And We Got To Get Ourselves Back To The Garden

Has it really been a week since I last posted! Doesn't time fly when you're having fun? In addition to days (and nights) out with friends, shopping, swimming, Wetherspoon's all-dayers, basking in the sun, visiting the cinema (it's Wes Anderson season!), cat wrangling and general hedonism, we've been doing work stuff, too.... 

What on earth's that looming in the background? That'll be our 4m x 6m British-made Gala Tent aka Kinky Melon's Retro Boutique. It's that time of year again, when we're constantly toing and froing between sheds, scribbling to-do lists, ironing, labelling and running repairs in readiness for our first festival of the season - and the world's biggest - Glastonbury 2023. Two weeks today and that tent will be pitched at Worthy Farm in our usual spot, directly opposite the bandstand on William's Green. If you're going to Glasto do come in and say hello!

When we got home from Halkidiki a fortnight ago, we discovered the garden resplendent in her Spring finery with cloud-like pillows of frothy white cow parsley punctuated with the jewel-like tones of fox-and-cubs and Welsh poppies.  

After being absent from our garden for several years the columbine (Granny's Bonnets) are back with a avengeance, adding welcome splashes of violet, pink and white to the verdant backdrop of ferns, laurel and ivy.

The wildflower meadow we planted outside the gates during lockdown brings joy to passers-by. Hurry up, Thomas! I heard a mother chiding her son on the way home from school on Friday. I'm looking at these lovely wildflowers, they're helping the bees, he told her.

Our Oriental Poppies have been magnificent this year. Every morning I'll discover another shrugging off its furry cap revealed the creased silk of its inner.

Good things come to those who wait - I've been lusting after this dress for three years - it finally popped up on eBay last weekend!

The pond is full of tadpoles, overlooked by the Arts and Crafts stone maiden, liberated from the undergrowth at my parental home.

I've been playing plant pot Jenga, squeezing in more geraniums, nasturtiums and Sweet William and planting our ever growing collection of succulents into anything I find lying around - steel colanders, copper kettles, enamel teapots, galvanised watering cans....if it's got a hole in it, I'll stick a plant in it.

I'm sure William was a dog in a past life, he's always at my heel.

We thought the Mexican Fleabane had become a frost casualty but she's back, bigger and better than ever.

My solitary foxglove rescued from the B&Q clearance shelf back in 2021 has been busy, there's now twelve of them.

Long time advocates of No Mow May, our lawn had its first cut of the year last week in readiness for the Kinky tent and other than a strip leading up to the compost heap at the top of the garden won't be touched again.

Welsh poppies aren't just pretty, they're an essential when you've got a tortoise. Jacob munches his way through heaps of them.

Check out my stumpery! Created on a wet Bank Holiday weekend a couple of months ago, its already looking like its been here for years.

Other than errant brambles and bindweed (another of Jacob's favourites), I don't believe in weeding, isn't a weed is just a plant growing in the wrong place?

Soon these alliums & poppies will die back and be replaced by my beloved Agapanthus and then I'll know that Summer is really here.

My Nepeta brings all the boys to my yard - this catnip plant is responsible for bringing William to our door - and for many a stoned cat seen staggering out of the garden gates.

I bought this Geranium Little Monster for the name and was thrilled when I discovered how gloriously vibrant the flowers were. 

Those sunflowers (in the pots on the tabe) have shot up in the last couple of days, I'll pop them in the borders this week.

Tracey, who used to blog HERE kindly sent me these irises a few years ago, it's the first time they've bloomed and they're absolutely stunning 

Iris albicans (also known as the Cemetery Iris due to it traditionally being planted on graves in Muslim regions) has been around since ancient times and is believed to be the oldest iris in cultivation. It appears in a wall painting of the Botanical Garden of Tuthmosis III in the Temple of Amun at Karnak in Ancient Thebes dated around 1426 BC. 

Right, that's playtime over. I'm off to label 1000 vintage garments. I may be some time!