Weekend jobs - Sunday 29.03.2015

Following from my previous post, on Sunday I continued to do some gardening jobs. The in-laws came over to visit and I asked my father-in-law about some bushes and plants that looked rather twiggy and dead. After helping me out and giving me some pointers, here is what I did.


I pruned this hardy fuchsia "annabelle". This and the plant underneath were already here when we moved in. *gasp* Weeds! Weeds! I know, I am aware. Let's embrace the weeds and move on. This bit of the garden will be tackled this week.

There was a cherry tree at the very back of the garden which fell down during a particularly windy week. Consequently, this suffered some damage. The landlord tidied it up a little but it still had broken branches, and twigs that were rubbing. To avoid wounds, I pruned the weaker branches, and cut back the bush by about 1/3 I would say; I tried to maintain the shape but there are chairs just in front of the plant so we don't want twigs poking out. This is a Lavatera maritima, if you're interested.

This area also benefited from some weeding. I had left some green plants as I wanted to verify if they were weeds or not; turns out they are so next weekend they will be coming out! If, like me, you are unsure as to whether a leafy being is a weed or not, you can always let it grown a little and if you see it popping up in random places chances are it's a weed. I think you can also google the image, but that is something I will try later on in the warmer weather with plants I do not recognise.

This fern and aster were on another bed (in the post about weeding), but I want to use the bed they were in for veg, so I moved them to another part of the garden. They look more at home where they are now, and I can plant around them as well.

Lastly, under the recommendation of my in-law gardener, I separated a fern from a rose. I was careful not to damage the rose, and it was hard to separate both plants so had to use some force. I am unsure as to why the landlord pruned most of the leaves, so I chopped all the leaves off and left the crown. I have moved the fern slightly to the right where it'll be shadier and where it will hopefully grow happier.

And to end the weekend, it's always nice to sit back and flick through your catalogues and see not only what you are going to buy next, but also what plants you would like in the future. Further on I will share my scrapbook on gardening. I am currently collecting clippings, etc and need to find an appropriate way of showcasing tips, images, etc. But in the meantime...

Weekend jobs - Saturday 28.03.2015

This weekend has been a productive one. I have been pottering around in the garden and then in the greenhouse when it started to rain. Here are some of the things I have done.

Yesterday I weeded this bed. I am slowly making my way round the garden doing some weeding every weekend. To be honest I wouldn't be that bothered if it were my own garden, but our landlord is adamant that we keep them at bay. Similarly, parts of the garden are quite bare and make the weeds more obvious, so hopefully once we get more stuff growing we can relax a bit with those dreaded weeds.

A couple of weeks ago I bought a couple of heather plants. I am worried that the one I bought in Autumn is either dying, or I have pruned it at the wrong time, so I thought I would get another two to keep it company as it is looking rather sorry for itself.

I had bought a couple of tulip pots at the garden centre last weekend. I still have a lot of learning to do in regards to what to plant with what and when, so it'll be through trial and error that I get this art down. In the meantime though, I decided to pot 2 anemones with one tulip pot, and plant the other bunch on tulips in a random spot.

I also planted some dianthus Doris in the front. I would like the front "garden" to look nice too, but there's so much concrete everywhere that I would have to invest in a lot of big pots, for example. My in-laws brought some violas as a gift today so I might plant those out around the dianthus.

Once it started raining I worked in the greenhouse a little. I repotted these geraniums. I was hoping to be able to have them outside soon,but the seed packet says they should be kept inside and then gradually harden them off late spring until they flower in June. I'm considering not growing them from seed next time; I think it was Alice over at The Edible Garden who considered only having perennial flowers and not annuals. I have not made up my mind yet but we will see.

Gardening Haul #1

We went to our local nursery today (gardening, not children, mind). The one that is nearest to us is Brookside Garden Centre in Poynton.

I was only going to get some compost and some bamboo sticks and string for my wigwam (or teepee, as I like to call it) for my sweet peas. However, I got sucked in by terracotta and plants. So, here is a minihaul!

I bought a couple of terracotta planters and pots. I think they'll be put to use with salad leaves or herbs. The pots, I'm thinking of using for the tulips - and get some nice photos for the blog! I also bought some terracotta saucers for my indoor plants.

As I mentioned before, I wanted to build a wigwam for my sweet peas I sowed back in January. I was a little anxious to pot them out, but they have been in the greenhouse for about 3 weeks now and it can be rather cold in there! So, here is the result of my first attempt.

The flowers I have bought are some gorgeous pinky/purpley ones. I have to research how to care for them, but I will share what they are in case you get inspired. 

This is an Anemone called Harmony Pearl; I got two of these.

This is an amazing plant which is a Fritillary with the interesting name Snake's Head. Also got 2 of those.

I also bought 4 Dianthus of the Doris variety.

Finally, I got some Double Tulips

All in all a very productive day. I also got some sowing compost and general potting compost. Didn't think that was particularly interesting to photograph at this stage - unless I get amazing flowers and veg! Then I will definitely talk about it!

Weeding - what kind of weeder are you?

After only having a garden since August, I can truly say weeding is what I hate the most but interestingly is one of the things that gives me most satisfaction when it is done.

At the beginning I wanted to weed everywhere, and then got tired quickly so in the end it looked as weedy as the start. Now, however, I have decided to tackle one bed at a time. I find it extremely satisfying to see the whole weed and roots come up. In my head I think: hah! You won't every grown again. (They probably will, but I like to live in denial about weeds.)

