Something for you to check out..........
Jefferson and Susan's wonderful garden which we went to this summer (and last year) is being featured in the October issue of Lancashire Life magazine.
Tuesday, 27 September 2011
Monday, 26 September 2011
Back end of Summer
I am absolutely creased from half a day of putting my garden to bed before we decamp for six months for the winter elsewhere. I've emptied pots and hay rack and hanging baskets and added bonemeal to the lawns and borders. I've scattered slug pellets to, hopefully, knock down the overwintering population - probably too soon to do any good - end of October would be better. I've only planted two boxes of bulbs this year as I don't ever get back in time to see them! I did plant a few (white) Thalia narcissi in hopes of seeing them - and smelling them as they have a lovely perfume. Even the general tidying up of pots and plant stands and trolleys takes loads of lifting and carrying. Finally Ken and I put the furniture away and now everywhere looks like someone else's garden.
I've potted on a peony my sister gave me when we visited a couple of weeks ago so I hope the weather stays mild for a bit to let that settle in. Fortunately (!) when I'd done all that (and more) I'd managed to (over) fill the brown bin so I wasn't able to chop down all the roses as I'd planned to do. One job I've escaped from. That major task will have to be done as soon as I get back in April.
I could do with a piece of advice... one of the heaving and carting tasks is pulling down the bean plants. I cut them off at the base as you are supposed to leave the roots in the ground over winter, but it is a heck of a job disentangling seven eight foot poles all lashed together and twined around with jack and the Beanstalk beans. Does anyone leave them in for the winter and are they then easier to sort out when they've all died back? Please let me know here or email me. Thanks.
I've potted on a peony my sister gave me when we visited a couple of weeks ago so I hope the weather stays mild for a bit to let that settle in. Fortunately (!) when I'd done all that (and more) I'd managed to (over) fill the brown bin so I wasn't able to chop down all the roses as I'd planned to do. One job I've escaped from. That major task will have to be done as soon as I get back in April.
I could do with a piece of advice... one of the heaving and carting tasks is pulling down the bean plants. I cut them off at the base as you are supposed to leave the roots in the ground over winter, but it is a heck of a job disentangling seven eight foot poles all lashed together and twined around with jack and the Beanstalk beans. Does anyone leave them in for the winter and are they then easier to sort out when they've all died back? Please let me know here or email me. Thanks.
Saturday, 3 September 2011
Five-a-day
Rethink on photos
I recently decided in all my blogs to add links to individual photo albums in the left hand column. In a short space of time I've come to realise that's going to be a bit unwieldy as there will be a ridiculously long list very soon; so I've put individual links back into the text of the post. Don't forget to click on the highlighted text to look at the pictures. As soon as I can I will remove the links I have on the left and attach them to the appropriate places in the blogs. I'll just put a link to my main site (containing the individual albums) there instead. Apologies in advance if that doesn't happen immediately - too many things to do and too little time right now.
NGS Gardens this year
I seem to have done less NGS gardens this year and, in the main, those I have done have left me underwhelmed. This may just be that I am getting spoilt the more I see and so I get more and more picky.
We have just spent a week in Alston, Cumbria and on the way there we took a break in the journey to visit an NGS garden in Milnthorpe (Sunnyside). It would have been a paradise I 've no doubt for someone interested in growing dahlias. The chap there had given over a large part of the garden to growing show-standard blooms - row upon row of specimens tied up sticks. You had to admire the skill involved even if, like me, you weren't all that fussed about the flowers themselves. The whole garden as always with NGS gardens was testament to the couple's hard work and love of gardening but I didn't come away with a single new idea/thought/inspiration and it was all very nice but no WOW in sight. As I said I think I am just getting jaded.
The second NGS garden we did (the next day) was actually in Northumberland not Cumbria. Thornley House, Allendale. This offered a good deal more to see with a series of small gardens dotted around the house on three sides rather than one cohesive design. It was filled with bits and bobs from all over the world it seemed which culminated in a huge statue. I'll let you see it for yourself in the photo album. The artist is Star Liana York if you want to see more of her work. The interesting thing about this garden in particular was they way that every little garden enclosure had some sort of seating (or lying) area - the garden was meant to be enjoyed.
