 |
In
the merry merry month of May
I hope to be
playing out each day
But sadly it is
often wet
So I don't get
my waaaaaaay!
(Click on any picture to see a bigger
image, click "back" on your browser to return here) |
| Come
for a walk around my garden!
May is
a transitional month in most English gardens. The spring
bulbs and early flowers are fading fast and have to be removed
to make way for the summer stuff.
One of the worst
jobs for me is removing the forget-me-nots, always before
they've finished flowering. But leave them in, and you are
faced with a blank space in mid June when it's hard to get
anything established.
At the start of
May though they are a picture to behold! |
|
|
|
This
year (2000) the month started out very dry and got progressively
wetter and perhaps colder as it went on. No frost though -
in fact our last frost this year was, I think, 6 April.
Delightfully the
lack of frost gave my dicentras the chance to flourish at
last. They usually bud too early and are severely knocked
back by a late cold snap. |
| It
was a good year too for the frogs, which spawned early and the
spawn didn't get frozen solid. That meant that the parent
frogs were ready to get out of the pond and do their grub eating
work early in the year.
Here they are
basking in the sunlight at the edge of the pond. They
drape themselves several deep right the way along this shallow
bank. How they don't suffocate I don't know! |
|
|
|
I
like to take a good look at the pond now, because with every day
that passes it grows smaller as the plants on either side grow
in towards the centre. I think if anyone had told me how
much work clearing ponds was, I might never have put it
in.
There is a small
nursery pond underneath the peony, where hopefully I will be
able to raise any baby fish that I spot in the main pond.
Fish eat their own babies and need to be moved to a place of
safety quickly! Please ignore the dock - it's gone...
honest! |
| What
would May be without sweet rocket (the white stuff in the
middle)? At the front of the border are some of the small
geraniums that grow all over my garden (they look blue but are
purple - my camera needs attention!), and more
forget-me-nots. Immediately to the front of the sweet
rocket is a red dicentra. Behind, growing up the frame is
clematis tangutica and dotted around are oriental poppies.
Pink and at the back is aquilega. With the exception of
the clematis and dicentra all of these plants have sown
themselves. I like it "wild"! |
|
| Let's
go for a wander now. Round the side of the house it is
again pretty much wild. Yellow corydalis grows through the
cracks in the paving stones! In the middle is a pot which
used to contain primroses and has now been colonised by valerian
and the cranesbill like geraniums. Towards the end is a
pot of red/pink pelargoniums which I grew quite deliberately! |
|
|
|
In
the front is a nice shady spot where the dititalis (foxgloves)
are thriving, despite NTL having dug them up to lay the cable
line in March! That tall one was 6 foot 6 inches last
weekend and is still growing!
The wretched
leylandii hedge continues to thrive ... siiiiigh! |
| On
the way to the allotment we'll pop by Maggie's place next door
but one. She has a passion for clematis!
On the left is
Edith, looking lovely this year! Top right is Dr Ruppel
and beneath him is the lovely Naomi. Clematis wilt is rife
this year, thought I'd better get some pics while the going's
good! |
|
|
|
OK,
now over the road to the allotment. I know it's not
brilliant, but I have dug it over and it only took me 3 months
this year! The "tardis" has made it through
another winter, but I really must give it a coat of something!
Virtually
everything is in though you can't see much yet, just a few late
tomatoes, peppers and courgettes to go. Yippee, now I can
spend the next six months watering and weeding! |
