We are moving house imminently and have decided to close this website down as the new property doesn’t have a front garden as such.

It has been fun creating this garden from scratch which has had many admiring remarks and provided a welcome conversation from time to time.

For now we will take photographs to remind us of our favourite bits and apply them to the new garden, which as far as we can guess will be in Cumbria, a slightly different climate … interesting to see what thrives.  For the first few weeks Val’ll be peering over front garden fences to gather ideas, which in itself will engender conversation.

She will continue editing In Balance Magazine at http://www.inbalancemagazine.com and writing about our new garden there.

So do keep in touch!

Val & John Reynolds

Still some colour from the penstemons, wonder whether I should plant some heucheras to brighten up the garden overall at this time of year.

Southern Comfort

Kernock Park Plants have a massive list to choose from. In view of the colour of the wall bricks I would choose complementary colours and Sugar Plum, Southern Comfort, Alabama Sunrise, Sweet Tea and Key Lime Pie all seem rather suitable. I’ll look into getting some plug plants.

Sweet Tea

In the meantime the dahlias have been lifted and stored … just hope they survive the winter. I read that you can eat the tubers! Perhaps that might be a better solution!

Now debating whether to add a deep mulch of leaves, certainly has given good protection in previous years. As we have been away for sometime we missed collecting leaves so may leave that rather tiring task this year.

September

General tidy up. Have left the dahlias that never recovered from the slug feast. I’ll leave them to overwinter with a good covering of compost and mulch. They might just make it. The everlasting sweet pea is still going strong – big success. I might add one to the magnolia next year which is going to have to be pruned once it has finished flowering next spring. Can’t do it now, would cut off too many flower buds.

The little cyclamen have been completely overwhelmed by the other plants on the garden edge. Such a pity, they are so beautiful. Might replant them under the magnolia next year, they are after all woodland plants so just be better suited there.

August

Penstemons, verbascum, tree lilies

A passerby told me he loved the mix of plants. Some have  called it an eccentric mix, whatever, if it makes people stop and stare that’s a result! If it makes someone smile I’m delighted!

Late July 

Image taken 27 July 2012

Everything is looking good and the tree lilies are attracting a lot of attention. We have had several passersby taking photographs. The verbascum Clementine are flowering for a second time and are not so tall this time. It’s possible to get white verbascum and I’ll grow some from seed. There is also a lovely creamy yellow variety, Banana Custard. I’ll have another attempt at getting the Blue Lagoon to grow. Both lots of plug plants I had just died.

The knautia is very leggy and really needs staking but I’ve allowed it to travel through other plants so giving little bursts of burgundy which look good among white flowering plants. The penstemon I grew from seed are flowering well. I’d like more white ones for next year.

The white everlasting sweet pea is doing its thing growing through and up the cotoneaster, I’m hoping for great things!

I’m thinking about pruning the magnolia stellata. It has grown very strongly this year, must like all that rain. Will have to get some expert advice on the pruning.

Mid July

The cotoneaster has been blown away from the wall and needs attaching to the wall. The everlasting white sweet pea is growing well into it which will brighten that patch up. The foxgloves are getting to the end of their flowering so the purple ones will be pulled up, leaving the white ones to seed. Of the eight tree lilies only three have survived. It will be interesting to see what colours appear.

The penstemons are full of vigour and will give colour until the end of September. Must grow more for next year as they are bushy, colourful and need very little attention – just deadheading. They are like smaller versions of foxgloves and a variety of whites, pinks and purples.

I omitted buying dahlia cuttings in March to grow on. I bought some six fully grown plants last week. At £7.49 each they were a bit steep, but worth it. However they turned into the priciest slug food ever! From good, healthy, vigorous plants

Good vigorous dahlia

to sickly skeletons overnight!

Stripped by slugs overnight

I found five huge slugs on one plant alone. I quickly scattered bird friendly slug granules and the slug attack has abated. I will try a nematode product available from Wiggly Wigglers next year. It comes as a powder that you add water to and then spread round the area you want to protect. Said to be effective up to six weeks.

June

Cyclamen seed heads

Delighted to find luscious cyclamen seed heads, not yet ready to relinquish their seeds, but full of promise. I’m always excited to find ‘freebies’ in the garden! I intend to grow some in gravel beside the house which will add some much needed colour in the spring.

Having forgotten to buy some dahlias in April to bring on, I decided to buy some established plants in pots. Wow, the price was breathtaking … £7.50 each. However they are sturdy and should grow on quickly and fill the gaps. Will plant the white ones among the greenery to brighten it up. Some of my favourite cosmos will help to brighten up other gaps. Three different reds was all that was left on the bench. Must make a note in next year’s diary to get them earlier next year.

T&M Fruit Punch poppy and white foxglove © Pintail

A chance planting of white foxgloves and the pink poppy together makes me think it would be worth working out a colour calendar. Something to do in the winter months. My favourite poppy colour is deep blood red and there is a plant in the front garden, so I’ll keep the seeds for next year.

The David Austin rose, Malvern Hills, is doing exceptionally well. The perfume hits you whenever you are near to the front door.

The beautiful white hellebore has begun to drop its seeds. I have collected lots hoping for good germination, always a bit of a lottery. I read somewhere mature seed develops a germination inhibitor preventing germination until early spring, whereas fresh or immature seed germinates quickly. So I’ll sow some now to see how reliable that info is.

The tree lily growth has been very patchy. Out of nine bulbs only five have developed. Disappointing result so far.

May

T&M Fruit Punch Poppy

The large floppy flowered poppies I grew from seed are now coming out. Rather bigger plants than I had envisaged, the flower buds are prolific. Again I think the plant will push others out of the way but we’ll see how it goes.

T&M Fruit Punch Poppy

Visiting Wimpole Hall in Cambridgeshire today I noticed in the walled garden they haven’t been able to keep the lily beetle away. I asked the gardeners what measures they took and they just said ‘Squash them’. Ugh, but if that’s the only effective treatment I’ll just have to grin and bear it or dig up the lilies. Think I’ll try the squash method but am not looking forward to it. Last time I just hoovered them up but the suction damaged the leaves so I just threw the lot away. Wandering round the gardens I was reminded of the most beautiful scent of Sweet Williams and decided I must grow some white ones next year.

I have found a plant that will contrast well with Green Apples – Pink Pixie a just announced new Thompson & Morgan verbascum. See feature in In Balance Magazine.

Green Apples, aquilegia vulgaris

Everything is growing apace and some plants sown from seed last year are flowering, namely the new aquilegias Miss M I Huish and Green Apples. Have written more them on the magazine website.

The nine tree lilies are growing at different speeds. Some are 9 inches high, others are only just emerging from the earth. It’s going to be fun watching them grow to their expected height, dare I say it: 8 feet in two years. Some transplanting will surely be necessary to make sure other plants are not overwhelmed by such giants!

April

Have written a feature about the seeper hose watering system I devised for the front and back garden. Click here to read more.

