Sunday, 28 June 2026

Shh don't tell hubby

After chatting with my sister, I searched for table, dessert, hardy green grapevine, I found one with  5* reviews, so I ordered it, it has been grown in the UK and is already hardy, it won't be ready to fruit for two years, I can wait. She set the challenge with if I can grow them so can you, I have a perfect spot for it once the temperature drops, for now it can stay in it's pot.

I popped to look at the plants in our market, his plants are always sturdy, I'm not a dahlia lover, I do like red pompoms, mum always grew them in her garden, so this one followed me home, plus 6 begonia bedding plants for my big blue pot. I have taken 2 cuttings off the dahlia, they do root well in water, hopefully some extra free colour by next month. 

Kitchen window sill is a sunny spot, my spider plant loves it here, it looks good in my hand painted pot, in front our my latest cuttings, dahlias, white lavender and more gaura 

Foolishly I then saw Farmer Gracy had their tulips listed and went a bit mad, I am determined to have a good show next spring, I already have new pots, I think I had better stop looking and pack my bank card away. Last year the tulip bulbs I got from our favourite garden centre either had loads of bulbs failed or in a couple of cases the wrong colour. These will arrive September time.

To finish the deals, I got this gypsophila at Lidl, just £1.99, it's in my big blue pot with half of the begonia bedding plants. This one does not grow too high, not need, just another I saw it so I got it. I think it looks much better than just begonias, hubby took the other 3 for his front garden.


I used the poppies from my summer silk flowers here, so the arrangement looked a bit pale, I was looking for replacement red blooms, until these orange ones caught my eye. I'm happy it fills the small corner by the patio doors, bringing the garden inside.




It has been an expensive couple of weeks, I can always find nice plants and bulbs, I keep saying the garden is full, but I always find spaces, I happily pass on purchasing anything for the house or myself, I have been recently been good on our last trip to B&Q, I did not look at plants.

We are on our delayed couple of days in Oxford, the weather is cooler for us, it's a few years since we visited, I love all the old buildings, this being our last trip away until September when the children will be back at school, we will stay local for the summer holidays, we plan to pop to Somerset to visit family, the village and towns are not so full of people, our area is always very busy.

10 comments:

  1. When I saw the title of this blogpost, "Shh don't tell hubby" - I immediately assumed that you had begun an affair with the vicar. But it was all about plants. Have you considered counselling? It often helps with obsessions.

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    1. Can't afford it, all my money goes on the garden🤦‍♀️

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  2. My next-door neighbour successfully grew grapes for years, but his widow has not continued with them.
    It's easy to get carried away when browsing plant catalogues, when everything looks so gorgeous. I have resisted Farmer Gracy so far.

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    1. I know, I had twice as many in my basket at one point,

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  3. As much as I talk about dahlias, I had no idea they would root from cuttings. That's news to me! Then again, I need more dahlias like I need a hole in the head.

    Have fun in Oxford!

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  4. The grape vine will be something lovely for you to nurture and look forward to grapes in a year or two. I think gardeners always find space for that one last plant- that is until the next one comes along. The tulips will be beautiful next Spring. Enjoy your time in Oxford.

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  5. If you sneak them in, I'm sure he won't even notice ;)

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  6. Good luck with the grape vine. It will be great to grow your own grapes. It will save a lot of money and it's good that they are seedless. I wish the ones on the fence at our allotment were seedless as they'd be much easier to eat.

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  7. That dahlia is gorgeous, I never used to like dahlias, thinking of them as old people's plants. Well, now I am an old person and I love them!

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