Shady stage 2

We're at stage 2 of our shade creation project. The metposts (supports for the vertical posts) are in: we've just used the spiked ones (no concreting needed as the posts aren't going to support anything other than a bit of shade material). The heavy duty membrane (hopefully this will suppress the bindweed - we've been lazy and haven't dug it out) is also down. We removed the temporary edging that surrounded the hedge (this was just in place to keep the gravel tidy and prevent the weeds from invading) and have tucked the new membrane under the old so no gaps. The gravel gets delivered today so I'm hoping Chris gets a few barrow loads spread out, at least it's downhill to this area and uphill with the empty barrow, though with two tonnes to shift it's going to be hard work whatever the gradient. Hopefully this project won't mean a summer of cloud and rain ahead (our shade fabric isn't waterpoof).

Shady news

We've finally started work in the last third of the garden. This is really exciting. Two years ago we decided that we wanted a really private area (while we wait for the hedging in the rest of the garden to gain some height). We planted 1.2m tall whips of Field Maple (Acer Campestre) in a semi circle to break up the narrowness of the plot. Although it's deciduous, we decided we don't really venture this far down the garden in winter and the 40cm a year growth rate was pretty appealing. It's paid off and just two years down the line we have a top hedge (it needs a bit of pruning at the moment).

The inside area was think with heavy duty weeds (more bindweed and dandelions and lots of others I haven't got round to identifying - too depressing). Sunday was spent removing the 'turf' and this is how we left it. The plan is to erect six 2.4m vertical 3x3s to support some shade material (our garden is really hot in summer - new plants don't give you much shade). We've ordered the gravel, bought the posts and found the material so it's all steam ahead...

Blatant attack

This was Scabiosa, new this year. I bought two, very small ones; the other is okay - looks a bit sad but then most small perennials do look rather pathetic in their first year. I'm hoping I'll be able to protect this one from any further munching so at least it can make it through the summer to grow a bit more resilient for next year when it's a bit bigger.

Emergency beans

I seem to be having my usual bean disaster: my sown in situ ones haven't appeared again (this happened last year too) . There are signs of stems so I think they've fattened up the local snails. Good job I sowed emergency ones in pots about two weeks ago. Just hardening them off ready for planting this weekend. Snail patrol will have to be daily once they're in. Got to guard my precious ones. These are climbing French beans, by the way.

Strawberries in June

Well, we've definitely had more strawberries than last year (when we had about six - fairly shared out, of-course) although it's still not been the bumper crop I'd hoped for. The trouble with strawberries, when your patch isn't that developed (2nd year), is that they all ripen at different times. We've been lucky and haven't lost many to mystery nibblers. Guess we'll have to wait until next year for a proper strawberry glut.