Summer fades

I have been working in humid weather this week and wet weather. Sometimes dry and sunny but cold and damp first thing. Things are turning that is for sure.

I have been planting out Salads this week. Firstly, for my client's small but beautifully kept veg garden. She grows all sorts and is constantly sowing and transplanting for a full, colourful plot. Great variety and amazing what you can achieve.Then, later in the week on a larger scale at Heale. Rows of Salad leaves, Misticanza, Miscuglio, Asolo mix. Beautiful and delicate.

We also planted our Kale - sown in modules and ready when the plant has around 6-8 leaves - you need quite a lot of space for this crop - 18 inches apart but I do love Kale so think it is worth it. A faff though, of that there is no doubt, planting, slug pelleting, preparing a hooped framework for netting. Brassicas are high maintenance indeed.

We are still cropping like mad at Heale. Runner Beans this week and many many Purple French climbing! Long gangly ones, short springy ones. We cropped in the rain this week, wet sleeves a plenty from reaching high up into the plants.

We also spent time clipping and pruning in the veg garden - the lollipop shaped trees of Crataegus x Lavalleei 'Carrierei' (what a mouthful!). Dangerous spikes grow from the trunk and boy are they sharp. We used long handled loppers to reach the wayward and out of shape re-growth and HG carried on with secateurs up a ladder too. It takes a long time to prune eight trees.

When it rained and it really did rain, we tamed some planted Jasmines which are tied into a framework and sit like that all year until they are whisked into the house for their sweet scent. Imagine de-tangling a child's long hair and you know what I mean, you need a lot of patience. HG has bucket loads of that. I could have just chopped it all off at times! But again, once you get each stem of the plant singled out and all of the dead out, the plant breathes a sigh of relief! Fed with osmocote and, if necessary, re-potted, the Jasmines are ready for the off again.

I re-discovered Burdock this week. I noticed the sticky little burrs which I remember from childhood. My children took great pleasure in sticking the plant to the ceiling of our car over and over again like velcro! In fact the big WWW tells me that Burdock seeds were indeed the inspiration for Velcro. Nature is the best.

Colour and variety

Missed my Blog last week. School holidays and building works at home make for an even more hectic time than usual. Gardening is still happening and it is most definitely my break from all that the rest of my life entails!

Heale this week was more than beautiful. Peaceful digging whilst listening to the River trickle on past. A grey Heron taking off when I disturbed it first thing in the morning. Bank Voles sneaking past us (almost banging a drum and telling their family to follow on behind).

Lots to crop at the moment and it is my favourite time in the veg garden. Courgettes, Salad, Carrots, Radishes, Pak Choi, Beans (so fine they look almost translucent), Oh and the beauty that is a baby baby baby Melon  -Cucamelon -Melothria scabra. What a glorious little thing? Best eaten at the size of an Olive, Zingy and zesty and refreshing, the Cucamelon is such a cutie.

 We also cropped the last of the Blackcurrants, so ripe they fell from the heavy branches as we picked and left their juice all over us.

Sweet peas are still coming unbelievably, so strong with immensely long stems.

We spent a lot of time working in the borders this week too. Cutting back, dead heading, trimming Hostas and Ferns. Cutting back Astrantia, Stachys and summer pruning fruit, rewarding work, instant hit of clean lines and fresh plants.

Although the garden is bursting with life, Veronicastrum, Echinops, Magnolia's all over the place, Gladioli, Sunflowers, Ipomoea, fruit bursting and ready to eat, my plant of the week is the purple climbing French Bean! It has such delicate Beans which grow green, then morph into purple, then back to green when cooked. I want to try 'Purple Cascade' which apparently keeps it's colour once cooked. Such a shame to only have the colour on the plant. A glut of them meant a taste test this evening. My eldest thought they were the best. I quite agree.