Sometimes the garden is all about work and trying to find the balance (especially when sudden problems arise) so it's always helpful when you get chance to see a lesson in unwinding by a true master.
A humble gardeners blog.
Friday, 16 July 2010
A balance.
Sometimes the garden is all about work and trying to find the balance (especially when sudden problems arise) so it's always helpful when you get chance to see a lesson in unwinding by a true master.
Friday, 9 July 2010
A loss in the garden and a lesson in the perils of relatives.
For all my love of gardening I take a certain pleasure in the relaxed pottering approach as opposed to the drastic, sudden change of a landscaping job or the mildly high maintenance gardens with constantly changing planting themes and the ever present job of regular container replanting. It is for this reason I spend time and effort going out of my way to produce a more self balancing style of garden, one where certain plants are allowed to go to seed and reappear the following year in random spaces, where the lawn will err on the side of shaggy rather than cropped and the leaves are allowed to form a mulch (as long as they're not covering other plants).
In one garden I'd spent the last four to five years allowing bedding plants and annuals to self seed and overwinter when normally they'd have been ripped out and confined to the compost heaps. This had resulted in one bed being a mixed carpet or pansies, erysimums, stocks, alysums, snapdragons and wallflowers in amongst golden Mock Orange and Callicarpa. Over time I'd be careful to allow the plants to not only seed freely in the bed but also when their time was done to only cut them back and leave the roots and about an inch of stem in the ground, it was amazing the amount that would regrow the following year. Earlier this year the bed had been a joy to behold as flowers filled the space while bees went about their business and beetles and various other creatures scrambled away in the shade of the leaves. The ground beneath was moist and light, easy(ish) to weed and happily supporting all the plants in it.
Image my horror then when upon arrival one day I discovered not a haven of naturalised planting but a barren, dry, empty bed!! Apparently my clients sister had come to visit, looked at the border and as most of the flowers had died decided to pull the lot out. Four years down the drain just because someone decided to be "helpful", it's times like that where you really need to remember who's garden it really is and why you do the job you do. Now I've nothing against people relaxing in their own garden and doing some odd work here and there but it can very disheartening to the gardener who has spent time preparing it a certain way only for it to be undone in moments by an over zealous relative; and this is the crucial point, it's nearly always a relative of the owner.
A visitor who doesn't know what's been done out there or any of the plans discussed but has a strong view of their own on how a garden should appear, sadly it seems all to often that a helping hand lent is from an body that doesn't normally garden. I've had long grass scalped to the ground regardless of the bulbs dying back amongst it, logs tidied away that had been left for the wildlife and bamboo canes bundled up after I'd spent ages marking a new layout but before I'd had chance to note the final positions, all done by visiting relatives.
Still we live and we learn and accept that this is just another sudden change that gardening will occasionally throw at you and in the bigger state of things it isn't much different to finding a limb off a tree down or the ravages of squirrels to a carefully planted bulb display. It's what keeps the days exciting and the gardener on their toes, it's good to have a challenge: as long as they don't happen too often.
Instead of seeing the baked earth as a loss I've had to instead see it more as a new canvas on which to start again after having had chance to really prepare the soil, fresh homemade compost down and a wider variety of seeds distributed.
I look forward to the next four years of development in the garden knowing it will continue to throw random challenges at me and at least it hasn't disappeared into a ten foot hole like one of my brothers gardens has, but that's another story.
In one garden I'd spent the last four to five years allowing bedding plants and annuals to self seed and overwinter when normally they'd have been ripped out and confined to the compost heaps. This had resulted in one bed being a mixed carpet or pansies, erysimums, stocks, alysums, snapdragons and wallflowers in amongst golden Mock Orange and Callicarpa. Over time I'd be careful to allow the plants to not only seed freely in the bed but also when their time was done to only cut them back and leave the roots and about an inch of stem in the ground, it was amazing the amount that would regrow the following year. Earlier this year the bed had been a joy to behold as flowers filled the space while bees went about their business and beetles and various other creatures scrambled away in the shade of the leaves. The ground beneath was moist and light, easy(ish) to weed and happily supporting all the plants in it.
Image my horror then when upon arrival one day I discovered not a haven of naturalised planting but a barren, dry, empty bed!! Apparently my clients sister had come to visit, looked at the border and as most of the flowers had died decided to pull the lot out. Four years down the drain just because someone decided to be "helpful", it's times like that where you really need to remember who's garden it really is and why you do the job you do. Now I've nothing against people relaxing in their own garden and doing some odd work here and there but it can very disheartening to the gardener who has spent time preparing it a certain way only for it to be undone in moments by an over zealous relative; and this is the crucial point, it's nearly always a relative of the owner.
