Garden Blog - Blog Post

Back to the Border

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The temperature dial has really turned up this last week. The seemingly ever-ending dull skies, rain showers and general mediocre weather has been replaced with days of strong, hot sunshine and little white fluffy clouds.

Patio re-assembled and ready to enjoy

I managed to get the patio pressure-washed and the patio pot collection (greatly reduced this year) assembled and the patio is looking more like the patio it used to in previous years – just without the rocking, broken slabs and multiple levels. What hasn’t changed is just how uncivil the patio is when the sun has been on it. The large, open expanse of concrete bakes and heat radiates off it long after the sun has gone in. There’s no shade either so ironically, there’s no easy way to enjoy the patio in summer, unless you’re nocturnal, a gecko or some other sun-loving reptile.

There is still some follow-up work to do on the patio, just glueing a few slightly loose slabs down (it’s probably an optional thing too) so I’m considering the patio work complete for now and ticking it off the “To Do” list for this year. What’s next is resuming work on the final and grandest border in the garden.

Focus is now on the final border

There’s lots of wheelbarrowing of compost and manure, digging, tilling, mixing and general heavy manual work, all in the hot weather. I have actually been able to make reasonable progress, despite the heat and while it is exhausting – digging a border in full sun – it’s been good to see this “border to end all borders” get some attention. It has been eight years since it was first marked out, after all.

Views to a terracotta pot

Work on this final border is also turning into a race as in the meantime, there are small plants sitting (cooking) on the staging on the patio, waiting to be planted out, that in turn will free up pots for me to sow the next batch of seeds, sometime in late summer/early autumn. It just wouldn’t be a normal garden project if there weren’t plants’ lives on the line. I like to call it “just in time” gardening or “horticulture by the seat of your pants”.

The garden just, “doing its thing”

As a consequence, the rest of the garden has had very little attention. After the usual annual spring clean-up, it’s been virtually untouched. There have been a few small areas here and there which have been redone, but otherwise I’ve left it alone. That even includes the usual pruning and dead-heading. It’s not for lack of jobs, it’s just that at this stage, anything that is not directly related to getting the final border finished can wait, unless it’s a (horticultural) life or death situation.

Waiting for the blackberries

There’s not much left of July, then there’s August, September has usually good weather for gardening too. October is “putting the garden to bed time” so we’ll just have to see if two months-ish is enough time to get a large border dug and ready for planting.

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Sunil Patel

I'm Sunil Patel, this is me. I created the Garden at 13 Broom Acres and I open it to visitors. I also bake and write blog posts giving a "behind the scenes" look into what it's like to maintain such a garden.

Visit the blog, then come and visit the garden. We can have a good sit-down, a jolly chinwag and a relaxing cup of tea with a sinfully generous slice of home made cake.

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2 comments

casa mariposa 07/08/2021 - 6:22 pm

I love how lush your garden is! What a monumental amount of work. I think your patio has a very Mediterranean feel. Until all the clumps of dumbshits here are vaccinated and the latest variant has been subdued, I won’t be traveling. I’ve made tenative plans to come over next summer but who knows?? I’ll get there eventually.

Reply
Sunil 09/08/2021 - 8:08 pm

Thanks Tammy! I hope those lacking in critical thinking around you wise-up (one can but hope) so you can be safe and travel again soon. I miss reading about your crazy adventures in the garden. Who knows by the time you’re here again, the garden might be finished!!

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