Last container for the rosemary bought this morning . Along with a packet of Cosmos Seashell mixed seed to sow now. They will go in the trough that the polyanthus   are in now they have finished flowering. That way I can care for the plant until they need dividing..,

I have a regular hedgehog visitor and put out hedgehog pellets for him (her). The pond is easily escapable too so i should have no issues there

I have to say my bedding plants are intact, probably due to my desperate measures.  However, I may have another more environment friendly weapon against slugs and snails!  It’s occurred to me that the tiny gritty bits in my compost are broken down eggshells, which I always add the compost bin as they add calcium and substance.  Slugs and snails don’t like eggshells as they’re too sharp for them to get over!  So, I’m spreading a little more and keeping my fingers crossed!  

I got stung on the face by a bee a couple of days ago while cutting one of my conifers! Really did not expect that.

As for hedgehogs - I saw one sometime last month but they are very rare to see in my garden. The last time I saw one before then was a couple of years ago, and it ended up dying for reasons I don't know.

Spring in Chichester

No gardening for me this morning as we have rain but it’s welcome as it’s the first we’ve had for quite a while.  

Er ... ceanothus, as previously mentioned in this thread, but it is also known as Californian Lilac. We had the rain last night, lovely day today after the sun disposed of the cloud.

Some very welcome rain here yesterday morning and dry today, so it’ll be more garden tidying for me.  The shady border is getting unruly and the rhubarb is getting choked by Arums, which need pulling before they seed again.  

Better to dig arums out if the rhubrab will let you? They have a tuber about 20cmdown and pulling breaks off the stem. My current problem is Enchanter's Nightshade, underground runners like bindweed but more fragile so they break off easily. Previous garden (much larger) has an infestation of Winter Heliotrope, also underground like bindweed but bigger and deeper.

Last garden (1976 - 2002) looked like this (too big for one photo!):

Cosmos sown. Rosemary re potted.  3 Small conifers transferred to bigger pots. 31 pots tubs  baskets and planter all sorted. Hope it rains tonight... 

Runner beans, sweetcorn are showing. So is sugar snap peas. Basil has starts to come through. Tomato plants have canes to support them as they are growing well. Might get a couple more troughs and some more veg seeds. Small carrots must be tried....

Just been inspecting my recently planted bedding after the rain, and have seen what I believe to be horsehair worms - Googled!  One article suggests they’re as good as nematodes for getting rid of slugs and snails.  Does anyone have experience of these creatures?  

I’ve seen two, both on a fuchsia in different parts of the garden, but both plants are from the same tray, so I suspect that may be where they came from.

Scapes are starting to curl on my garlic!  Mmmm! 

What happens two years later when you let a couple of foxgloves seed themselves

Outside the front of our house

Why don’t flowers and veg grow as fast as bindweed?  

My persistent weed is Enchanter's Nightshade - underground white runners which regenerate from a tiny scrap like bindweed does but in this case more shallow (good!) but break off more easily (bad!!)

Getting worried about drought conditions here - wedidn't get anything of note during the storms of a fortnight ago. A little drizzly rain yesterday and again this morning, but the ground is really dry and already even quite deep rooted and established stuff like hollyhocks are looking decidedly wilty by the end of a sunny afternoon.

Took all the racks out in my new growing frame. Tomato plants have reached where  the top rack was. Herbs are now in my older growing room. Only watering tomato lightly .Next watering will be with some tomato feed. Use it on the other potted plants as well.... Flowers have now been seen on TWO tomato plants.   

This dry spell is becoming quite noticeable although not yet historical. We missed the thundery rain whenever it was and even last nights 'rain' that according to the weather forecaster passed over us left the ground as dry as the evening before. Was it high level rain that dissipated before it hit the ground?The drizzle yesterday made not a jot of difference and the  strong breeze does a good job in speeding transpiration I think.

We can either abandon our garden to the elements and put up with dried out pots, borders  and baskets or suffer a large water bill in September.

Whenever rain’s been forecast it’s missed us completely, although I actually felt guilty about that when some had floods.  We generally do well here for thunder storms but we’ve had none, although we’ve had promising clouds and near misses.  There must have been rain upstream as our river isn’t low and it’s just as well for the local farmers with extraction licences, as they’ve been irrigating crops for weeks now.

I’m watering our garden almost daily.  

The lawn is now left to it's own and it will only be the baskets and containers that get their water from now.

Weymouth grassy areas now look parched which will save on grass cutting I suppose.

I'm a regular grass cutter but its been nearly 2 weeks since i last cut it and it still doesn't need it

Yup - it was growing like the clappers in May when we got the warm weather after all the rain in April but now it's hardly growing at all. Not that I'm complaining. 

Well I had been keeping the front room fragranced with Roses but now my Sweet Peas are in flower so we'll be good for the rest of summer! Nothing tells me it's summer more than the smell of Sweet Peas!

I've given up watering the lawn, it'll come back good once we get a spell of rain