A visitor who doesn't know what's been done out there or any of the plans discussed but has a strong view of their own on how a garden should appear, sadly it seems all to often that a helping hand lent is from an body that doesn't normally garden. I've had long grass scalped to the ground regardless of the bulbs dying back amongst it, logs tidied away that had been left for the wildlife and bamboo canes bundled up after I'd spent ages marking a new layout but before I'd had chance to note the final positions, all done by visiting relatives.
Still we live and we learn and accept that this is just another sudden change that gardening will occasionally throw at you and in the bigger state of things it isn't much different to finding a limb off a tree down or the ravages of squirrels to a carefully planted bulb display. It's what keeps the days exciting and the gardener on their toes, it's good to have a challenge: as long as they don't happen too often.
Instead of seeing the baked earth as a loss I've had to instead see it more as a new canvas on which to start again after having had chance to really prepare the soil, fresh homemade compost down and a wider variety of seeds distributed.
I look forward to the next four years of development in the garden knowing it will continue to throw random challenges at me and at least it hasn't disappeared into a ten foot hole like one of my brothers gardens has, but that's another story.
Thursday, 3 June 2010
Tuesday, 1 June 2010
A damp days gardening.
Today was thoroughly damp. There is simply no other word for it. When it wasn't going through the various degrees of constant drizzle it was so soaked into the plants that a mere knock against a bush would leave you drenched from a sudden shower, a few drops of which always manage to sneak down the back of your neck! What's more I thoroughly enjoyed it. After a few weeks of glorious sunny heat the gardens were beginning to look more than a little tired, and not just the gardens but the gardener too.
There's nothing like a comprehensive drenching of self and surroundings to really help refresh the mind and bring a new colour to the garden. There's nothing quite like drizzle for really soaking into every nook and cranny, it'll slowly but surely seep its way through numerous layers of clothing, fill your ears, gather in large droplets upon leaves before pouring off and turning the soil into a lovely happy medium perfect for moving and planting into.
It also seems to help wash away some of the cobwebs and dust that appear after prolonged time working through sunnier drier days, days when it's hard not to loose yourself in the beauty of the garden and nature around you.
When the rain comes down the best thing to do is get into your waterproofs, put your head down and start doing jobs that require maybe a little more focus than beautiful Spring days normally allow. With drips falling from your nose and the smell of damp soil wafting upwards, the background patter of raindrops drowning out any other sounds and your eyes looking down, it can feel like you're the only one in the world and this has a wonderful effect on the mind. With a smaller view of the world your internal viewing also shrinks till what you thought of as everyday issues are being seen from a completely different perspective. New ideas emerge, solutions occur to niggling problems.
On a gardening level too it's cleansing and creative, helping wash leaves of the dust and pollutants that have been gathering on them, soaking down deep into the soil carrying with it nutrients and dirt and helping trigger innumerable dormant seeds that in turn will grow and help add material to the compost and keep moisture in the soil with leaf shade. What's already growing will also be given a new boost, it never ceases to amaze me how much growth a lawn can put on after rain (as can the weeds).
In my own garden the water butts are now in a healthier state, the corner we're turning into a moss and fern patch has had a thorough soaking and the ferns are happily unfurling. The raised beds Anna and I have been painting will have to wait to dry out before we can do the next set, but the one we've already finished which is viewable from the kitchen window looks nicely weathered in. The sweetpeas are beginning to take over the hanging baskets and the other climbers have come into their own, the grapevine with it's twisting wooden branches, the clematis covered in small flowers and the rose dripping with scent. Spring is indeed a joyous time to be out in the garden.
Keep an eye out for an explosion of weeds after a days rain, any spare soil will quite quickly be colonised and bindweed can grow an inch a day if left unchecked. Get bedding plants in and consider future longer term planting you might be wanting to do.
There's nothing like a comprehensive drenching of self and surroundings to really help refresh the mind and bring a new colour to the garden. There's nothing quite like drizzle for really soaking into every nook and cranny, it'll slowly but surely seep its way through numerous layers of clothing, fill your ears, gather in large droplets upon leaves before pouring off and turning the soil into a lovely happy medium perfect for moving and planting into.
