June Week 2

Mix of Clematis montana hybrids

Well the sunny weather has gone this week, hopefully this is just a slight blip until the summer comes back. However, the plants are growing regardless and there’s no shortage of beautiful flowers to be had in the garden right now.

I’m very glad I staked my Delphiniums and Paeony’s last week, providing them with bamboo canes and twine to make a mesh support. They will flower in the next week or so, so hopefully they should have the required structure around them to keep them upright if we end up getting our usual strong coastal winds.

One of the great sights to be seen down south at this time of year is the wisteria, beautiful cascading plumes of white/purple flowers covering buildings and walls, unfortunately though its a much more rare thing to see here in the Highlands. However I would say our equivalent here in the Highlands is the Laburnum. These are stunning small trees just dripping with yellow flowers, a not too distant relation of the Wisteria and thankfully a common thing to see in any town in the Highlands.

Right now is the best time to see them and there's plenty to be seen.

Laburnum anagyroides

Flowers

Now is a good time to trim and edge the grass verges around the flower borders, then put the waste into the compost heap.

Now we are into summer (Please let the weather know) weeding will always be a task that needs done.

Feed the flower beds, either organically, (Fish Blood & Bone) seaweed extract or comfrey tea. Or using Growmore, slow release capsules or miracle grow etc. I would always try and use the organic method where possible but sometimes for various reasons that isn’t an option.

Continuing my rose theme for the month, one of my must haves for the garden is “Dublin Bay”, a climbing rose bred in 1976. Of all the romantic ideals of roses, this variety lives up to the perfect ideal of the red rose. Beautifully formed in every way. It’s one draw back is its lack of scent but it certainly makes up for it in every other regard.

Rosa "Dublin Bay"

Vegetables

If your growing cucumbers, make sure they are tied into their supports as they should be getting quite a big bigger now.

Early broadbeans may need pinched at the tip now. This will allow them to focus more on developing the pods and less on growing from the tips.

Again like the flower beds, keep the edges neat and the weeds down to reduce competition.

Willow arch

This last week has certainly been quite the blip in the weather. Hopefully though that's all it is and we can all get back to doing what we love in the garden again.