Monday 14 May 2012

Cutting back.

After the landscape of Lanzarote we returned to such an astonishing display of growth and greenery.
And the bluebells are out!
I have blue in my garden
but my bluebells are pink!
Things are romping away in the herbaceous borders, especially that horribly invasive weed, ground elder. 


We are busy cutting back growth from the house walls. It's important to do this in order to keep those pesky squirrels from setting up home in the roof space. The other day I pulled up an upstairs blind and found a squirrel clinging on to the centre bar of the window - nearly there but, luckily not quite.
Job done
and the branches added to the bonfire heap.

May in the vegetable garden and hardly anything is planted.
(It's raining.)
The strawberry bed is out of control, but the plants don't seem to mind.

18 comments:

  1. Even the over growth is beautiful. I love the peony just starting to bloom. The strawberries look very happy. LOL, the image in my mind of the squirrel made me laugh.
    Karen

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    1. I was amazed at the sight of the squirrel looking in at me, I don't know which of us was the more surprised!

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  2. Cutting back growth is the worst part of gardening, as it is never ending.

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    1. Himself does most of the cutting back and it is always a satisfying task to have completed.

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  3. What a beautiful garden it looks so "English"!

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    1. Thank you, John. Yes it is a very traditional style English garden with herbaceous borders, fruit and veg. My lawn, however does not come up to scratch - dog pee, moss, dandelions and daisies combine to make it a disgrace!

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  4. It's so impressive and I am amazed at how vast the garden is!
    I have very similar plants but in a smaller city lot.
    Boy it's hot here we are having a bit of a heat wave at last!

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    1. I think the camera may be making the garden look bigger than it is. My next post will give you a better idea of the layout.
      A heat wave, we should be so lucky, - enjoy!

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  5. rosemary your garden is just spectacular. i know i've asked before, but how big is it? there is so much work to do in our garden but i've got really bad hayfever right now. 2nd yr in a row. it's awful to have perfect weather, lots of energy and have to sit and watch things get out of control! it's torture.

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    1. So sorry to hear about your hay fever, Janet, I hope it will soon be over. I used to get it as a child, but for no longer than a couple of days a year. Those days were a nightmare of continually streaming eyes and nose - not a pretty sight!
      I'm doing my next posting for you so that you can better visualize my garden plot. Rx.

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  6. It's good to see everything looking green and lush again. We have an ongoing battle with ground elder too, horrid stuff! xx

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    1. All this rain has certainly made the countryside a fantastic sea of greenery. The new, soft leaves are beautiful, even those of the ground elder! If it wasn't such a greedy strangling plant I would be tempted to leave it be. (But I'm busy yanking it out while the soil is moist.)

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  7. I love the sheer amount of green this month, the garden is overflowing with growth, it's just a shame the opportunities to enjoy it between showers are so few and far between.

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    1. Dear Lilac in May, my white lilac is blooming, very lovely. And it hasn't rained, I've spent the whole day in the garden!

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  8. I would love to have your vegetable garden. Everything looks lush and green, having the same sort of weather here.

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    1. Hello there, Doc. There is a lot of catching up to be done in the veg. garden this year, it is usually all planted up and growing away by now. Only the spuds and onions are looking happy at the moment.

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  9. You have such a beautiful garden Rosemary, even the ground elder doesn't look out of place (although I know what a pain it can be!) The lawn appears to have recovered well from the earlier scarifying. Thanks for the lovely tour.

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  10. I know we have been moaning about the rain this spring but hasn't it just made a difference to the growth in the borders. Mine have never seemed so full - there isn't a scrap of earth to be seen anywhere.

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