This week we hosted a birthday tea for Fiona. The guest of honour didn't come though; she was laid low with 'flu. I had made sure all the pots and tools were tidied away so the garden would look it's best. Last time they came here we had cleared away some of the old conifers and laid out the two borders by the decking and conservatory but everything was in it's infancy. I was looking forward to hearing their thoughts on how the garden had changed since their last visit.
Ana immediately asked if she could see what we had done with our top room, a large converted loft. Even though I told her nothing had been done she still said, dispiritedly on her return, "It's just the same as last time". Jamie strode up the garden to check out the greenhouse contents and El arrived when we were all tucking into the food and so had no time to see anything but a plate put before her. We had a nice evening but not one of them mentioned how different it was. I have to be honest, I was disappointed that they hadn't noticed the amount of work we had done. Still, Ana left with a huge marrow so at least the garden proved it's worth in some part.
Lucky I do it for my own enjoyment with pals like that, hey?
Saturday, 4 September 2010
More gifts from the garden.
Along with the flowers we have enjoyed some produce too. We should have erected the greenhouse earlier (there's a saying in gardening that the difference between a good and bad gardener is two weeks) as taking so long to get that sorted meant that we were late with everything. Tomatoes, sweetcorn and peas were all too late. Only the beans and potatoes went in on time. Next year we will be on top of it but there's no point being depressed about it as we've still enjoyed the gardening aspect of it despite the fact that the tomatoes have not ripened, the sweetcorn is only two feet tall and we missed out on several vegetables altogether.
We've had enough beans to give several lots to Jack, next door but only enough peas for two meals but that is probably because I eat them straight from the pod as I am picking them. Our mint has been great but that's not saying much as it grows like a week.
Here are some gifts though which we've been most grateful for.
We've had enough beans to give several lots to Jack, next door but only enough peas for two meals but that is probably because I eat them straight from the pod as I am picking them. Our mint has been great but that's not saying much as it grows like a week.
Here are some gifts though which we've been most grateful for.
A new herb garden
Well, today (4th September) I am going to attempt a box-edged herb garden. It's heavy on space saving design so it won't be as full of herbs as it really should but I find I'm starting to get meaner on using up the lawn space. I've used my vouchers (I'd earned £20 worth of free plants this season with another tenner already on the card) to get two trays of box plants. Box is pretty expensive but it's slow growing so a topiary pyramid or sphere will have taken years to produce. As I've learned from reading Monty Don's book, it's best to take cuttings (by pulling off a stem with the 'spur' and potting those up). It will take a while to get bushy but will save you a fortune if you have a big border to edge. Patience is a virtue in the garden as it is in life and I've found now I've accepted that it's actually a joy to find growth a year or two down the line, especially if you have forgotten you've planted something. This is how it now looks, with the box in pots ready to be planted.
So, at the moment I am hoping to put in a swirl shape with a larger curve at one end but hours down the road I will probably have changed my idea and incorporated another shape. It all depends on how much box I have. With all the talk of huge cuts in the public sector (I work in a library) I am now going to reign in the spending in our garden because I should be saving instead. (Some hope). I have this sign in my kitchen which seems to be more relevant right now than ever.
Anyway, I shall return to my blog later and fill you in on what's happened.
8 hours later.
Phew, it's done and so am I. Done in, that is!
Why does everything take so much longer, cost so much more or be much harder than you first expected? Maybe because the sense of achievement at the end is worth the effort? Or maybe just because I underestimate the time it will take, money it will cost.
Well, first thing, I sat outside with a sketch book and doodled away at some shapes, using a Rosemary Verey gardening book with knot garden designs for some inspiration. Due to the small space I was using I could not put in a knot garden design, it would have been too crammed in and therefore wouldn't have worked. So I am working on a very informal swirl as I mentioned earlier. I am a lover of curves (hence the bottom!) over straight lines. I find them very easy on the eye and more natural looking in a garden. I had got the shape down to two designs, asked Luke, he chose the one I didn't like as much so I tried out both shapes with my box plants, as you can see here.
I took photographs to compare them and then free styled a little to get to my chosen shape. Luke looked it over for me and tweaked the circle a little and then it was digging over the ground (compacted from when we dug up the old cherry and worked around the greenhouse base) and re-using the turf to create an edge around the box.
I found countless worms (always a good sign for the quality of the soil) as well as some broken glass, a lot of pebbles and a few stones. I worked with a nearby pot to collect the stones and a trug to collect the weeds and roots as wherever I dig in this garden I always seem to end up with at least one old tree root which threatens to whip me viciously as I drag it from it's home underground. Today I had four lengths of tree root to dig up. Several cups of tea and short breaks to chat to Luke meant that it wasn't too arduous but rather a long process but I finished the main work by six p.m. I decided to move the rosemary I already had planted by the conservatory to make it the feature inside the small circle ad I emphasised the shape by clipping the rosemary into a sphere.
