July is always a difficult month in the garden especially in warm weather. The July my husband died every day was hot and the heat wave continued to the middle of August.Ralph has been dead ten years now. In 1995 we had 1000 roses and fifty dahlias. Most roses and dahlias grew in straight lines. The way we groomed them for exhibition added nothing to their garden appeal.
Theoretically we divided the garden chores between us. Ralph looked after the exhibition roses and dahlias while I grew the vegetables, ornamental plants and mowed the lawn. In practice however, exhibition pressure meant that I spent most of my gardening time weeding, hoeing and dead heading the roses and dahlias while Ralph did the clever bits like budding up, disbudding, tying blooms, planting up maidens, and rooting cuttings.
When Ralph went into hospital for ten days after his first heart attack, I was out of bed at five each morning to spray, dead head, and weed. When I returned home after nine hours at the hospital I had to spend four hours manual watering as we had a hose pipe ban in force. It was worth the effort though. The garden looked magnificent when he came home and he had ten days in which to enjoy his garden. I still remember him walking round the garden the day before he died looking as if he was saying good-bye to every rose bush.
At the funeral my brother-in-law remarked "How are you going to keep this garden up on your own?" I refrained from replying "Much as I usually do, apart from exhibiting."
I neglected the garden though for a fortnight after the funeral as I was away but when I returned I found the dahlias hadn't seemed to miss the attention. They were doing so well in September that I thought that for my husband's sake I ought to show them - a big mistake. Unlike the rose society where I felt very much at home, I hadn't met the people at the dahlia society so often as their monthly meetings tended to clash with writing club. I was the only woman showing alone. After the judging, One man said loudly to another that he couldn't believe a woman could cash in on a man's hard work. I vowed on the way home never to show another flower not even in a flower arrangement.
The corollary was that I didn't have to keep the garden in the way Ralph had liked it. My original resolve to do so immediately afer his death, I realized was sentimental twaddle. He was no longer in existence to appreciate it.
So that winter away went the straight lines. I put other plants between the roses. Most roses died but those that could survive the competition stayed. Apart from the Pemberton Shrub Buff Beauty, though, no survivors retain their former glory. I still grow dahlias as they are brilliant for brightening the garden in late summer and autumn but now many of my dahlias are ones I have grown from saved seed. Most have 'the Bishop of Llandaff' in their pedigree and are single or semi-single. They vary in colour from orange through red to deep purple but grow in assorted heights. Some I even prefer to their ancestor. I save myself work by leaving them to overwinter in the ground. I have planted trees to divide the garden into areas that cannot all be seen at once. Every July though my conscience twinges. Just suppose my theology is wrong and Ralph still cares and can see what is happening. He will be furious with me.
Re the picture on the cover
Late last August I found half a packet of carrot seeds and sowed them on ground I had cleared when the broad beans finishe. They germinated well, which is more than can be said for carrot seeds I had sown earlier. The tops looked good in November but when I tried pulling them in November and March I found thin roots. I forgot to dig them out. In June they threw up flower heads(a euphemism for bolting?) and continued to flower for weeks for weeks. They make a wonderful cut flower with strong stems that go with practically everything else and lasted a long time. When we dug them this month there were a surprising number of edible roots. I stuffed some of the flowers into a vase and took the cover photo. If I had an area devoted to cur flowers,I would sow my carrots there each year, earlier than August though. I would harvest most of the roots but leave some for flowers.