The Mitcheldean Garden 2025
Too Much of a Good Thing

This page is part of a series of garden blogs from 2025. Click here for the index.

Within 24 hours of uploading this, we had more rain overnight than we had had in the previous 4 months put together, completely filling our two main water butts which had been almost empty. It will have come too late for much of the garden, of course.

On our return from Penang, The Gods decided that we had already enjoyed sufficient rain to last us through the summer and for a while each of our multiple water butts stayed full as the soil slowly dried out. It was never cold but it wasn't particularly hot either. The overall effect was cumulative and now at the end of August, we have apparently had the warmest summer on record. As for rainfall, it's been a lot less than normal but apparently not record setting, something which surprised me as here it's been the driest here since we set up residence in 2011. It's not my imagination, my normally reliable crop of runner beans has been a near total failure and the dahlias have been not much better. My plantings of dark dahlias and African marigolds on the other hand seem more tolerant of the limited water they get now we have a water meter.

Overall it's been very dispiriting, I haven't needed to cut the grass for as long as I can remember but it looks awful. It does mean, though, that I haven't needed to think about cutting the hedges and that I have had time to tidy up the boundary between us and the north-west former sheep field, the latter now being totally abandoned. One result of this is that at least one badger seems to have moved into it which then forced its way in under the fence and dug out a wasps nest under one of our magnolia bushes. I think the wasps that survived have moved on and when the soil is a bit softer then I'll fill it in. With the two houses next to us empty following the passing of their two owners in 2023, the way has been open for a young roe deer to come through their gardens and attack what is left of our front garden's roses. I made that difficult for the creature with some wire fencing but now a small group of deer are coming from the other side and that is impossible to defend against...

Anyway, after more than a year, both have now seen their asking prices reduced and sales made. I anticipate that we shall find two sets of new neighbours when we return after our tropical winter. Whether they will be more interested in keeping a tidy or even pretty garden than their predecessors remains to be seen. Both gardens offer what are effectively blank canvases and both estate agent's descriptions of the houses include "in need of updating and modernising" which I guess will be a higher priority.

I'm writing this at the end of August and my photo folder for the last 2 months is embarrassingly almost empty, .

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After her now lamented roses, I think Yuehong's favourites are her annual hanging baskets. The basic ingredients are petunias which came from the Three Shires Nursery (larger flowers) and Lidl (smaller flowers). They get daily watering, (once or twice) and with a weekly dose of fertiliser, they have lasted well. It helps that we have only been away twice this summer but she now has a trusty assistant from across the road whom she 'bribes' with cakes as she has no time to do them herself.

10 years ago when we still got 'real winters' I would put baby begonias in our greenhouse and very few would survive. Now enough come marching out to fill two hanging baskets and still leave enough over to share a pot with the lobelia left over from the main planting.

Needless to say, the hanging baskets at the front of the house also enjoyed Yuehong's version of 'intensive care'

None more so than the pale yellow petunias. Hang on! What has happened here? The normally reliable snapdragons have failed en masse and the wooden racks are a not very successful attempt to keep the deer from nibbling what were the last healthy roses. A complete rethink will be needed next year, the baby begonias and lobelia are safe from the deer but they tolerate the heat a bit better than the snapdragons which Yuehong will try in tubs next year to conserve water better.

Here's another look at the patio hanging basket in the corner, what's that underneath them? Last time we were starting mixed phlox, we moved them as soon as possible to one of the front beds. That wasn't an option during the 'summer of 2025', they would have curled up and died. Needless to say their predecessors fared far less well then and now with the benefit of the weekly fertiliser, the second batch have smiles on their faces. However, they will go to the front soon, the large tubs they are occupying will be needed, either by hyacinths or tulips.

The traditional dominant colour for phlox is white but these seem just as strong.

Meanwhile, the geraniums just did what they do best, which is ask for very little and quietly flower all summer long. Behind are variously red salvia, begonias and African marigolds.

Every year, Yuehong propagates some geraniums from cuttings, it can be a fiddly business but it avoids the old plants getting too straggly.  

Busy Lizzy do not appreciate a full day in the sun, so we keep them in the narrow area in the morning shadow of the house and these days they come in a wide range of colours and not just the traditional pink.

The main colour in the wider area of the patio in mid summer comes from begonias, the orange ones we got a few years back are still going well with some later mainly red additions. There are dwarf and patio dahlias in there too but they will show better when the dahlias decide it is time for a rest - these dahlias are happy to overwinter in their tubs in the greenhouse.

Begonias don't last forever and every year or two we start a few new long term residents. Red salvia are stalwarts for us, this year we tried buying a mixture of other colours but the results were disappointing. The plants went well but the colours (mainly purple and white) were 'muted' to put it mildly. The experiment will not be repeated.

In any year, there are winners and losers. African marigolds have flourished wherever we have put them as long as they are not allowed to dry out, they even enjoy sharing the greenhouse with Mr.Tyack's wonderful tomatoes where they keep aphids away. The least said about my favourite dahlias the better. The truth is that they have been getting 'tired' over the last couple of years and 2025's hot dry summer seems to have been the last straw. Both those in both the upper bed by the summer house and those in the vegetable patch have shown little interest in life, I had to look very hard to find this photogenic pair in the '35 bed'. A big rethink will be needed in 2026. I am not alone in having a dahlia problem, there has been a classic row outside our favourite Bromsash nursery which have flourished for many years left to their own devices, but driving past recently we saw that their bed was empty...

In late August, this bed by the summer house should be full of dahlia colour, the bed in front is rarely great. The African marigolds are happy but behind, the fuchsias and gladioli are sulking. In the (former) vegetable patch area, it's the same story. This time it's the dark dahlias which had limited success, they had a fraction of the growth and the flowers they used to carry.

To finish, here is what seems likely to be our only success story this year. Yuehong is addicted to crunchy apples and when I finally acceded to her repeated requests we planted a £10 reduced price small Braeburn at the top of the garden. At the time, the deer had yet to be excluded from there and it had a narrow escape, but this year, it not only flowered, it produced more than a dozen apples, much to my surprise. Despite appearances, I am told they are not yet ready to eat. They won't be forgotten when the time comes as the tree is just outside the spread of our rotary washing line which keeps us fit even when we fail to take our afternoon 'constitutional' to the outdoor exercise machines at the other end of the village.

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