BLOOMING GARDEN

The wet summer has so far resulted in lots of greenery, but not much in the way of other colours.

Over the last couple of weeks my garden has started to be full of vibrant colours from a wide variety of plants.

The numerous poppy, sunflower and rudbeckia plants are in full bloom and along with the gladiola and smaller flowers, are providing a colourful display.

There has been lots of bees making use of the pollen which is good news as the decline of food giving plants for the bees is a serious problem, especially for pollination of our food and crops.

I'm not sure if any of my sunflowers will reach over 10ft this year, but one or two might surprise me.

The tomatoes and pepper plants are going well and starting to show fruit, though how many will make it through the full growth is unknown.

I'm hoping to see my first red tomato by the end of July, especially as some of the pants I gave away to friends and family are already bearing fruit!

The birds are starting to come back into the garden and I've started hearing the warning calls again of the great tit and seen some young blue tits.

This weekend I've seen some fledgling robin chicks around the garden and along with the blackbirds, they are making use of the worms and other insects.

One thing I have noticed is the tree and house sparrows are not visiting in the same numbers, which I think is down to the chicks in nearby nests fledging and the parents showing them the neighbourhood while moulting themselves.

The swallows are increasing in number as youngsters fledge and join parents for formation flying to catch insects.

The wet weather is providing the swallows with a glut of food, when it stops and the sun warms up the air enough for the insects to take flight.

I'm hoping to have some more pics next week as I'm currently typing with one hand due to an injection into my elbow to help cure a long standing injury, so taking pics and writing with one hand isn't easy and it's taken me a while to complete this post!

A WEEK IN THE LIFE OF THE GARDEN

Before I went on holiday for a week with the family, I took images of the garden from all four angles to see how much it would grow in seven days, at the height of summer.

I’ve done it because this unusually wet and fairly humid growing season has given plenty of healthy growing flora, but not given us much chance to enjoy it, apart from glimpses through a window as we shelter from the rain!

The first angle is towards the front of the house and the beautiful hanging baskets that Sarah creates every year. This year they were put together a couple of weeks late due to the weather, but they’ll still be great throughout the next couple of months.

As you can see from the first image they are growing well and the sunflower is growing well. The tomato plants of the right and left of the image had flowers so I was hoping for little green fruit upon my return.

As you can see from the image below, the sunflower has grown and started to show its flower, the wall climbing plant is providing even more shelter for small bugs and insects, which in turn is attracting the returning post-moult small birds and the hanging baskets are growing well.

The rose bush, which was showing flowers when we left for the holiday, has taken a couple of years to grow to its current state and plenty of pruning at most times of the year.

It provides a haven for the small birds that visit the garden to shelter from both weather and danger, while also feeding on food gathered from my offerings, or that of the garden itself.

As you can see from the image below, some of the flowers have faded, but others are coming to replace them. The most notable difference is the lawn, which has a carpet of daisies, perfect for small insects.

As my daughter started to wander around the garden I decided to slowly fill in the small pond and grow from seed, plants to fill the gap in the rockery.

The result is a sea of colour and a micro wildlife haven, with plenty of insects making it home. The good news is the pond lining is still there, so it can be resurrected in the future.

As you can see from the image below, the lawn has again shown it's growing power in the wet conditions, while the changing colours of the flowering plants is proving to be a great place for nectar hunting insects and bees. I planted most of the current flowers as seeds in March, so it's great to see that work coming to fruition.

Earlier this year I drastically trimmed the honeysuckle bush as it was mainly dead branches and I wanted the bush to provide shelter but not overhang the patio.

At first I thought the bush wasn’t responding positively to the trim, but slowly it began to show new shoots and green leaves. It had grown into what I imagined before we went away and would provide a great place for insects and birds to watch the garden.

But as you can see it had come back to life before the Cornwall holiday and I was making sure it created a thin, but sheltering hedge, rather than the overhanging shaded area it did before.

As you can see from the image below the honeysuckle has grown even further to start start shaping up to what I envisaged it to be when I cut it right back this spring.

At the front of the garden the entrance gate has sunflowers each side of it, while a couple of tomato plants and small hedge bushes were planted a couple of years ago to make a barrier combined with the fence.

The sunflowers provide autumn food for some birds, while the fence helps provide a security from local cats.

It is now turning into a great entrance to the garden, while also providing shelter and food for wildlife, plus food for us.

The sunflowers are growing well, albeit not at the same rate!