Filling the garden little by little and update on direct sowing

The key to not lose your battle with the weeds is patience and tackling one area of the garden at a time. At least that is what has worked for me. We are lucky have a really big garden, but it did look rather sparse when we first moved in. I have been slowly filling it with plants that I like. I see it as a trial run for the garden at our forever home, whenever that may be. I buy things I like the look of; if they survive, great. If not, on to something else it is.

Up until now I had been concentrating on the parts of the garden that were closer to the house. I moved my way upwards, taking out weeds etc. Last weekend, my father-in-law took me to an old-school nursery some 30 minutes away. It's called Marbury Hall Nursery and it was a dream to walk through the rows and rows of plants. I bought a small collection of mostly alpines to plant on the opposite bed where my flower patch is growing. They look rather at home there now and it has inspired me to keep on adding to it. Also, I have to add that I got the plants, two ceramic pots and a carnivorous plant for the boyfriend for under £30. That gave me enough reason to make the decision that I will return.

While I was outside I decided to pay a visit to the different areas in the garden where I have sowed directly. One pea plant has showed it's head, and there is movement in the courgette+marigold area. The spinach and the kale are also growing nicely and the carrot has started to show too. We had a frost the other day that made me worry about them but they seem to be ok!

Companion Planting Cheat Sheet

I found this amazing companion plant cheat sheet. I am using this to help me with my edible garden, among other sources  :)

Snippets of Spring 19.04.2015

Until I developed this hobby, I didn't care much for spring. It was an annoying season which brought on hayfever, pollen I was allergic to, etc. Now, however, I find something to get excited about every day. How fast a tulip can bloom, some seedlings can grow. It seems so simple, but one single seed has what it takes to produce an amazing result of nature, and we shouldn't take that for granted. Since growing my flowers and veg from seed, it has changed my perspective on a couple of things; living in the moment is more important than wishing the days away until the weekend, until the next holiday. In a way, it has helped me take a decision that I will delve into closer to the time.

For now, however, here are some snaps that I really, really like.

Rudbeckia, scabiosa and dianthus that I pricked out and potted on. Some will stay, but a couple will be for friends. No more info in case they are reading!

Double tulip. They have become one of my favourite flowers.

 Hyacinths. They have got so heave I have had to stake them!

Some nice, traditional daffodils

Loving the contrast between the brick and the muscari.

Felt a bit let down by the narcissus at first as the flowers are tiny! But I have grown to love them.

My father-in-law gave me this hydrangea last winter, it has started to grow! If you know what that grassy plant is, do let me know. There are clumps all over the garden.

After the initial shock of being outside, the sweet peas have started growing up the wigwam (or, teepee, as I like to call it). I did have to loosely tie them to the structure as they were too short and floppy at first and I had noticed some snail nibbles!!

The diantus is looking promising.

And the violas are still quite happy.

I bought these winter pansies in, well, winter. They had grown a little leggy and bare and was about to through them out when I noticed there was new growth. So I pruned them, took them out of the pot they were in (where salad leaves now live) and I now have them in the greenhouse chilling for a little while until they look healthy again to go out and play. 

Finally, we have one of the two M&S daisy buckets I bought a month or so ago. It sure is looking promising. 

 

Front Garden

As mentioned previously, I want to utilise my front garden more. It's a big space, and as the exterior wall is quite low it's not that private, but I still want to have things growing. So, this weekend we went to our local garden centre, of course.

I went for some jasmine, and looked for a plant that would be low but pretty. I came across this plant with dainty little blue flowers which I loved immediately; it's called Brunnera macrophylla "Hadspen Cream". Both the jasmine and the hadspen are perennial, which is great; and they are hardy - jasmine can withstand temps of -5ºC. Might have to live in the greenhouse over winter, but for now I will show it off. An added bonus is that I opened the window yesterday to get some fresh air and we got wafts of jasmine coming on with the breeze. Amazing.

