Margaret's Garden Journal for June 2009

So far the kitchen garden this year is doing better than it has done for years. Apart from some very drying winds and a few destructive storms we have had superb growing weather. I have already enjoyed a wonderful crop of strawberries and black currants. My strawberries last year were large and mushy but this year they have been firm and retained their flavour. I also remembered to net them before they ripened.

Last year a new variety of dark blue dutch irises failed to come through so last autumn I planted a paler blue that has stood the test of time. They have done much better and helped with the low period between the magic of May and the arrival of summer perennials. The trusty shrubs- Such as Roses Buff Beauty and Marjorie Fair (shown above), ceanothus, Weigelia and mock orange also help bridge the gap.

The occasional patches of warm weather encouraged me to sling up my hammock.

If you were following this journal last year you may remember that I bought a simple brightly striped cloth hammock for £5 from a local supermarket and then had to hunt for a place to hang it.

I needed two trees about 3 metres apart with trunks that bifurcated into stout branches at shoulder height. The reason the trees needed to bifurcate at shoulder height was so that two iron bars slipped between the metal rings at the ends of the hammock would press against the branches and keep the hammock in place without my having to screw strong hooks into the living wood.

I found two suitable trees, an overgrown hawthorn in the hedge and an aspen I planted as a seedling about ten years ago in my mini-wood,(i.e. two neglected ornamental beds, bordering both sides of a pebble path filled with trees that were once pot plants or found their own way into my garden)

By the way a garden here in the UK is what North Americans call their yard. Being British we usually surround our gardens with fences or hedges. My hedges once enclosed a tiny private field on the edge of one of the village's great common fields and may well be over 200 years old although my house is only just over 80.

We had such an appalling summer last year that I didn't use the hammock much until the autumn - but what magical moments I enjoyed then with the sun shining through chinks in a curtain of red and orange leaves created by a virginia creeper that had taken over that portion of the hedge.

When I went to sling it up again I found the hard way that the hawthorn tree I had used last year had rotted. It took me some time to find a safe hawthorn suitably close to the aspen but now the hammock is back in use.

I wonder whether it is because I have inherited the genes of some remote tree dwelling ancestor who constructed a sleeping place out of branches that I find my hammock so much more conducive to relaxation than either recliners or those metal and overstuffed-cushion monstrosities that have usurped the title hammock. It could be though that sleeping with my legs higher than the base of my spine prevents a stiff back. On the other hand it could be that in my miniwood the surrounding trees and the enclosing canvas keep off chilly winds so I am warmer than when out on the lawn.

So far there have been several days when I have been able to lie in my hammock reading. I prefer reading outdoors in summer as I don't have to use spectacles as I do indoors.