Six on Saturday - 24th May 2025

Six on Saturday - it's been a while!

Goodness, my last #SixOnSaturday was way back in September 2023. A lot of life has happened since then, including a big life decision - to retire; another big life deicision - to press ahead with a major build at our house to give us a better view of the garden, a new kitchen and an all important utility/boot room along with the future proofed added benefit of completely flat access from the street to living space, a not inconsiderable challenge on this hill. Then, an encounter with a young lad in a hire car in a massive hurry nearly put paid to all of the above. As we were crossing our road near our house he sped down and pulled out of a side street into our path, swerved to avoid my husband, hit me and flung me in the air.  I'm recovered. I'm "retired". I have a lovely new kitchen/dining/living space with a wonderful view of the garden. But it has been a year and some! The garden itself is recovering from major excavation, all the rain we had last year, the builders hut, and, well, the builders! Recovering to the extent that I managed to open it last weekend as par of our lovely local Telegraph Hill Open Gardens 2025 weekend. I take so many photos of the garden with the intention of posting a Six, and then I get sidetracked into gardening. This time I'm determined to break that silence. 

One: The King's Rose

Well, get me being bang on trend with a first edition rose! The first edition bit is the librarian in me equating the first selling of a new rose, now out of "print" (aka supply). It is the new David Austin King's Rose, as seen at the Chelsea Flower show. I ordered it there and then. It arrived two days ago and was planted the same day. It flowered immediately. Even the two tiny buds that got knocked off when I planted it have flowered in a little vase in the kitchen. 

Two: Wisteria, flowering at last

We've been in this house since the early 1980s but I've only really been gardening in the last ten years. This wisteria has been in the ground all that time. Until a number of years ago, it was completely untrained and had shot up through an ash tree - itself a seedling - and occasionally threw off the odd bloom. I've "rescued" it from the ash tree and gave it a jolly good prune. It spend a good few years sulking. I've been giving it the 7/2 treatment that I first heard about from Adam Frost on Gardener's World. It has repaid me by finally flowering. I'm hoping we'll get along together from now on. 

Three: water, harvesting thereof

The new build, a wraparound extension to the side/back of the house meant that I had to relocate what were a couple of daisy-chained utilitarian water butts from the side of the house that were filled from the roof via a rain diverter. The only place for replacements was on the new back facade of the house - no room for daisy chained butts, or anthing unsightly. So I went posh and big and got two huge (380l) butts with inbuilt planters. Hands down, "where did you get those?" was the most frequently asked question at last weekends Telegraph Open Gardens event. The answer is here. I went for the muted sandstone to blend with the london bricks. You can also choose from some joyfully coloured ones. I've kept their predecessors and those are now connected to the roof of the summer house and the shed. Even so, with the recent dearth of rain, all were practically run dry until the very welcome downpours here in SE London over the last few days. 

Whilst sill on the water theme, we have a pond, and a few bird baths. This one sits just through an arch which leads from what looks like "the garden", to a whole other secret set of garden spaces beyond. It is regularly used by our local magpies for softening carbs, usually bread or rice, all of which are added within minutes of me refreshing the water. Last weekend, I refreshed the water just as the first garden visitors were due to arrive, only to find a deposit of a new carb - Tagliatelle!  

Four: Geranium psilostemon - Armenium Cranesbill

The great thing about our local gardening club are the ideas and the swapsies. This one was doing very well indeed in Becky's garden, and had seeded itself liberally. We dug up a clump a week ago, I trugged it up the hill and popped it towards the back of one of my borders and, after looking a bit sad for a couple of days, it has really perked up and seems happy in its new home. 

Five: grass recovery

The 2023 Christmas holiday break was spent digging up as many plants as I could from the area that was going to be affected by the building works. Including all the palnts in the patio boarder which were, in the new scheme, going to be covered by the new extended building. So the bottom part of the garden turned into pot city, with all the things that I hoped would survive to be re-planted once the work was done. Then the builder's hut was errected on what would, after the build, still be a lawn area. As you can see, it looked very sad after the hut was removed. I've gone for re-seeding rather than re-turfing, not least because my lawn is not just grass and anything that was just grass would look way out of place. I reckon I mow as many daisies as I do grass blades. If I look closely I can still see the recent history of the lawn (where the hut was, where they stacked the stone for the new steps for weeks and weeks, where the rhododendron spent the summer in a big builder's bag on the lawn). But it is recovering. The daisies are back.

