I thought I might get most of a morning's gardening in before the rain arrived, but by half past ten I could feel light spits against my skin. I carried on weeding regardless, in case it was just the very advance edge of the coming band of rain, but ten minutes later it was proper, serious rain that nobody could ignore, and I had to concede defeat and come inside. Ah well, I needed to wash the kitchen floor after yesterday's honey extraction.
Nipping out to water the greenhouse first thing, since while the pots outside have had ample watering from the sky, those under cover might have been getting dry, I was reminded of several more trays of plants that are bound for the wild border in the meadow. There are some Gaillardia, three long term survivors in pots from a previous packet of free seed, that I germinated and could then never find anywhere to use them, and some young plants grown this year from a different lot of free seed. They lack the poise of many garden flowers, and I'm not entirely sure I like them as specimens, but they should look cheerful if they manage to muddle along with everything else, and they ought to be good bee plants.
The Echium vulgare, or viper's bugloss, are definitely good bee plants, but should have been planted out into the soil weeks ago. This has bright blue flowers held over rather coarse leaves, and will die after flowering. I'm not sure whether my stunted plants will ever manage to put on a good display now, on the other hand if they do manage to flower then with any luck they'll seed themselves. In the wild it is found in dry, bare and waste places, so our garden should make it feel thoroughly at home.
Then there are some tall, apricot flowered evening primrose. I sowed the remainder of an open packet of seed, or maybe it was a free packet, without really thinking about it, and have since realised that I've already got it flowering by the Systems Administrator's blue hut, and don't need any more for the formal garden. But it seems a shame to throw them away, and they should look reasonably harmonious with the dark red and tawny shades of the Hemerocallis.
They might be joined by three or four sprouting roots of Hedychium. I am not sure which one, the reason being that when I repotted the plants in the conservatory I threw the oldest roots without any visible buds on to the compost heap. Nestled under a nice, warm, moist blanket of prunings and poultry litter the old roots staged a remarkable revival, and I found them sprouting when I turned the compost. There really isn't room for any more ginger lilies in the conservatory, so I might as well try them in the meadow, next to a stand of Arundo donax that was a present from a friend who picked some shoots while on holiday in Madeira and brought them back in her sponge bag. The soil in that part of the meadow is slightly moister than elsewhere, which is how the Arundo has survived, so it might do for the Hedychium.
It sounds a very improvised, hugger mugger style of gardening, making do with all sorts of oddments acquired by accident or duplicated in other parts of the garden. And it is. If I had greater resources, gardeners to do the weeding and an estate carpenter and gamekeeper to deal with the rabbits, and an unlimited budget to buy plants, I would be pickier about it. I could spend hours drawing up planting plans, specifying five of this, seven of that, and nineteen of the other. But as it is I'm making do with what I've got. The meadow is an informal part of the garden, run as much for the birds, bees and butterflies as anything else, and anything cheap (or free) that can survive a fair degree of neglect is welcome to fill the gaps between the shrubs and trees.
Meanwhile I am pondering the next challenge, a stretch of the railway garden where the SA isn't planning to put any model buildings in the medium term, and wants the soil covered before a fresh crop of weeds can grow. What has small leaves, is evergreen, will tolerate partial shade and root competition from the hedge, grow in very light, sandy soil, cover the ground reasonably quickly, but not spread inexorably over the tracks then look hideous when cut back?
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