It all looks fairly underwhelming at the moment but in a year or two with careful clipping it will shape up nicely, I hope. I had reserved my one golden box sphere for the other circle but may well try out the standard Bay I currently have in a pot by my front door. This will give it some height as well as make this larger circle more dominant. That's tomorrow's job though. I had a good tidy of the garden junk afterwards and sat outside to eat the dinner Luke had cooked for us both. Very agreeable!
So, at the moment I am hoping to put in a swirl shape with a larger curve at one end but hours down the road I will probably have changed my idea and incorporated another shape. It all depends on how much box I have. With all the talk of huge cuts in the public sector (I work in a library) I am now going to reign in the spending in our garden because I should be saving instead. (Some hope). I have this sign in my kitchen which seems to be more relevant right now than ever.
Anyway, I shall return to my blog later and fill you in on what's happened.
8 hours later.
Phew, it's done and so am I. Done in, that is!
Why does everything take so much longer, cost so much more or be much harder than you first expected? Maybe because the sense of achievement at the end is worth the effort? Or maybe just because I underestimate the time it will take, money it will cost.
Well, first thing, I sat outside with a sketch book and doodled away at some shapes, using a Rosemary Verey gardening book with knot garden designs for some inspiration. Due to the small space I was using I could not put in a knot garden design, it would have been too crammed in and therefore wouldn't have worked. So I am working on a very informal swirl as I mentioned earlier. I am a lover of curves (hence the bottom!) over straight lines. I find them very easy on the eye and more natural looking in a garden. I had got the shape down to two designs, asked Luke, he chose the one I didn't like as much so I tried out both shapes with my box plants, as you can see here.
I took photographs to compare them and then free styled a little to get to my chosen shape. Luke looked it over for me and tweaked the circle a little and then it was digging over the ground (compacted from when we dug up the old cherry and worked around the greenhouse base) and re-using the turf to create an edge around the box.
I found countless worms (always a good sign for the quality of the soil) as well as some broken glass, a lot of pebbles and a few stones. I worked with a nearby pot to collect the stones and a trug to collect the weeds and roots as wherever I dig in this garden I always seem to end up with at least one old tree root which threatens to whip me viciously as I drag it from it's home underground. Today I had four lengths of tree root to dig up. Several cups of tea and short breaks to chat to Luke meant that it wasn't too arduous but rather a long process but I finished the main work by six p.m. I decided to move the rosemary I already had planted by the conservatory to make it the feature inside the small circle ad I emphasised the shape by clipping the rosemary into a sphere.
It all looks fairly underwhelming at the moment but in a year or two with careful clipping it will shape up nicely, I hope. I had reserved my one golden box sphere for the other circle but may well try out the standard Bay I currently have in a pot by my front door. This will give it some height as well as make this larger circle more dominant. That's tomorrow's job though. I had a good tidy of the garden junk afterwards and sat outside to eat the dinner Luke had cooked for us both. Very agreeable!
Wednesday, 1 September 2010
Let me introduce myself.
I have a hammock in my garden.
It's a handsome thing; solid wooden frame and a cream canvas sling secured each end with with great links of chain. Does that sound pompous? I saved up for it, dreamt about it, longed for it. And finally, I got it.
The first summer I had it I used it on every day off work. I lounged, swung, read, even slept in it. Me and my hammock; it was a love thing!
And then we moved house (and garden).
Since then it's languished on the lawn, comprehensively ignored whilst still adored from afar by me. Is it the weather keeping us apart you may ask? Nope. The trouble is I have a new garden and she is a demanding mistress.
I suppose I could just be content with a lawn and the view of the old oak in the field beyond. When we worked so hard in the last garden only to sell it and leave it behind I promised myself I wouldn't be such a slave to the next one and wouldn't put all my spare wages (after the numerous bills) into it. So, what am I doing, four months down the line and already 400 quid the poorer, starting another garden?
What can I say? For those of you who already garden you'll know it's a forgone conclusion. A done deal. I didn't have a chance.
For those who don't garden; run now before it's contagious.
And yet, I love it; love the feel of the sun on my back as I dig, love the satisfaction of a good day's work when I'm gingerly sinking into a hot, soothing bath, love the admiring comments when friends visit, love how I surprise myself most times by knowing what the plant is called. I love nearly everything about gardening and so just wanted to intrude into your lives a little to share my enthusiasm. I hope you will come along with me for the ride. It won't be a roller coaster although there'll be deaths ( some plants just don't want to survive), new life (some do), laughter (we share the garden with three bantam chickens who come along behind me and scratch up the seedlings I've carefully planted), tears (when the first plant up in my carefully planned black and white border was a dusky rose foxglove), mistakes (as with life, it doesn't always turn out as you've planned) and successes (the reward you get when those little heads emerge after a long wet winter and turn into the most spectacular of beauties).
