Midsummer Just Gone

23rd June, 2017

Feeling hot and trying to keep cool

Summer can be many things but I know my fellow MSers can find it difficult to accommodate extremes in temperature. I spent yesterday dodging rain in the morning, travelling across London in trains I used to use all the time, feeling glad I have moved north and am enjoying pastures new. But on a sombre note, I went to a crematorium for a funeral service which was so joyful and both funny and tearful, my system let out a few unfortunate snorts. How my departed friend would have mocked me!
It has meant any thoughts of gardening were somewhat distant and it is only this morning when I looked at my parcel delivered yesterday that I saw my Slugless Pellets had arrived as well as the Easy Mulch soil conditioner. This hopefully will be a game-changer for the slimy creatures and will be applied liberally in the new planters I've ordered.

Yes, that's another birthday treat I used birthday money to get ordered from a local man via Facebook. He's delivering them untreated in the next few days and I have to get some coloured preservers to cover them to match the shed. But it's a plan to use the concrete areas more aesthetically and give me some beds that involve less bending! Method in my reckless spending, I promise. And the first three have arrived! They are very well made and for a good price. He's going to sound out a good roofer for us too. I've ordered paint and the next two planters arrive Monday. Anyone wants his number let me know? More pics will  follow.

28th June 2017

End of another June

Well, a month of extremes has seen records broken for heat, and the heavens have deluged us in the last couple of days. I have seen a hot sports day and one where rain stopped races. And I have some new garden accessories in the shape of wooden planters which have been made for me by a local man who delivered then unpainted for me to colour them as I wished and I got some colour paints from a local Wilkos.. And the pictures I added show the painted and filled planters!

 

 

Shuttleworth Collection

17th June, 2017

Peacock Party

We took a little trip to the Swiss gardens of the Shuttleworth Collection at Old Warden Aerodrome, which is next to Biggleswade. All manner of aircraft were lined up for a display tonight but we were plant-spotting and dodging the peacocks. It was a really lovely afternoon and we were able to try out the new camera to show what is there.

Dragonfly!

Glass roof of the Fernery

Fernery off the grotto

The Chapel

One of 3 peacocks

Fernery dome from below

Plants I used to grow before I had small babies...
I could plant them again now!

Peacock trying to get in the Swiss Cottage

Contemplation

New gadget!

Gardening Gadgets BullBarrow www.brilliantgardenproducts.co.uk
I have used this ergonomically designed hand rake already. I do find it useful and will be looking to get more of the gadgets. The guys on this stand also helped me get my camera to the right setting again. Richard Perry of BullBarrow told me that he designed the tools to help his parent with tools that didn't hurt when used by someone with arthritis. Their products are available online at the moment as they haven't been taken up by a major retailer. Someone is missing a trick?
When I got home from the fair I found some more birthday plants waiting for me. My mum had sent me some little chocolate cosmos plants by post and they arrived as tiny plugs through the letterbox. I used the rake and the plants were in the border in minutes. Modern twenty-first-century world!

Modelled by Jacqui!

At home

Digging in some Cosmos

Garden Fest: In Retrospect!

17th June, 2017

Watching it back on telly!
I managed to go to work yesterday but left in a tired out heap by 8pm, I settled down to watch what I missed of the Gardener's World show!
And now I understand some of the annoying crowds that were impossible to pass: there were a lot of interviews and presenter's opinions, which help to explain some of the gardens, which were obviously what the crowds were following. I am not a wanna-be and am quite happy to hide behind the camera, so the photos that follow include some that my friend Jacqui took, as my inexperience with my new camera led to me taking a lot of unfortunately useless shots, which were tinted blue...
I will try and fill in the detail of some of the people and companies I saw and spoke to which I didn't post on the 16th, so desperate I was to get something blogged!

Peony birthday cake

Schoolchildrens' wheelbarrows

I didn't win!

Does anyone recognise the hat?

Escaping the NEC!

That'll be Joe Swift then?
Behind the lady...

A covered VegTrug. Now that is a wishlist item...

That'll be buying alliums, schubertii and
christophii, for the record.

That'll be the show gardens getting
watered at the end of the day...

The MS Society garden with some bits that made
this wobbly warrior nervous when I was invited on the plot.

Worth repeating...

The presenting team...

The production team shot...

...several times.

Lights, mikes, action...

Sound checks?

You need a steady hand
with cameras that big!

That'll be the instructions for my Allium bulbs.
When I was in St Albans I sent for some
from this grower so I know the pedigree!

Cottage garden, here I come! And
I like dark red/brown flowers, what can I say?

Jacqui queuing for drinks
from the aromatic coffee/tea bar.

The two chaps sitting next to their mobility chair were
sure we were taking pics of their purchases, but we were
both intrigued by the way the scooter was stacked with
their purchases.

A healthy falafel.

Supplies...