People in glass houses....,

As I am writing this I can glance out and catch Luke tending his tomatoes in the greenhouse. We are pleased we went for the largest greenhouse we could find because, though we have not used it to it's capacity we will be able to grow lots of things in there and not regret skimping on the size. Fortunately  our garden is big enough that it can accommodate the larger greenhouse without it dominating the area.
Luke has been inspired I think to tweak the side shoots out of the tomatoes after watching Gardener's Question TIme. It was explained that if you don't tweak out the side shoots the plant will grow into a shrubby shape rather than just a cordon with one main stem. You don't want to take out all the leafy growth but just cleanly tweak or cut out the shoots at a forty five degree angle to the main stem and the leaves. So Luke, having kept up with removing the shoots, is now tying in the taller growth to keep them strong and upright. We also have two cucumber plants growing well and some aubergines. We have companion planting of marigolds (their strong scent should keep the bugs away by stopping them smelling the delicious tomato scent) and basil (which as every Italian, Greek and, well, just everyone, knows go together so deliciously. Shame we couldn't grow an olive too and then we'd have our own salad prepared in one place.
We could have enjoyed the strawberries too only the chickens have discovered the fruits long before we have and have also brazenly swiped the raspberries off the cane whilst we watched.
Not only do they have the run of the garden they also get a treat each weekend of a dust bath in the greenhouse. They jump onto the wooden sleeper step, step over the doorway into the greenhouse and spend a good thirty minutes burying themselves deeply  into the dry dusty soil to clean themselves off. You will probably have read me raving about how cute this is to view before but it never fails to delight. Bless them.

A slight change

Last week I had no chance to garden, on this beach there was not a blade of grass in sight!

Although we were told by our friend Tim that this was a sea slug it is in fact a Crown Jellyfish and we found it on our early morning walk around the atoll. It's bigger than my foot!

Too hot to handle.

Woah, what a scorcher it is today. Too hot to be outside but too sunny to waste the day by sitting inside.

So whilst Luke made a coconut frosted cake for his work mates I aimlessly wandered about the garden trying to work up some motivation for gardening. Luke had made a great start by mowing both lawn at front and back and I suggested we went to the garden centre to see if I could find any new plants for the bare patches. I'm baffled as to what has happened to my Glamis Castle rose, normally such a compact and lush beauty but when we came back I was disappointed to see that it was covered in black spot and had bolted upright with deformed roses at the end of whippy stems. I don't know enough about roses to know what the problem is but of course there is always Google or my gardening books to look for the answer. I also realised that my arum lily was being stifled by an overhanging paeony so I snapped off two stems which were acting as a parasol above the lily. Hopefully the sunshine will encourage it to pull up towards the sky and produce the purple-near black flowers I love.
I was visited for ten seconds by a woodpecker who landed on the trunk of a tree at the back of our garden and stayed long enough for Luke to almost get to the door before it flew out of sight into the woodland. Much like the white tipped shark only I saw last week whislt Luke was swimming in the opposite direction.

I am not too sure what I think seeing the garden with fresh eyes after a fortnight away. I had hoped for strong delphiniums but Jack had let the chickens out each day and they had put paid to any decent growth although the main stems have buds on. My verbenas are pushing through the soil and coming up around last years main stem but there are myriad foxgloves from seed just everywhere and they are inhibiting growth from perennials. I've had to move a few to allow the original plant to thrive.

In the vegetable patch I've sewn two new rows of carrots (Autumn King) and replaced three sweetcorn kernels as only two thirds have come up so far (not surprising as Jack's cat, Socks, had been using the patch as an outside loo!)

Luke was pleased with his potatoes as they have flowers now so are soon to be lifted but my peas really are sparse so I have decided to sew a few more peas between the scrambling tendrils of young plants.

Whilst I wanted to purchase some sweet scented plants (the name escapes me) but was too cautious with my money to spend too much so I decided to only go for something I loved. There were beautiful snapdragons in lemon and blush variations but I bypassed those too and settled on two bright orange Geum Princess Juliana (such vibrant little flowers) and a strange co-ordinating orange tipped grass, Carex Prairie Fire. Together they really complemented the another and they glow in the sun. I should have planted them in the clashing corner or at the far end of the long border which is dominated by purple and orange plants but the colour worked well against the old clay chimney pot we have used as a focal point. The snapdragon in a pale gentle lemon would have been more subtle but it's too late. The Geums and the Carex are now planted and watered.

I too have been well nourished with constant tea and now a large slice of still-just-warm cake topped with fresh-grated coconut. Well, I have been working hard!