So, for now, my long-wanted hammock is going to be an ornament; something for friends to laze on when they visit. And that's just fine with me.
I hope you enjoy our journey.....,
Early planting of tulips.
One of my least favourite jobs in the garden is planting bulbs; it's such a laborious job and I always forget where I've planted them and then end up sticking a spade through one. You can put little markers in but I'm not a lover of this method and even if I just put a little sprinkling of darker soil on top the chickens will soon have scraped it off in their search for grubs. However much I hate planting them, there is something so heart warming when, after a cold and dark winter, little shoots push through the hard soil to promise you a blaze of hope that warmer weather is on it's way. By February I am desperate for some life in the garden. Whilst the bones of the garden, the evergreens, are present all year round for colour, shape and form the arrival of those little buds, boldly trumpeting the arrival of Spring is such a welcome sight and I regret not spending more time and money on a bigger show of these flowering bulbs. When we moved here last February we had nothing of note in the garden and the tulips paid for themselves every time I saw them.
Planting them in pots means you can move them around for instant colour anywhere you want in the garden (just make sure you don't place the pot over something coming up under the ground).
Along with the previous year's tulips I have added
6 Fancy Frills (bright pink)
20 Ballerina (orange)
12 Libretto Parrot (a sort of peach sundae colour)
12 Black Parrot (as the name suggests - and my favourites)
16 Spring Green (white and green)
40 Angelina (double pale pink)
I also purchased
3 Allium Giganteum @ £3.99 per bulb! Ouch.
12 Iris Pauline (purple)
15 Snake's-head Fritillary (purple and white)
25 Allium Roseum (pink)
8 Nectaroscordum Siculum. Allium (pink, green and white)
15 Anemone 'The Bride' (white with green)
12 Puschleimia Libanatica Alba (white)
12 Chionodoxa Lucilae Alba (Glory of the Snow)
A few week's ago I bought 12 tall snowdrops and 25 single snowdrops which I planted around the base of the Acer.
Although this makes over 100 tulips for this year alone I won't regret this purchase and will be thinking I should have bought more (although I had to buy them in two separate purchases after I'd justified spending so much on them). 80 sounds quite a lot but for a great show you could use hundreds and not be crowded out.
I've put some in the ground but the majority of them are in pots.
I've mixed the bright pink Fancy Frills ( a fringed variety) with the double Angelique pinks for contrast in shape but keeping the colour similar. Underplanting these with Allium Roseum for more subtle tiny pink buds should produce a frothy mass of flower. The Black Parrot tulips have been mixed with the upright orange Ballerinas for a real contrast. I've also added Snake's-head Fritillary to flower underneath them.
Along with the Spring Green tulips I've added some other bulbs, Anemone 'The Bride' with their white petals and green centres. These pots will be easy on the eye and wil sit alongside the other colours quite happily without jarring.
I still have half the bulbs to plant up and already have eight pots completed and topped with pansies and violas. Now to find a place to put them!
Planting them in pots means you can move them around for instant colour anywhere you want in the garden (just make sure you don't place the pot over something coming up under the ground).
Along with the previous year's tulips I have added
6 Fancy Frills (bright pink)
20 Ballerina (orange)
12 Libretto Parrot (a sort of peach sundae colour)
12 Black Parrot (as the name suggests - and my favourites)
16 Spring Green (white and green)
40 Angelina (double pale pink)
I also purchased
3 Allium Giganteum @ £3.99 per bulb! Ouch.
12 Iris Pauline (purple)
15 Snake's-head Fritillary (purple and white)
25 Allium Roseum (pink)
8 Nectaroscordum Siculum. Allium (pink, green and white)
15 Anemone 'The Bride' (white with green)
12 Puschleimia Libanatica Alba (white)
12 Chionodoxa Lucilae Alba (Glory of the Snow)
A few week's ago I bought 12 tall snowdrops and 25 single snowdrops which I planted around the base of the Acer.
Although this makes over 100 tulips for this year alone I won't regret this purchase and will be thinking I should have bought more (although I had to buy them in two separate purchases after I'd justified spending so much on them). 80 sounds quite a lot but for a great show you could use hundreds and not be crowded out.
I've put some in the ground but the majority of them are in pots.
I've mixed the bright pink Fancy Frills ( a fringed variety) with the double Angelique pinks for contrast in shape but keeping the colour similar. Underplanting these with Allium Roseum for more subtle tiny pink buds should produce a frothy mass of flower. The Black Parrot tulips have been mixed with the upright orange Ballerinas for a real contrast. I've also added Snake's-head Fritillary to flower underneath them.