The reason why we want a lawn in the first place is that it is lovely to sit on the patio for breakfast or lunch, and to watch the birds feeding. The feeder has been relocated further up the lawn and right now, is being visited dozens of times an hour by Mrs Woodpecker. We've worked out where she is nesting and look forward to when the young get introduced to the feeder. Learner woodpeckers trying to feed for the first time is rather amusing. 

Six: OMG - I'm going to finish this one and publish it. My first six since 2023. 

The first strawberry. Harvested about an hour ago and eaten within minutes. We shared it atop a couple of strawberry infused white chocolates which arrived to help us celebrate our recent 39th Wedding anniversary. It was exquisite.  

That's all for this week. This is my latest in the #SixOnSaturday, a series inspired by The Propagator and currently being championed over at Garden Ruminations. Check out the participant guide here. I aspire to be as disciplined, creative and inspiring as them but for now, I'll remain pleased if I can just limp on with a post every now and again.

 

Six on Saturday - 2nd September 2023

Survivors and thrivers

Best laid plans and all that - I had my six pics all ready for last week's #SixOnSaturday and then got distracted by garden jobs so it's been another fortnight since the last post. We've had rain off and on this week so the water butts have been kept topped up which is a relief as I have a lot of things in pots and continue to try very hard not to use mains water. I've got into the habit of filling up all the watering cans after I've done the watering round to make even more space available for collecting when it next rains. Here are this week's six. The purists amongst you will note that whilst there are six headings, there are more than six things as I'm taking liberties this week. 

One: rose

This started life in my company as one of those little pots of living flowers given to me by a friend for my birthday a couple or three years ago. I planted it out and it has survived. When it is in bud/early flower it is particularly pretty.

Two: Clematis Armandii - again!

I thought I was seeing things last week - a single wisteria flower and a single c. armandii flower. I wasn't. Armandii has put on a second flush of smallish flowers for reasons only known to itself. Here's a picture to prove it. 

Three: the plant formerly known as sedum

I know they are very common and very easy to grow but at this time of year they bring a bit of brash joy to the garden. This clump are only just starting to colour up but even so, have been attracting bees for a couple of weeks now. Perfect timing as the nearby lavender has just received a trimming so there's something for the bees to move on to. 

Four: survivors

Yes, it's the apple tree again but humour me: it lost its second bough in December 2014, it is now hollow half way down, and home to gazillions of anty & beetly creatures, and yet it is still producing apples. They are cookers and we've rescued the remains of the crop from the clutches of the squirrels and they are making a jolly nice addition to the breakfast museli at the moment. The apples that is, not the squirrels. I fully expect to wake up one morning and find the trunk on the ground as it is already very wobbly indeed. Also surviving and thriving is a begonia that I thought was lost to last December's exceptionally cold weather. Not a bit of it. 

Five: harvest surprise

I mentioned the courgettes in the last post. They are still going strong and I'm still picking them when they are small, generally getting a couple a day. These are this morning's. Also in the trug are blueberries, some tomatoes - semi-ripe as I'm finding that some critters are availing themselves of the crop as it ripens - and a long aubergine. Finally, a nice surprise. I'd failed with cucumber seeds this year and so bought a young plant from I can't remember where. It is now creeping around the greenhouse and producing fruit which are nothing like those pictured on the label. A brief consultation with #GardeningTwitter experts and I find that I'm growing what is most likely Cucumber Crystal Apple. They are exquisetly sweet and flavoursome. Thanks to the responsive folks over at the Royal Horticultural Society for warning about discarding them if they were bitter. Happily they are anything but. 

Six: Japanse anemone honorine jobert

These are standing about six feet tall this year and are flourishing. Over the years they've produced offspring which pop up tens of feet away. I can forgive them for that given the long show they give me and how very undemanding they are. 

That's all for this week. This is my latest in the #SixOnSaturday, a series inspired by The Propagator and currently being championed over at Garden Ruminations. Check out the participant guide here. I aspire to be as disciplined, creative and inspiring as them but for now, I'll remain pleased if I can just limp on with a post every now and again. 

Six on Saturday - 19th August 2023

Remembering mum

Nine years ago today, mum passed away. It is partly through her that I gained my love of gardening, and her legacy funded the hard landscaping and fencing in ours, so this post is dedicated to her memory and to the daily pleasure and theraputic uplift that the garden gives me. For a walk around, hop over to the video that we made during the 2020 lockdown. 

