards and little else while the mint I think have suffered from the small space remaining. At last, today, I have separated them - the garden mint and applemint plants are now in one pot and the rosemary is in another! Hopefully they will thrive now and their summer growth not be impaired due to the move. We will see...

Colour

Unfortunately, the hanging baskets that I did last Autumn have now finally finished looking their best. So, today, I have replanted one of them with some summer bedding plants; Lobelia Trailing 'white', Fuchsia 'Marinka' and Petunia Surfinia 'Blue Vein', in the hope that they will provide a little colour to the garden for the summer. I have also planted a pot with the remaining Lobelia and a lovely red coloured Dianthus 'Cherry Magic'. Not sure where to put this pot at the moment and will have a play with positions in the garden later!

Alpine Flowers

These are pictures of the flowers on the alpines. They were taken using my mobile phone so are a little out of focus in places. I have today put lots of gravel around the plants to help retain the moisture over the summer. Although they aren't in a very sunny spot in does tend to dry out easily.

Rain after the sunshine

We have had some very much needed rain overnight here in Conwy. The air smells fresher and glancing out the window this morning, all the plants look a little revived. I have been watering the vegetables and some of the pots from a watering can but a rain was desperately needed after all the sunshine and heat we have had for over a week now. I always feel guitly watering the plants but try to re-use dishwater wherever possible and since we use Ecover products I know there is nothing in it's contents which would harm the environment. I would like to get a water butt to collect water at some point although we don't actually have any downpipes on our house as they all drain over to the house next door. Maybe in the future, if and when I get a shed, a butt may be positioned to catch the water which runs off it.

Clematis.com

The name of the clematis is Clematis Piilu. Follow the link above for further information on Clemaits plants. I came across it when looking up the name of my plant and it gives a lot of detail about the care of the Clematis group of plants.

Clematis

Planted out a clematis in the shady border to see how it does. I have given it three canes to climb and it appears to be doing well at the moment. Will have to look up what sort of clematis it is. 

Tomato & Cucumber

Have at last planted out the tomato and cucumber plants that I brought at the Conwy Seed Fair earlier this year. I have planted them into medium sized pots so that I can keep them in the greenhouse for as long as possible to promote their growth. Last year I think we had two cucumbers and only about a dozen tomatoes so hopefully this year will be better. I am not sure if I said in the last entry about the tomato plant but apparently it doesn't require shoots pinching out which is handy as I didn't have a clue what I was doing last year! 

Broad Beans

The broad beans are coming along nicely. There are a couple of plants missing which haven't obviously grown for whatever reason but overall I am very pleased that those that have grown have! I am still not sure whether I am meant to put up canes for them to climb up or not. I have got a feeling that they support themselves and will grow without the need for canes. Anyone out there know? I will have a surf around for some tips... 

Vegetable Patch

I spent an afternoon in the garden last week tidying everything up and planting out the plants I had grown in the greenhouse. I have planted out the sweetcorn and butternut squash as shown in the picture here. At least I think it is a butternut squash! I cannot really tell the difference between them now and wish that I had labelled them when setting the seeds! It doesn't really matter, mind you, as I have got other plants growing in the greenhouse still which I could also plant out. 

Slugs and Bindweed!

Have this afternoon planted out the sweetcorn, courgette and butternut squash plants into the vegetable patch. The slugs are eating their way through everything at the moment and some of the sunflowers, which are still in pots, are nothing but stems now!

I also planted out the sweet peas to see how they will do in the "bindweed" border at the bottom of the garden. I have a feeling that they will get out competed by the bindweed which continues to keep on popping up.

Due to this I have not planted the clematis in its original position and have planted it half way down the shady border with some poles for it to climb. Photos will follow soon...

Acer update

The buds on the Acer are definitely growing larger I am pleased to say. I am so pleased as I thought I had lost it and it had died. I have only planted it temporarily in the spot it is in now until I get the garden more established and sorted.

I have found the label that came with it in the post which has it's full name on:
Acer palmatum Atropurpureum.

Favourite Flower Pictures contd.

A gorgeous white pansy that has grown in one of the hanging baskets.

A close up of the tulips mentioned here before.

Close up of the Daffodils which I have found out are called 'Minnow' Daffodils.

Favourite Flower Pictures

I thought I would include some of my favourite flower photographs here. These are photographs that I have taken of plants from my garden and elsewhere.

First of all you can see some lovely purple and yellow Iris flowers that were taken this time last year in my parents garden.


The Hebe photograph was also taken in my parents garden as were the photographs of the pink rose and red poppy.

I love the water droplets that have been caught in the photos and the contrast between the red and green of the poppy.

Sunflower Names

I have planted three types of sunflower seed this year with the hope of growing them just beyond the fence at the bottom of the garden where the bindweed used to be. These are the varieties I have planted:

Harlequin F1 hybrid
Velvet Queen
Earth Walker

I am looking forward to seeing these in flower early in the summer. The seedlings are already doing well in the compost pots on the patio. I have two worries about where I am planting them... one being that the bindweed may get it's clutches on them and kill them and the other being that the school children who frequently 'hang' around outside the garden may pick them! We will see.

Keep checking back for some lovely pictures of sunflowers in the future..

Herbs Names

Here is a list of the types of herbs that grow in the pots near the back door:
Variegated Applemint
Mint
Oregano
Lemon Thyme
Parsley
Chives

Alpine names

I have started to make a note of the plant names in the garden. I am not very good at remembering the names so it will serve a good use in the future for reference. Here are the names of some of the plants in the Alpine sink:
Sedum spathulifolium 'Cape blanco'
Rosularia sedoides var. alba
Campula garganica 'Erinus Major'
Sempervivum 'Laura Lee'
Chamaecyparis lawsoniana 'Ellwood's Gold'

Tulip

This tulip has grown very well in the shady border on the left of the garden. The colours of it are amazing. I have no idea what kind of tulip it is as I bought it from the Conwy Seed Fair along with the tomato plant and cucumber plant. Any help with identification would be greatly appreciated.

I looked up the Conwy Seed Fair the other day on the internet to find that it has been taking place on a yearly basis for over 700 years! 

Vegetable Patch

This shows the vegetable patch where I have sowed some seeds ready for the summer. I have planted lettuce, carrots, leeks, onions, and broad beans. I hope the lettuce and carrots are more succesful than last year. Only a couple of lettuce plants grew for some reason. I think there are a lot of slugs in the garden which ate the seedlings.
I have left space to plant out sweetcorn and courgettes to the left.