Following on from yesterday, here is a contrast of the front garden:

… with what it looked like last July. We have moved the compost bin closer to the house, creating a larger bed alongside the side hedge. The rhubarb now grows in a row along the front rather than filling the whole of the square bed; this makes it much easier to harvest. Behind it we have crammed in a veritable jungle of flowers and shrubs.

Most of the flowers, dominating at the moment, are grown from seed mixes so even we don’t know what they all are! Hopefully the shrubs will survive the competition and the summer dryness to establish form and structure through autumn, winter and next spring.

Most exciting of all, is that we appear to have plenty of fruit forming on our medlar tree (on the right). Last year we had a very disappointing harvest from that; this year, we might even garner enough for a preserve or two.