by Janis on 26th July 2024 / 0 comments
We’ve been off galivanting
Well, I have to confess now that we have been quite busy this month; however, it has not been in the garden; we have been travelling to enhance our sister website, Our World for You. So, our garden is in need of a little TLC.
We headed to the West Country in the UK, and we also embarked upon road trip around Normandy in northwest France.
But the good news is the weather has perked up in the southeast of the UK, and the irrigation system that Gary installed a couple of years ago has worked a treat.
As I mentioned last month, we were off to visit the beautiful cities of Wells in Somerset and Salisbury in Wiltshire, thankfully as the weather held out we also managed to visit the National Trust sites of Stourhead, Mottisfont and Mompesson House.
Pinterest?
Why not Pin it for later?
Stourhead
What we’ve been up to in July
In the garden and on the websiteOur patio planters and pots are looking vibrant and beautiful, so it was certainly worth the effort we made in Spring. The bedding plants we purchased from the local charity garden centre, Spadework are coming on leaps and bounds.
Blooming patio
I’ve managed to get some weeding done; however, it needs a lot more work and we’ve also pruned back some of our shrubs. Our bay tree was becoming a little unruly, so that got a bit of a haircut.
Now that the nesting season has more or less finished, we can prune some others.
Scotch Bonnet Chilli
A cayenne chilli
Our chilli plants are looking good especially the Scotch Bonnet and Cayenne ‘Hot Lemon’. I can’t wait to try some of these in our cooking. What I particularly like about chillies is that they can easily be frozen, so we can use them over the winter months.
Achievements for July
Let’s keep ticking those boxesI can honestly hold my hands up and say, we needed to have achieved more in July, time ran away with us as we were away for two separate weeks.
Mixed planting
We did manage to get some pruning and weeding done; however, those weeds keep coming back. We appear to have an influx of bindweed which wraps itself around everything.
The hedge trimmer has now had some use, and we have trimmed back some of the shrub hedges and yew trees.
Sitting out on the patio listening to the birdsong in the sunshine and enjoying a cheeky beer is still such a pleasure.
So, let’s see what we’ve managed to tick off for July.
Continued to nurture our tomato plants and feed them.
More weeding in the main cottage garden.
Pruned our bushier garden shrubs.
Trying to control the black spot on our roses.
Lessons learnt & mistakes made
You live and learnI love to see delicate summer climbing plants on our patio; however, I haven’t been very successful this year, with growing my own and buying some.
I grew some Canary creeper from seed, of which only two survived out of six or eight; my pink Morning Glory has fared better but could be fuller in growth.
Then there’s the Black-eyed Susie, which I purchased. They have been really struggling, and I bought five of them.
I’ll have to have another plan for next year.
Our plans for the coming month
What’s on your to-do list?Nurture and feed my flourishing tomato plants.
Tidy up the front garden.
Trim the hedges in the front garden.
Tackle the raised bed area of our garden.
Continue to control the black spot on our roses.
Weed the driveway.
Continue to monitor our garden tasks on the RHS Planner; this online tool is so handy.
Continue clearing weeds and unwanted planting in the Cottage Garden section.
Decided on the planting for our two front garden beds
Prune unruly shrubs in the secret garden.
Summer colours looking autumnal
Please let us know what you have planned in your garden this month; we’d love to know.
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