My garden in June.

A little while ago I gave you an idea of what my garden looked like, well now I can show you how it's looking  at the end of June. Hope you like what you see.




This is a selection of the soft colours.

 

This year we have not had the best of weather, a cold May & a rainy June. We were wondering if summer was ever going to arrive, as mid-summers day has been and gone. However it's finaly arrived in full force, it's hot with clear blue sky and the plants are beginning to look healthy and are blooming well, so I'm happy. I've always been a sunshine girl.
Today the floral committee from our local commune arrived with their clip boards. I told you about my first experience of this, not long after we arrived to live in France. After 22 yrs they have not changed very much.
However I did notice that they had a a new member who knew her flowers. The others are quite happy just chatting about everyday life, as long they can have a look around, they're quite content. This committee has to pass first, they select 2 or 3 from the commune to be entered into the department competition, then a week later the horticulturist committee comes to judge, that's when the important part starts. The  local French people seem to be very curious , I'm not sure if it's because I'm English, but now we have lots of English in our area, so I can no longer think of it as 'Un coin perdu'  (a place miles from anywhere)



Surfinias
If you don't know this flower, it's certainly one to have for it's heavenly perfume.
& the vibrant colours. these are planted in troughs so they tumble down over the balcony.

The pale mauve flower is  double Surfinia.
Look at the lovely marbling on the petals
This one is my favourite.

In a few more weeks these troughs will be totaly hidden

 by the profusion of the flowers.



 This antique wine bottle corker was found in a brocante.
I've had it a long time
but now found just the place to show it off.



Hope you liked what you saw.

I'll be back again soon showing more of my hanging baskets as they progress.

A bientot

Barbara Lilian

Sowing seeds at the right time - in tune with the moon.

Having had so many failures of seed germination, this time I will do what my old French neighbour Leonard told me to at our 1st house in a tiny village in the 'heart of nowhere' as our English friends described it. Leonard would arrive with match boxes full of seeds, usually courgette, which I duly put into the ground when I managed to find time in between being the labourer, for my husband during our renovation period. He always gave me instructions of when & how to sow the seeds, at least I think that's what he was telling me; as my of understanding of the French language at that time was very limited. So for all I knew, he could have been saying 'put them in a pan of boiling water & cook for 20 mins'. Everyday I  would go to my little veg plot, which indecently grew to a whole field the following year, more about that another time. I waited anxiously for the little blighters to show some sign of growth, & when nothing appeared I'd sneak down the lane to  Leonard's potager to see how his were doing. Leonard's were always up well before mine & at that time I didn't realise how important it was to sow them at the specific time he had told me. Which was in tune with THE MOON. I just thought the precise instructions given were because I was English & he thought I didn't have a clue what to do & he was right. It's taken me a long time to realise that's the way the old folks have always sown their seeds. God Bless old Leonard, I say old with affection as he was a dear man, always laughing, up at the crack of dawn to tend to his potager before the day became too hot, unlike me who tended to my veg, plot if & when I found time. Another lesson I had to learn. When I came to France my gardening attempts were full of mishaps, only ever having grown tomatoes in a grow bag in England. I had a lot to learn.
I'm afraid to admit it but I still have the attitude of  ' it has 2 chances, it grows or it goes '
So this time my seeds will be sown in 'tune with the moon'. That's if the rain stops long enough for me to get out in my garden.

http://www.plantea.com/planting-moon-phases.htm
http://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/projects/fruit-and-vegetables/how-to-grow-tomatoes-in-a-growing-bag/337.html

http://www.maison-deco.com/jardin/conseils-jardinage