A severe frost burned the magnolia flowers brown on Parkway but luckily our magnolia stellata was protected by its proximity to our front wall. The brilliant red tulips are out and the dark purple ones are just colouring up.

Interesting how red, orange and yellow look well together

March has come and gone and the garden is not showing much stress from drought. When we did have rain the seeper hose worked a treat and with the mulch the moisture was kept in. I used the water from the butt towards the end of the month.

7 April 2012

I was thrilled to see we have three pink buds developing on the tree peony planted just two years ago. With the various shades of lilac of the drumstick primula and the warm red of the begenia the three plants really complement each other. Just luck really, not at all planned.

With February bringing hard freezing weather we’ve had no leeks for a fortnight but today, 15th with a temperature of 10°C I was able to easily pull up some up for the evening meal. The green leaves are getting old and bitter so we’ll be eating the white sections from now on. Bluebells are beautiful and come up year after year, sometimes in my vegetable areas. When I dig them up they get thrown into the border to contain them because I love their colour and don’t want to lose them completely. Apples for the thrushes are popular – we can never hope to eat the number we harvest so it is good to share them in the hard weather months.

January came and went with nothing done in the garden at all.

Lady in Black - Double flowered fast climbing fuchsia Thompson & Morgan

Isn’t it amazing how quickly sometimes plans have to be revised?

I’ve had to devise new plan where we will be using plug plants from established plant growers via the post for our front garden instead of growing from seed. Why plug plants? Four reasons: you know when they will be arriving, when you receive them they are well established, they take off like billyo and they have labels!

Why the new plan? With the prospect of our conservatory being turned upside down to store furniture from the sitting room and elsewhere in the house, because we are having some plasterwork and then redecoration done, I realised my seed planting plan was in peril because it’s in the conservatory where I grow all my plants from seed.

What plugs have I ordered?

For the front garden they will be from Thompson & Morgan:

Foxglove Illumination Thompson & Morgan

• Tree lilies at the back against the wall – 6 bulbs
• Petunias Easy Wave - 36 plugs
• Fuchsia Lady in Black - 3 jumbo plugs
• Dahlia XXXL - 4 jumbo plugs – all different colours
• Foxglove Illumination - 3 jumbo plugs from the Titchmarsh Collection

From Gardening Direct: Some beautiful scented begonias and some Monet coloured petunias for the hanging basket

From Crocus: some fabulous sweet peas

Sweet Peas - Crocus

From Homebase: I’ll be getting some shamrock and some beautiful chocolate cosmos as recommended by Jo Swift.In between these I’m going to fit in two tall supports for some sweet peas my sister will be growing for me in her greenhouse. And I’ll have to rearrange some of the existing plants, either moved into the back garden or given away.

In some ways being pushed into adapting to a new plan has been easier than planning from scratch. Having ultimate choice in daunting. All I have to do now is make sure the plants are sited so they don’t fight with each other over space nor clash in colour.

Other plug plants I’m expecting for the back garden include celery, onion, brussel sprouts, cabbage, sweet corn, beetroot – all except the onion will be grown under protective netting to keep the pigeons from guzzling the lot! The brussel sprouts I grew from seed last year have been very successful, we still have some to eat now in early February. The kale is still giving leaves to cook but the leeks are frozen solid in the ground.

So, onwards and upwards! Gardening is a joyful occupation that gives me so much pleasure and lots of challenges.

Garden Press Event held in the RHS Halls

My favourite garden press event was held this month and try as I might I didn’t get to visit all the stands I wanted but the ones I did visit were very rewarding.

My intention was to source plants for the front garden to give it a completely new look this year. I found some great new plants. Beautiful Monet coloured trailing petunias for the hanging basket and scented begonias for the front of the bed from Gardening Direct, excitingly coloured sweet peas from Kings and some from Thompson & Morgan for the obelisks, or what they refer to as maypole plant supports, that I have been promised by Haxnicks.  Jo Swift suggested white shamrock from Homebase which I can’t find online but will update this page when they are.

Although the garden is only 26 ft x 12 ft I still felt the pressure of choosing plants in terms of height, spread and of course colour. So I was really pleased by Plantify – an inspiring, free online garden design tool available to everyone that I will be using it to redesign the front garden.

A rolling composter, one that can be kept at ground level and pushed backwards and forwards to aerate your compost is by far the fastest way of creating compost – ready in 6 weeks!  I’ll be trying out the Rollmix Composter and will write about how it works for us.

This year Crocus has some absolutely gorgeous plants on offer – magnolia Fairy Magnolia Blush looks absolutely wonderful, as does the white with blue back anemone – if only I had a bigger garden! And the hepatica look absolutely beautiful, hope I can fit some in. Some sweet peas in the Spencer collection look absolutely divine and promise a gorgeous scent.

I was given far more packets of seeds than I could ever use so if you would like a packet or two just send a stamped addressed envelope to me. There is a range of flower and vegetable seed, if you would like one or the other, or both, just write veg and/or flower on the back of the envelope. The seeds are from Thompson & Morgan, Homebase and Kings.

My grafted tomato plants grew so well last year only to be cut down in their prime by blight that I had moreorless given up on the idea of home grown tomatoes because once the blight virus is in the soil it is difficult to avoid further contamination. Then I came across the Quadgrow Planter. It has four pots that sit in a reservoir of water, taking away the possibility of erratic watering. I’m planning on siting it in a south facing part of the garden on a path. I’m hoping that particular cunning plan will mean blight won’t get a look in.

My Heath Robinson style protection for the brassicas worked really well last year, deterring the pigeons and cabbage white butterflies, even though the netting was not wide enough and I had to use additional netting. This year I’ll be trying out a crop cage from Greentree that should work much better. Easy to fix clips and netting ties sound very attractive. Greentree are also supplying a Grow Cloche to try with one of our metre square raised beds. Will be much better than the hoops and fleece we used last year that has gradually broken down since last autumn.

Absolutely fascinated by insects, I was taken with the insect hotel from Doff. One is on its way and I’m looking forward to observing what uses its 5 star bedrooms! Every year mason bees have used the bee houses I provided some five years ago and are fascinating to watch – see short video. I’m hoping for a wider range of insects this year with the Doff insect house that will give me more photographic opportunities.

The Franci seed stand was fascinating. All seeds are from Italian alpine regions and all are suitable for our climate. Paolo was so enthusiastic, he even gave me a recipe to use that promised to reduce the bitterness of kale. His website is hugely interesting and I’m looking forward to trying out some of his seeds. I have some of his soap for gardeners to try, one containing crushed apricot shell to help remove gardening grime.

My gardening shoes have given me really good service for the last 17 years and I decided to replace them with a pair of Backdoor shoes. I chose ones with the bluebell print but as you will see on their website there are many other flower designs to choose from.

