My good friend Dotty Headbanger requested some pictures of our garden. The garden is looking gorgeous and so D took some pictures this evening.
One picture is of a rather gorgeous spider – but I’ll leave her until last so that you don’t have to look at her if you don’t want to.
A raised bed of Asparagus, Garlic, Little Gem lettuce and maybe some beetroot and cauliflower
Chinese cabbage, Romanesco cauliflower, Asparagus fronds, Aubergine and Nasturtium
Parsnips
Mange Tout and Fennel
Rosemary, Bay, Fennel and Marjoram
Pink Bleeding Heart, Potato, White Bleeding Heart and Silver Dust
Various brassicas, more Nasturtiums and Gallery Blue Lupin
Buddlija bush, Corkscrew Hazel tree and one of my Lemon Verbena
Silver Dust and a pink Bleeding Heart
Some Chives and my Golden Memories Rose. It’s a dwarf rose, but it thinks it’s not and gets bigger every year! (Yes I prune it; it just won’t listen to reason!)
Nasturtiums again, another Bleeding Heart and one of my Redcurrant bushes
My pretty pink Sweet Dream Dwarf Rose. Doing much better this year than she did last year!
My very busy shrub border. Redcurrant Bushes, Dogwood, Lemon Verbena, Red Cabbage, Poppies, Charlie’s Rose (which smells of Turkish Delight) and Chives. There’s some Evening Primrose in the foreground too, but they haven’t bloomed yet
The first bloom on Charlie’s Rose
The Rosemary bush in my shrub border. I didn’t buy it; a bird pooped a seed when I wasn’t looking and it just grew!
Amelie Nemesia. This comes in several varieties, is a gorgeous plant and seeds are easily harvested. This particular type comes back year after year and I just adore the delicate structure and colour of these plants
One of my Silver Dust. I grow them in memory of my Nan
Crimson Glory. Another one in memory of my Nan
I’m still waiting for an ID on this pretty girl, but I’m fairly sure that she’s a Golden Orb Weaver. Oh – I just got an ID and she’s a particularly pretty House Spider, related to the Labyrinth Spider.
So there we have it – The Tribble Towers Garden! I hope it was enjoyable to view and I promise more pictures as things come in to bloom.
I hope your garlic grows better than mine did – when I tried it some years ago, I ended up with uncloved bulbs slightly smaller than the cloves I’d planted
That’s a nice patch of Golden Marjoram. We have both that kind and the darker-green sort in our front lawn – originally I put them into the border under the living-room window, but they decided that they preferred the lawn, so I let them grow there. They’re lovely in stews or gravy.
I wonder how tall the Bay tree will grow? Dad put one in on his front lawn when he and Mum moved to South Devon in 1974; now, it’s 25 feet tall and 15 feet wide!
Nice spider; it’ll probably have plenty of daddylonglegs to feed on quite soon.
We heavily prune the Bay every year, and every few years D takes a saw to it and hacks half of it off! That way it doesn’t get too tall and we have lovely thick branches
Dear Missus Tribble,
The pictures are lovely (spider not so much). What do you use to keep the slugs off your veg and salads? They look so healthy! When I used to grow salads I had to do a slug and snail patrol twice a day or they’d have eaten everything.
The roses are beautiful.
Love Dotty xxx
We use organic slug pellets (which are blue so that birds won’t accidentally eat them) and sacrificial plants such as French Marigolds. Another good trick is to grow about twice what you think you can use, as usually you’ll still be left with enough (and if you end up with more than you can use I can tell you how to pickle things or make piccalilli – yum). We accept that some of our produce will be eaten so grow extra accordingly.
I use a high pressure hose to eradicate aphids and other nasties from my roses, because once they’re hosed off they can’t get back on! If there’s a huge first-wave infestation or a hosepipe ban I use Rose Clear
D just reminded me of another trick with slugs – when you dig up dandelions, shred the leaves and scatter them on the soil!
Oooh you lucky thing. I haven’t managed to grow anything this year. We usually grow salads and veg in pots, but with hosepipe bans I haven’t bothered to try this year. Also your herbs are great. I must be the only person who can actually kill mint and rosemary.
Last year’s spring and summer was so bad that everything was stunted and I lost a Bleeding Heart – Bleeding Hearts are one of those plants that can survive anything!
It’s lovely being able to go out and enjoy my plants now that my broken toe is more or less mended
Great shots, especially the spider!
Thank you! D is much better with the camera than I am these days because my hands shake
Would you believe that I used to be terrified of spiders? They’re still not my friends exactly, but I’ve turned my phobia into a fascination and a research tool over the years, and some specimens really are incredibly beautiful
Hmmm, a “gorgeous” spider?! Imagine if spiders were purple or pink, crimson – not grey & black…. just imagine how we’d feel…
Ah, to have a house & garden – it would be great to garden out in the fresh of the day, & me having a couple of cats hanging out with me. That, I would love
I love how you called this Garden Porn & I totally love your friend’s name, DOTTY HEADBANGER. I’ve got to visit your friend, Missus – she sounds great!
Lovely post – even the spider, in its unique, quiet, creepy kinda way.
Dotty is lovely. She’s nuttier than a bat in a henhouse and always makes me smile
I used to be terrified by spiders; a couple of years ago I began to use my phobia against itself, and use it to research the little (and sometimes not so little!) creatures, so now I’m fascinated more than frightened. Of course, there are no deadly species here – if I were to live in Australia I’d be a nervous wreck the entire time!
brilliant it all looks so green and healthy!!
Compared to last year it’s looking fabulous
Good to see you seem to enjoy your garden as much as I enjoy mine. I can’t wait for the rain to stop to get out there and do some work.
I don’t get to work on my garden as much as I would like to because of mobility issues – I can’t stand up again if I kneel down – but I get to do deadheading and pruning – and this year some actual harvesting of berries, seed pods and brassicas
That’s great. I love blackberry picking and make apple and blackberry crumble in the autumn.
mmmmm, my Nan used to make the most amazing apple and blackberry crumble – she started making it as soon as she established that I can’t stand rhubarb
I like rhubarb too!
Lovely photos! I’m so jealous of your rosemary and bay. I bet they smell heavenly.
The Rosemary smells especially heavenly in my onion and rosemary confiturra!
MMMM! Sounds so good!
It is. My sister always asks me to make her a batch now when she knows I’m going to visit my son
Your sister is really lucky. Mmm. My mouth is watering.
Heheh, didn’t I post the recipe somewhere?
Possibly. But my fiance can’t eat onions due to a severe allergy. So I sort of lust after onions from afar.
I’ve heard of tons of people with onion allergies. I’m glad that mine only extends to making my eyes tear and hurt and my face swell if I’m chopping them!
My fiance’s allergy causes breathing problems. He really should have an epipen but we can’t afford them (they’re about $1,000usd without insurance here and you have to go to the ER after you use one). Though, yours doesn’t sound very pleasant either!
HOW MUCH??? Good grief, that’s robbery!
I recovered from my onion allergy for years. Sadly, because I’m atopic, it came back last year and D has to chop onions for me. It should pass though; most of my allergies seem to come and go
What a clever and catchy title! I was just beside myself pouring over your photos! I’m having a great year too with my gardens. My herbs are especially healthy. After last year’s drought I am long overdue for a year of great bounty (I hope!).
Last year our spring and summer was so awful that what grew was badly stunted and some of my “indestructible” ornamental plants actually died – I lost several Bleeding Hearts and haven’t been able to replace them yet because they’re not cheap!