It has been eight weeks since my last post during which the garden has become a veritable jungle. Having had the swealtering heat of June, we've since had a warm and wet July, and a slightly less wet August. Out there in the jungle are three prolific courgette plants. My first sowing of seeds came to nought. Four seedlings emerged from the second sowing, three of which I planted. I'm now picking the fruits when they are young although there was the hillarious moment when I found a "hider" which weighed in at nearly 800g! I'm currently picking three or four each day and they are variously feeding us, neighbours, and garden club members. Then there are the bees. The garden is absolutely alive with them at the moment, particularly on the lavender and salvias. They come in so many different patterns, sizes and degrees of fluffiness!

Anyhow, on to this week's six planty things going on in our little haven here in south east London: 

One: Rosa Gentle Hermione

Hermione has responded to pruning after the first flowering with a second flush. The scent is utterly heavenly and it is liked by the bees. 

Two: Geranium Rozanne

Another bee magnet, and a fantastically long flowering plant. It does wilt somewhat in the heat, but has been very well behaved during July and August. 

Three: Clematis "Princess Diana"

Diana does well in the shade although I've probably not been feeding her enough. I don't recall getting around to pruning her last year so it is a wonder that there are any flowers this year!   

Four: Canna tropicanna black

I thought this one was a complete gonner. I'd rescued the pot and put it inside a greenhouse when we had the plummeting temperatures last december. Happily, whilst the outer rhizomes did not survive the sub zero temperatures, the centrall one did and here it is putting on a really grand show.   

Five: Clematis viticella (probably)

I've mislaid the label to this clematis which I only acquired earlier in the summer. It is possibly Viticella and has been slow to get going. I've planted it so that it can clamber over an arch.  

Six: Augergine "moneymaker"

This is my first year growing aubergines. I've grown some long ones from seed and this one, moneymaker, came from a generous neighbour. All are doing exceptionally well and I anticipate searching "1001 things to do with a glut of aubergines" to replace the current courgette search.   

This is my latest in the #SixOnSaturday, a series inspired by The Propagator and currently being championed over at Garden Ruminations. Check out the participant guide here. I aspire to be as disciplined, creative and inspiring as them but for now, I'll remain pleased if I can just limp on with a post every now and again.   

Six on Saturday - 16th October 2021

Repeat flowering and seed saving

Well, it's a dreich old Saturday morning here in south east London. The rain is soft and gentle, the best sort for watering the garden but not so great for ticking off my long list of things to do out there. There's nothing for it than to get on with my thirteenth #SixOnSaturday post, six things going on in the garden this week and inspired by The Propagator. I'm doing so from a seat looking out onto the garden where the annual comedy act that is the pigeons attempting to wrestle the berries from the virginia creeper is playing out. 

1) Geranium sanguineum var. striatum

This dainty geranium has produced another flush of pretty pink flowers. I like its slighly more compact habit, and the dark, grey-tinged leaves.   

2) Rosa "climbing iceberg"

This is possibly the third flush of flowers from this rose. It has responded well to pruning and tying in horizontally so I'll be doing more of that next year in the hope that it will finally cover the trellis behind it, giving me a scented wall of creamy white flowers in the process.

3) Cosmos

I have this cosmos courtesy of a plant swap session at one of our local gardening club meetings earlier in the year. It has taken absolutely ages to come into its own and now has a profusion of tight buds, a few of which are finally starting to open up. I'm hoping they all bloom before the frost comes. In case you are wondering, no, that isn't a cosmos leaf in the background, it is that of a Japanese anenome which is in the same pot. 

4) Geranium Rozanne ("Gerwat")

This is my first year growing Rozanne and it has delivered brilliantly on the promised "long flowering" front and is still going strong having first burst onto the scene in May. I have one plant growing alongside and through a Euphorbia characias "silver edge", just visible in the LHS of the image. The two work really well together highlighting a common bluey-grey tinge.    

5) Cucumber

I think my cucumber growing days are probably over, certainly if I don't end up getting a greenhouse. I grew two types this year and with seven plants I have had precicely five cucumbers. The one pictured here was one of two from some seeds from my next door neighbour - he'd ordered a self-polinating variety having had little success the previous year. Despite masses of flowers, only two have turned into fruit. This one was picked last weekend.  

6) Morning glory - seeds for next year

I grew Morning Glory for the first time last year as a result of a seed swap amongst our local gardening club members. I was thrilled with the results and saved lots of seeds which I planted up this year. They've done wonderfully again, so I'm harvesting the seeds for next year, and for friends. This is where I think those little dessicant packages that come with lateral flow testing kits might come in useful as I'm hoping they'll capture any moisture in the seeds. As well as the saved seeds, they actually also grew well self-seeded.    

The rain is easing now and I'm hoping to get out to put some wood preserver on the the wood that has been cut for the next pallet project - another planter.

That's all for this week. Check out the participant guide if you want to join in.