Well August was a funny old month, bringing all sorts of weather with it. Sun, wind, rain - and plenty of that, though I think we stopped short of hail and snow, I think. It’s been another month of getting to know my garden, and sadly suffering the loss of a plant we brought with us.
One that we’d had in a pot for a while, but clearly wasn’t happy with everything nature had to throw at it - we were surprised, but I think it was the wind that the rosemary most objected to. But it was a good prompt for me to move the pots back into the border to give them some protection from the sun and the wind, and to help them conserve water as when the sun’s out it’s been pretty warm.
I don’t think this one’s coming back!
In happier news, other plants have thrived. New ones have started to flower, and a yellow antirrhinum has self seeded itself amongst one of the (many) lavender bushes, and it’s been great to see the garden do its thing.
The pot of mint which I’d cut back before we moved sprang back into life and has at least tripled, as mint does. It too though was feeling the demands of being exposed in the warmer weather, and was starting to wilt a tad. Not wanting this, or any of my other plants from London to suffer the same fate of the rosemary meant the pots are all nestled among the more established plants. Though the morning after I’d moved them all I did wonder where they’d gone!
During August I had a week on my own at the house, and it was great to spend some time getting things straight(er). I’d planned to spend some time in the garden, but the weather scuppered me on my first home alone afternoon. Hmmmn.
The acer, outside our back front door, has had a mixed month. There’s been plenty of bright red new growth leaves, but there’s also been a few crispy and more battered leaves, though thankfully this one has picked up with some more regular watering.
We’d got out of the habit of watering the pots, which wasn’t such a good thing when the weather warmed up again. The outside tap on the side of the garage was a bit temperamental, and if you weren’t ready for it it would give your knees a quick wash as you turned it on. To combat this I bought a short length of hosepipe - because of course we’d left our surplus hosepipe behind as we didn’t think we’d need it - and it soon tamed the unwieldy flow of the tap.
It wasn’t all wind and rain though, there were days with blue skies, cloud and sun and plenty of time to sit and admire and enjoy them too. So it’s not all bad at all, in fact it’s rather good.
The tiny crab apple tree continues to do well. I think it won’t be long before the crab apples are ready to harvest - my plan is to make some crab apple jelly (what else?!) when the time comes. But until then we’re enjoying looking at its branches which are laden with fruit.
The olive tree in a pot is also thriving. Previously it was bald on one side where it had been deprived of sunlight on all sides. Here, it’s on the corner of the path and gets sunlight from all around. I’d cut this back a fair bit for the move, but we’ve got new growth that’s easily 30cm or so. It’s still leaning a bit, but not everything can be fixed in a couple of months.
Last month I shared plans to tackle the buddleia which was growing and growing and taking over one of the borders outside the gate. I’d hoped to pot it on and save it, but when I started to cut it back once the flowers had gone I realised that if I gave it a severe prune then it would probably be ok to stay where it was.
So that’s what I did, and it seems to have gone OK. Which is good news as the amount of bees and butterflies that visited were definitely worth keeping it for. I also know that it aims to self-seed as much as it can, so next year I’ll be ready to pot on some of those seedlings, which were starting to make themselves at home throughout the gravel, along with the weeds!
I’ve a feeling that weeding that gravel will become one of our biggest jobs in the garden, the one that’s never ending but also quite satisfying. You know the sort!