The wildflower meadow at Ripley Castle looks just fabulous  and its very hard to do it justice in a few images.  It is a large area of annual wild flowers, sown in among an orchard and was still looking good in August, buzzing with insects and bees. A path has been mown  to weave its way through which lets you walk into the wildflowers and be completely surrounded. When standing surrounded by lovely shades of pink, whites, and blues it's just mesmerizing.

I really love wild flowers and this annual mix of Cornflowers, Borage, Love in a mist, Flax, Pot Marigold, Mallow and Viper's Buglass looked lovely. According to the information on display it was supplied by Moles seeds, and called Medival carpet,  worth investigating for next year although they only seem to sell larger quantities of seeds.

If you are interesting in planting and growing Wildflowers there are hints and tips on how to get a good wildflower look, (and a cheats way to make a great display) on the Wildflower pages.

Ripley Castle is a great day out and the Castle tour is really good. There is a great walled garden, which in the kitchen garden, was just full of herbs buzzing with bees. So relaxing to walk around a garden accompanied by the steady buz of the bees. 

Wisteria can produce a second light flowering in July which  is nice but even so Wisteria needs to be pruned in July as well as February to keep it flowering year after year. Problems with getting Wisteria to flower are common and one cause is failure to prune twice a year. The summer prune is quite harsh, taking back a lot of the growth to constrain this vigorous plant and  to stop the leafy growth to encourage flower spurs later in the year. Wisteria is a hardy vigorous plant and as long as you don't cut into the established woody growth you wont kill it by pruning; for advice on  how to prune wisteria and video showing how to make wisteria flower and the summer prune of Wisteria.

July is also a good time for pruning spring flowering shrubs after they have flowered if in need of a tidy up or reshape. Pruning at the bottom of the shrub to lift the canopy allows more light around the base of the shrub for planting.

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Sweet peas look at their best in vases when they have lovely straight stems and in the garden when the plant grows upright.

If left to their own devices the tendrils will take over and spoil the appearance of the plant and the flowers. The images left show the tendrils. They look as if they are there to help support the plant as it climbs, which they are and they aren't really. Some tendrils about 10/15% are Ok but the full 100% as you can see starts to choke the plant, distorts the natural growth and wraps itself around any thing it can grab on to, which is usually other parts of the sweet pea plant. This makes the plant bunch up, and causes the stems to curve as in the middle left image. It also means if you are growing sweet peas alongside other plants, say Clematis, there is a risk it will grip that plant as well.

Take off the tendrils, snipping them off across the plant. It maybe necessary to tie in the sweet peas a little once the tendrils are removed but removal does make sure that grows upright and doesn't become a tangled mess at the middle and top.

The image in bottom left shows just how many can be easily cut off in just one week.

You can pick as many sweet peas as you want, the more you pick the more sweet peas grow and bloom. Last year my sweet peas flowered right into October. Sweet peas are a plant which really benefit from picking.

 Just as the fruits are forming and ripening on your strawberry plants, there are two essential steps to ensure a good crop of strawberries. 

Strawberries are a delicate fruit, and can be prone to rot or grey mould, particularly if it is wet or they are watered too much, which is an easy mistake to make. Strawberries need to be protected by raising the fruits off the soil, placing a barrier between the fruit and the ground. Often straw, hay or specially designed (and expensive) strawberry mats are used. In the image left I have used Strulch which I really like in the garden generally, and it is very good for the strawberries. It makes a good mulch to protect the strawberries,  retain water and suppress the weeds. It is very light, organic and is just ideal for strawberries. 

Whatever  medium you use, there needs to be a thick protective barrier between the soil and plants. I spread Strulch in a thick layer around the plants to ensure the fruit is off the ground and tucked in nicely. This will also protect the fruit from ants and other ground predators which may have a munch. 

Once you have protected the fruit from the ground you need to  look upwards and consider the birds. If you don't want the birds to tuck into your crop it is essential to net strawberries as soon as they ripen.  In the image below left I have made a simple fruit net using a few bamboo canes with connectors; stretched the net over the canes and pegged it down. I also tie material into the net so the birds don't fly into it.

These steps are important to produce a good crop;  otherwise strawberries are one of the easiest fruit to grow, generally trouble-free and nothing beats the taste of home-grown strawberries freshly picked and warm. Strawberries are suitable for growing in containers, and as with all container grown plants, extra watering is needed.

More about growing strawberries

 I use Strulch all around the garden, I really love it. When I  have cleared the borders of weeds, (or as clear as I can get them,) I mulch all the borders with Strulch which helps to suppress the weeds, keeps in the moisture and breaks down into the soil to add structure.  I try and do this each spring but, like many gardeners, I often run out of time.