Yes, May. I’m catching up with myself as I realised that as well as losing my blogging rhythm I’ve also managed to let these monthly posts slip. But as I was browsing through the photos for this post I was instantly transported back in time, and it’s that that I want to capture alongside the photos.
Our garden comes into its own in spring. As well as bursting into life, it bursts into growth and each year our challenge is to keep up with, or if we’re lucky, ahead, of it. Sometimes we manage it, mostly it’s mixed and this year? Mixed.
Though lockdown has brought the opportunity for many more photos; a lunchtime ‘walk’ quickly turns into a chance to see the garden when usually we’d be in the office, so it’s not all bad.
The tiny blue flowers of Chilean potato plant are still there, though many have turned into the berries that the Tits love. It’s also great to watch them as they flutter close enough to get the best spot, almost queuing and waiting their turn. It’s quite an unruly plant, which we cut a few heavy stems from earlier in the year, and should have cut back further earlier than we did.
But it’s hard to remember the tiny cutting we brought back from Norfolk many years ago now. It shouldn’t be doing so well where it’s planted, but it obviously is, and it’s one of those plants that’s migrated next door, and I think they probably get the best of it.
In May colour and blooms start to reappear in earnest, the delicate pastel weigela and the white scented lilac, which a few of the flowers made their way indoors.
The greenhouse too starts to come into use, and I start to reclaim it from the insects and bugs that are mounting a takeover bid. I’ve plans this year to rejig the layout of the greenhouse, and the first step included reassembling the little shed. So it wasn’t until next month that I took the hosepipe to the inside.
Ah, the dandelions. They’re full on in May and I’m always trying to pick them before they set seed. We don’t always manage it, as this photo shows, and while the grass at the back is covered in the yellow pops of colour, which is frustrating, not seeing a few seed heads would be a shame.
The rose, a Gertrude Jeckyll, on the patio is also enjoying the sun and has a spurt of growth. Throughout the month we have some gorgeous pink roses and are pleased that we moved this somewhere we can see and enjoy it.
Neighbours a little further down the road now have two tabbies, who are making the most of our garden. I assume they’re brother and sister, but it seems they’re fully up to speed with the social distancing measures too.
They’re funny things, being brave and scared at the same time. They sit in our trees ‘bird-watching’ and chase toads and insects in the garden. They tolerate us being in our own garden, and can be persuaded down from ‘bird watching’ and disrupted from toad chasing with a stern(ish) voice and a conversation, which is often, but not always, one-sided.
My broad beans have been the slowest broad beans to grow ever. Only a couple of the pot-full of seeds germinated, and even now, despite plenty of flowers, there’s only one or two pods.
GERTRUDE
This is the remnants of some of the branches that were overhanging from next door and blocking light to the greenhouse. I don’t think we realised quite how much there was, and if we had we might have taken another route to clearing this. It was definitely a case of ‘we’ve started, so we’ll finish’ and there were some that we couldn’t reach.
I was late staking my peonies, and with the ground baked hard it was almost impossible. I was also lucky though and escaped what could have been a nasty injury as I lost my balance and toppled, in what felt like slow motion, into the flowerbed, thankfully avoiding falling onto the cane.
Phew. Definitely something to do earlier, and when the ground is softer.
The climbing, runner and borlotti beans in the greenhouse were already showing more promise than the broad beans, and it wasn’t long before these made it outside. As usual I wasn’t sure which was which and so we have three pots of mixed beans, by the time they pod, it’ll be obvious which is which.
Other seedlings faced mixed results, my first set of basil and soft lettuces were devoured overnight clearly marked as tasty. What’s funny though is the spicy mix of lettuce, in half of the seed tray, was left well alone, and stayed untouched. More basil and lettuce have since been planted with extra precautions taken.
And in May we got our first glimpse of an agapanthus flower head. Yay! But how many would arrive this year - you’ll find out soon enough, as I’m planning to share June’s update in the next few days!