My six on Saturday this week starts with a waterlily and ends with a cream tea, with a little a ramble about radio 4, plastic lawns and privilege in the middle.

The view from the back door is something special.

It’s now possible to ‘hide’ in the garden, in this new little den under the elder tree.

For more comfort, and the morning sun, there’s the white bench.

There is a cobweb houseleek, Sempervivum arachnoideum, in flower on the little mosaic table under the apple tree. It’s a lovely little plant that’s easy to grow, but easily overlooked, so I think it’s worth elevating this little one to a table top to better appreciate its charms.

The view from this spot is slowly improving. Behind the horse head, a geranium is doing very well. In front of the horsey are more cottage pinks, only slightly confusingly these ones are white. They smell just as sweet. I’ve added more colour into this border, this year, from the left is heuchera, hydrangea, llilyturf and a little potted rose that hasn’t found a permanent spot yet…

Project pergola is well underway, so the cat will have to find a different spot for sunbathing soon. That wisteria on the left of the picture will soon be wending its way over a rather large pergola, built to support a couple of hammocks, and to be the ideal aspect ratio for garden movie nights.

My husband – who regular readers will recall does most of the work in the garden – points out I have a habit of making the garden look massive in these pictures. We live in a three bedroomed semi-detached house, its not enormous, but suburban homes built in the 1950s have much bigger gardens than similar modern developments.

I think it’s a damn shame that homes are built with such teensy gardens these days. In my view, it explains why bug killers and plastic lawns are so popular. It’s extremely hard to create a nice lawn or a balanced ecosystem in a tiny little space, shaded by fencing and surrounded by bricks and tarmac. In these settings a lawn won’t thrive, and it’s difficult to attract beneficial predators to deal with pests.

So when middle class, middle aged gardeners (like me) start tutting about plastic grass and bug killing sprays for sale at the supermarket, I think they’re missing a point about how very lucky they are to have a nice big garden, and how hard it is to get that affect in a smaller space. I don’t like fake lawn, and it is environmentally disastrous, but I can understand why people buy it. I pondered this as I enjoyed a cream tea, while listening to radio 4 debate the issue.

My final snapshot for this week shows the progress on the side border, where the sweetpeas have started to flower and the roses are coming out.

If you’d like to see more snapshots of gardens, visit the propagators blog or search ‘Six on Saturday.’

I hope you have a good weekend.

Jen x