In case anyone reads this, here is a follow up to some of the things happening earlier in the year. The wonderful Sarah left at the end of April having found something else many miles away which would give her some training in chain-saw use and wild flower identification, land management and so on with the NT. Oh how I miss her.

I seem to have had another bad batch of compost, many plants not rooting well and then getting over watered because I hadn’t realised that the roots weren’t developing. The rep (different company) took samples and said the results showed there was nothing wrong with the compost. There’s clearly something wrong but I haven’t got the science background and am not sure what to do about this. Agapanthus and Dierama aren’t flowering as a result of something at fault and these two plants only sell when in flower.

The rabbit problem is noticeably worse this year. All new plants have to have guards put round them when planted. Plants in the sales area have mostly been lifted off the ground onto makeshift benches out of reach of indiscriminate chomping. The humane rabbit trap has been completely unsuccessful.

In spite of rabbits and the compost issue, there is a goodly amount of plants for sale including lots of new salvias which have gorgeously rich colours and a new (to me) verbena. There has been some very good sales so far this year. Right now I’m trying to focus on the first coach group visit from Holland which is on 21st of this month. As well as trying to get all the weeds out(unlikely) and more plants planted, there will be cakes to make.

Higgledy Ben has sown his seed in what appears to be yet another batch of bad compost, they germinated quickly and looked very promising and then stopped growing and started to turn yellow. Some have been re-potted and a liquid feed is being applied. They are beginning to grow again, thankfully. There are quite a few stories from various people who have had a similar tale to tell but they tend to blame themselves/the weather/the watering rather than make a complaint to the manufacturer.

As always, the weather is misbehaving itself. Too hot and dry for too long at the wrong time of year and now too wet and windy and cold, it is mid June for goodness sake. A little more moderation is required.

The garden is open every weekend for the NGS and we’ve had quite a lot of visitors already. I think the garden is at its’ best in late summer so August/September time is when all the grasses are looking good and the late summer flowers are making the garden very colourful.

Come and see.

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