My Dahlia showgirls...

I guess the title says it all! We started last year with a few PomPoms and now I'm addicted.  I dug up the bulbs and put them in pots in the green house over winter. They loved the early start and by the time they went in the soil they were big healthy plants.

 

                                   

I planted some new varieties but lost the names of them (apart from Fire Cracker which was one of my favourites. 

                                       

                                   

                                   

                                   

I planted them in the veg patch to make up for our crops being decimated by rabbits this year. If we're feeling grand we call it 'the Cutting Garden'! In reality its been the saviour of an otherwise disappointing year in the garden but rabbit news is for another day...

                                   

We've had an endless supply of flowers for the house and with a bit of deadheading they've had the longest season of anything in the garden. I was lucky enough to receive some gardening vouchers for my birthday and I'm already planning on blowing the lot on bulbs for a colourfest next year!

 

Pompom dahlias

We've just cut our first dahlia...


We've never grown the pompous before only admired them at flower shows. Admittedly a bouquet of them would be nice but one will do for now...



We need a bit of colour to see us through the grimness that appears to be our summertime...



At least we don't have to do any watering...

Showgirls and Giants...

This weekend the gardeners of Yorkahsire gathered en mass at the Harrogate Autumn Flower Show to celebrate the great and the gargantuan of garden produce. It was my first time visiting the show and after hearing tales of the the giant veg competitions I was looking forward to some treats, but nothing could have prepared me for the displays in the exhibitors tent...

Dahlias to die for..

Chrysanthemums the size of footballs...

And the Roses were just about as good as it gets...

the blooms were definitely the showgirls of the day, with every colour imaginable on display, puffed up, blousy and demanding attention. We loved it! and wandering from tent to tent in a Pimms induced state of bliss, we had no idea what the produce tent had in store for us as we quite literally went from the sublime to the ridiculous!

I quite literally have 'never seen anything like it in my life'! Row after row of trestle tables groaning under the weight of veg so gigantic you have to wonder how they got it there!

You've got to really like cabbage to grow these - lets face it you're going to be eating it for weeks!

I didnt know whether to gasp or giggle at these marrows - they were HUGE! We agreed they wouldn't look out of place with a dinosaur chomping on them!

And the onions! The onions were - staggering! This was the record breaker

Yep - thats right 17lb 15.5 oz That's definitely going to make someones eyes water!

All in all the show is a testament to peoples passion for growing things, everything from Delphiniums to Dragons Egg Cucumbers ( I bought some seeds so I'll be showing you them soon!). I loved seeing the individual growers by their stands, guarding their produce and glowing with pride, that feeling that we all have the first time we grow something that makes it to the table - its just that these guys have turned it into an art form! And striving for excellence is something we all share as gardeners whether we achieve it or not - I know I won't be alone in ending the growing season already planning for what i want to do differently and better next year. Im certainly planning a trip to the Spring next year to get me off to a head start...

A roof at last...

Finally, the roof is in place, the last bits of pointing have been done and the scaffolding is coming down a tier! At this rate we might let BH down to ground level tomorrow for Fathers Day! To be truthful he did finish cementing last Sunday, but then had to watch as the rains came and washed away all his hard work, we will laugh about it one day, but not for a while!

We've been cracking on a pace here and as usual there doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day. Veg are bolting, weeds are rampaging and everything and everyone is demanding more attention than usual.

The borders however are blooming marvellous...

What these pictures don't show, thank goodness, are the showstopping nettles just waiting to pounce and reclaim the land - they're everywhere!

But its not all work and no play, we might feel fit to drop by the end of the day but we cracked open the Pimms today, it is summer after all, and whilst it didn't quite revive us, it certainly made having a sit down more relaxing...

Why I love Chelsea ...part two

Chelsea flower is a ritual for us, an annual pilgrimage to the place where gardening dreams become reality, and a really good excuse for a top girly day out!

My highlights this year were the
The b and q garden with it's bug hotel...



Cleve Wests gorgeous best in show garden with it's inspired yellow and red planting...


Tom Hoblyns Cornish garden with it's fabulous dinosaur eggs, I mean pots...


And the beautiful Yorkshire art garden...


I also spied my dream car...


complete with picnic and radio- perfect!
We had a fabulous lunch, duck fritters with quails egg


Rump steak with all sorts of lovely stuff...


And a 'deconstructed' cheesecake - which apparently means not put together! Either way we wasted no time in deconstructing it further...



And of course there were the plants, so many plants! We did our best to resist all day but when the four o clock bell rang there really was no stopping us.

Thank heavens for black cabs...



now all I have to do is get them back to Yorkshire and get planting...

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Marvellous Magnolias...

The time has come this year to tackle our untamed beds and borders in the garden. Year 1 and 2 were all about getting the vegplot active, but now, after living in a building site for what seems like forever, I want something pretty!

The first flower bed we've tackled we actually started last year. It was full of conifers and a huge Ceanothus. I was quite attached to the Ceanothus as when it bloomed it was the striking blue and covered in bees and butterflies, but a hard winter saw it off and it gave us the courage to tackle the rest of the overgrown shrubs. in amongst these were three conifers and a eucalyptus oh and a dried up looking stick. The conifers and the Eucalyptus came out but I had a funny feeling about the stick due to one fossilised looking flower bud. The stick stayed.

And last year the stick grew, it grew other sticks, but on the whole it stayed pretty stickish. That was the end of the story until this spring when the stick burst into life and turned into a beautiful Magnolia.

Magnolias always remind me of North London as we would see the most amazing ones in very everyday places there, and at Easter time they're at there best. I never thought we could raise one in the wilds of the Wolds, so this one is extra special - I'm 'sticking'with it...

One perfect Iris...

On the last day of February, when the garden still looks to all intent and purposes like a muddy field, i drabness broken only by the the simple whites and yellows, I had to note this plucky little iris braving out the northern winds!

I want to bottle its blueness!

How I wish we grew fields of these. Whats the first sign of colour in your garden, which plants foretell the coming of spring for you?

Snowdrops,snowdrops everywhere...

We've been helping out at our local snowdrop walk at Thorpe Hall this weekend. The beauty of being a helper outer is that you get the walk all to yourself at the start of the day...and it was well worth it!




The snowdrops weren't the only showstoppers, aconites were popping out everywhere; the perfect companion to the simplicity of the white blooms.




I got there first thing on Friday so I got the official first sneak peek.I did my shift on the front gate in my fabbiest flowery wellies then made a dash for it before the rains came - good timing or what!

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All dug out...

I never want to see another foundation trench in my life - not ever, never, ever! We have dug and dug and dug some more - actually BH did most of the digging with a little help from his friends, but all the same, I do feel that we should strike oil or breakthrough to Oz or something at this rate!

After supplying enough tea to fill the trench I was allowed some time off for good behaviour so instead of lying down in a darkened room , which now sound really good, I got some weeding done at last. I swear my nettles are on magic hormone growth stimulant. they're taking over! I cleared an area of the border which was completely tangled with weeds and managed to get some of the plants which have been sitting waiting in the greenhouse into the ground - I know its late in the year but better than never as they say...

This was my first feelgood spot of the day. I love the blue of this Veronica...




but then I got the Hydrangea Lanarth White into the ground and that became my fave of the day, I cant wait till it fills out more, i've really developed a crush on white hydrangeas...




but then I managed to finish one of the knitting projects thats been sitting in my basket for ages. On their own these wrist warmers are pretty so so, but once my daughter got her hands on them they took on a life of their own and the feelgood factor was decided!



I've been promised a day off tomorrow, we'll see...