It also seems to help wash away some of the cobwebs and dust that appear after prolonged time working through sunnier drier days, days when it's hard not to loose yourself in the beauty of the garden and nature around you.
When the rain comes down the best thing to do is get into your waterproofs, put your head down and start doing jobs that require maybe a little more focus than beautiful Spring days normally allow. With drips falling from your nose and the smell of damp soil wafting upwards, the background patter of raindrops drowning out any other sounds and your eyes looking down, it can feel like you're the only one in the world and this has a wonderful effect on the mind. With a smaller view of the world your internal viewing also shrinks till what you thought of as everyday issues are being seen from a completely different perspective. New ideas emerge, solutions occur to niggling problems.
On a gardening level too it's cleansing and creative, helping wash leaves of the dust and pollutants that have been gathering on them, soaking down deep into the soil carrying with it nutrients and dirt and helping trigger innumerable dormant seeds that in turn will grow and help add material to the compost and keep moisture in the soil with leaf shade. What's already growing will also be given a new boost, it never ceases to amaze me how much growth a lawn can put on after rain (as can the weeds).
In my own garden the water butts are now in a healthier state, the corner we're turning into a moss and fern patch has had a thorough soaking and the ferns are happily unfurling. The raised beds Anna and I have been painting will have to wait to dry out before we can do the next set, but the one we've already finished which is viewable from the kitchen window looks nicely weathered in. The sweetpeas are beginning to take over the hanging baskets and the other climbers have come into their own, the grapevine with it's twisting wooden branches, the clematis covered in small flowers and the rose dripping with scent. Spring is indeed a joyous time to be out in the garden.
Keep an eye out for an explosion of weeds after a days rain, any spare soil will quite quickly be colonised and bindweed can grow an inch a day if left unchecked. Get bedding plants in and consider future longer term planting you might be wanting to do.
Saturday, 24 April 2010
Monday, 12 April 2010
So it's Spring again.
Whilst I try and write this the sun calls me from outside, impossibly inviting rays are streaming through the window and the birds are doing their best to sing like garden sirens, beckoning me out to enjoy the delights of the world (though without the water death).
Due to the harsh winter and late frosts sadly some plants have suffered, old favourites that have made their way through winters past have had their boughs crushed by snow and young foliage nipped back by the frost. On the plus side the daffs that were slowed down due to the cold are now still coming out in beautiful staggered arrays of whites and yellow, the Hyacinths are still flowering and the herbaceous borders are crammed with young foliage bursting with Spring vibrancy.
As always this time our year seems filled with potential and I've already gone into plant order overdrive though thankfully have places for all the plants that are coming, with some minor changes to garden layouts. It's around this time that I also like to take a little break from the plethora of jobs to be done to simply stand with a cuppa and admire the garden from a distance. We're still able to see the bones of the garden which whilst being fleshed out with Spring growth allows us to plan future ideas, maybe a reshaping of the lawn or replanting of areas that aren't quite living up to our expectations.
Last year I finally discovered the true delights of annuals having always sadly dismissed them before in a delusional snobbery that they were only good enough for parks and city planting. How wrong was I? Standing outside today I can almost here the weeds growing, filling gaps, exploiting bare earth and relishing in the freshly turned soil; with annuals under my arms I'm able to reclaim these areas before they do. Plug plants are cheap and so I go into the garden with trays of Lobelia's and Alyssums, scented Stocks and colourful Wallflowers ready to create a early year splash. When they're done they're simply lifted out and replenish the garden via the compost heap but till then they'll cheer my day waving their coloured heads and wafting the scent of life about whilst I work. With the coming of the Garden Show period you'll undoubtedly be buying new plants for the garden and it's useful to have short lived annuals to fill the gaps for a brief time till you pick up these fresh longer lived additions.
Amongst the planting of annuals and the weeding out of amazingly fast growing weeds there's a list of other jobs also clamouring for your attention. By now most lawns have already starting their yearly mowing regime but it's not too late to be giving them a top dress, feed and repair, get the rake out and shift the winters damage: moss and thatch creep in so easily, especially in the damp weather. If like me you've also erred on the side of caution then there's likely to be cutting back of old frost damaged foliage to do too, my Lavenders are looking particularly scraggy but with a mass of fresh soft shoots lower down the branches and the late cold snaps I'm glad I left the old brown growth for protection. Feed your plants, check for dead branches, keep an eye out for bulbs going over and pinch out the dying flower heads and spend time just enjoying the blossoming year. Pop to a second hand book shop and pick up a copy of a yearly gardening book (there always seems to be a Hamilton or Titchmarsh one when I've gone), then sit back with a drink of your choice and read whilst nature does her thing around you.
