A scorching dry August

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A very hot and extremely dry month. So little rain and some blinding hot days. I bought myself a Hoselock mini hose and laid the heavier, older Homebase hose along to the end of the garden so the camellias can bud up and for the blackberries, the hose stays in place. Too much now to water them with a butt bucket, as I used to do. The hoselock mini hose goes the length of the patio and half way across the lawn. The grasses have done well in the border, and I intend to continue to remove some plants and put grasses instead. I get out early and do what i have to do, then have my breakfast. Sort out the old fella, who is now 86. He has bought me a ‘sit and rest shopper’, as dragging stuff can give me backache. It’s nice to think I can sit down if want to rest, and push it rather then dragging a trolley.

This ?encomis or pineapple lily has done wonders this year. It has about fifteen blooms and they last all summer from a late start. The big old pot is split from tipping over in a gale. i can’t move it as too heavy and fragile. It seems to like being where it is. The original repair has not lasted. There is a very persistent self seeded lavender fighting to stay in the middle of these ancient bulbs.

Poor old Crinum lily hates the powerful sun. It has 2 two litre upended bottles concealed in the foliage but it has struggled in august with the extreme heat on the patio.

Here is my poor Tiarella Sugar and Spice, a marvellous plant that has survived the hot summer very well. they are so vulnerable in pots. I know they do well in the ground for years on end sometimes and even spread and bloom well. I see two sites near here where they are thriving and been in their neglected sites a long time. I have a spare in a tall pot. Grown from nothing and doing really well.

The big pots of geraniums on the patio under the canopy were looking so sorry for themselves, as well as their friend the fuchsia, half way through the scorching heat. I left my new mini hose plugged in to the tap and administered 3 shots per day, as butts empty by now, and they sighed with relief and enjoyed the miracalgro, and bloomed like bilio all over again.

This is my spare Sugar and Spice Tiarella. Now I have a potential for a whole lot of sugar and spices to plant in the soil instead of grasses! Worth a try. Flowers are lovely and last a long time.

The thornless blackberry produced several long runners with those ‘feelers’ that root at the end if they get a chance. So i arched them over the path and let them delve into the bushes. This means i can remove all the old canes soon, as there were no new ones last year, as it was so dry. Now I have my new watering sceme in place they have grown well. My blackberries seem to part blanch in very hot weather and drop very quickly.

These are the berries this year. Not so good as last year, but they taste nice, as the sun sweetens them up.

Finally OH bought me this Walk, sit and shop cart for my birthday, not yet reached. Tried it out. Sat in the chemist while I waited and later to tie a shoelace up. I think dragging a loaded trolley tired my back muscles. Pushing a 4 wheel cart seems less effort to me. I do most of my weekly shop on the net, so do not need big capacity. Put a different bag in the cart and i could use it in the garden!

• 6 Sep, 2016
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