Summer Garden

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NOT mine.

My garden looks very new.  And slightly uncertain.

I took too long to plant- spent too little time caring for it.

And although my containers are looking rather nice, the garden

itself is not up for public display, yet.

But Saturday, I went to Ally’s garden and took a little tour.

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The garlic is looking fine!  She made some scape pesto last week

– although she hasn’t shared the recipe- I hear it was VERY good.

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Here we are admiring the bean tower- there are tiny little velvet beans

growing.

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The basil and nasturtiums are so happy!

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And the thyme was blooming!

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It was toe tappingingly tempting!!

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And the lavender was lush with blooms.

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So I picked some and made some lavender wands.

I think Allyson has better dirt than I do.

The secret to a good garden- timing and dirt.

15 thoughts on “Summer Garden

    • You know- I could rhapsodize about the beauty of dirt!
      My father used to sterilize the beds of dirt in the greenhouse with steam- and the smell was/is one of my clearest memories. We had a huge shredder that we’d shovel our planting ingredients into- peat moss, compost, garden dirt and sand in different amounts and there would be a small mountain of dirt there to fill our flower and vegetable packs with and then transport them to my mother’s transplanting table. Dirt is so very
      precious!

  1. To have a great garden you must start with good soil. Allyson has a beautiful garden. I love the changes she made this year.. I was very thankful that you were finally able to get your hands into some soil. Your pot of flowers look beautiful. Take some pictures of them.

  2. I forgot to mention how beautiful your wands are. You should show the lavender fish you knitted. They are lovely little fish.

    • I Love Corsican mint- it smells like chocolate mint to me!
      Unfortunately it doesn’t winter over well, here, so I treat it like an annual and didn’t plant any this year.
      I also love wooly thyme- it grows as close to the ground and fairly invites you to walk into it!

      • My Corsican mint survived one of the UK’s worst ever winters. We had a bit over a metre of snow pack for about 2 weeks, and it stays below 0c for weeks on end. I was sure that I would be waving goodbye to my mint, but surprise — it just recovered without my help and looks fabulous now. Could you possibly keep it over-wintered with a covering of hay or dried grass clipping?

        • I usually plant it in my moss and fern bed on the north side of the house, so it takes the worst of the elements- the Irish moss has weathered the last three winters there, but the Corsican mint only winters over where it has grown into the moss. The last couple of years, it hasn’t gotten that that far into the moss, so it doesn’t survive- even with a leaf mulch.
          I just had too late of a start with the wet spring and then being gone most of June- maybe next year! 🙂

  3. The only person who walks on the plants (and does other things to them, ahem) is Zeb of course, but I would love to wriggle my toes in a bed of thyme like that. Ally’s garden is lovely – thank you for sharing it with us.

    It is bucketing down rain here, so no chance of even pretending to think about gardening today and I think a piece of guttering has broken. Makes an interesting counterpoint splashing sound to the steady thrum of the rain on the roofs and the patio…

    The garden has suffered with the attention of two frisky woodpigeons this year, Brian’s constructions have got ever more elaborate in his attempts to exclude them from his little raised veg bed… They are too interested in his kohl rabi he says 😉

  4. Bucketing down rain would be nice for a short while- we have had high winds and short thunderstorms that do structural damage but result in small bursts of rain that seems to wash off rather than sink into the ground.
    We’ve been battling with chipmunks that dig under and eat root systems and yellow jackets that keep making nests in the ground next to my veg garden! Frank has been stung while watering and that makes me apt NOT to do the watering.

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