Oh, dear! The heatwave has brought out some home truths, quite uncomfortable ones! It will pass and the heart will rein!
How are you,
@Mark56 ? The heat has change my routine. Housework will start at 5pm! Even that will be too hot. And
@Upsy Daisy is having another BBQ!
I reckon the foods will cook themselves in this searing heat!
Read this
What are secret garden couple's top 10 gardening tips?
1. Feed the Hostas with liquid seaweed fertiliser. It gives you enormous leaves almost a foot across.
2. Slugs start early in February or March. Use the blue pellets to kill the slugs – you have to get to them before they start breeding. The time of year they start breeding is usually early spring so you need to get in there before and put the pellets out.
3. Put gravel around your plants, in particular sharp gravel. Go out at night to pick the slugs off from the gravel and throw them in a bucket of salty water.
4. Plant very densely, so there’s no room for weeds. You must not be able to see any bare earth in between the plants. You need to have them close enough so the different plants knit together.
5. Keep dead heading in the summer. Most herbaceous plants will keep flowering if you dead head them. If you cut off the flower as it’s dying before the plant develops its seeds, the plant will put its energy into developing more flowers so it keeps flowering.
6. Watering is very important. We’ve put in a system where we collect the water off the roof, it runs into big tanks. You then have leaky hoses running out of the tanks down the boarders, this reduces the amount of watering you have to do, and the plants also prefer rainwater.
7. Encourage the bees – their numbers are dwindling all the time. You need to plant Astrantia, which makes it easy for bees to get in and get the pollen. Any kind of open flower such as Cirsium or Rambler roses will do.
8. Never throw away a plant that looks sorry for itself – pot it up and love it. Give it plenty of compost and don’t give up on it.
9. Have lots of cups of tea. There’s so much a cake in our house – toffee and walnut and lemon drizzle are particular favourites.
10. Enjoy and love your garden. I love gardening because it takes you out of the business of the world and into something that’s quiet, calm, green and gentle.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...nsforming-backyard-magical-secret-garden.html
Think they featured in one of GW episodes. Not keen on those shells ..
So Blue SS pellets start at February or March! I think I will go for plastic flowers - no need to water!
@johnny canoe is lucky enough to have rain .. What does that word mean?
.......pics and produces 