The insects in the garden are in a frenzy of activity, collecting nectar and pollen and generally making honey while the sun shines.  The constant low hum of their busy buzzing and the delicate fluttering of the butterflies is so delightful and uplifting that it makes me not care about all the jobs I should be getting on with.

                                       

There are certain plants that are real magnets for the nectar seekers.  The bees love Lavender, while the butterflies are flocking to the Hebes (“Great Orme” is the one pictured).  Verbena bonariensis seems to be the plant that all the insects find irresistible.  If you want to attract butterflies and bees into your garden it’s best to choose single flowered plants rather than frilly double blooms and sterile cultivars.  An infertile plant has no need for nectar or pollen.

Some more good plants for a nectar bar:
Contoneaster
Scabious
Sedum
aster
Escallonia
Privet
Most herbs when in flower
And nearly all wild plants

MIND THE GAP

It’s hard to keep the garden full of colour all through the summer.  Once the early rush is over (Delphiniums, Lupins, Geums and other cottage perennials), there can be a dull patch in the border before the late summer flowers like Dahlias, Asters and Rudbeckias arrive.  There are some ways of avoiding this:  The first is to grow long season performers that just keep on flowering from June until the frosts - things like Verbena bonariensis, Guara lindheimeri and Geranium ‘Rozanne’ (above). Secondly grow annuals like Cosmos, Nicotiana, Sweet peas and Mina lobata (a tender climber pictured right).  This is labour intensive, but will ensure fowers for a ong time - providing you keep dead-heading them.  I also cram bulbs like lilies and Crocosmia in between the other plants - either in the ground, or in pots, depending on the space available and the bleakness of the scene.

But whatever steps you take to avoid it, like a trapped air bubble, the gap can sometimes appear when you’re not expecting it.  Our weather makes it all very unpredictable. I have a feeling it will be late this year as all the end of summer stuff’s already here.  there’s no remedy for this, except perhaps to bring in some early autumn bedding plants ...

SUCH SWEET SORREL

I haven’t grown sorrel before; this is sorrel ‘Blood veined’ which is pretty enough for the borders (but don't, it's quite invasive).  The young leaves are the ones to eat; tasting sharp (I want to say lemony, but it’s not quite that). It makes a good tangy salad ingredient, goes well with chicken and maybe fish.

The first harvests are ready in the veg patch - new potatoes, early carrots , salad and beetroot.  All my peas have been eaten by baby squirrels this year - they climb the plants and carefully extract the peas, leaving the empty pods dangling as a forlorn taunt.   They’re pesky and I want to shoot them, but instead I just haven’t planted any more peas.  Controlling pests is the biggest challenge in a productive garden - I will happily squash caterpillars and even cabbage white butterflies, but I can’t deal with them when they’re cute and furry.

MAGNOLIA SOULANGEANA

Magnolia soulangeana is a wonderful tree, often planted in pride of place in front gardens.  But watch out - eventually it will grow huge and they’re not easy to keep pruned.  Nevertheless, it’s hard to beat - for the ‘springtime’ feeling it brings, if nothing else.

EASTER TREATS

                         

I look forward to putting up the ‘Easter tree’ as much as the Christmas one.  I’m not sure when I started this - or why - but I love watching the Blackthorn branch that I bring inside instantly blossoming once it’s in a vase of water.

At last the purple sprouting broccoli is ready after 10 long months battling caterpillars, pigeons and the ravages of a very hard winter.  I shall savour every mouthful and ignore complaints about tough stalks (it doesn’t have tough stalks, at least not until the very end of the season....)  The great thing about this crop is that you harvest it when not much else is around and that includes caterpillars that have a habit later in the season of lurking among calabrese stalks and only coming to light once you’ve served them onto a plate, lightly steamed within the florets.  Yummy.

SPRING FORWARD

Spring forward, Fall back - that’s how to remember which way the clock goes when the hour changes.  I think we need it to happen the other way round, so that we get more light in the autumn evenings, but maybe getting an hour less sleep when it’s getting colder and darker, might be too much.  It takes less time to recover from the hour change when you know that the long summer evenings are just around the corner...

Now is a good time to plant up a new border with container grown plants - before the weather starts to get too hot and dry.  Try to get the plants established before the summer. 

RHUBARB RHUBARB

Rhubarb is not to everyone’s taste, and in fact only a couple of us like it here, but I seem to have planted about half an acre regardless.  Luckily I love rhubarb - the colour of the stems, the wonderful leaves (there’s an ornamental rhubarb - Rheum palmatum, which looks great in a damp border) and the taste.  You can use a Rhubarb forcer early in the season (or an upturned old flowerpot) to make the stems longer and less stringy - by depriving them of light.

There’s meant to be a photo and a link to my Rhubarb and ginger crumble cake here, but something went wrong and the crumble part sank to the bottom of the cake when I made it.  It tasted fine, but I can’t unleash the recipe until it behaves itself better or is more photogenic, at least.