I suppose it depends on what kind of gardener you are. My landlord is somewhat obsessed with the fact that we keep the garden weedless, but I must say I have neglected the garden in the winter. I did start preparing some leafmould, to put on the earth for nutrients and avoid weeds growing, but he happened to come round for an issue we had with a tree and he disposed of them. I was not impressed. If I had a fuller garden and if it were mine I doubt I would dedicate much time to them.

Some people use weed killer. I use it on the slab stones, but I tried on the soil once and it must have got on one of my plants as its leaves went a bit brown! I like "plucking"; I use my fork and lever them up. There are some plants that I have left as I'm not sure yet if they are weeds or not. And of course, my daffodils are all in a neat line!

You need to get rid of the whole plant, not just the leaves but the roots too. That's why I don't mind if they take a bit of soil with them, as this means that all the roots are contained in that clump.

From Chitty-Chitty Bang-Bang to the Gro-Sack

Last weekend was a very productive one. I had a shortened day at school on Friday, so I made the most of the afternoon and potted some bare-root strawberries that arrived on the day, and I planted my seed potatoes that have been chitting for a while. I'm a little concerned that a couple looked a bit on the green side and soft, but I'll hope for the best and see how it goes.

I had ordered the whole kit from Marshall's at the beginning of February, I think. They send you 3 varieties of potatoes. In my case I got Charlotte, Hunter and Swift. They send 5 seed potatoes of each, some potato food and 3 Gro-sacks. As I don't have a lot of "allotment space" in the back garden, I thought growing them like this would be best - I think I will be growing a few things in pots, too. It works as follows:

1. Put some soil in the bottom of the sack. I think I put about 3 inches or so.
2. Mix the soil with the "food" - which came in the pack.
3. Place potatoes with shoots facing upwards.
4. Cover potatoes until you cannot see them.
5. This is optional, but label them if you want to know which ones grow best in your weather and soil conditions and to plant again in the future.

I've done it on the cheap side in the sense that I have not bought specific compost for it. I had a bag that I had to finish and a second one I got on offer of multipurpose compost - although they sell it as potting compost specifically. I don't know if it'll make a difference what type of compost you use. Time will tell!

I'm a tad worried that we can still get frosts; according to the BBC weather app, we could get to 1ºC this week! I might bring them into the greenhouse for a couple of days it it feels too cold.

Edible Garden inspiration

My idea for the garden is for it to be an edible one. As an avid Gardener's World watcher, I watch anything Monty presents - and I have a dog-crush on Nigel. He did a series called Big Dreams Small Spaces, and one of the families really inspired me. Monty wasn't convinced about growing things in "clumps", but I totally got what the mum had pictured in her head.

A little later, I discovered Alys Fowler. I believe she was part of the Gardener's World crew and currently has a blog and writes for the Guardian as well as other magazines and websites. Inspired by her programme The Edible Garden, I bought a couple of her books and I am using them as my inspiration for companion planting when the weather is nicer!

I used to think that a Kitchen Garden is what I wanted. I like the sound of it, but I think they have more structure than I care for. Alys Fowler's plan is very appealing to me. And for some reason it makes me think of Beatrix Potter -whose gardening book/diary I also own.

Amaryllis, the mutant one.

I got given this Amaryllis for Christmas. It looked like an onion, but was told it would grow a lot. I had never seen an Amaryllis before, so when I planted it and it very soon began growing I was excited to see the end result.

The leaves come out first, and a little bit later the stalks appear. Normally there's only one stalk, but we think it produced two because it was such a big bulb.

In order to avoid the pot from tipping, I filled the ornamental pot with grit. That way the base would be heavy and the height and weight of the flowers would not overpower the base. I have had no problems with the flower tipping over, in fact as it leaned backwards -I'm guessing looking for the sun- it ended up leaning on the windowsill.

The days leading up to the flowers to blossom is exciting. As it is such a big flower, you could see every step of the way.

Two days later

Seeing the flower blossom was amazing. I loved that it wasn't totally red, or white. The fact that it was speckled made it all the more special to me. The flowers lasted about 2 weeks and then shriveled up.

Today I cut the stalks right back down to the base. But you won't believe what I found! It's as if the bulb is a mutant. Two stalks is special, but having a third one appear??! It might just die without blooming but I'll keep you posted on that front. 

Willkommen, bienvenue, welcome

Hello! Welcome, welcome.

The idea of this blog has been knocking around my head for a few months now, and I always put it at the back of it because "I just know I won't have time to update it". However, if I never try I'll never know, so here goes my attempt at keeping a blog alive!

It might be a topic I delve into further on, but I got into gardening thanks to my father-in-law and as an outlet to my stress. I am a teacher who is in the first stages on my career and so I spend a lot of time planning, marking and creating resources. My partner's father started giving me house plants while we lived in a flat just to see if I could keep them alive. And I did!

Now we are renting a house in South Manchester that has quite a big garden - albeit very "concrety". Since moving in I have gone a bit gardening-crazy. As we don't own the house, I can't do any structural changes to it, but I want to try and make it work for me.

There are a lot of allotment blogs, which I adore. But I thought I could blog about growing-your-own in the garden and also maybe houseplants. I would say I am more into flowers than vegetables, but my plan is to get a bit of kitchen garden feel.

As a novice, I will talk about what I grow and how I grow it and whether it works. I will also discuss books, thoughts and perhaps the odd recipe and home decor -especially when the weather prevents me from being in the garden!

I hope you join me on my journey. Do say hello!