May 2020 was an extremely dry and sunny month and it starts to show in the garden. What used to be the lawn is now a brown patch of dust and hay. The newly planted trees don’t develop their leafs as it should be, and I hope to keep them alive. The soil feels more like concrete and that is not the ideal condition for a thriving garden. But there is also some good news. Let’s have a look.

The Orchard

I can already tell you that this year will be a top year for cherries. The tree is literally packed with these sweet red goodies and this year I don’t even mind sharing some with the birds. I can also see quite some apples on the, still small, apple trees. The wildflower meadow surrounding the trees is just a far cry of what it was last year. Daisies did well and now I see the bellflowers coming into bloom as well. When it comes to wildflowers it is the poppies that are the star of the year. They are plenty and bees go crazy for them 🙂

The Berry garden

Looks like we are heading for some good harvest of blue berries as well. When it comes to redcurrants…seems the birds found the bush this year, so maybe next year I will have to put a net over the bush for some protection. Gooseberries are also plenty this year. We moved the strawberries to the front of the house and are doing well.

The Perennial borders

The border next to the pool is doing extremely well this year. The alliums really put on a show and now salvia, knautia and nepeta have taken over by now. The newly planted border is doing fine. The good thing about choosing for a prairie style flower bed is that they are quite drought-resistant.

The Natural Swimming Pond

We have slightly more algae compared to last year, but the water is very clear and it is all under control. We added some more yellow iris and other filtering plants in the filter zone. Water temperature is 23°C now, so perfect for swimming. Sorry fish and frogs, the pool is not yours alone anymore 🙂

The Vegetable garden

For now the veggies are doing well. We have been harvesting quite some radish, different kind of salads and even kohlrabi. At this very moment the snow peas are giving us a lot and the broad beans are ready for harvest as well (grrr it is a fight agains that black bean aphid) In the glasshouse tomatoes are starting to form and hopefully ripe soon as well. There is so much going on right now. beetroot is coming up, beats, carrots and parsnip, the bell peppers and chili peppers are in bloom. Let us see what the final result will be. If I have learnt one thing in gardening it is not to cheer too early

I am not going too much into detail on the rest of the garden. Pictures sometimes say more then words. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to put them in the comments.