Introduction
On this New Years day I have resolved to finish off the 2020 gardening blog that somehow fell by the wayside after June. In this and the next blog I have had to revisit photographs to get a retrospective view of how the rest of the year went.
Many people turned to their gardens during lockdowns, for us it felt like business as usual. Without the staging posts of opening the garden for NGS and to visiting groups of gardening enthusiasts, it was a somewhat more relaxing experience but also strangely flat.
Still there was plenty of wildlife visiting us
We started making some changes in the garden , mainly taking down or markedly reducing some shrubs that had got very big. This gave more planting space that were temporarily planted with annuals while we decided what to do on a more permanent basis. This is not something we could usually do at this time of year with visitors coming so the quieter time gave us some new opportunities
Then, taking advantage of what turned out to be a temporary reduction in levels of infection, we took advantage of a trip to see our son and his partner at their vineyard on St Martins on the Isles of Scilly. They moved there in February, just before the reality of the shape of the pandemic became clear, and it was our first chance to see them and their new home. A planned 10 day trip turned into 5 weeks as we loved being there and helping out on the vineyard, A different type of gardening!
Early July Vegetables
The very sunny spring and summer meant that we had early crops too. Here tomatoes from the greenhouse, new potatoes and rhubarb from the allotment and the cooked potatoes with french beans from the garden. The wine is from St Martins Vineyard
http://www.stmartinsvineyard.co.uk
August Vegetables
We had created more of the raised box beds earlier in the year and these were all very successful again. In addition to lettuces, beetroot and carrots which had done well last year, we grew french beans and celery very successfully. A top section covered in insect proof netting was very effective at keeping out the cabbage white butterflies so that we had plenty of summer brassicas.
The tomatoes produced great crops in the greenhouse and the cucumbers ( and courgettes) were so prolific that we put them in a box at the roadside for passers by to take. This very curly cucumber had grown around a support!
Having the allotment meant that we were able to grow more vegetables that need a lot of space. Potatoes and onions, squash and sweetcorn
Flower Garden
Although we were unable to open our garden this year due to the pandemic we did sell our plants to local villagers. This worked much better than expected and we raised more money for Notts Wildlife Trust than usual as well as meeting more neighbours who are interested in gardening
Here are some August highlights:
Agapanthus
We have a number of varieties, some known and some nameless, growing in the garden and in pots. I love the impact of their colour in the later summer garden
Agapanthus ” Queen Mum” has enormous flower heads
Colour combinations
Heliopsis ” Summer Nights ” with Agapanthus 
Rudbeckia laciniata hortensia ( yellow) with Crocosmia ” Lucifer” ( red) 
Geranium ‘Rozanne” Orange Alstromeria and Heliopsis ” Summer Nights” 
Rudbeckia “Prairie Sun” with Agapanthus 
Rudbeckia ‘Prairie Sun” with Tithonia
” Torch”
Agastache “Blue Fortune” with Echinacea ” Magnus” and deep pink Cosmos 
Pink musk mallow, pale yellow Cosmos “Xanthos” with Penstemon ” Electric blue” and Rudbeckia
Pots of plants
View from the summerhouse with some of the tender succulents on the deck 
Lemon tree outside the summerhouse 
Abutilon ” Julia” 
Dianella tasmanica in pot, with a pittosporum that used to be in a pot behind it 
Pawlonia in the pot 
Iochroma australe 
Iochroma australe
Changing paths
This was the start of a project that continued in the autumn to alter flower beds and change the way we can move around the garden
And finally the cats sleeping on the warm bricks of an unchanged path
A Year in the Garden 