Don't let my whining put you off doing all the NGS gardens you can do. Firstly it will support a couple of charities which is good, you always get a great cup of tea/coffee and cake and often a lovely place to sit and enjoy it and most of all you get to see someone else's garden which helps you get even more out of your own.
Don't let my whining put you off doing all the NGS gardens you can do. Firstly it will support a couple of charities which is good, you always get a great cup of tea/coffee and cake and often a lovely place to sit and enjoy it and most of all you get to see someone else's garden which helps you get even more out of your own.
Friday, 19 August 2011
Weeding, feeding, thinning
I just had some thoughts on these topics as I have done it all a bit differently this year.
Firstly - weeding........... I pretty much haven't done it. Visitors always say the garden looks immaculate - it really doesn't when you get close up and personal, but it just goes to show that if you weed because you worry that others might think the garden is a mess you are doing it for the wrong reason. When we came back in April the garden had already romped off to a great start - weeds and plants alike and I was too busy to get to it other than cutting down dead stuff and sorting out the winter dead mess. I was away early May so by the time I really had the time and inclination to get in there and tackle the weeds all the perennials were in full flight and making it really difficult to do without damaging the new growth here and there. That was my excuse any way. Almost all this summer all I've done is remove the really offending weeds when I see them; truly this has meant pulling out three foot plus flowering stuff and giant dandelions. It has been lovely and easy for me - many. many hours of backbreaking toil avoided and, unless you are the gardener, it goes unnoticed. I only hope I haven't got an horrendous job next April getting back on top of them again; I suspect I might as grass and creeping buttercup seem to have taken over the back one foot of the space!!
Then weeding and feeding the lawn - this is another pain. We get a lot of moss and quite a fair amount of weed as it is a builder's laid lawn and you know what that means. Also it hadn't been gardened for the first two years of its life and was simply reverting to a field. I don't know any other way to tackle it other than weed and feed. Individual grubbing out weeds really wouldn't work I would end up with an area that looks like the Somme. The old methods of sharp sand and bone meal and other treatments probably would work but I know it means I have to research and study and learn by trial and error and probably is a slow process to knock a lawn into shape. I lack the patience and, to be fair to me, the time for this route. I use a soluble variety of both the weed and feed and the interim lawn food; I find I get a more even finish as I put it on thinly and fast in all directions and go over the area twice. What I don't like is that it is so expensive. It costs me ten pounds for the front and ten pounds for the back garden just for the weed and feed treatments and it needs doing at least twice in the season - a total of forty quid just to kill the weeds. The change I made this year has been to do it only once and no supplemental feeds and live with the consequences. Again the weeds haven't offended me as much as I thought they would so maybe I'll back off on this idea of striving for perfection and just strive for reasonable instead. Perhaps it will get worse year on year and need doing thoroughly again some time but if I get one or two years out of this regime I will have saved a lot of money and work.
Finally thinning out vegetables grown from seed is another fiddly job. I know the rules of sow very thinly and the method of mixing seed with sand to 'dilute' it but I find this doesn't work all that well. If you sow seed really thinly to save on the seed and the trouble of thinning out I find you often don't end up with a plant where you want one. I have discovered a pretty neat method though if you are veg growing on a small scale like me... don't bother pulling out unwanted seedlings just use a pair of scissors and cut them off at the soil surface. When you thin out seedlings you always disturb the roots of the ones you are trying to keep and it is a very slow boring job. The scissors method is quicker and less disruptive. If they need to be spaced four inches apart (or whatever) simply give them the appropriate hair cut. I've just done a batch of beetroot and carrots (last batch) this way all I need now is some sun to bring them on so I can actually eat them before we leave at the end of September!
Firstly - weeding........... I pretty much haven't done it. Visitors always say the garden looks immaculate - it really doesn't when you get close up and personal, but it just goes to show that if you weed because you worry that others might think the garden is a mess you are doing it for the wrong reason. When we came back in April the garden had already romped off to a great start - weeds and plants alike and I was too busy to get to it other than cutting down dead stuff and sorting out the winter dead mess. I was away early May so by the time I really had the time and inclination to get in there and tackle the weeds all the perennials were in full flight and making it really difficult to do without damaging the new growth here and there. That was my excuse any way. Almost all this summer all I've done is remove the really offending weeds when I see them; truly this has meant pulling out three foot plus flowering stuff and giant dandelions. It has been lovely and easy for me - many. many hours of backbreaking toil avoided and, unless you are the gardener, it goes unnoticed. I only hope I haven't got an horrendous job next April getting back on top of them again; I suspect I might as grass and creeping buttercup seem to have taken over the back one foot of the space!!