A range of gardening gloves were on offer and I thought it was time to replace a pair of Skoma gloves I’ve used continuously for the past three years and have seen better days. I liked them because they were flexible, wicked away perspiration, and gave me sensitivity, lacking in some gloves where you can’t feel anything. They survived frequent washing in the washing machine, but recently they have hardened a little. I now have a pair from Ethel Gloves made from goat skin and bamboo, referred to as the little black dress of gardening! I have to admit they are rather stylish, I’m tempted to just use them for driving!  I’ve sent three pairs of Joe’s gloves for review to a couple of readers – all rather brightly coloured which means at least they won’t get lost in the compost bin.

As you can imagine I had rather a lot to carry home and was glad to reach my comfy chair by the fire, have a quick snooze and dream about the garden this year.

William and Catherine, David Austin Rose 2011

David Austin’s english roses are the epitome of an english country garden, a gardening style so many strive for. David Austin’s roses fit in most places and we have planted a scented climbing rose by our front door.

It took us ages to make our choice from the 800 available. We chose the climber Malvern Hills, a small double flower, yellow to cream that should go well with the orange bricks.

It is important to erect a sturdy trellis if you are training your rose up a wall, with space behind it to allow for tying in.

Austin roses are ideal for flower arrangements, luscious and wonderful pastel colours, they really are reminiscent of the old Dutch Masters’ paintings. And the scent! You can choose from wonderfully rich fragrances.

The English Roses written by David Austin contains chapters on each of the major rose sections with full description of each variety and additional chapters on using roses in the garden and their cultivation. Illustrated with lots of colour photographs that show individual varieties and roses in garden situations. This really is an excellent book designed for both enthusiast and beginners.

Details of a Gift Pack, gift vouchers and all about their roses are on www.davidaustinroses.com.

Felicia

Tomatoes are doing well. The grafted Sungold are ripening slowly, Felicia not yet. I can’t see any difference in the grafted and ungrafted Felicia so far.

Sungold beginning to ripen

July 2011

The tomatoes I grew from seed, Losetto F1 hybrid from Thompson & Morgan, are really bushy and have lots of flowers. No need to pinch out or sideshoot. Need to harvest fruit regularly to encourage more flowers and extend the picking period. This tomato is suitable for planting in hanging baskets and patio pots – if my experience is anything to go by it would be excellent for the balcony and patio. I have three plants and already I’m planning on making chutney as I don’t think we can keep up with eating the fruit as it ripens!

June 16

The Mizuna has grown terrifically. Will be cutting it now for cooking, apparently the seed heads are good in stir fry.

Found in my notes that using trimmings from some of the strong smelling herbs are good as deterrents to bugs that attack vegetables. So I cut back the sage and put it in the centre of the bean wigwam. Oregano was spread round the tomatoes and mint went under the broccoli plants. This is an interesting way of using herb prunings that would normally go on the compost heap when I had enough dried leaves.

The grafted tomato plants are not showing much difference in growth compared to the non-grafted plants … so far.

Everything is growing a pace and there is a lot to do all at once. Timeconsuming work.

June 7th

Blanket weed has taken over the small pond we have in the back garden since the fish were finally finished off by the local cat a couple of years ago. Some mature fish were on offer from friends and we decided we needed to treat the blanket week before we added the fish. A visit to Hertfordshire Fisheries gave us the information we needed. We bought and later added two level scoopfuls of Blanket Answer by Cloverleaf, mixed with pond water in a watering can to the pond. Apparently the pond water will go milky in a couple of days gradually clearing, taking the blanket weed with to the bottom of the pond, gradually breaking it down harmlessly over time.

Hertfordshire Fisheries were most helpful and informative and we were told there is nothing that really works for another problem we have: duckweed. Just clearing it with a fine mesh net on a regular basis – a pretty tedious job – is the best solution. The most important time is when the duckweed drops its seeds in summer which then settle on the bottom of the pond ready to emerge next year.  While at the fisheries we wandered round the aquariums and came across some Axolotols, one looked like an albino and the others were black with the distinctive waving head gills. Early relatives of lizards they come from South America. Axolotols is an Aztec word.

Sempervirum seedlings, Thompson & Morgan

I found a strong little poppy seedling in the path and transplanted it between a ragged robin and a penstemon. This kind of activity always makes me feel good! Any seedling that has survived in a difficult location must have a lot of strength and could be good for propagating.

June 5th

After some rain

I spent ages this morning using the pump to send the bath water into the garden but it just wouldn’t budge. When I, eventually, found the instructions I realised I needed to try a slightly different approach. Next time then perhaps I’ll be more successful.

Then rain at last, at least an inch. Suddenly everything looks fresher and energetic!

June 1st

Raised bed with lettuce, beetroot, carrots and onions

Am going to thin out the lettuce and beetroot seedlings in the raised bed. I’m inordinately pleased with how this experiment has gone. Everything looks so good! Am thinking that once the fleece is off the slugs will come galloping in so I’ll add some copper tape. This will get expensive as the boxes are a metre square, but I think it is the only way to make sure the little critters don’t have a chance to reach the luscious leaves, unless they parachute in! Well anything is possible! I think the pigeons may have their eyes on it so I’m waiting for some netting to put over them. Growing your own is not as straight forward as they make out on the tv and in magazines!

Last day of May Seeper hose and pump installed and working – see here for details.

Late May

Am going to green up the gravel where the car is parked with thyme and creeping jenny.
Still haven’t bought the hand pump so the seeper hose is sitting there doing nothing.

Water bottles had to be given to the gerberas and lupins. The hellebore looked a little thirsty so I gave that a litre bottle too. Nothing much to do in the way of weeding!

Have bought a seeper hose to use for the bath water, need to get a hand pump first.

Early May

So much stuff to go in my little greenhouse that there is, as Anna Pavord says, a traffic problem! Some are waiting to go out, others have been unceremoniously put outside in the shade where I hope they survive the activities of foraging birds and active slugs. We have been putting out mealworms for the birds, the blackbirds and robins hoover them up. I was a bit taken aback to see a robin gathering emergent damselflies in the pond. Poor things didn’t even have a chance to use their wings. Oh well, I can’t expect to pick and choose what lives or dies.

Common frog

Absolutely over the moon to see a newt in the pond, hopefully laying eggs, and joy of joy a frog. I thought we had lost them all to the virus that seems to have killed off so many throughout the world.

Mizuna, good for salads and stir fries

Delighted to be able to pick small amounts of Mizuna – seed bought from – a mild oriental salad leaf that can be picked throughout summer as salad and stir fries. When the plants go to seed it’s possible to eat the flowers. Available from RealSeeds.

Broad bean leaf problem

Am worried to find some kind of virus/fungus on my broadbeans – anyone know what it is and what I should do about it?

Thompson & Morgan pansies

I have transplanted the vibrant orange pansies that I want to plant as edging in the front garden.

Thompson & Morgan tricolour violas

I have a packet of viola tricolour, known as heartsease, I’ll use as edging in the back garden. Apparently the seed germinates well and the plants provide masses of colour throughout summer and autumn.

