Six On Saturday: Returning friends and small beginnings

/ n20gardener

I hope I’ve said this before because it needs to be said.  Thank you to  the Prop   for starting up this meme and for keeping us all in order.  There’s much to be gained from taking a look at all the posts that are contributed and there is a lovely supply of help and support on offer, so take a moment to stop by.  Thanks to everyone last week who pointed me in the direction of gauras and pennisetums.  I always thought that grasses were not for my garden but now I think I have the perfect place for them.  Time to move on to this week’s six:

One

IMG_2877.JPGCutting back plants after flowering really can work.  The alchemilla mollis which were sheared to the ground have come through again and at this time of year they look beautiful with their dressing of early morning dew.

Two

IMG_2884This is Geranium ‘Brookside’.  It roamed through the garden in early summer, knowing no boundaries and so cutting it back when it finished flowering caused me no stress.  The plant needed to be tidied up.  This week I noticed it was flowering again.

Three

IMG_2878Also starting up again are the seedlings of Nigella, love in a mist.  I have a carpet of them which I should probably be thinning out and sharing around the garden.  But I might just leave them all here to keep the weeds down and see how they come through next year.

Four

img_2879.jpgIn the greenhouse I have managed to keep a tray of foxgloves and echinacea pallida seedlings alive and it looks like some potting on needs to be done.  Temperatures are on the up next week so they I hope they will put on some good growth once moved into a pot.

Five

IMG_2880Encouraged by the good example of others I decided to try some winter vegetables. I rescued a tray of rainbow chard and perpetual spinach from certain death and planted them out a few weeks ago.  The pesky slugs made straight for them but they have pulled through and growth looks good.

Six

IMG_2881Last November I planted out bare root roses in a new border and Darcy Bussell is still flowering.  I am impatiently waiting for the roses to become fully established but even in the first year the flowers have been rewarding.

I hope your garden or allotment is rewarding you and that we all manage to find a moment this weekend to appreciate them.

21 thoughts on “Six On Saturday: Returning friends and small beginnings”

  2. Great photos! Even the tender leaves of your vegetables look appetizing …. My nigellas look like yours and I keep them tight, which gives a nice blue carpet during flowering (and I don’t know if they could easily be moved and transplanted …)

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  3. Did you grow your echinachea from your own seeds? I’ve never been able to do that. That rose photo is gorgeous. What’s the blue in the background? It gives such a touch of depth to the photo.

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    • The ones in the tray are from a packet of seed. I think they came free with a magazine. Sowing from seed is still a learning curve for me. Never know why some work! The blue in the back is a short Veronica if I remember rightly. It’s a good colour.

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  4. Damn! Fred said “great photos” first so I’ll go for “lovely” if that’s OK. 😉 Darcy looks good for this time of the year. Don’t know why but only two of my eleven large roses flowered this year. Yet I plan on getting more roses for next year. I live in hope. And thanks for reminding me that I forgot to sow foxglove seeds.. Off to hunt for seedlings ……..

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    • Thank you, Brookside does roam around but it was the look I wanted so I was pleased with it and cutting it back really worked well. This new garden is helping me be less neglectful. It needed restocking so I am out there a lot!

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  6. That chard looks like a beet. I suppose they are nearly the same. I can not get too many beets. They are best pickled! I am still not sure what to do with chard. I just cook it like spinach. I do not like it much fresh.

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  7. I’ve recently bought quite a lot of seed varieties, but it seems that even with following instructions to the letter, I’m not very good at getting them to germinate. So I sprinkled my Nigella seeds around the garden and they haven’t come up either…sigh. The Alchemilla’s leaves with the dew on them are very pretty.

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    • I sowed nigella seeds last year in a tray that I kept in the gh through winter, potted them on, let them become a bit leggy! and finally planted them out. In the end about 7 plants made it into this spot and all these have come up of their own accord – and in all the hot dry weather we had here – maybe yours will come through in the next couple of weeks.

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  8. Lovely photos. That geranium is a wonderful colour, though the name of it has put the theme tune of a former Liverpool soap opera in my head. I’ve never tried growing echinachea from seed. I may give it a go.

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