Tag: SixOnSaturday

Six on Saturday is a weekly meme originally hosted by The Propagator but now in the tender care of Jim at Garden Ruminations.

Well, we’ve had rain but of course not really enough to make up for the weeks of drought. Only fellow gardeners will understand the joy that full water butts can bring…

One – Finally some beetroot worth harvesting. The variety is the reliable ‘Boltardy’.

Two – I spotted the first Cyclamen hederifolium, as usual sans label.

Three – Berries on one of our holly trees, and quite a lot of them as well. I’ve also noticed a proliferation of berries forming on pyracantha, cotoneaster and our hawthorn hedge. Folklore says it’s the sign of a harsh winter but I’m not sure there’s scientific evidence to support that.

Four – The lovely foliage of Pittosporum ‘John Flanagan’, one of the evergreen shrubs I planted last year following the makeover of our front garden. It seems to have coped well with the hot, dry conditions.

Five – The pretty pink flower of Geranium ‘Mavis Simpson’.

Six – The gift of rain. Water droplets on the leaves of Stachys byzantina.

Do check out the posts of other participants by following the links in the comments section of Jim’s post. If you fancy taking part yourself but don’t know where to start, here’s the participant’s guide.

Six on Saturday is a weekly meme originally hosted by The Propagator but now in the tender care of Jim at Garden Ruminations.

We had some rain! Okay, it wasn’t very much or very prolonged but it was still wet stuff falling from the sky. The forecast shows a few more dry days followed by alonger period of showers. So the watering cans aren’t redundant yet and I can’t see the hosepipe ban being lifted anytime soon. Things to show off are still sparse but I’ve managed to come up with six.

One – The big news this week has been the arrival of our potting shed, erected on the site where our old, leaky garage used to be. Since popular wisdom is you always wished you’d gone for something bigger, we went big – 12 feet by 6 feet. Once the guttering and downpipes are attached we’ll be able to connect up additional water butts, on the basis you can never have too many given current weather trends.

Two – A few things are showing signs of blooming again such as this hardy geranium. I must cut back some of the other spent flowers.

Three – The dahlias in the raised beds in the front garden are doing okay thanks to being prioritised for watering. This variety is ‘Bayou’.

Four – Also surviving is Salvia jamensis ‘Rio Grande’.

Five – Erigeron karvinskianus which is supposedly drought tolerant has actually needed some water to help it survive. To be fair it is growing in our south-facing front garden in full sun.

Six – Last week I picked a watering can as the most essential piece of garden equipment given the current weather conditions. This week I’m nominating the bucket we place in the shower to capture the water while it heats up.

Do check out the posts of other participants by following the links in the comments section of Jim’s post. If you fancy taking part yourself but don’t know where to start, here’s the participant’s guide.