It is just about reaching as hot as I can bear, towards the upper 20s. If we get extreme heat for a few days I get through it by thinking that it will be over soon. At the moment next week is predicted to be around 30 all week and often the prediction gets higher as it gets closer.
I like to be outside at least some of each day, but I am not sure there will be much that is bearable.
I am hoping they have got it wrong and it reduces sooner than Monday week.
It's been feeling like summer in the UK and sometimes you don't want to complain about the heat. This though was affecting my sleep in the end and making me feel rather groggy at times. I felt so tired with it sometimes I didn't know if I was coming or going, but it wasn't that bad and here I am this morning. I think that we may have seen the last of this extreme heat and I have had enough of it.
I had the window open yesterday and a bee came in, I am scared of them, but let it out gently.
I hope that none of you was affected autism wise too much by the heat.
I felt so tired with it sometimes
I feel so tired I don't feel like doing anything, even gardening, which is unusual for me. I suppose we'll somehow have to change our lifestyles.
I am starting to think how I can make more changes in the garden to cope with heat both in respect of plants and managing maintenance.
I am starting to think how I can make more changes in the garden to cope with heat both in respect of plants and managing maintenance.
Its the salty winds we get along with lashing of rain that turn grasses to mush here, gardening on the coast is different to gardening inland.
My sedums do very well, practically bomb proof, they're low maintainance and just need cutting down to the ground in late winter/early spring when you see the new shoots coming and staking and tying in when they start to flower or they flop under thier own weight. Theres so many different types too, some are low growing and make really good ground cover or for green rooves.
Aren't bedding begonias a succulent?
I'm not a fan of argaves in British gardens they just look wrong and too spikey to me, but then I'm not a fan of dry gardens or tropical ones for that matter either.
I will keep experiementing with can survive here, usually anything with a silvery, waxy or hairy leaf will do well here. Nearly all our wild flowers such as marigolds cornflowers, nigella, poppies do well in poor and dry soil.
I think when you plant things has an effect on how well they survive, like roses, they do much better if planted as bare rooted plants in winter, they acclimatise better and benefit from the wetter winter soil and seem to do well as their roots have grown deeper into the ground by the time the dry weather comes again.
Making sure there's air around things like roses makes a huge difference to them getting things like rust and black spot, so plant well but lightly around them, things like chives are good with roses they protect each other.
Sedum cope well - I have a bank near the bungalow which is 3 feet off the ground so thought of planting it with low growing plants and perhaps a creeping juniper. I don't know how they'll cope in Winter but the seller lives in Yorkshire and claims they are ok outdoors all year. At present, I grow them in clay pans in a plant display stand. I'm watching Monty Don, as he's changing his planters to plants that need watering once a week or less. I love gardening but getting tired of watering with a can!
I've tried a few things.
The problem is we have cold wet winters. In general things which like warm and dry can take cold and dry, but not cold and wet.
There is quite a lot of variability depending on your soil type too. I have chalk and although it has good drainage it stays quite damp and holds water even if a bit nutrient sparse, whereas more sandy is too well drained, and clay once dry is terrible.
Also there is a difference between surviving and thriving. Roses need lots of water to avoid disease (blackspot, mildew) and flower well, but are tough and will go dormant if too hot and not die.
Mahonia are tough, but spiky. I have a 12ft palm I grew from a baby (trachycarpus is the only truly hardy one), buddleia are pretty indestructible, magnolia seem to cope quite well too. Iris can take the heat and limited water, as can crocosmia and gladioli, plus cotoneaster (although some types are considered invasive). I think lavender is considered pretty tough, although needs cutting to keep in shape and can't be cut hard once it gets too big. Holly likes dryish conditions. My pears are tougher than I expected and I have watered them very little. Using tubs or troughs can make watering easier, if they have a water reservoir, as the water is constrained, but they also can dry out easier as they have limited depth.
I have been surprised how well the bedding begonias have done too.
Not much can take no water. Agaves can be left and if protected from wet in winter can take frosts too, but are rather spiky. Yuccas can cope, as can phormiums.
if we spend time mulching a lot more plants will cope better
Vita Sackville-West famously started a trend for dry gardens. Perhaps we need to emanate her. I get inspired by Piet Oudolf's wonderful gardens. I buy one of each recommended plant and save the seed, as planting in a matrix takes a lot of plants. It takes much longer to create a garden this way but is very satisfying.
I'm not a huge fan of grasses, they just end up as soggy, slippery beaten down foliage,
Not grasses Piet uses - they stay on for Winter colour. Take a look at Farmer Gracywebsite for examples of plants.
Yes probably some of the older varieties of plants would work well. Apparently those with silvery foliage are likely to be good. I grew up in an exposed coastal area and I remember having some plants with silvery foliage and sedums. Growing up, which would have included 1976, the only plants in our garden I remember being watered were the vegetables.
I am not near the coast now, but have found salvias cope well with limited watering, spread and have a lot of colour.
A lot of parairie plants shrivel up in my garden, echinacea, sunflowers, rudbekias all just turn up thier leaves and die. I'm not a huge fan of grasses, they just end up as soggy, slippery beaten down foliage, but I am experimenting with some of our native grasses that just pop up wild. I think we should remember many of our native plants can cope with drought and if we spend time mulching a lot more plants will cope better
That's what I am gradually doing and just growing a few annuals, so I can add a few to top up for variety and interest.
I'm finding wildlife mixes do well and look colourful. I'm saving the seed and have quite a large packet already.
I'm also trying out prairie planting [Piet Oudolf] - perennials mixed with grasses, that need poor soil and very little water, also look good in Winter.
That's what I am gradually doing and just growing a few annuals, so I can add a few to top up for variety and interest. I am gradually moving away from pots where possible too. I am noticing too the things that are still doing well and intend to repeat in different colours.
Water butts are a good idea for the periods when there is rain. We have guttering on the shed which I think screwed on with a flexible pipe attached to go into the butt.
I've been changing to more perrenial plants for while now and I'm going to get a couple of new larger water butts. I'm a bit limited in what I can grow anyway because of the strong salty winds we get, luckily many of the plants that do well here, do well because of thier climatic resilience, such as hebes, fennel and raspberries.
