Well, that was the shady garden at London Rd Station back at the beginning of April. We’re now just over a month later and it’s been very warm and dry. The spring flowers are over, the foliage has grown huge and the soil is at risk of drying out. We’re prioritising watering of the ornamental planters and our edible plot.

We did have some lovely wild flowers in the shady area. The celandines were particularly pretty, but they’re now a mass of yellowing leaves. They just die back and seem to reappear again the following year. We’ll water a bit on Tuesday and then mulch. The shady plot is just shades of different green during the summer. The site is almost in total shade underneath a sycamore tree which drips sticky sap. Not ideal for pretty planting. But it provides greenery and humidity if our summer gets hot. And it’s amazing how big and leafy the main plants have become: fatsia japonica, aucuba japonica and acanthus dominate. We’ve also managed to keep a Portuguese laurel going and a holly has crept in from somewhere. Meanwhile our main focus is on our edible growing area, our mini-orchard and our newly planted sweet peas which we hope will grace the railings and delight passers-by.