Six on Saturday

It was a busy and a bit of a stressful week for me, and the poor plants were totally neglected. My task this weekend is therefore tidying up again, dead-heading and just generally checking up on things. Thanks once again to The Propagator for allowing us to share what is going on in our gardens.

First up…it rained yesterday! Not a lot…but here is the proof.

Rain on Friday

Second up, I saw this chocolate mint plant today, and couldn’t resist it – smells exactly like After Eight mints! It will be interesting to see how it grows and to think what I could use it with (mixed through yoghurt to have with roast nectarines perhaps).

Chocolate mint

The purple basil is just bursting with flowers, which I need to trim. You can sprinkle them on salad or make some basil flower vinegar, which is what I am going to do. You just need to place freshly snipped basil flowers into a clean glass jar and cover them with red or white wine vinegar. Leave to infuse for at least a week, then strain out the basil flowers, and put the vinegar into a clean jar. Use it in a dressing with a tomato salad.

Purple basil flowers

I was feeling a little droopy this week, a bit like this agapanthus. There are still quite a few around, but it is really approaching the end of the season.

How I felt…like this agapanthus

There are Japanese anemone buds all over the place around the side of the house, and indeed, a couple of flowers already. I love these flowers, which seem to like our little patch.

Japanese anemone buds

The seed trough is now full of soil. Now to get the seeds in…

Now filled with soil

So that is me for this week. I look forward to seeing spring gardens in the northern hemisphere.

You can find Thistles and Kiwis on Facebook, and also on Instagram@thistleandkiwis.  As for Twitter….am totally inactive these days.  If you want to get in touch, email me on thistlesandkiwis@gmail.com