Have sown wallflower seeds direct in the ground, covered with fleece. The wallflowers I grew from seed last year have been so useful as colour fillers that I have sown another packet for 2012 flowering.  I noticed some other beautiful wallflowers in the Thompson & Morgan catalogue and I’m tempted to sow some more. The scent this year has been really noticeable, a welcome bonus when little else is blooming so prolifically.

I have also sown a wildflower mix to attract beneficial insects to the vegetable plot. Chase Organics sell green manure mixes that do the same thing and can be hoed down and left as a mulch, which sounds a good use of effort to me.

The beetroot and lettuce seeds have germinated in raised bed number one. The onion seeds haven’t done anything yet.

Have planted six tomatoes – Felicia, two grafted and two not grafted for comparison. Also two grafted Sungold plants. Have reused plastic milk containers as water containers each with a fabulous drip tap device. I am absolutely delighted with the taps and I have written about them in In Balance Magazine.

Thompson & Morgan sempervivum

Am also delighted at the progress of the sempervivum, also known as house leek. Miniature plants are waiting to be transplanted. Have high hopes for a good crop to put in a particularly dry patch. They are mountainous plants that can take extremes of temperature so while they don’t exactly thrive on neglect, they won’t be too demanding of my attention.

I have finally put together all four raised bed frames. First sowings in the first two beds are onions, beetroot, carrot and lettuce. They are all covered by fleece and hope they are not attacked by what we thought might be foxes earlier in the year.

Mid-April

Seeds are covering every surface of the dining table and the window sills … most are doing well. It’s always difficult to decide how many seeds to sow – sometimes the germination is good and you are overwhelmed by the number to transplant, or so few germinate that you wish you had two packets. Hey ho, that’s the way it goes I guess.

Rather leggy Cosmos seedlings

Watering is an ongoing activity, the seed trays are shaded by blinds but some of them are really leggy which is disappointing. Especially the cosmos, one of my favourite plants. They germinated quickly and shot up. They are not a pretty sight. I will persevere though and whip them into shape when I transplant them!

April 1, 2011

http-//inbalancemagazine.com/photo-gallery/

First seeds of the year were sown on 26 March and brought indoors to keep warm and stimulate germination. I was surprised to see the sempervivum  germinated within five days. The seeds were so fine and few in number I wondered whether we would ever see anything. The broad beans showed no sign of movement, but I poked about a bit and found they were germinating. Great. The nautia macedonica are showing signs of life too.

The poppies and aquilegia are not. I used covers for some of the seed trays and cling film for others. The cling film has not been a success – the weight of the moisture moves the clingfilm onto the seed compost and is unacceptable. I will have to put some kind of support – to keep it higher. This is disappointing, I can’t remember who suggested clingfilm. I wonder how successful it was for them, or was it one of those bright ideas that people have but haven’t actually put into practice themselves?

The main concern now is damping off. This is when the damp soil attracts a fungus that kills, or severely stunts the growth, of seeds. I spray on camomile tea, you can use crushed garlic although I never have. There are commercial chemicals available.

March 26, 2011

STEPOVER FRUIT TREE - apples Thompson & Morgan

Stepover apples planted today. They will need staking which I had overlooked but will get something sorted next week. Am looking forward to seeing these apples develop – I hope they look like this in a few years.

March 25, 2011

Climbing Strawberry Mount Everest

Climbing strawberries arrived, their fruiting period is June to September, now there’s a thing! Will we be strawberried out by September? Or, as I hope there will be so much fruit I’ll be able to make jam. The best jam I ever made was called freezer jam. So simple – just mash up the fruit, add sugar, put it in freezer bags in tubs and freeze. Remove from tubs when frozen and you easily stack them. The ‘jam’ is so tasty and delicious on ice cream, cereal, and in cakes. I’m going to experiment this summer and try adding a little pectin and cook it for a much shorter time than usual to see if it will be a bit thicker to put on bread. It will keep if you use a lid with a seal, or if you are worried it might go off, freeze it.

These plants are Mount Everest from Thompson & Morgan £9.99 for six potted plants.

March 20, 2011

Weather has been cool but dry and the ground is much easier to dig. The raspberries I ordered were dug in today 3 x Polka and 3 x Autumn Bliss from Thompson & Morgan. Both are autumn fruiting and need no support.  They have been heavily mulched and I’ll sow some green manure seeds next month, ones that attract pollinating insects. The Organic Gardening catalogue has several to choose from. As I try to follow the No Dig system the green manure plants can be hoed off, or killed with a mulch in the autumn.

March 15, 2011

Today I’ve decided to take the bull by the horns and added a greaseband to each fruit tree. I’ve never done it before because it seemed rather brutal. Brutal because I didn’t and still don’t feel good about insects being glued to a sheet and dying a long death. I might be wrong, but that’s what I felt.

Anyway in the interests of research I decided to try two. Boltac Greasebands and Agralan Econmy Glue Bands. Boltac won. First from the fact that grease is more humane than glue, I could be wrong of course. Secondly because the greasebands were so much easier to put onto the trees. Nor could I do the string thing very well. But that’s just me. What is interesting is what was printed on the containers. The kinds of insects that emerge and crawl up fruit trees and  lay their eggs in the flower buds, how ants find and cultivate greenfly – did you know they spray formic acid on the greenfly which deters the ladybirds and lacewings from eating them.

Greaseband

I’m not sure that bands are the most humane way to control what are seen as pests. Perhaps I should just care better for the trees so they have a stronger resistance to the negative effects of attack. After all even pests have a right to an existence …

March 10, 2011

Digging out the bluebells

We had cleared most of the back garden ready for new planting of fruit and veg and covered it with a thick layer of leaf mould to identify the whereabouts of the bluebells we had missed when digging out the weeds. We find bluebells beautiful but invasive, growing up into plants and making it difficult to weed them out. So the leaf mulch was very useful to show quickly where we had to work. The soil has been very claggy for weeks, but I did manage to fit in a couple of hours on two days and removed the majority of them. No doubt I have missed some again though, so next year I’ll be digging again.

February 20, 2011

Secateur comparison

Over the past couple of years I have tried out several pairs of secateurs, here they are:

The first pair was so designed that when I was cutting a particularly thick stem it somehow managed to nip the space between my thumb and first finger. Very painful.

The second one had a very simple closing device with no special features. I like this one but would like one with a larger blade.

The third one had a ratchet system that fell apart within a couple of months, and the last one has a yellow closing device that is loose and when I am cutting it in a downward direction the yellow tab falls down and locks the blades. There is no way of tightening the yellow tab. So really that latest pair is totally useless, unless I unscrew the yellow tab or tape it into the open position. However, this was the only pair I could attach a coloured tape to in an attempt to avoid leaving them in the garden to rust.

I’m sorry to say none of them had all the features I wanted and I’m now looking for one that will give a good strong cut, reliable, a long life and simple to operate with a hole in one of the arms to thread through a brightly coloured tape, although I might get a holster to keep it in.

Do you have any recommendations?

February 1, 2011

A short sortie into the countryside showed plants are on the move!

Eranthis, winter aconite

Eranthis, a member of the buttercup family, known as winter aconite, were well out in a friend’s garden.

