Part done…

My birthday treat, hanging baskets up, some plants on the wall. I still need to empty some pots that have weeds in and do the rest of the wall and on the ground. Sometimes I will place pots on top of other pots that have soil in them so they get more light and the roots can grow down into the lower pot. Possible further plants I want are trailing lobelia, fushias, pelargoniums, nemesia, montbrecia, busy lizzies, sweet peas and oriental poppies.

I have a hosta in flower, lilies that are away from where the cats can go (it’s pollen is poisonous to them), a hydrangea, Welsh poppies. I also have an apple tree that my hubby put in that I’m trying to trail horizontally against the fence.

My main concern is the garden is very shaded now as my neighbour has put an 8 foot fence in. I’m hoping the shelter it offers will create a microclimate and allow the plants to last well into the autumn.

Quiet day

I’d like to have gone outside.

Today was quite a quiet day. After yesterday I’m glad. I did have someone knock on the  door asking if my garden gate led down an entry to the back of the next door houses. They had bought a house two doors up and wanted to get round the back?

I had to explain the entry was further down but since the shop on the corner has bought the land where the alley was you now have to go round into the next street and walk along a narrow path by the side of a garage to get round.

I have also been waiting for some medicine so I was pleased to get a text message to say it was ready I started to get ready to go out I realised it was 4.25 pm and they shut at 4.30 pm so I will have to wait until Monday.

Tomorrow might be more interesting. Fingers crossed.

Thistles

Plants love growing, their seeds sneak in cracks, send down roots and push up paving, this thistle is an example of one. Looking round my area the streets are less littered with litter and more by plants. I’m not calling them weeds, they are wild vegetation. I don’t really mind them, except where they grow in front of and on doorsteps. I do think that the streets used to get maintained in a better way. I don’t think I’d like a lot of weed killer to be used, but I hope things can improve soon. Hopefully owners could do a little hand weeding.

Sad marigolds

Marigolds in a bag, something seems to have broken the flowers off. I’ve got to get them planted but yesterday the rain fall was stupendous. Today the weather was better, but I am very tired. Tomorrow could be the day they get planted. Meanwhile, the forecast is for more rain and cold winds coming from the north. June seems to be below par for the time of year. But I’m determined to get my garden looking good instead of full of overgrown weeds!

Two old codgers

Hubby and I, helping in the local allotment. We are helping a community project clear a couple of old allotments of weeds so they can be used for growing produce. It is slow going to get rid of so many weeds. We are trying to take out the cooch grass and convolvulus (bind weed). However we are leaving some flowers like poppies in situ. I wasn’t feeling well today so I only managed a bit of work. Its going to take a while to get on top of it. Hopefully by next spring it will be planted up and ready for a good summer of growth. One thing that is already there are apple trees with masses of apples on them. We were allowed to take a few home with us.

Flower power

Took a few photos of wild flowers (or weeds) this morning. Things for bees to feed on. But I didn’t see any bees.

The city seems to be full of plants pushing themselves up through cracks in the pavement and along the kerbs of roads. I also saw that green areas which were once lawns now covered in wild grasses and flowers with just a meter round the edge cut back. I did notice that the local main road that was covered in wild flowers a couple of weeks ago have now been weedkiller. The worry is that any bees that sipped from them when they were sprayed will have been poisoned. Madness. I’d rather have weeds than dead bees.

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Weeds, flowers in the wrong place?

I went out to meet someone and saw a bank of weeds at the end of the carpark. There were some interesting flowers amongst the plants and the bees and hover flies were drinking at them. I recognised Himalayan balsam and Convolvulus, Dock weed and Teasle, Thistles and Ragweed (I think its called). I think it’s amazing how plants can push up through tarmac, live in walls, grow on cliff faces. Life will prevail!

Someone asked about the garden…

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fellow blogger asked if I used permaculture in the garden, I actually don’t know what that is? We’ve been here about twenty five years and when we moved in the garden was a patch of land fenced off by the woman who used to own the house. It had three lilac bushes a patch of what turned out to be Japanese knotweed and lawn. We rented it off the old owner of our house for twenty years then bought it. I only used weedkiller at the start because of the knotweed. Since then we put in a pond, planted all sorts of trees. Some of its too shady. The walnut tree must be forty foot high. Just put a bit of fertiliser on occasionally. There is rubble and broken pottery under the soil. You get archaeology when you dig it.

I did not believe that we could get mature trees in a little over twenty five years. Some of them seem to grow like weeds. The back of the garden has had a shed and a summerhouse put on it. I’m hoping to do some art in there. We are trying to get perennial plants to grow. I have lots of geraniums but most of all we have a lot of ivy growing everywhere.

It is good to sit in the garden, but I feel sorry for people who don’t have anywhere green to sit.

Stay safe,

Keep well.

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Wildflowers in town

 

There are plants growing out of tyres in the town centre, next to a car wash. They are part of an arts project started last year to green the town, I think by Art Stop Stoke? Other plants that are growing up include tomatoes and a courgette outside a Chinese takeaway. I’m interested in the fact they are clearly being looked after even after this length of time.

We tried putting a few plants in infront of an advertising hoarding. But the plants that were growing were killed off by weedkiller. Now the area is covered by persistent weeds. We may sprinkle some poppy seeds on it or nasturtium seeds. Long may the project continue.

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