Friday Five: July Gardening

There has been sun and there has been rain this month.  July's garden continues to delight us.

The bees are also loving the flowers.  I'm enjoying the roses, the candy pink phlox, the orange crocosmia and the many marigolds that were planted out in the herbaceous borders and vegetable beds.  I was happy to see a stray frilly-petalled oriental poppy growing among the French bean plants in the veg plot.  How it got there I do not know, but I'm pleased to see it none-the-less.  

The tomatoes (different varieties) are growing in the covered yard, among the flowers in planters, in pots placed by a wall that gets more sunshine than other areas and a bush variety is in the raised beds in the vegetable plot.  The courgette flowers are pretty, the courgettes even better and versatile for cooking in different ways.  The broccoli is coming on nicely, one of the olive trees has developed fruit this year, the cucumbers, sweet peppers and the grape vines are growing in the covered area.  The grape vines are also being trained on wires along the drystone walls in the front and back gardens.  Thyme, oregano, mint, fennel and basil are my favourite herbs to grow. 

At the beginning of July Mr P was busy tidying up the cypress hedge by giving it a trim on top and at the back. He made a better path along the side by levelling the original blocks of stone and making them more secure in the ground. Taking a walk around the hedge on the new path I saw a huge bumble bee crawling through the cut cypress branches that had fallen on the ground. It's a reminder not to be too drastic with these maintenance jobs in the garden and to remember that all sorts of creatures live in the garden or visit for different purposes.

Mr P also made his home made wine from the grape juice bought recently.  It's a white Sauvignon Blanc.  The process doesn't need any extra bought sugar so it's a nice brand and economical to make and bottle. I like hearing the sound of the fermenting juice and seeing the bubbles in the outlet airlock tube.  

There's a lot to do in the garden at this time of the year whether it's re-arranging different areas to find space for more plants and then planting them out, maintenance jobs, watering the tomatoes and other plants in the covered yard and so on.  When the work for the day is done it's a pleasure to have some corners of the garden where we can sit and relax and then, of course, there's the herbs and vegetables waiting to be picked and used in an evening meal.

Whatever you're doing this weekend and in the coming week I hope all goes well for you.

A Sunday Afternoon Outing

With the weekend shopping our daughter brought us a beautiful bunch of roses and carnations along with stems of dried purple flower that I find useful because I can keep them for other arrangements.  When the roses have faded and died no doubt Mr P will be propagating from them to make more rose bushes in the garden.

The sunshine has returned! We will make the most of the good weather by being outside as much as possible.

Sundays are special. In the morning we watch a local church service online  This week the younger leaders took the service now that a few can be inside the church.  Other families participate from their homes via zoom. We get to see some of the participating families and their children each week. It's technically a challenge, but it's a blessing to be part of a local church community that's growing as new families arrive in the neighbourhood.  The local parish church is now open at limited times during the week for personal prayer and I'm sure this is the case for other church buildings.

Sunday is also the day that we speak to family members and catch up with the week's news and then in the afternoon we meet up with our local daughter and family.  Recently with the weather changeable it hasn't been so easy to sit out in the garden. Yesterday afternoon we decided to take two cars and drive to another countryside area where there are reservoirs and walking trails.  It was a pleasant change of scene and we found an isolated spot high up on a bank overlooking one of the reservoirs.

There are paths through the bracken and rose bay willow herb flowers down to the water's edge and up into the hills.

The retaining wall of the reservoir.  It's possible to walk along the pathway there. 

a wild dog rose

bugs on a flower head, probably a wild carrot plant

a bee on a thistle

a star of  Bethlehem flower and a buttercup leaf

The skies were amazing.

The water changed colour depending on whether the sun was out and there was a rippling on the water because of a slight breeze.

There are woodland trails around the reservoirs.

If you are a serious walker it's possible to walk from this area to the moors and Stanage Edge, a rocky escarpment popular with climbers. At the moment with social distancing rules there's plenty of open countryside to explore using the official public pathways.

The drive home was also very pleasant.  You cannot see from this photo taken by me in the passenger seat, but around the corner is a steep hill on the winding road.  Another reservoir can be seen in the distance.

Thank you for coming by.  I hope you enjoyed the drive in the countryside and a sit down by the reservoir. Have a good day!