I rather like them and will get some for next year. They are available from Thompson & Morgan, my favourite plant and seed supplier.

The catkins were shaking their tails in the wind

Catkins

and the snowdrops are more advanced than a couple of weeks ago.

It’s this time of year we are told to tidy up the garden. Cut back the dead flower heads and so on. However they provide winter protection to insects, both desired and undesirable. The dead flower heads provide food for seed eaters. This year I decided to leave everything, michaelmas daisies, nigella, hollyhocks and cosmos mostly. And this month, I’ve noticed several times pairs of goldfinches eating the michaelmas daisy seeds and the cosmos flower seedheads.

Goldfinches on cosmos seed heads in December

This has convinced me that tidying up is not a great idea and next year everything will be left for the birds.

22 November 2011

Finally a frost sufficiently hard to kill off the dahlia flowers. I cut them down to ground level and covered with about 6 inches of compost – an experiment to see if they survive the winter.

Dahlias still going strong 18 November 2011

Still several plants flowering 18 November.

October 2011

13 October, everything still flowering, wondering whether 21st will be the same day we had a really hard frost in 2010.

September 2011

XXXL dahlias from Thompson & Morgan are receiving lots of complimentary remarks. Pity they don’t have anything for the bees. Intend to move the penstemons closer together. Another job for this month is to put in the tulips.

21 August 2011

Gerbera being overgrown by a rampant hollyhock August 2011

A hollyhock has appeared unexpectedly where I planted the pretty orange hardy gerbera so there will be some digging up next month and planting next to the wall. I have several other hollyhocks grown from seed that are said to be rust resistant so they can all go together.

20 August 2011

Gerbera under attack 21 August 2011

One of the hardy gerberas has been attacked and as there seem to be no signs of regrowth it will probably be dug up soon.

Large dahlias T&M XXXL 20 August 2011

The large dahlias are now well established and blooming strongly.

15 August 2011

I found slugs, large ones, climbing the dahlias and have a solution for removing them. Use rubber gloves like those the forensic personnel on crime scenes use – they give a sensitive touch, are lightweight, and I can pick up slugs and squash cabbage white eggs without feeling too sick! I used them to earth up the leeks with compost by hand, easier than using a spade or trowel. The robin kept me company and I forgot my aching back.

Our first step in urban greening – I planted the thyme seedlings, sown in 28 May, in the central gravel area of the car standing. It will be interesting to see how the plants develop in such an impoverished growing environment.

Gravel area to be planted with thyme seedlings

Our first step in urban greening – I planted the thyme seedlings, sown in 28 May, in the central gravel area of the car standing. It will be interesting to see how the plants develop in such an impoverished growing environment. Here’s a picture taken today before the seedlings were put in. I’d include the picture showing the planted seedlings but really they are hardly visible. Will take an image once they have grown.

The hardy gerberas plug plants have grown well although not many flowers per plant. I can only find four out of the five I planted, I think one has been overgrown by the large dahlias.

From experience plants seem to be able cope with this, I’ll make sure anything overpowering the plant will be sorted at the end of the season.

Hardy gerbera

The Gladioli has grown to more than 5 ft, now that’s a bit extreme … I will look for some that grow a little shorter for next year. One or two nasturtiums have appeared, much to John’s dismay. He really hates it when they attract the blackfly, although at the moment none are to be seen. I’ve transplanted them to the back garden.

Watering from water butt

Everything is really showing the positive effects of the extra rain water. I’m emptying the water butts regularly, whether or not the ground seems to need it. As long as I don’t flood the flowerbeds I think it will work well. Certainly the plants next to the front wall are growing and looking very robust whereas before they were very weak and weedy.

So was the rain diversion experiment a success? It took a long time to plan and we had to adjust things as the system was created, but all in all it has been worth it. I still have to adjust one or two things – an extra tap needed at the back, and I won’t be diverting the bath water via the seeper hose. It just takes too long and doesn’t flow easily. I’ll pump it out using a hose. I have added a tap to the end of the hose so I can start/stop it when and where I want.

6 August 2011

Drumstick Primula, grown from Thompson & Morgan seed

The plant showing the most progress since the watering has increased is the Drumstick Primula. It has an attractive delicate flower and I’m pleased it has taken off. Growing anything from seed that does well is always heartwarming.

4 August 2011

Rained yesterday and today. Used rain butt water to wash car … the butt filled up again later with the rain. Felt exceptionally worthy! Bath water went onto those plants nearest the house that always suffer from lack of moisture. Rain was diverted from the roof as well. Hoping the ground will be sufficiently moist for the next few weeks.

2 August 2011

Used all the rain water from the butt as it seems we are due for some rain tomorrow. Might as well get as much as I can.

Pulled up some foxgloves, marigolds and poppies to make way for more green/white aquilegia. Tied up the gladioli which is in the wrong place – it is bright orange/red and it’s next to a blue red dahlia, I think they clash so will move it next year.

Seed heads from the massive limes in vicarage garden are everywhere so I’ve used them as a mulch on the garden.

29 July 2011

Bressingham Azure Rush geranium

Removed the poor flowering pink violet and replaced with the Bressingham Azure Rush which hugs the ground and won’t take over as much space as the other geraniums.

28 July 2011

My visit to Thompson & Morgan for a press event was very interesting. We heard of 33 new plants they have introduced and had a look at the plants in situ. There were some I really really want for the front garden … we were given enough packets of the new plants to try them out next year*. The seeds themselves will be available on the Thompson & Morgan website by September.

*I have duplicate packets of seeds from the day and if you would like a packet just send a stamped addressed envelope with either veg or flower on the back and I will send a packet or two. Address: Our Front Garden, 50 Parkway, Welwyn Garden City, Herts AL8 6HH. First come first served!

Verbascum Blue Lagoon

Two plants we were given were the Verbascum Blue Lagoon and Clementine a gold flower.

Verbascum Clementine

They will look absolutely gorgeous next to one another. They spread about 12 inches and grow about 30 inches tall. They can go in the place I used for the delphiniums that were so cruelly eaten by slugs.

We were also given a massive dahlia, named XXXL, I have planted it already and wonder how it will get on. I will take photos as soon as flowers appear.

Moonflower dahlia Very poor growth

I hope it will do much better than those I bought in May which have not done very well at all. I guess the weather is the culprit but after the two previous hugely successful years it is disappointing to see them languish. Do I dig them up, or leave them. I’ve left them for the time being but might put something in their place soon. At this time of year it’s difficult to fill big spaces. Next year I could grow some plants specially for this eventuality … possibly cosmos in pots.

22 July 2011

Am having to buy another 30 metres of seeper hose to use in the back garden. It’s amazing how much I seem to need. I bought a watering system years ago but never used it and am hoping I can link it up to my new system and water the patio pots, which would be extremely useful as my current very unreliable watering procedure does them no good at all.

20 July 2011

Am gradually removing the second year foxgloves and replacing with poppies. Now the plants are getting double rations of rain they are beginning to grow and expand. May have to contemplate dividing some plants in the autumn as a result!

