Back after a break
Yes, my first #SixOnSaturday since way back in November 2021. Many flowers have been and gone since then, a new larger greenhouse has been constructed, and a bed that I'd not tackled for the 38 years I've been at this address has been dug and replanted. It did, as I predicted, give up some of the huge chunks of glazed bricks and concrete which some previous owner burried throughout our garden, wheelbarrows of them. I need to tackle more before I get too much older and creakier as each is a huge and exhausting project. This week's #SixOnSaturday, in the series inspired by The Propagator, starts with a major success.
1) Hydrangea macrophylla "Zorro"
Zorro featured on 10th July last year and was stubbornly pink alongside Mum's pompom hydrangea. I have been on a mission to see if I could get both to revert back to blue as I'd seen both blue when I first "met" them. Even though both were in pots of erricaceous compost, and only being watered with rainwater, both were pink. I resorted to a product which claimed to help restore the blue colour. It has worked beautifully with Zorro but mum's plant remains pink, possibly very slightly less pink than the last few years. My present theory is that Zorro was blue more recently than mum's, and that therefore there may yet be hope for mum's if I continue the treatment. I'll be back next year with the news. Meanwhile, Zorro is putting on an absolutely fabulous show with its blue flowers and striking black stems. My only challenge with it being in a pot is that it is now taller than me and I'd need stilts to appreciate its full spleandour. Hey ho.
2) Oxalis
I acquired my first oxalis a number of years ago. It was outdoors in the garden centre so I put it outdoors in my garden. It did that perennial thing - flowered, died at the end of the next year, returned the following year and, most importantly, didn't get eaten by slugs and snails. So I bought some more. This one sits on our exceptionally sunny kitchen window sill - completely the wrong place according to the experts - and is a gorgeous mound of dark purple shamrock leaves and pretty pink flowers. I gather it is usually grown as a housplant in the UK, so I guess that's global warming for you.
3) Sunflower
Here I am in my sixth decade and this is the first sunflower that I've grown from seed and which has not been eaten, decapitated or otherwise destroyed by unknown forces. I'm sure this one, too, is at risk, but it has been in the garden bringing jolly joy for a fortnight now. It is a record. The seeds for it and, yes, others, came from a gardner's club seed swap. Knowing that the parent was grown locally gave me hope which has been rewarded.
4) Unlikely survivors
Purchased as bedding plants in 2021 and inserted into just about the most high maintenance - small hexagonal frame, needs watering regularly - space, these have nevertheless overwintered only to come back for a second year. Words fail . . .
5) Lemon in waiting
I acquired my first lemon tree in 2020. I overwintered it indoors - bad mistake as the dry heat resulted in significant leaf loss. It survived, went outside last year and produced a few lemons. Last winter I over-wintered it in a greenhouse by the house. Leaves remained attached, as did the unripe lemons. Then, after I thought that it was safe to put it out, I put it out - bad mistake n.2 as the shock of the outside resulted in near total leaf loss. I did not give up. Right now it is covered in lovely new dark leaves and very many headily-scented flowers. I am hopefull that fruit will follow.
6) Propogation central
The challenge with the bottom half of the garden is that it is surrounded by very mature trees. Anything I plant directly into the ground immediately competes with tree roots for water and nutrients. Add raised beds and compost and what you get is a raised bed full of tree roots! I've gone from feeding expensive plants to slugs and snails to feeding local trees. Meanwhile, my tiny greenhouse by the house was overflowing with cuttings and has been a very successful location for maturing tomatoes. I decide to clear one of the raised beds down the bottom, get it level, and install a second larger model. I'd originally thought I'd treat myself to a very fancy new greenhosue but after a frustrating exchange with a potential supplier, went very low budget with a larger version of the zip-up one by the house. A "feature" of our garden is that nothing is level, Telegraph Hill is, well, a hill, and we are on the side of it. Job one - see if you can create a level surface in a sloping garden. Even though what I'd purchased was a very cheap model, I decided I'd try to protect its frame. We try to re-cycle things and to do that, we store things that "might be useseful". In amongst the stash we had the wood that had been used as shuttering when we had our front path laid, and some offcuts of stone from when we had the steps replaced. We also had some old radiator bricks, and the slats from some old wooden venetian blinds. I created a frame for the greenhouse base (to stop it rusting) which itself is laid on the radiator bricks and infilled with gravel (to keep the wood from rotting any time soon) and the greenhouse frame is attached to the wooden frame using pipe clips. Two of the stone offcuts form the centre floor and gravel fills all the gaps. And those venetian blind slats I hear you ask? I've used those to form shelves for the lowest level of the greenhouse. Oh, and the whole thing is now rammed full of cuttings and some of this year's tomatoes.
That's all for this week. This weekend is deadheading and shrub pruning. Check out the participant guide if you want to join in.
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