The Olympics, Sweet Peas and a Giant Courgette

It is great to hear your comments about my blog and about your own personal gardening experiences. As ever, I will look to explain some of the work that has gone on in the garden over the past few years, whilst also highlighting what I have been up to recently.

Past

I have briefly mentioned my pond, and will look to go into more detail about it here. It was constructed in the space of one summer, three years ago as a summer project. We are fortunate to have around half an acre of garden, so it was decided that we would try and build the largest pond that felt right within the space. We have a natural sloping area where water runs away to and it was decided that this would be where the pond would be situated. It is located in full sun all day, which although not ideal from an algae point of view, due to the fact that we have very little shade. Currently we have 14 adult fish (Shubunkins and Goldfish) and at least 10 infant fish, produced from last summers spawning. There are 3 water lillies planted (pink, white & yellow), which once established will provide the pond with much needed shade. Last summer we had a variety of insect life visiting including damselflies and dragonflies, which use the tall stems of Equisetum & Schoenoplectus Scirpus Zebrinus

 to crawl down into the pond.

Present

Over the past few months, everywhere you turned was information about the London 2012 Olympics, whether it was on the radio, TV or internet. One particular aspect of this was repeated across most platforms: the meadow planting schemes that had been produced at the Olympic Park. I had always wanted to implement something similar at home, so took the opportunity to takes a few pictures and gather some ideas whilst I was down there. 

As you can see from this picture, there is a large variety of plants and flowers within the meadow with a lot of colour. I have read that they have used both native and non-native plants, but all plants are accessible to pollinators. 

I subscribe to Gardeners' World magazine and as such get free seeds every now and again. Last year they sent out some Sweet Pea seeds (20th Anniversary Mix & Royal Family), but I chose not to sow them as the garden was not ready. The time had come this summer to sow them, and as the pictures below show, they are definately worth the wait.

After a couple of days of rain and wind, I managed to get down the allotment area of the garden. As I inspected the courgette plants, I came across this thing. To be honest, I had not expected any growth from the courgettes as the weather has not been warm at all, just wet and windy. 

I will leave you there today as I have mentioned a lot, and will look to expand on the pond area of the garden in the next post. I will also expand on the bog garden, located at the back of the pond. Thanks for reading and as always, I appreciate any comments or suggestions that you may have.

CG.