Looking Great Here

Well the gardening has certainly picked up since my last gardening post. The weather here in the UK has warmed up considerably at the start of June and everything is growing well. Lets's take a little tour shall we.

My best thing to show you is this yellow peony in my warm tones garden. It was one of the original plants I put in 3 years ago and it has never flowered. Peonies take a few years to get established so I am thrilled. There were five flowers and now these have gone over, the yellow rose behind has taken over the bloom position. Perfect. 

Next to this is another new one to blossom which is a new bearded Iris which I bought in a sale at Autumn. It looked so sad in the pot but I love an underdog. It was £2 and I gave it a home next to the peony. It has been stunning.

They both sit in this border which is looking fab. I love the foliage contrasts. This was a couple of weeks ago so the daff leaves have now been removed to make way for the summer flowers. I now have plans to empty some of this border because I over planted it when it was new. Now that I have found out what survives in full sun and what has filled out into quite substantial sized plants I can do some moving come the autumn to give the thriving things more room.

In the greenhouse the tomatoes have gone from this...

To this in a matter of two weeks. Similarly, the veg patch has had a full planting going from this...

 To this. A few things didn't come so I have, with immense amount of hope, re-seeded some crops but I know it is a little late really.

My table vase challenge has been helped by the contribution of flowers from my flower grower companion Beth. If the flowers don't fit her wedding brief then I get them!

Her plot changes so much. She doesn't take any passengers - once they are cut and used, the are removed and the next variety fills its space. These ranunculus were just amazing though. The sheep fleece covered area is the dahlia plot starting to make shoots.

Other vase combos from my garden include...

A lighter arier collection of sweet rocket, allium, cornflowers and aquelegia. And this week...

A sample vase of all the things I knocked off while weeding! A lupin, snap dragon, a pink rose, an iris, a cornflower, a fox glove and the start of my sweet williams. 

 My first crops of the year are lettuce and radish. I am trying so hard to reseed every two weeks for a succession - the gardeners dream. This prize, unscathed radish was the size of a cocktail tomato. It wasn't even woody; it was delicious!

I have had a good old tidy up in the green house where I am watering twice a day. Thinking ahead I am also trying some dried flowers this year. 

Hope you are getting out to enjoy summer whatever you like to do. 

Jo xx