19 July 2011

The watering system for the front garden using rain from the roof has been rejigged and we can now run off the bath water more easily than before.

One aspect of using the rain water was forgotten – a build up of small black bits in the piping after just two days was a surprise. So we have now added a nylon netting filter at ground level. I als0 forgot we needed an inlet for water from the water butt, remedied in a trice with a T joint.

In the back garden the watering system is somewhat more ad hoc, designed on the hoof. The result is an interesting mix of garden hose and seeper hose, T joints, elbow joints, end stops, and channels dug under paving stones and a very tiring job it was too. Lots of stops for cups of coffee and reflection – always a good idea when the hose fights with me like a rearing snake, the brambles go through my gloves and I can’t get the paving slabs back as they were. But then a tame robin comes and serenades me in the hedge and hops around looking for the goodies I have disturbed and all the angst is forgotten.

5 July 2011

The Papaver Summer Breeze poppies are being attacked by slugs, so I’m afraid some slug grains have had to be sprinkled around the surviving plants. The slug pellets I use are based on ferric phosphate and used correctly do not pose a threat to children and pets. The slugs seem to hide away once they have ingested the pellets and I can only hope hedgehogs, frogs and birds don’t find them. I must investigate this.

The pansies are beginning to flower, one is yellow, others are orange, should all be orange ….

The dahlias are really not doing well at all, weak, small flowers, attacked by bugs and slugs

25 June 2011

Poppies all needed slug pellets – I had forgotten to do that before I planted them out and three were grazed down to the ground.

Overall plants are at last beginning to make good growth although the dahlias are not really doing very well at all. Must not put them in so early next year perhaps.

The pansies I put in two weeks ago have been ravaged by something that leaves holes in the leaves. No sign of any flowers yet.

Papaver Summer Breeze

I finally planted some of my favourite poppies Papaver Summer Breeze*. They had grown good root systems in the multi seed trays bought at B&Q – I’ll use them in future instead of open trays to avoid transplant shock.  I didn’t really hold out much hope of success initially, they were so tiny, so I’ve been very pleased with the germination rate.

Orientalis Poppy - Fruit Punch

The same goes for the other poppies, Orientalis, Fruit Punch*, that will grow to between 2.5 and 3 ft. As I’ve never grown these before I’m going to grow half of them in large pots and plant them out next year and the rest direct into the garden this summer in case they suffer from unexpected problems like slugs, or bugs.

31 May 2011
At last I am reusing the bath water via a pump connected to a seeper hose.

I found the seeper hose very difficult to stop kinking. It’s made from recycled rubber tyres and is very stiff. I had to unwind it and lay it flat on the path before I could lay it down on the garden, really needed someone else to help me but I managed.

Once the flow started, using the Water Green pump I purchased from The Organic Gardening Catalogue, the hose looked as if it was sweating. It took at least 45 minutes to reach the end of the hose which is about 30 metres long. I laid it so it switches back twice and is said to reach 30 centimetres either side of itself so it should water the whole of the garden. Although it takes up to 4 hours to empty the bath it is so much easier than using a hose and much more efficient as it is targetting a specific area and reusing the bath water.

29 May 2011
Finally planted the three Moonfire dahlias, had to remove a couple of rather stunted foxgloves to make space. Each dahlia had a litre of water using the milk containers with the Supa Drippa taps, so they should be ok for a week.

Received some two year old manure from friends that will be spread liberally over the front and back garden asap.

28 May 2011
Nothing is really making much growth due to the drought. There are far more brown areas than I would expect at this time of year.

General view, still too much brown though

However, the targetted watering is working well and everything has survived so far. Putting in the cosmos gives me three more watering sites to add to the list, but I love them so the effort will be worth it. My seedling cosmos are too leggy to go out yet, wonder if they will ever be ready!

The everlasting sweet peas are eager to leave their pots so I’ll plant them this weekend. I’ll have to decide where to put the three Moonfire dahlias, difficult to decide because as soon as rain has soaked the soil the plants will all get active and there will be fights for space. I may have to remove some of the foxgloves which can go into the back garden.

Early May

Most of the wallflowers have been cut right back. One of the geraniums has been moved to the back garden, it’s a very leggy plant and I’ll replace it with a more compact plant from Bressingham Blooms. Five Forever Daisy Gerberas plug plants from Thompson & Morgan have been planted. The Bergenis have been deheaded, they are so useful for providing colour in early spring and the large leaves have a strong character.

The tree peony has grown apace and I’m hoping there will be a bloom or two this year.

I’m in the process of pruning the cotoneaster horizontalis. I discovered this plant is on the  non-native invasive list – see the PlantLife website, so  I’ve decided to ring the trunk to kill it but leave the framework to support a white everlasting sweetpea. Well that’s the plan.

I’m waiting for the pansies to mature and the Victorian lobelia to arrive to use as edging. Wish we had some rain, would make a big difference. The thick mulch has kept the earth damp and most of the plants are holding their own.

Late April 2011

Well, the dahlias have taken a hit from the very cold nights and one has badly burned leaves.  At least they survived. Interestingly a dahlia I omitted to dig up, near the house wall, has survived and is growing well. Won’t know which variety until it flowers as the label has disappeared. I’ll wait for a few weeks before putting out the other dahlias.

April 23, 2011
Have taken a chance and planted out three dahlia plants, all Preston Park, that grew so well last year. Sadly the tubers I dried and dusted with yellow sulphur last October were forgotten and when I opened the box this spring they were all rotten – one even had a resident very large slug! I couldn’t have dried the tubers out well enough. I’ll try again this year, but don’t have much confidence. Anyway I bought new rooted cuttings this year of Preston Park and Moonfire, the two most successful plants we had last year. Next year I’m going to grow from seed, to save money, just for the challenge! which means lots of different ones to try.

Everything is looking ok, the thick mulch makes such a difference, it conserves moisture very effectively, I haven’t had to water anything other than the dahlias when I put them in.

I have five gerbera to plant out but am not sure of the flower colour of each plant. Until I find out they will have to stay under glass. I don’t want to have clashing colours.

April 19, 2011
David Austin’s english roses are the very epitome of an English country garden, a gardening style so many strive for. But David Austin’s roses fit in most places and we have planted a climbing rose by our front door.

We chose Malvern Hills, a small double flower, yellow to cream. It should contrast well with the orange bricks.

It is important to erect a sturdy trellis if you are training your rose up a wall, with space behind it to allow for tying in.

The Austin roses are ideal for flower arrangements, luscious and wonderful pastel colours, they really are reminiscent of the old Dutch Masters’ paintings. And the scent! Again you can choose from wonderfully rich fragrances, it took us ages to make our choice from the 800 available.

The English Roses written by David Austin contains chapters on each of the major rose sections with full description of each variety and additional chapters on using roses in the garden and their cultivation. Lavishly illustrated with colour photographs that show individual varieties and roses in garden situations. This really is an excellent book designed for both enthusiast and well as beginners.

