A regular update on the progress of our dream garden project.

Well, we really are into the yawning deep summer now. Everything slows down growing, even the weeds (and if you got on top of them in April and May, you’re laughing now). The flowers that come out now often last for ages: the nasturtiums, verbena, dahlias and our endless red roses on the top terrace.

9 August

9 August

Follow the progress of the Dream Garden from start to finish here.

The ‘Olympic Flame’ roses on the terrace aren’t just flowering like billy-oh, they’re also putting out vigorous new growth. They’re in a great position: the ground never fully dries out where they are planted, which I suspect is why the loganberry next to them has gone wild.

olympic flame close

The flowers on the sweetcorn are just starting to emerge: remember that this is what this area looked like earlier in the year…

rhubarb and sweetcorn

The ornamental vine, which once grew on our balcony at our flat, is now free to romp all over the leylandii:

vine romping

And we’ll have a few apples on our dwarf tree in the mini orchard this year too.

young apples

The border does have gaps, but it also has some gems:

penstemon

late summer border side

arch back

There are edible flowers everywhere:

orange calendula calendula macro

And our harvest will hopefully be abundant.

tomatoes

And the pelargoniums brighten everything up.

pelargoniums maple

9 August critique

Gladioli are flopping over. This is my fault for not pruning the redcurrants to stay out of the bulbs’ way as they grew. This evening I staked them. They’ll be flowering soon.

 

The whole garden could do with more flowers. Perhaps it’s because it’s a new garden on poor soil, but to feel lacking in flowers at this time of the year is a little unforgivable. I have decided after last week’s post about the bare patches in the main herbaceous border that I will fill them with big, preferably dark-leaved, dahlias with rich red or purple flowers.

Keep those ideas on how to improve the dream garden coming: I take all of them on board (even the ones I then decide to disagree with). And tweet @fennelandfern with pictures from your own gardens too. I’ll add them below.

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