After the rain ...

I'm sure the rain has made plants look raggedy & past it when they should still be proud. It's such a shame & is the same when it's too dry I think.

Your border is looking good though...have you got any summer bulbs to come on? ;0)

No, I haven't, Fluff. I don't seem to have much success with bulbs on the whole. This evening I've just accidentally uncovered some muscari bulbs due to my over-enthusiastic hoeing!

Hmmm that's what I do...you haven't got xray eyes then?! My garden is usually too waterlogged for bulbs but the glads are coming up ok.

the garden is looking great Jan, I think that all our gardens need a bit less wind and rain but especially some sun to bring on the flowers. My dahlias are really slow in producing many flowers but plenty of growth thanks to the rain and falling over thanks to the wind! Like you, my dianthus have gone into a sulk and stopped producing flowers. I think they too like it a bit drier and definitely sunny. I can't wait for it to be bursting with colour like it usually is in summer. Gardening definitely is a learning curve - a never ending one!!

Trouble is, I hate to see markers in the soil and just rely on my memory ... trouble is my memory's not so good! Maybe I should come up with some natural looking markers, pebbles, say.

Hi Lily2 - sorry we must have posted at the same time, I was answering Fluff. Unfortunately I think I've had most of the colour I'm going to get - in the back border at least. I'll have to try plant things that don't all flower at the same time, maybe. I'm still learning, obviously!

Good idea!

That border is very pretty, so full of colour! Your pots too look very well ordered I can see you keep very much on top of things. I am loathe to look at all my pots on the walls and fences as they have like everybody elses suffered from the wind and the rain.

Thank you Fluff and Grannysue. I wish my back border was as colourful, now, as this one is!

your border looks lovely. The rain down here is ruining everything, and making the grass grow far too quickly :(

Thank you Grindle - luckily I'd just cut the grass before the rain started, but it will need doing again soon, so fingers crossed for a couple of rain-free days to allow it to try out enough to cut.

we've had continual rain for days, so the grass here is getting so long I'll be able to make hay if I don't get out there soon :((((

We're supposed to have rain again today, but nothing so far although it's only 9 o'clock! Ever the optimist, my hubby hung some washing out before he went to work ...so it's bound to rain.

What a well trained hubby you have, mine wouldn't know how to work a clothes peg or even where the clothes line lives! Even if he did, I hate to think of the resulting mess on the line LOL. Still, he comes in useful sometimes. It was raining here when I got up, then stopped for a while and now rain again. My fault, I actually did a bit of watering last evening. With all the windy weather some heavily planted bits were quite dry - not any more though :o)

Yes, I've trained him well ... start as you mean to go on is my motto! Mind you it was me that had to rush out in the rain to bring it in again! Can't blame him for that though as he was at work at the time. I must admit he doesn't peg it up the way I do! His answer to that is "if you're not happy with the way I do it, do it yourself" but my reply is always "well if you're going to do a job, do it properly". Bit of a stalemate really, but at least it gets hung out even if it doesn't look pretty!

It's funny how no two people ever hang the washing out the same isn't it? I've heard some people even colour code it to the pegs.....!! How can you waste time in a garden doing things like that? (my pegs are all wooden anyway, even if I could be tempted) If hubby did bring the washing in, I bet he wouldn't fold it up, so it would get all creased. Can't expect too much I suppose LOL

I don't go as far as colour coding the pegs! but I was taught by my mam to hang tops up by the seams under the arms to avoid peg marks in the hem, and to peg up shirts by the bottom seam with the open shirt catching the wind, and to peg trousers up by the back of the waist band, leaving the flies undone to flap in the wind. So this is how I do it still! I don't suppose there's a law against the way hubby does it, but it certainly looks messy! But at least he does it - and other things - and doesn't just leave everything to me, which I am thankful for, honestly.

Yes you are lucky Jan, pretty much everything gets left to me but he does go to work and I don't. He is retiring in a couple of months though and I made noises about sharing jobs out but it didn't go down well! We'll see.....

You'll have to develop a less subtle strategy, Lily! I only work part-time, so do a lot of stuff myself, despite how it sounds! But my hubby is actually very good at sharing jobs so I have no real complaints. I did intend to tackle my huge ironing pile this afternoon, but after going shopping, picking up my daughter's friend and then preparing a casserole for tea, I couldn't be bothered with it, so decided to have half an hour on GoY instead! It doesn't take much to distract me!

Bet you didn't only spend 1/2 hour on here though. I've just done that and it's now well over an hour and not nearly finished yet! Will hubby do the ironing or is that a step too far?

Not at all - he's ironing as we speak! Mind he's only doing his own stuff, and I did tackle the mountain of washing up after our casserole! BTW, I spent exactly half an hour on GoY... er ...followed by another half an hour ... oops.

The man's a marvel!!
I've been on here now for over 2 hours and I am NOT going to look at anything else at all as I MUST go and feed the neighbours cats NOW!!

Shh, don't let him hear you say he's a marvel! He thinks this is how all men behave and I don't want to disillusion him, now, do I?

You certainly hit the jackpot there Jan.....oh well, it seems I'm unlucky with men as well as balloon flowers LOL. Actually he's got his good points...um.. I'll get back to you on that one!