Gardens4People blog

As always, gardeners and gardens are at the mercy of the weather. Too hot, too much rain - we have had all of this within the last week but the upside of this is that the grass seed I was very late in sowing in front ot the gite has germinated and not been burnt to a frazzle. So, hopefully the visitors will have something a little more attractive to look at than the building spoil and clay. Hopefully too the ancient plum tree will have lots of fruit again for them to help themselves to. Not sure what variety it is but the colour is reminiscent of an English Victoria. The size is more of a Damson with the taste being the best of both varieties - sweet, juicy and very more-ish.

The greenhouse produce has been overwhelmed by the heat (again over 30 degrees) so I have transplanted the spring onions into the rear flower border, together with the melon which was looking decidedly unhappy. Neither of these, once planted/sown should be moved but the rain seems to have eased the transfer. We shall see. There is a lovely quote from Vita Sackville West "The most noteworthy thing about gardeners is that they are always optimistic, always enterprising, and never satisfied. They always look forward to doing something better than they have ever done before." Which includes inappropriately moving plants.

Not sure whether the Thunbergia planted in a pot near the pool is going to survive - not looking too happy but then the heat has been difficult to take when you have just moved in. Seems to have been cheered by the rain, so again, the old gardener's maxim of "Let's just wait and see" applies.

Chillies looking good, just about to flower, so well on the way to a curry or two.

Hope to take in a garden this week so will take photos and post details. This is a private garden, not open to the public, but should be very interesting as it was laid out by two enthusiastic gardeners and rose lovers and now has new owners. Like most new house owners, they will want to make their mark on it and there will no doubt be some aspect of it which they want to change.

As the weather settles and we head for midsummer, most gardening as such ceases and it is a case of harvesting salads and fruit, watering where necessary and watching out for all plant predators so you do not lose your valued plants to the molluscs and insects.

So good luck, happy gardening and enjoy!