Details of a Gift Pack, gift vouchers and all about their roses on www.davidaustinroses.com.

April 18, 2011

Everything is looking good even though we have had no rain for so long. The colour contrasts that work well are the dark red tulips and the cowslips, white hellebore that are now green and bronze heuchera, red tulips and the blue muscari.

The Thompson & Morgan wallflowers Orange Bedder that I grew from seed last year are doing really well. They give great blobs of colour in areas that would otherwise be bare while waiting for the dahlias to go in once all danger of frost is over. At £1.69 for a packet of 230 seeds its a real bargain – they are easy to grow too.

My next job is to work out a way of watering the garden using rain water and a seeper hose. At the moment I use the bath water but would really like a more streamlined method.

April 1, 2011
The magnolia stellata is still blooming and sending a heady scent out so when we open the front door we get wonderful wafts of perfume. We have had a lot of admiring remarks.

The snowdrops we ordered from Tweedbank Bulbs arrived and are now planted underneath the magnolia to give the bare earth some interest in early spring. We dug the holes, put in some grit and compost and covered them up with the existing soil which is a bit claggy. The three white lupins we bought from B&Q – £2.99 each, were planted with a liberal dressing of slug deterrent. Hope it works, last year all the delphiniums were eaten by slugs despite the deterrent, so we are not hopeful but optimistic!

We tidied up generally removing some forget me nots, an ailing hellebore and pulling up some straggly wallflowers. We’ll soon have to look at the dahlias stored in the garage and think about which ones to keep and where to plant them.

March 25, 2011

Magnolia stellata

The magnolia stellata is in fully bloom and its strong scent is noticeable as you pass by.

A couple of tulips are out and more are imminent. We love tulips and want to add more for next year.

Tulips

March 17, 2011

Of the three hellebore plants planted two years ago one is growing well with the most beautiful white blooms.

Because hellebores are a very important pollen and nectar source in early spring bees and other pollinating insects are attracted to them in large numbers. Cross pollination occurs and the resulting seed can often produce really unappealing colours, from a dirty grey  to a dirty green. So the best plan for propagation is to split the plants.

Looking up how to do that on the web it seems that dividing the plants once the flowers have been pollinated is the best time. However as our plant has only been in the ground for two years we’ll not divide it for another year or two. Maybe we’ll look for another plant/s in the meantime. The other point to consider is to remove the seed pods before they ripen so you avoid any unwanted plants from germinating. Some people like to sow some of the seed just to discover what cross they do get, sometimes with interesting results. It is of course possible to purchase seed and/or buy plants from growers. We might just get some seed – Thompson and Morgan are selling 40 seeds for 66p! Or some bare root plants at £9.99 for 5 plants.

Some of the buds on the magnolia stellata were encouraged to emerge in the recent warm day/s. Now we’re fearful of a hard frost damaging them – you can see some flowers were caught lightly a few days ago. I think it was 2005 when the whole tree was frosted one night and it was heartbreaking to see next day the glorious display of blossom all tinged with brown. So we will just have to keep our fingers crossed, or make the decision to put a covering on if we get a forecast of frost.

February 27, 2011
Today the sun came out and suddenly the little Tete a tete were nodding their yellow heads in the gusty wind. What a contrast to last week!

The hellebore flowers are more visible and make me wish we had planted more.

Last November we gathered leaves from all directions, including a local park! and spread them over both the front and back gardens. They provide protection from frost and give the worms lots of work to do, by so doing giving the soil nutrition and lightness.

February 22, 2011
Adding a Wow Factor!

Our front garden has a most ad hoc group of plants with no semblance of tidiness or order. Although in my defence I have to say there is an element of careful selection! Up to now bedding plants haven’t played a part in the scheme of things.

However, just what do you think this plant is?

It is Lobelia erinus ‘Kathleen Mallard’, an old fashioned double rosebud flower grown by the Victorians, ideal for hanging baskets, window boxes, patio containers and front bedding as it has a close knit habit and forms a perfect ball. Its height and spread is 15cm/6 inches. I fell in love with it instantly, picturing it sitting on the outside edge of the front garden.

We reckon this plant will be very popular, it is so beautiful.  Should add quite a wow factor! We’re impressed, so much so we are ordering ten plants for bedding and another ten for our hanging baskets and bedding in the back garden from Thompson & Morgan who are offering them at a really good price.

Suitable for sun or semi shade 5 jumbo plugs cost of £3.49, or 10 jumbo plugs £5.99 and will be despatched by end of April 2011.

To order some now go to the Thompson & Morgan website where you will find all the growing and other information you may need. It’s not a difficult plant to grow.

GIVEAWAYS

Lobelia erinus ‘Kathleen Mallard’

We have FIVE Thompson & Morgan sets of 10 jumbo plugs to give away to In Balance readers. To enter the draw send an email with Kathleen Mallard in the subject box to: editorinbalance@me.com with all your contact details by latest 31 March 2011.  We do not pass on your details to any third parties. The draw is conducted by computer selection.

February 1, 2011
A short sortie into the countryside showed plants are on the move!

Eranthis, a member of the buttercup family, known as winter aconite, were well out in a friend’s garden.

I rather like them and will get some for next year. They are available from Thompson & Morgan, my favourite plant and seed supplier.

The catkins were shaking their tails in the wind

and the snowdrops are more advanced than a couple of weeks ago.

Couldn’t resist clearing leaves away from the hellebore to look for flower buds and sure enough there were lots.

Hellebore flower buds in January

Something is nibbling them, but not badly, wonder what that might be.

A few straggly anemones have some flower buds, again rather nibbled.

Tulips through in January

The bluebells are through as are clumps of tulips.

Roll on spring!

Tete a Tete narcissi

Spring The hellebores survived, their beautiful white flowers lifted to face the sun. The Téte a Téte miniature daffodils came up strongly and lasted for ages. Some of the wallflowers I had grown from seed were rather leggy and not a success. I should have pinched them out in the autumn to make them bushy. I sheared them and hope they bush out later in the year. (They did). Many of the tulips I planted, admittedly rather late, didn’t come up more than an inch, many without a flower and rapidly disappeared. Probably to gather strength for 2011, well that’s my reasoning, or perhaps they have just given up the ghost.

The magnolia was wonderfully profuse and a group of tulips that have flowered in the same spot for more than 17 years shot their heads high up through the branches.

The hollyhocks were a disaster. Attacked by rust they languished and lost their lower leaves. Drastic action was needed, so they were cut down and the roots removed. We are now on a quest to find a rust free variety. (We did, see Autumn 2010 below)

Only one delphinium survived of the three bought as small plug plants to bring on. Two of the large alliums reappeared, the pasque flowers bloomed well and the bergenia flowered profusely.

Most of the dahlias survived in the ground. The dug up roots kept in bags in the garage were planted and got away quickly, growing more strongly than those left in the ground over the winter. So we’ll dig them all up this year.

