IT’S safe to say that this year’s summer is not going to be anything like last year. We are now well into July and over the course of the last few days, we have seen further strong winds and heavy downpours, again resulting in more damage in my garden.

Over the weekend I was actually admiring my Regal Lilies (Lillium Regale) and their magnificent flowering heads. Each lily stem is around 120cm tall and at the top of each of the stems there are a cluster of around eight to 10 large trumpet-shaped white flowers, simply quite stunning.

However, on Monday morning a number of these lily stems had been damaged by a combination of the strong winds and heavy downpours, leaving the large flowering heads broken and on the ground! Very disappointing indeed, the only option was to cut back the stems and add the damaged flower heads to the compost heap.

Also, some of my taller growing Vabascums have developed a bit of a lean on them, they are certainly not as upright growing as they once were before the winds. Still, they are flowering well, particularly the Verbascum x hybrida ‘Banana Custard’ which is producing multi flowering spikes that are covered in masses of yellow flowers which the bees and butterflies are attracted too.

Talking of bees, I am pleased to notice – at least in my own garden – that there has been a lot more bees about this year, both the bumble bees and honey bees have been visiting on a regular basis. One reason is that I have been growing a lot more bee-friendly plants this year, particularly hardy annuals, which tend to be single flowering, rather than the large blousy double flowering annuals!

Despite the unfriendly weather, my strawberries are finally ripening, so it’s not just the bees humming around the garden – my grandchildren are making short work of the harvest! It’s just as well that this year the strawberries have produced a bumper crop!

I’m not sure if my grandchildren are helpful or a pest around the garden, though the number of snails in my garden are certainly what I would call a pest! From my photograph you will see a typical uninvited snail travelling along my Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’. And when I took a closer look, it was not alone, there were quite a number of them using the Crocosmia foliage as a hiding place. This is not too surprising given that the foliage is quite dense and also holds moisture.

When it comes to the control of snails, there are many solutions available to the gardeners, personally I find that some of the old methods work the best. For example if you have a small number of snails, simply pick them up and physically remove them. After all they are quite large and easy to handle, that is, if you not too squeamish! After removal, they do make great chicken food, if you know of someone with hens. Otherwise, squishing them is an effective way.

For larger infestations, you cannot beat snail pellets. However, this comes with a warning as the poison used in snail pellets can find its way into the wider environment. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions very carefully when applying these around the garden.

When it comes to other methods of control such as copper bands, crushed eggshells and other items used to create a barrier to stop the snail crossing – sorry in my experience snails always seem to find a way to overcome. Sometimes you just have to admire them for their perseverance, even as they may munch at your prize flowers!