Then weeding and feeding the lawn - this is another pain. We get a lot of moss and quite a fair amount of weed as it is a builder's laid lawn and you know what that means. Also it hadn't been gardened for the first two years of its life and was simply reverting to a field. I don't know any other way to tackle it other than weed and feed. Individual grubbing out weeds really wouldn't work I would end up with an area that looks like the Somme. The old methods of sharp sand and bone meal and other treatments probably would work but I know it means I have to research and study and learn by trial and error and probably is a slow process to knock a lawn into shape. I lack the patience and, to be fair to me, the time for this route. I use a soluble variety of both the weed and feed and the interim lawn food; I find I get a more even finish as I put it on thinly and fast in all directions and go over the area twice. What I don't like is that it is so expensive. It costs me ten pounds for the front and ten pounds for the back garden just for the weed and feed treatments and it needs doing at least twice in the season - a total of forty quid just to kill the weeds. The change I made this year has been to do it only once and no supplemental feeds and live with the consequences. Again the weeds haven't offended me as much as I thought they would so maybe I'll back off on this idea of striving for perfection and just strive for reasonable instead. Perhaps it will get worse year on year and need doing thoroughly again some time but if I get one or two years out of this regime I will have saved a lot of money and work.
Finally thinning out vegetables grown from seed is another fiddly job. I know the rules of sow very thinly and the method of mixing seed with sand to 'dilute' it but I find this doesn't work all that well. If you sow seed really thinly to save on the seed and the trouble of thinning out I find you often don't end up with a plant where you want one. I have discovered a pretty neat method though if you are veg growing on a small scale like me... don't bother pulling out unwanted seedlings just use a pair of scissors and cut them off at the soil surface. When you thin out seedlings you always disturb the roots of the ones you are trying to keep and it is a very slow boring job. The scissors method is quicker and less disruptive. If they need to be spaced four inches apart (or whatever) simply give them the appropriate hair cut. I've just done a batch of beetroot and carrots (last batch) this way all I need now is some sun to bring them on so I can actually eat them before we leave at the end of September!
Biddulph Grange Gardens
On our way back from Wales we did a bit of a detour and visited Biddulph Grange Gardens. I am perfectly sure people must rave about this garden but I actually didn't like it. It was interesting to have seen it and a pleasant way to spend an afternoon in the sunshine but its not for me.
Possibly one of the reasons is that it isn't a plant person's garden. It houses massive collections of specific species - dahlias, rhododendrons for example so it doesn't have the traditional billowing English borders and planting (like Hidcote for example) that I love.
It is described as follows:
James Bateman designed it as a rich and varied series of 'gardens within a garden', to amaze and impress his friends and visitors.
I know grand houses and gardens were pretty much always built to impress; but often they are out to impress the world with what good taste you have because you are rich and well bred whereas this seems to be a sort of (1850s) Victorian bling affair - loadsamonee but not an atom of taste.
I also felt it was very much a man's garden - all tricks and construction and fiddling about. The pathways through the heart of it are steep and winding and narrow and full of steps and (worse) very narrow tunnels so it is a constant battle of concentration to find your way and keep your footing. I particularly don't like dark confining wet tunnels to grapple through just to get from one part of a garden to another. All very clever and tricksy (and impressive!) but it doesn't make for a pleasant meander amongst flower beds which is pretty much my idea of a garden.
It is also unrewarding in that you can't go round the house and, indeed, get to the middle section of the terraces, because it has been converted to nine apartments (2bedrooms for 700K) so you really have to like the garden itself to make it a worth while trip.
All that complaining aside I am certain it is a case of each to their own as it seemed full of happy tourists/visitors enjoying their day out and Ken liked it because it was more interesting than a heap of plants!
If you click the link in the left column you can look at some photos and maybe make up your own mind......
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