Diary: June 2003

Last autumn I sowed a small damp area with a mixture of perennial wildflower seeds and today our eyes reaped the first harvest of flowers:

The area is about three square metres and overlies a sunken pond liner. I had hoped to create a 'bog garden', but in truth the ground doesn't appear to get very wet: perhaps I created too many drainage holes in the liner. Anyway I sowed a mixture of cowslip (Primula veriss), ragged robin (Lychnis flos-cuculi), meadow buttercup (Ranunculus acris), devil's-bit scabious (Succisa pratensis), meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria), water avens (Geum rivale) and red campion (Silene dioica) during October 2002. The ragged robin, red campion and meadow buttercup all seem to have germinated reasonably well, but it looks as though only the meadow buttercup will flower this year. Its not unusual for perennials to take a over a year to get established. I'm confident of a good display next year, and for the time being, I'm delighted to see the meadow buttercups; the first fruit of my labour!