With a red weather warning alert sent to our phones (a first!) on Tuesday, we were advised the long-awaited rain was due to arrive on Wednesday. Hoorah! The plants were tired of the disgusting-tasting tap water and ready for a change, and I had a list of ‘indoor’ chores demanding attention. But who wants to work inside when the sun is shining and the cooler weather is perfect for gardening?.
- Cutting back the Bougainvillaea
We were sad but it had to be done. Strong winds and gale force gusts would certainly strip the plant and blow the pink flowers (bracks) around the garden and into the pool. We also had to reduce the weight of the plant attached to the wall.
IT was sad to see Mr P with his hedge trimmer stripping back the flowering branches under my watchful eye. While we loved the spectacular display, bougainvillaea can be a pain in the butt when the wind blows.
and after.
The purple bougainvillaea flowers you can see in the foreground do not fall; they dry and die on the plant.
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2. Ugly Plant
While I was picking up all the Bourg trimmings, which covered everything like confetti, I discovered the UGLY plant had flowered! It doesn’t have a name. Nor has it done much till now, bar producing a few green leaves during the summer and losing them in winter. It was one of those spur-of-the-moment buys. Probably because I felt sorry for it.
3. The Pool
Mr. P loves his new pool toy, and while he massacred pruned the bougainvillea he set the robotic pool cleaner to work picking up debris in the pool. Who says men can’t multi-task? *ducks*
4. Battening Down the Hatches
With the weather red alert for Storm Charles I decided to clear the display stand as the 140km gusts/wind was forecast to come from the South East direction.
5.The Bee Garden
Done with the front terrace and bourg and with still energy to spare (this is rare) I turned my attention to the back garden. The Rosemary bush, which must be at least nineteen years old and has grown like a weed, desperately needed cutting back, as it is now woody and sparse. I hope my drastic action doesn’t kill it! Same with the lavender.
The bees love these shrubs and, being well established, they don’t need constant watering during the summer months.
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6 What’s left of the fruit and vegetables?
In between the showers
As part of our plan to make the garden less labour intensive, we had abandoned the idea of our mini allotment. The first to go in our recent cutback was our vertical strawberry planter, which for some reason seemed impractical in the extreme heat. I think it was due to the fact the soil I used never retained water and dried out way to quickly in the extreme heat.
Anyway, I transplanted the remaining strawberries into three plastic pots. Most have died, and I am left with a pot full of nettle seedlings. We will see. Nettle soup or tea anyone?
What a find! This aubergine plant had self seeded
The yellow peppers however were a different story. They were either rotting or the bugs had bored holes and taken up residence. I have since removed all the plants and cleared the bed.
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That’s my Six for this Saturday, folks. My thanks to our gardening host, Jim.
Happy Saturday, folks!
As I mentioned to you, my sister has just returned from 10 days in Portugal; she had both some very heavy downpours and some lovely sunny days. She was delighted with her trip. It’s a shame about the bougainvillea—it’s beautifully trained along the wall.
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