Oh and word of warning keep an eye out for bindweed shoots coming up, they'll popping up their purpley green shoots now and will appear to grow whilst you watch. If possible, get a fork in and dig out the roots as best you can but be gentle, they have a habit of snapping of and propagating themselves. If you can't get to the roots I recommend sticking a cane into the ground next to them so you can keep a check and pinch them out at first sign of growth, you'll have to do this weekly but it is worth it in the long run. If for any reason you don't get to them regularly the chances are they'll climb the cane rather than smothering the neighbouring plants and getting a hold before you realise.
Above all else, enjoy just being out in the garden, it's approaching t-shirt weather, feel the sun on your skin and relax knowing Winter's behind you and you've the whole year ahead, lighter days and warmer weather (hopefully).
Have fun, I'm now off to potter contented in the undergrowth.
Due to the harsh winter and late frosts sadly some plants have suffered, old favourites that have made their way through winters past have had their boughs crushed by snow and young foliage nipped back by the frost. On the plus side the daffs that were slowed down due to the cold are now still coming out in beautiful staggered arrays of whites and yellow, the Hyacinths are still flowering and the herbaceous borders are crammed with young foliage bursting with Spring vibrancy.
As always this time our year seems filled with potential and I've already gone into plant order overdrive though thankfully have places for all the plants that are coming, with some minor changes to garden layouts. It's around this time that I also like to take a little break from the plethora of jobs to be done to simply stand with a cuppa and admire the garden from a distance. We're still able to see the bones of the garden which whilst being fleshed out with Spring growth allows us to plan future ideas, maybe a reshaping of the lawn or replanting of areas that aren't quite living up to our expectations.
Last year I finally discovered the true delights of annuals having always sadly dismissed them before in a delusional snobbery that they were only good enough for parks and city planting. How wrong was I? Standing outside today I can almost here the weeds growing, filling gaps, exploiting bare earth and relishing in the freshly turned soil; with annuals under my arms I'm able to reclaim these areas before they do. Plug plants are cheap and so I go into the garden with trays of Lobelia's and Alyssums, scented Stocks and colourful Wallflowers ready to create a early year splash. When they're done they're simply lifted out and replenish the garden via the compost heap but till then they'll cheer my day waving their coloured heads and wafting the scent of life about whilst I work. With the coming of the Garden Show period you'll undoubtedly be buying new plants for the garden and it's useful to have short lived annuals to fill the gaps for a brief time till you pick up these fresh longer lived additions.
Amongst the planting of annuals and the weeding out of amazingly fast growing weeds there's a list of other jobs also clamouring for your attention. By now most lawns have already starting their yearly mowing regime but it's not too late to be giving them a top dress, feed and repair, get the rake out and shift the winters damage: moss and thatch creep in so easily, especially in the damp weather. If like me you've also erred on the side of caution then there's likely to be cutting back of old frost damaged foliage to do too, my Lavenders are looking particularly scraggy but with a mass of fresh soft shoots lower down the branches and the late cold snaps I'm glad I left the old brown growth for protection. Feed your plants, check for dead branches, keep an eye out for bulbs going over and pinch out the dying flower heads and spend time just enjoying the blossoming year. Pop to a second hand book shop and pick up a copy of a yearly gardening book (there always seems to be a Hamilton or Titchmarsh one when I've gone), then sit back with a drink of your choice and read whilst nature does her thing around you.
Oh and word of warning keep an eye out for bindweed shoots coming up, they'll popping up their purpley green shoots now and will appear to grow whilst you watch. If possible, get a fork in and dig out the roots as best you can but be gentle, they have a habit of snapping of and propagating themselves. If you can't get to the roots I recommend sticking a cane into the ground next to them so you can keep a check and pinch them out at first sign of growth, you'll have to do this weekly but it is worth it in the long run. If for any reason you don't get to them regularly the chances are they'll climb the cane rather than smothering the neighbouring plants and getting a hold before you realise.
Above all else, enjoy just being out in the garden, it's approaching t-shirt weather, feel the sun on your skin and relax knowing Winter's behind you and you've the whole year ahead, lighter days and warmer weather (hopefully).
Have fun, I'm now off to potter contented in the undergrowth.
Sunday, 4 April 2010
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