The Cutting Garden in October and a vase

We are almost at the end of another month and it is again time to review the cuttings bed.

Julie has said that she won’t be posting this month as sadly she can’t get out into the garden; so if you would like to leave your links here, I’d be very happy to coordinate and host for this month.

The cutting garden in September

Time once again to review the successes or otherwise of the cuttings garden.

Like Cathy at Rambling in the Garden I have been very impressed with how good the cuttings beds look in their own right so I am seriously considering using the beds in the new secret garden for some of the plants for cutting, especially the perennials and Dahlias which I leave in the ground, I think it will make the area a pleasant place to sit and once the hedges have grown will protect the plants from the wind. 

The cuttings garden in August

We have had perhaps the hottest summer since we moved to Italy.  I spent most of July and certainly the first half of August hiding from the heat and sun.  What made this year’s temperatures particularly difficult was that the night time temperatures were not very much lower than mid-day.  So there was no relief for me or for my plants.  But through it all the cuttings bed has produced masses of flowers for me to pick and enjoy indoors.

The Cutting beds in July

I like to review the cuttings beds each month as it helps me understand what works and what needs to be improved.  So it is useful that Julie at Peonies and posies also writes about her wonderful cutting garden at the end of the month and this prompts me to do the same.

The Slope on Thursday and a bit of catching up

Before I begin I would like to apologise for not leaving comments on your posts for the last few days.  My husband has just celebrated an important birthday and we have has house guests for a few days to help him celebrate.  This meant lots of tidying-up and cooking.  I tried to read some, and left ‘likes’ where I could for the rest I hope to have some time to read them soon but with Easter coming and more entertaining I can’t promise to comment.

Moving on to the weather!  Last Wednesday was horrendous – torrential rain and very strong winds enough to topple another of the Rosa mutabilis.  The weather then improved a little but Saturday was again gale force winds that cut through you like a knife, the sun shone but the air was very cold.  Sunday was better and Sunday better still although with some clouds during the day, of course, when everybody left on Tuesday morning it suddenly became spring!  The sun shone, there was no wind and I took my fleece off while working in the garden which I haven’t done for quite a while now.

The cutting garden in January

When I woke up this morning I looked out of the window and thought it had snowed during the night, yesterday afternoon the sky had looked like snow so I wasn’t surprised; but on going outside to check the greenhouse, I found that it wasn’t snow but hail!  With the low temperatures the hail hadn’t thawed but remained coating the beds and some of the plants, this thyme doesn’t look very happy.

Hail stones on Thyme

I have decided to report on the cuttings bed at least once a month; Julie at Peonies and Posies is posting about hers on the last Friday of each month, I will try to coincide my reports with hers in the hope that others too will join in and I will learn something from others who are far more experienced and I am!

In a Vase on Monday and cuttings garden update

We have reached the last Monday in October so time to join with Cathy at Rambling in the Garden where she asks us to fill a vase with flowers from our own gardens or surrounding countryside.  This might be the last vase from the cuttings garden too; I’m a bit disappointed that it is almost all over but it is my fault for not staking the Dahlias properly and not cutting back everything to encourage more flowers.  However, I’m sure this will be a lesson well learned and won’t happen again next year.

Greenhouse and Cuttings Bed – March

I am late to link with Helen’s greenhouse meme (The patient Gardener) which was last week; but I wanted to keep a better record this year of how the greenhouse is used and blogging about it seems to be a good method to achieve this.  This time I’m including a little about the new bed for cut flowers, hopefully as more is happening there I’ll write separate posts.