Dear diary:

Monday - Calm and sunny day. Sprayed Roundup on dandelions on patio.

Tuesday – Found bindweed on the blackcurrants. Dug out as much as I could.

Wednesday – Sunny again so treated lawn for clover and buttercups.

Thursday – Wild and wet. Spent morning in greenhouse pulling out groundsel.

Friday – Had to chuck out floppy orange Nemesia. Won’t be buying them next year.

Weeks summary – Four weedings and a funeral.

Just when we thought we were in for a seriously scorching summer the jet stream slumps off away to the south, the temperature drops and the clouds roll in. Time for the weeds to come out to play! It’s a great pity that Gramoxone was banned – a wee whiff of paraquat would see off the majority of the green tide – but now have to rely on Roundup which needs a good four to six hour spell of dry weather to be absorbed in to the vegetation. This is not so easy to achieve as a wee summer ‘freshette’ will cancel out all your good work. I notice that there is new weedkiller on the market called New Way Weedspray. Investigation shows the active ingredient to be acetic acid (vinegar). I’ll need to give it a try – I love the smell of fish and chips!

Now that the school holidays are underway, there is always a steep decline in footfall at the garden centres. A good time to pick up discounted bargains. Generally most rhododendrons and azaleas will have finished flowering although the really smart ground cover azalea ‘Alexander’ was in full bloom in the third week of June.

Lovely green/copper foliage contrasting with copious dark pink flowers. Great for covering the top of a dwarf wall.

It is always nice to come across a plant that you can stick in the ground and just leave it to its own devices. The Copper Elder (Sambucus nigra Black Lace) fits into this category very well. It likes damp and heavy soil and needs full sunlight to bring out the best colour in the foliage. Very hardy and will tolerate a fair amount of battering from the wind. Rich crimson frilly leaves and big sprays of pink flowers will brighten the garden during the mid summer months. If it gets too vigorous cut it back to three foot high in the autumn.

Don’t get to thinking that once the spring show of rhodo’s, pieris and the like is over then the garden just becomes a bland bit of greenery whiling away the days until autumn colour arrives. There are many varieties of ‘easy care’ herbaceous plants that will give a boost to the border. Achillea Cerise Queen, Echinacea Hot Lava and Geranium Johnstons Blue are bold growers and don’t need much attention at all – just a bit of dead-heading as the season progresses.

The barbeque- scented summer that I have been hoping for has faltered and already we can see some casualties amongst the bedding plants. Livingstone Daisies were having a wonderful time at the start of June but now they are sorry looking souls desperate for a few sunny days to dazzle again.

Begonias, however, have shrugged off the rain and are certainly saving the day as far as hanging baskets are concerned. I noticed that Monty Don has been stirring things with his criticism of Begonias. ‘Repulsively ugly’ he reckons. Reading between the lines I think his main gripe is about the Begonia rex type of foliage houseplant rather than the flowering cultivars. It’s a pity that he has this view – a walk round the Kibble at Glasgow Botanics would change his opinion – the diversity of the Begonia genus is awesome.

Chelsea Flower Show has been and gone. This years ‘stooshie’ was about gender equality (or lack of it) in the judging panel and the impression that the RHS pandered to the ‘traditional white middle class’. Too many twin sets and pearls and double-barrelled surnames. Don’t you get a bit fed up with the contrived manipulation of panels, steering groups or any other body? Surely merit must take priority.

As for Henrietta Whippingpole-Hughes she, and her like, are a great asset to our horticultural heritage. Where would our national collections of plants be if it weren’t for these enthusiastic individuals who have the facilities and passion to look after such a diversity of stock?

As for Monty and his loathing of Begonias I’m no great fan of roses - vicious things which seem to harbour every pest and disease known to man – but at this time of year they can really show their worth. One example would be outside the Maritime Museum at Irvine. Huge swathes of magenta and white flowers (don’t ask me the variety – I haven’t a clue).The effect is spectacular.

A survey (yet another one) has looked at the ‘happiness’ of gardeners and found us to be a cheery lot with less chance of displaying signs of depression.

(This figure may be influenced by the number of rabbits or snails in your garden) .

Sad to see that, as a pastime, gardening now takes second place to computer gaming. Planet of the Apps right enough. I would rather have green fingers than blunt thumbs. However – each to their own.

HAPPY GARDENING.

General Points

Hanging baskets will be filling up with roots now. Keep them well watered and treat with some tomato feed every week.

Make sure strawberries have a cosy bed of straw to keep fruit clean – this also keeps slugs away.

Screening plants like laurel and cotoneaster will respond well to a bit of fertiliser. Cut back dominant shoots to thicken up a new hedge.

Trim out old flowered shoots on spring flowering shrubs such as forsythia and deutzia.

Spray roses for blackspot, mildew and greenfly (a ‘combi-spray’ is available) Deadhead to prolong flowering. A wee tickle of growmore helps too.