Summer

A fair amount of effort had to be put into removing the re-emergent himalayan anemone. It has a very successful root system that easily breaks off and inevitably bits are left behind to continue their territorial habit. However they do add light to the border so we have decided to tolerate them.

Some of the dahlias from last year had survived and new ones added – see plant list above.

A David Austin Rambling Rose has been planted next to the front door and will need a trellis at some stage.

The penstemon – Ruby Red Fields – came up strongly, as did the blue geraniums which needed shearing back after eight weeks of enthusiastic flowering. I’ve been reliably informed they will recover and probably flower again by September. (They did). They contrasted well with the penstemon and Hidcote lavender behind.

I had to dig out a particularly robust pink geranium. It’s now in a large pot on the patio in the back garden but will require a lot of watering. Watering patio plants is something we have to address later in the year.

The nasturtiums went ballistic and many were given away to passers by who were enthusiastic flower, leaf and seed eaters! The plants were badly affected by blackfly during the later heat wave and we decided to remove them. Some white scabious grown from seed filled some of the space. By the middle of September new nasturtiums had appeared.

I had some cold frames made from marine ply wood and used a couple of redundant window frames as openers. Not a total success. The window frames are pretty heavy and tend to slide when I open the window. I’ll have to rethink this soon.

I think transplanting is going to be the theme of 2010/2011 because the manure made everything grow rather fast. We’ve decided not to add so much this year. I’m being sent a lot of plants that I haven’t enough space for, so we will choose the ones we really like for the front garden and put the rest in the back.

Autumn

The Ruby Red Fields penstemons flowered patchily this September so we have decided to remove some and divide others to stimulate better flowering next year. We’ll also take some cuttings.

The blue geranium didn’t reflower strongly either so as we have some new plants to try from Bressinghams, we’ll replace it with Geranium Breathless with its dark leaves and see how that goes.

I found some rust free hollyhock seeds in the Thompson & Morgan catalogue, which germinated much faster than expected. I planted some lupin seeds Tutti Fruitti at the same time which also came up quickly. I think using some ventilated seed tray covers bought at B&Q made a big difference to the speedy germination. The seedlings are now in my new cold frame to overwinter.

Unexpectedly one of the ragged robin seedling plants sown in May has flowered, the blooms may be too insignificant for the bed. Will have to see how bushy it becomes.

Ragged Robin

Ragged Robin Lychnis, Thompson & Morgan

Some of the penstemons shown in May have also flowered, which surprisingly are pink, where the packet illustrated blue. Oh well these things happen.

Pink penstemon

We will move some of the taller dahlias needing support next to the front wall.

Joy! The flower and vegetable catalogue from Thompson and Morgan has arrived. Now for a major replan!

October 10  Coming across germinating cyclamen seed was an exciting experience, it was like finding buried treasure … I collected about 100 and planted them in plug trays and pots, anything I could find. They will grow, albeit slowly, over the winter. Can’t wait to plant them in a swathe under the cherry tree in the back garden. As Anna Pavord says, you can’t have too many cyclamen in a garden!

October 16 Although leaves are falling from the trees the garden is still in flower – the dahlias are beginning to slow up. Wonder how long before the frost will cut them down.

Everything still blooming

October 21 What a difference, the frost has hit the dahlias hard. Hard frost is forecast in the next day or two, so we will dig the dahlias up.

Hit by frost

October 22 Dahlias removed and storage process begun.

October 25 Now replaced the dahlias with foxgloves and poppies which should have flowered by the time the dahlias go in next year

Back Garden: First cloche is up. It sits on weed suppressant matting and the first plants to go in are the lupins and hollyhocks for the front garden next year. I had forgotten them in the cold frame and they had developed very long roots in a shallow seed tray. So I transplanted them into pots and they are now sitting in the cloche, in depressions as an experiment. I put others in a tray.

I’m interested to see how the two positions compare, will the tray accumulate too much rain? Will they need some drainage? One drawback is that it is not easy to have a quick peek at the plants. The pegs have to be pulled out and the fleece pushed up over the hoops. I’m using wooden planks to access the cloche for the time being, until the plastic webbing arrives.

Next cloche will have broad beans, some in pots and some planted direct in the ground – another experiment! John says his grandfather never had good results from broadbeans, but I hope my cunning plan will work – however he did remark that Baldrick’s plans seldom came to anything!

October 30 Front Garden: Leaf gathering for next year’s compost Still deadheading cosmos and removing general debris

November 3 Back Garden: Spinach and cabbage under attack and cloche looks a bit saggy.

Spinach is under attack. I couldn’t believe my eyes – five fat pigeons were stomping around the spinach bed having a real feast.  They left the spinach looking rather sad.  Tomorrow I will put up some kind of wigwam of sticks with computer disks waving around in the wind as a deterrent …

Cabbages were also attacked as well as by some voracious insect/grubs which I guess are now snug in some warm place waiting for next year to lay their eggs on the next lot of cabbages!

Keeping some cabbages under micromesh is said to deter pests. Will make the garden will look rather odd, but I’ll try to tone it down with raspberry bushes and bushy plants.

Some of the clips holding the mesh onto the hoops of the cloche have come off. Wondered whether the wind had made the mesh flap and push them off. Will replace them tomorrow. Wish I had the plastic webbing to walk on, will have to use planks again.

November 5 Couldn’t resist the temptation to open up cloche. Some pots had tipped over, mostly the standalones, only one down in the tray, where some rain had accumulated. Only the plant in a terracotta pot looked a little dry. Little black slugs in evidence, trails everywhere. The slug repellant completely ignored with the contempt it deserved!

Some of the pegs had been chewed. Chewed?

Chewed pegs

What nutrient could there be in plastic?

Not quite sure why, but I planted some Flax seed, Blue Dress – in September. It’s doing well in the cold frame. The plan is to plant some in the centre of the vegetable patches to attract insects. However looking at the packet I find its an annual. Question: will it survive the winter? I remember being told that nigella, love in the mist was an annual but it comes up every year, perhaps the flax will too.

November 10 Back Garden: Cloche under attack! The right hand end has been dislodged, and a large hole has been bitten out. No idea whether it is a cat, a dog, a squirrel or even a fox. The footprints are difficult to identify.

Next morning even bigger holes and disruption.

Even the pots have been destroyed

I’ve had to take the cloche down and repot the seedlings, retired hurt! Will have to work out how to stop this as I need space for seedlings to overwinter.

20 November  Earth is so easy to weed at the moment. We have decided to cover everything we can with leaves to breakdown over the winter. It worked last year and the soil was so easy to manage. We’re working towards no dig gardening and gathering all the leaves we can find in the surrounding area!

26 November  It was by sheer luck that yesterday we had covered the last of the garden in leaves before today’s hard frost plus a general clean up, although I did forget to protect the cold frame plants. Again, by sheer chance I have duplicates in a mini greenhouse in a covered way that gives good protection but not good light.

Frost, then ice, then snow has precluded any kind of activity other than running in and out for firewood. Roll on spring!

A Garden in a Garden City