 |
| This week's cafe flowers |
As this month comes to an end and we reach the midway point of the year, it's good to reflect on the month just gone and indeed the year so far. June has been another great month from a business point of view and in the development of the gardens and nursery. The feed back we are getting is fantastic, about service, plant quality and the look and layout of the nursery and gardens. This makes all the hard work worth it as we both collapse on the sofa in the evening! The plants in the gardens and nursery are being generous too in their own way. Filling up the borders, encouraging customers to buy and try them in their own gardens and making the nursery look fabulous every day. It's been a generous month in a business way, the generous feedback from customers and visitors, the generosity of friends in many ways and that life is being generous to us in many ways in general. It makes that leap into the unknown two years ago when we bought the nursery feel more and more it was definitely the right thing to do.
 |
There is so much colour here in the nursery at this time of year and plenty inspiration
for visitors and customers |
 |
| The corner seating area is filling up nicely with early summer colour |
 |
| We found a home for one of our farm sale finds as a plant support in the big entrance border |
How did we get to be in the second half of June, where has / is the time going? Once we get to this time of year in the garden and nursery things are a tiny bit less manic, there is a lessening of the pressure to get everything done in spring and it becomes a game of maintenance which usually means weeding, weeding and more weeding, oh and watering if it is dry. We've had alternating dry sunny days and then a day or night of very heavy rain which is keeping the plants topped up with water. Nature does it much better than I do with a hose. As I write this it has rained heavily for twelve hours so far, the plants are i danger of not only being well watered but floating away.
 |
| Our latest advert for Facebook and Instagram, we find this an effective and cheap way of getting the word out to local people about where we are and what we are doing |
 |
Looking up through the nursery from the entrance, my how everything
has grown and is coming together |
 |
| We are now on the website of the Independent Plant Nursery Guide |
I spent a very prickly day beating own all the nettles and weeds behind the nursery fence and black currents. This will hopefully help control the amount of weed seeds that come int the stock beds through the summer, especially as I've managed to get around to doing it before they get to the seeding stage. Fortunately I had a plant of Bulbine frutescens in the nursery. This succulent has similar properties to Aloe for soothing skin conditions.
Bulbine frutescens is one of nature’s finest medicinal plants. It’s a remarkable first aid medicine chest all in one. Externally the freshly squeezed juice, frequently applied, is amazingly effective to take care of a wide range of skin conditions and wounds. The list is almost endless: acne, burns, blisters, cold sores, cracked lips, cracked fingers, nails and heels, insect bites, itchy places, fever blisters, sunburn, rashes and ringworm. It’s also very effective for treating wounds, sores and rashes on animals. You can also make a warm poultice and apply it to the affected area to treat any of the above as well as eczema and arthritis. For my nettle stings I applies the crushed leaf direct to the affected area, it certainly helped take the sting away.
** It's always advisable
to check for allergic reactions before applying any thing like this**
 |
| The flower of Bulbine frutescens |
I spent a couple of days weeding through the stock beds this week. Once we are at this time of year it get's a bit easier as the last lot of seedlings have been removed and the plants are bigger in the pots too, covering more compost. Working through the beds also gives me a chance to check batches of plants, sort out any poor ones, make a note of batches needing potted and tidy up the beds.
 |
| Iris 'Silver Edge' with the new herb garden behind |
 |
Piglets out for a walk, they were meant to be this time,
moving to different field |
 |
| More wildlife in the tunnel, a frog this time enjoying a shower as I was watering |
I finally got around to building a display with the new wooden cable reels we got at the farm sale a few weeks ago. Having given some thought to location and what I would put on them, I finally decided to use the roses and climbers. The reels make great tables as they are solid, don't tip over and have a wide surface for sitting plants on. I've put low interest plants around the edges under the roses to add more colour and ideas for under planting roses in the garden. At the moment it's Geraniums and Erigeron karvinskianus.
 |
Osteospernums are looking colourful and are ideal for smumer
colour until the first frosts. If you have a frost free greenhouse
you can usually keep them through to the following year |
 |
On Sunday evening I wandered around the garden at home picking some of the last
Geraniums flowers to put in an enamel mug for the kitchen window sill, they are such a
varied genus of flowers |
 |
Bracken the nursery dog joined me on Monday, here he is on his
lunchtime walk amongst the buttercups |
On Tuesday on our day off we headed to Ayrshire and Dunfries House but more of that in another blog coming soon.
How is your garden looking in June and what garden tasks do you find yourself doing as we head into July?
You can now sign up for our monthly newsletter on the facebook page or by emailing us to be added to our mailing list
All contents and photographs © Rona, unauthorised reproduction & use of these images is strictly forbidden
Comments
Post a Comment