Along with the Spring Green tulips I've added some other bulbs, Anemone 'The Bride' with their white petals and green centres. These pots will be easy on the eye and wil sit alongside the other colours quite happily without jarring.
I still have half the bulbs to plant up and already have eight pots completed and topped with pansies and violas. Now to find a place to put them!
Tidying up.
I'm not talking about housework; that's gone by the by. We are hosting a friend's birthday tea here tomorrow so it'll be all hands to the deck but we still have a day to live in the mess till then.
The tidying has all been in the garden with several renegade plants sprouting up under our very noses.
How did the sunflower get there?
Why did I let Luke plant the BLUE salvias in the black and white border? So yesterday it was time to sort these things out. I know people say you shouldn't move plants in flower, especially in full sun but I have seldom had a failure when I've done this and the secret is in the preparation. I dig the hole I am moving them to, puddle in the hole (pour water into it and let it drain away), water the plant itself and then dig it up quickly with a decent amount of it's own soil around the roots and plant it in the required place, firming it in and watering again.
The leggy sunflower I moved yesterday, along with the Japanese anemones and blue salvia are all thriving still.
When I had my first garden Mum and I, out for a walk, found a cast off conifer and dragged it all the way back to my house. It had lost all the soil around it's roots, dried off in the sun, and was going brown but we decided 'nothing ventured, nothing gained' and planted it up, with lashings of water for days. Until a previous boyfriend's over enthusiastic mother decided to prune my garden whilst I was at work one weekend that little conifer thrived. Unfortunatly I returned home from work to find six black bags full of prunings and a space where my rescued conifer had been.
The tidying has all been in the garden with several renegade plants sprouting up under our very noses.
How did the sunflower get there?
Why did I let Luke plant the BLUE salvias in the black and white border? So yesterday it was time to sort these things out. I know people say you shouldn't move plants in flower, especially in full sun but I have seldom had a failure when I've done this and the secret is in the preparation. I dig the hole I am moving them to, puddle in the hole (pour water into it and let it drain away), water the plant itself and then dig it up quickly with a decent amount of it's own soil around the roots and plant it in the required place, firming it in and watering again.
The leggy sunflower I moved yesterday, along with the Japanese anemones and blue salvia are all thriving still.
When I had my first garden Mum and I, out for a walk, found a cast off conifer and dragged it all the way back to my house. It had lost all the soil around it's roots, dried off in the sun, and was going brown but we decided 'nothing ventured, nothing gained' and planted it up, with lashings of water for days. Until a previous boyfriend's over enthusiastic mother decided to prune my garden whilst I was at work one weekend that little conifer thrived. Unfortunatly I returned home from work to find six black bags full of prunings and a space where my rescued conifer had been.
Hello again.
Well, how long has it been? Weeks, I think. I've almost forgotten how to type.
The gardeners amongst you will know the reason for my absence. It was August and there was much to do in the garden.
It's a dilemma sometimes; do I spend time writing up what's been happening in the garden or do I actually garden.
I'm starting to wonder if my subconscious chose this house because of it's proximity to the garden centre. The guy who commented on me being there a lot yesterday told Luke they were going to get me a job up there. I said I would spend more than I earned and that's probably true! Especially seeing as they have one of my favourite things ever going on up there - a SALE! I've also earned myself thirty pounds worth of garden vouchers and you know the amount of money you have to spend to get anything back from shops. Gulp. It's no good regretting it because I'm a demon when it comes to 1) A garden centre and 2) A sale. A lethal combination, I'm afraid. Too late, it's done now so no use worrying about it; I shall just appreciate the new things to look at and admire.
I was in the process of creating a colourful border last time I wrote and since then I have extended that slightly. My aim is to dig a large sweep around the base of the tree, twice as big as the one we have there now. Digging around tree roots is hard work. However, with Luke's help, I dug out a pot full of pebbles and stones and dug in half a large pack of decent soil improver. To that I added about forty bulbs to naturalise around the tree's base and give us the promise of some Spring interest. Then I've extended the hot and cool colours by adding yellow and orange Celosia (feathery flower heads), frosty white and indigo Salvias and some crisp white Cyclamen which should last a good while. They just sing out with their purity and catch my eye to remind me why I've always chosen white for the garden.
There's been a casualty since I last wrote. A leap from the bushes and a quick rustle under the bird feeders produced Socks, next door's cat, with a large dead blue tit in her mouth. I gave chase and waited to see if I could rescue it but when she put it on the ground it was definitely dead. What a shame! Our feeders are high enough up but cat's are patient hunters and obviously this tit was no match for her skills.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)