June

 Well, June hasn't started in a very warm way. Last week's heat has been replaced with drizzly dampness - good for the garden no doubt.

The flower borders are filled to overflowing right now - and the last couple of days of dampness seem to have intensified colours.

 There are new oriental poppies this year - though I'm a little disappointed as I was hoping for plum shades but have more orangey-red ones and strange pale peach.

the rhubarb is growing well......

...and I have a cold-frame full of lettuce








                                                                                   

the snowball tree is looking marvellous this year 

and everywhere there are wonderful foxgloves .......



hanging over the path...
















guarding the greenhouse....

 climbing through the vine...

and I even have a white one again after many years - as all of them are self-set, there's no way to know their colours before flowering time.

Back garden - organised chaos

 Meanwhile, the back garden is not looking so restrained.

No single colour scheme here, accidental or otherwise, but a riot of  yellow and scarlet poppies, aquilegias in every shade from palest pink to deep purple, purple alliums, peonies, lilacs

the only white flowers are the snowballs on the tree!

The White Garden

The front garden is accidentally white at the moment - white lilacs, rowan flowers behind and snow in summer underneath, even the aquilegias are palest pink this year. It doesn't normally work out like this - there are giant red poppies and purple/blue geraniums ready to flower anytime soon and the whole feel of this small section of garden will change completely.

Extreme Weather

A fortnight ago, we were forecast night-time temperatures of 1c - I don't know if they really dropped that low but I was taking no chances with my just-planted-out-in-greenhouse cucumber so added a layer of cardboard to the fleece for insulation.

This time last week we had heavy downpours and hail, and the baby peppers were still having to be molly-coddled with overnight temperatures down to 4 degrees.

This week temperatures have soared. It is hot! 26 or so in the afternoon and too hot to think!

I'm having to leave the greenhouse door open to keep it cool and even so the plants are keeling over during the daytime.

Next week? Who knows?

Plotting and planning

Chatsworth Gardener's Hut

 While we were out recently at Chatsworth I was wondering about ways to make my veg patch as attractive as theirs.

 Meanwhile on my smaller plot, I'm wondering which veg are pretty enough to stray into the flower beds - rocket, maybe?

or american land cress with its bright yellow flowers?














 The flowers are managing, as always, to colonise the veg patch.
 I think forget-me-nots growing through the rhubarb look very pretty so they'll be left alone.

...and today's surplus is....

Having eaten far more purple broccoli than anyone could ever want we're now inundated with cauliflower. I've picked 4 this week, all at the point of bursting. At least, if things come to the worst, I can freeze them.

Just When I thought it was safe to go in the garden......

 .....there's more purple broccoli.

I'm hoping to be able to clear the plants out soon but not until they've finished cropping.

I have decided that they look attractive enough to grow some next year in among flowers.

 Anyway, we also have a slight variation in our diet - a lovely mix of red and green salad leaves

 and some rather small cauliflowers