Strolling through a purple haze - our summer garden delights

This evening the sun shone and there was a lovely red sky (red sky at night, shepherd's delight) and hopefully this is a good omen for the summer to come. May has been a dry and warm month, with an amazing heatwave over the past couple of weeks.

I wandered around the garden and took some photos of the plants that have made it thus far. A lot of damage was done by the harsh winter with record sub-zero temperatures of -10 to -15 degrees Centigrade and many of the plants didn't make it.

We had to replant all the lavender border as the old plants died off - they'd been cut back in the autumn and should have regrown new shoots from the old woody shoots but didn't. So this year we'll leave well enough alone, less pruning and cutting back before the winter sets in.

I love the herb border; we had parsley and chives survive the frosts, and I got presents of some new herbs from Simon in the Farmers' Market when I bought new lavender. He gave me two thyme plants, including a lemon thyme, and a savory and a sage plant.

They are thriving now, alongside the parsley which is on the verge of bolting. It's in its third year and seems to self-seed so I will let nature take
its course.

The chives I'm very chuffed with - they were bought in a pot for 99c in Lidl (my fave discount
supermarket!) and I divided them up and planted them out about three years ago, and they have thrived to the lovely purple-headed plants you can see in the photo.

I got a rosemary plant in Lidl last winter and moved it from the kitchen windowsill in the spring, and it seems to love being in the ground, where I hope it will live for many years. Rosemary was a victim of last winter in many places, and gardening articles are full of tales of woe of plants that died off.

Perhaps we've taken a lot for granted in Ireland where we have the Gulf Stream giving us a mild climate where palm trees and sub-tropical plants do really well, and now that we've had a taste of more usual Northern European climates it's been a wake-up call. We lost a palm in a pot on the patio (there's alliteration for you!) and wonder what to replace it with. I want a cordylline or yucca-like palm - the one we had was a Phoenix Canariensis and lasted about 4 years, so we were very disappointed that it succumbed.

But the surprise has been the banana plant which has put in an unexpected appearance with 7 new shoots or suckers! We were sure that would be gone, but no, it made it. It's a hardy Japanese variety, that is meant to withstand frosty winters and reappear each year, so that's one good news story.

Purple seems to recur in the garden this year - I planted Allium bulbs last October and now there are huge purple onion-flower balls, like chive flowers on steroids. There's the lavender too, and the lupins are a kind of blue-lavender. Bluebells are nearing the end of their span too, and there are some mystery bulbs about to flower but I have no recollection of what I planted so it will be fun to see what emerges.

The tunnel this year has been given over to strawberries - the polythene is 12 years old and is only meant to have a lifespan of 5-6 years and there is so much algae on it that it's practically opaque. So until we renew it we can't use it to grow light-loving things. However, it's a dream for strawberries which need heat but apparently not much light. Makes sense I guess, as they are always hiding under the leaves.

I ain't complaining with a dozen pots of jam in the store cupboard and another dozen in the offing, it'll definitely shorten the winter! I pick a pound or so every evening and leave them stand on the kitchen worktop near the window for another day and then they are ready to hull and put in jam or cakes or muesli or yogurt - or just eat with cream or ice cream.

We have tons of rhubarb again this year - I blogged about it last year here - and as hubby split the stools to propogate more plants we have a whole bed by the high stone wall near the house which will give an even bigger crop next year - I think you're not meant to pick from the newly transplanted/split rhubarb plants in year one.

I planted some tomatoes in an organic grow-bag as I don't think they'll do well in the tunnel, with its poor light, likewise courgettes/zucchini. They are on the patio against the south wall so they will be sheltered and have lots of warmth.

The garden is a bit straggly on the flower front, with a lot of stuff to come, like the Cosmos I am growing on in pots in the tunnel and hope to plant out in a few weeks, and the dahlias that come up trumps every year but not till July. Trouble with our weather is that there's just not enough sunshine to go with the mild climate - no wonder the Food Safety Authority of Ireland has advised every kid under one year to take Vitamin D every day - advice that us Public Health Nurses are giving out every day to new parents.

Here are some photos of the garden and its produce - with strawberries just picked tonight, and those picked yesterday now ready to hull and clean, before making yet more jam or just keeping them for breakfast tomorrow - always a great start to the day and with muesli or porridge, and a dollop of plain yogurt.

The various hues of blues and purple are also on display, in all their splendour, as well as the other more mundane shots, of the tomatoes-in-a-bag, and the rhubarb as well as the banana suckers. I will keep posting updates of the banana as it grows to maturity - like Groundhog day, it repeats this process year in, year out, without ever seeming to tire. I wonder will we ever get any bananas? Not at this rate I'd say.