power plant

Some years ago a visitor noticed we had some mushrooms growing under our fruit trees. We hadn’t paid them much attention since we know nothing about mushrooming, but when he asked if he could have some we became curious. It turned out they were Parasol Mushrooms – a real delicacy. So we picked a couple for ourselves and I breaded and fried them… They were so delicious! Since then we have occasionally seen some on the edge of the woods, past picking, but they never returned to the orchard. Fast forward. The other day I looked for a shady spot in the garden to bury some mycelium in substrate that I bought online. Parasol mushrooms/ Macrolepiota procera can be grown in boxes, but you are much more likely to succeed with them in the garden. The instructions were simple: dig a hole, 30 x 30 cm, 20 cm deep. Put the substrate in it and place the grass sod back on top, a maximum of 5 cm thick. Wait for six months to a year…. Well, we will see. We are hopeful! (Here...

A week ago we had our last frost. Yesterday it was 30°C! The vegetables I planted out are still adjusting, as is the gardener! Nonetheless, I went out early this morning to pick some flowers for a posy so that I can join Cathy at Rambling in the Garden again for a Monday vase. I started with the Knautia macedonica. This plant seeds around everywhere and I am constantly pulling out plants. But I love it! Here it is in the meadow…. The pink Erodium is growing nearby – another plant that survives heat and drought – and I love its vivid flowers that go on all summer. I had also been eyeing up this deep bluish purple Aquilegia for cutting… it is still looking lovely, as many of the other aquilegias start to flag in the heat. An Allium and some chives fit nicely into the emerging colour scheme, and then I added just a few of the Dianthus my friend gave me a few years ago. This has been spread throughout the garden and smells wonderfully sweet and spicy. The final touc...

The first poppy, Papaver orientale , opened today, and temperatures are in the upper 20s. I think summer is near! Hope you have a sunny weekend!

It has been a nerve-wracking week, with a couple of frosts and some very cold winds. Why nerve-wracking? Well, with our sunny April and some very warm days in late April/early May I had been tempted to sow some vegetables and flowers and put my tomato plants out onto the patio. My potted Geraniums (Pelargoniums) had also all been allotted spots around the yard. When will I learn?! Our ‘Ice Saints’ are around this time and it is not unusual for us to get late frosts now. Anyway, the flower beds seem oblivious to the jumps in temperature and the irises have begun to open. This gorgeous golden Iris ‘October Sun’ (hence the title!) was the first and now that there is a large clump of them in full bloom I decided to pick one. To accompany it, a sunshiny yellow Tulip (perhaps the last), a pale yellow Geum and some fresh green Alchemilla foliage to add to the glow. Then I added some blue skies: the lovely Geranium ‘Sabani Blue’…. …Iris illyrica, and a...

Another month has flown by and the month of May has brought us rain at last. With very cold nights, and even a frost recently (and one more to come?) I am surprised daily at the amount of growth. So now it’s time to pick just five favourite things in the garden right now. Let’s get started! Number One: Geums I have a variety of Geums in several beds, and a few are already in flower. Some were grown from seed and missing their labels, but I think this one is ‘Fireball’. This pale yellow one with nodding flowers is less dramatic… Geum ‘Tales of Hex’ has (for the second year in a row) proved to be interesting to some creature. A hare? A bird? Several flower stems are broken off clean. Fortunately I found them in time and gathered them up to put in a vase! But my favourite Geum at the moment is ‘Totally Tangerine’…. It took me a few years to find one here, after seeing it on blogs for probably a decade or so. Now it is widely availa...

The Words and Herbs Bed where our pergola stands is planted with mostly fragrant plants. How appropriate that my vase full of lilac blossom should sit on our table under the pergola then! We had a cuppa there in the afternoon yesterday and enjoyed the perfume wafting around. The shrubs have produced so many flowers this year. The Irises in the background are just opening and I chose only fragrant ones for this bed. I just couldn’t bring myself to cut any for a vase though, so here is a bonus photo in situ! Do you have fragrance in your garden this week? These will stay outside, as the fragrance indoors can get a little overpowering. So I cut a few more flowers for a large posy on my table indoors… Many thanks to Cathy at Rambling in the Garden for the inspiration to cut flowers each Monday! Have a great week, and Happy Gardening!