It is amazing how quickly weeds grow - unbelievably annoying actualy! Sometimes doing the garden feels like painting the Forth Bridge - no sooner have you reached the end then you have to start from the beginning again. Lots of flowers or suprises spring up from under the weeds - flowers you had forgotten and you think "wow - just look at that". Today I found three cacti that I had forgotten all about and they are not exactly small either.
The ground is still manageable at the moment but it is definately getting harder so have to get plants and cuttings in as soon as possible otherwise I will need a pick axe to dig a hole. That is the thing about gardening in Greece the ground literally becomes rock hard and impossible to dig. Now is the time to do all the weeding again (probably for about the third time) and, hopefully, it will not be back this time. My mother and I have a thing about plants - we do not like throwing them away - sometimes they do not do well in her garden but they will in mine. Today I planted two half-dead bushes from my mum in the hope that they will grow - I told them that this is their "last chance"!!! Not that I meant it,of course, as I always move them around to different positions if I find they are not doing well and then - if it all fails - I then reluctantly throw them away. I really do not like being beaten though. However, there are certain things I can not grow in my garden - pansies, primroses, antirinum (snap dragons), fuscias and bougainvillea believe it or not. Bouganvillea grows everywhere in Greece - grows out of pavements - hangs over castlesand archways - people chop it or hack it down - but, it will not do anything in my garden - I have tried it everywhere - and I can not understand why?
I started preparing some easy pots - cages I call them - with climbing cacti that only flower once a year on a full moon, sweet night jasmine, clematis and ivy. These should last all year round, look impressive and be mega easy to manage - we shall see - lets hope my experiment works. The cages are my invention - they really do look good and better than anything, they keep the cats/chickens from destroying the plants - by the way, cats and chickens just love sleeping on newly planted plants or bulbs.....so beware!!!
It is the time of the year when you should check that your first aid kit is up to date,,,make sure that things are not past their use by date - make sure you have "bentadine" or iodine, cotton wool and plasters - that is always a good base. Do you know how many accidents happen in the garden?
I had a couple of visitors which was nice and they left with a bunch of flowers each which is even nicer and you would not even know that they are missing (the flowers not the visitors!!!). I have completed about 3 mtrs of garden borders today so there is about another 247 mtrs to go - and the gravel needs weeding again - and all the borders need strimming....as I said before neverending - very theraputic though. The only thing I think about when gardening is the plants - feels like being free - no phone calls - no housewoork or cooking - no problems - if only that could be life - it is like being on another planet. Sometimes I wish I only had to talk to plants!
Well, tomorrow is another day and I will continue along the bank - re-pot a few more plants - put a few more cuttings in - continue to weed the gravel and try to borrow a strimmer to do the edges. Once that is finished (probably about 2 weeks the way I am going) it will then be time to fill my ceramic pots with some "pretty spreading" flowers.......oh and I still have to prune some olive trees and prune the grapevine.....
It is the most fantastic time of the year - the sky is "Greek" blue - the sea is like glass - the temperature is about 22 degrees - heaven on earth. The colours of Greece from the flowers, the sky and the sea over the next few weeks can not be seen anywhere in the world ............The colours belong to Greece - if you visit you will realise what I mean - and those colours will stay with you forever - so you will have taken a little bit of Greece with you.......
The ground is still manageable at the moment but it is definately getting harder so have to get plants and cuttings in as soon as possible otherwise I will need a pick axe to dig a hole. That is the thing about gardening in Greece the ground literally becomes rock hard and impossible to dig. Now is the time to do all the weeding again (probably for about the third time) and, hopefully, it will not be back this time. My mother and I have a thing about plants - we do not like throwing them away - sometimes they do not do well in her garden but they will in mine. Today I planted two half-dead bushes from my mum in the hope that they will grow - I told them that this is their "last chance"!!! Not that I meant it,of course, as I always move them around to different positions if I find they are not doing well and then - if it all fails - I then reluctantly throw them away. I really do not like being beaten though. However, there are certain things I can not grow in my garden - pansies, primroses, antirinum (snap dragons), fuscias and bougainvillea believe it or not. Bouganvillea grows everywhere in Greece - grows out of pavements - hangs over castlesand archways - people chop it or hack it down - but, it will not do anything in my garden - I have tried it everywhere - and I can not understand why?
I started preparing some easy pots - cages I call them - with climbing cacti that only flower once a year on a full moon, sweet night jasmine, clematis and ivy. These should last all year round, look impressive and be mega easy to manage - we shall see - lets hope my experiment works. The cages are my invention - they really do look good and better than anything, they keep the cats/chickens from destroying the plants - by the way, cats and chickens just love sleeping on newly planted plants or bulbs.....so beware!!!
It is the time of the year when you should check that your first aid kit is up to date,,,make sure that things are not past their use by date - make sure you have "bentadine" or iodine, cotton wool and plasters - that is always a good base. Do you know how many accidents happen in the garden?
I had a couple of visitors which was nice and they left with a bunch of flowers each which is even nicer and you would not even know that they are missing (the flowers not the visitors!!!). I have completed about 3 mtrs of garden borders today so there is about another 247 mtrs to go - and the gravel needs weeding again - and all the borders need strimming....as I said before neverending - very theraputic though. The only thing I think about when gardening is the plants - feels like being free - no phone calls - no housewoork or cooking - no problems - if only that could be life - it is like being on another planet. Sometimes I wish I only had to talk to plants!
Well, tomorrow is another day and I will continue along the bank - re-pot a few more plants - put a few more cuttings in - continue to weed the gravel and try to borrow a strimmer to do the edges. Once that is finished (probably about 2 weeks the way I am going) it will then be time to fill my ceramic pots with some "pretty spreading" flowers.......oh and I still have to prune some olive trees and prune the grapevine.....
It is the most fantastic time of the year - the sky is "Greek" blue - the sea is like glass - the temperature is about 22 degrees - heaven on earth. The colours of Greece from the flowers, the sky and the sea over the next few weeks can not be seen anywhere in the world ............The colours belong to Greece - if you visit you will realise what I mean - and those colours will stay with you forever - so you will have taken a little bit of Greece with you.......
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