My favourite thing.

Being able to garden for hours without spending any money is what I like to do best. This afternoon, once the rain dissipated and a weak sun gave out some warmth I was able to tidy up the veg patch - digging up ruby skinned main crop potatoes up to 14 cms long before cutting into the grass edges of the plot and using the wooden log board edging to make it all look much sharper. Sadly I only had seven of the lengths so I could only tidy up two sides but already it looks much better and will be hopefully appreciated by Luke when he returns from a work trip tomorrow. I also removed a dying conifer which was directly where the fence will go before finishing off with yet another (two in less than a week) mowing of the lawn. Like a new haircut, it always amazes me how it transforms the outlook. I've filled the green wheelie bin full of potato plants, weeds (there are huge numbers of dandelions and clover in the lawn) and conifer branches and roots. The sunflower that had unfurled this morning is now joined by another yellow petalled head in the garden. I have five sun flowers dotted around so they should give splashes of sunshine in the borders. I know it's too late but Luke had bought some courgette seeds so I potted three up - just in case. The treat from the garden was several juicy, straight from the pod, fresh peas. Yummy.

When the cat's away....,

My garden reminds me of the fable nursery. When the children pack up their toys and close the nursery door the toys come to life. It's like that with my garden, the minute I am out of it the birds bring it alive. I have today off and when looking out of the window today could see the lavender hedge twitching before a little yellow breasted bird hopped out and disappeared into the potato patch. Almost immediately a chaffinch flew down from the branches of a dead tree behind our fence and, with a cursory glance for predators, started pecking at the wild bird seed which had been knocked out of the bird feeder by the numerous magpies that strew the seed everywhere when they land on the feeder.
If I went out with a small fork I'd soon find even more signs of life; fat worms, little beetles, scuttling mini armadillos (woodlice), red ants and such like.
My Shasta daisy, Latin name Leuscanthemum Aglaia, is happily ensconced by one I'd bought last year. This frilly double daisy with it's dark green stem and deep yellow centre is such a cheery chap. I also noticed that my first sun flower, a huge thing, has started opening it's face to the sun today. It is enormous and yet you can get them twice the size of the one I have.
In the pots the tree paeonies that Mum bought me are growing well although two labels ended up on the ground so I'm not sure which ones is which now. I'll have to wait for flowers to appear to ensure I put the right label in the right pot.
I'm sorry that I ran out of sharp sand before I could improve the site I was planting my new Echinacea Mistral. It's tucked between a sturdy pink rose and a blue Hydrangea and fronts up a blue Agapanthus but it does prefer well drained soil and this pastel corner is quite boggy. Still, there's always room for improvement and I can dig it up again and correct my tardiness later. Gardens are quite forgiving that way.

Talking of watering.

Don't forget the gardener! We all need a good drink when gardening - here, the good old British cup of tea saves the day.

 The tomatoes were planted at the beginning of June, quite late but the first ones frazzled on a particularly hot day so these were late editions.

 A month later they are growing well, here visited by Buck Bucky who is about to have a dust bath.

Part of the herb garden revamp

This shows how crowded the herb garden was before I enlarged it. Not bad growth for less than a year. Let's hope I have got it right this time.

The first photograph shows how crowded the sages have become and how they are dwarfing the box edging.

Here, I've enlarged the area and then dug in sand and compost to improve the soil and drainage. Then holes were dug for the plants (too small and I had to make them twice as big after taking this photo) and puddled in; filled with water and allowed to drain away before putting the plant in, firming it down and watering again.

The sages with more room. Behind them are two silver thymes surrounding my small Bay which I'm training around an old broomstick.

Shakira shaking a tail feather.

Having had a bottom wash it's amazing how few feathers chickens have in this area. Once the down dries it fluffs up to about five times it's size. Here she is looking sorry for herself, not very respectable, is it?

Even whilst on holiday...,

..., there was no getting away from the garden. Here I am, at the entrance to the Reethi Garden and afterwards, typing up the news whilst having a cooling iced tea.

And the long border continues into the pastel (friendship) border.

Photos of the garden, at last.

Now we have ploughed throught the holiday photographs Luke has uploaded our photos of the garden too. Hope you enjoy them.

First off, the clashing corner which seems to have become quite harmonious. I've moved the twisted verbascum into the corner and repositioned the giant scabiosa. Hopefully next yeat these two giants will provide a great backdrop.

I couldn't be bothered to string up the hammock so had a snooze on the wooden base instead.

Now onto the long border which is more orange and purple at the top end and changes to pink and mauve at the other end.

 This little hen never misses a trick to grab a free meal, I've had to chicken wire up the delphiniums after she discovered they tasted delicious!

Even in it's last days this plant proved lovely to look at.

The colour of this delphium, with it's petrol blue petals is almost neon in daylight. You can see a flash of orange from the geum just behind.

 As we move further down the border I've toned down the orange and am bringing in pinkier tones to complement the roses.