Friday 5th April 2024 - Pelargoniums, Living Up to Its Name, Slug Count and Welling Up

Ken Able talked about Pelargoniums at the Gardening Club on Tuesday afternoon.  Before covering different varieties, he dispelled what has become a misconception about geraniums.  There are various types of geraniums but the ones which we grow as a summer bedding plant for pots and borders etc., and for the most part tender and not tolerant to hard frosts, are in fact pelargoniums.  Ken Able grows pelargoniums for showing and he displayed, on screen, the results of the care and attention he lavishes on his plants.  I think most club members would be happy with plants producing a quarter of the number of blooms his plants support.  As for me, I just wish I hadn’t had to give up growing them because of rust on the leaves, that is apart from two regals which seem to be rust resistant.

First recorded in 1886 (according to Wikipedia) the proverb ‘March winds and April showers bring forth May flowers’, is most certainly true as far as this April is concerned.  We may only be five days into the month but showers have definitely been a key feature in the weather.  Of course, rain has been a bugbear for months now and although it is a pain for us, our garden slug population are certainly enjoying the damp conditions.  Between 21st and 31st March, I cleared 314 slugs and 216, so far this month.  I really don’t know what to say, apart from, ‘where the heck are they all coming from’?

In my blog for 28th March, I covered the excavation of the grass etc. from one of the areas of the car park; subsequently covered in hogging and gravel.  Since then, the grass etc. on the other part of the car park, where water lays, has been excavated, producing what we have termed as giant mole hills! (see photo below) Over the past couple of days, these are gradually being removed and I assume this area will be covered in hogging and gravel too.  Referring again to my blog for 28th March, I said, ‘Of course, this won’t stop the underground stream and whether this will well up again, during times of heavy rainfall, remains to be seen’. So, it was interesting to see, walking across the car park this morning a couple of pools on the gravel – that didn’t take long for the underground stream to well up to the surface.