I also couldn't resist some lavender. Now, don't worry. I too have watched the Great British Garden Revival and am fully aware about the French and Spanish lavender situation. I placed an order for Hidcot lavender over at Suttons, so I will be receiving that mid-May I think. Panic over.

Cut Flower Patch

For a few weeks I have been playing with the idea of having a cut flower patch in the garden. I first saw it on a TV programme and it planted the idea; then Katie over at Lavenders&Leeks also mentioned it in her Youtube video and it got me thinking again.

We don't own the house we currently live in, so I can't plant any fruit trees or change the overall landscape of the garden. It slopes upwards, and everything seems to be on a slight incline. So what I plant is either perennial plants -which we will be able to dig up and take with us when we move-, or I plant in pots, leaving the garden rather bare in my opinion. So, with the edible garden approach and companion gardening I can fill the garden a little here and there. Having a flower patch would also fill it a little more, and as most of the flowers will be annuals we won't have to worry about them when we leave. I say when we leave, we would like to stay here until we have been able to save up money for a house; for the price we pay it is a great house, and the garden is huge really.

In any case, I love flowers, and I love having flowers in the house. So, what could be better than enjoying them outside my back door and feeling proud that what I have in my vase has grown from my soil?

I have used Louise Curley's The Cut Flower Patch as inspiration. I am also tempted to get Sarah Raven's Cutting Garden Journal soon.

The problem I have been having with the planning, however, is twofold. Firstly, I only have one point of access to the plot, and it's on the narrow part of it. I would have to make access paths in order to get to all the flowers. Secondly, I want to grow quite a large variety of flowers, so I was having a lot of problems visualising how I was going to distribute the plot in an organised way.

After thinking and thinking, my partner simply looked at me and said: just throw the seeds in and see what happens. And, you know what, I think I will do just that. I have arranged my seeds into 3 groups. Those that grow up to 45cm to be placed at the front, those that grow up to about 75cm will be in the middle, and the taller plants and grasses will go at the back. This way, all the flowers will be mixed but visible, and it won't be such a regimented place.

Thus, this is my plan so far. I feel I need to physically divide the plot for some reason, I guess to have some height boundaries. Since taking this photo I have put some strawberry plants next to the heather you can see in the photo, giving the plot another function as well. Alys Fowler suggests putting down slab stones in your path so you don't compact the soil. For now, I'm going to see how it goes without adding anything to the plot.

Most of my seeds are from Sarah Raven with a couple from Suttons and some free ones that came with an allotment magazine. If you're also thinking about a flower patch, the flowers and fillers I have selected for each section are the following:

Front:
Forget-me-not - 15cm
Calendula - 45cm
Californian Poppy - 30cm
Nigella Moody - 45cm
Anchusa, salvia 45cm
I'd like to add a couple more, if you have any suggestions leave a comment or head over to instagram!

Middle:
Nigella Deep Blue - 45-60cm
Nigella African Bride - 45-60cm
Didiscus - 60cm
Nicotiana - 60cm
Poppy Blusch 60cm
Cottage Garden mix (1 packet?) - 60cm
Rudbeckia - 75cm
Bunny's Tail grass 20-50cm
Poppy Candyfloss - 60-90cm

Back:
Dill - 90cm
Bishop's Flower - 90cm
Cornflower - 90cm
Verbena - 90cm
Ravenswing (biannual) - 80-100cm
Scabiosa - 100cm
Wild Carrot - 120cm
Nasturtium - 180cm

I have ordered 2 dahlia tubers, but I'm not sure if I want to plant them in the patch or if I will have them somewhere else in the garden. I have ordered one tuber of Dahlia 'Jowey Mirella', which is a lovely raspberry red, and one tuber of Dahlia 'Gerrie Hoek', pink with a hint of orange, resembling a waterlily.

Edible Garden - update 15.04.2015

After dipping into Alys's excellent book, I decided to try and sow directly in some areas of the garden. I have been quite hesitant to plant anything directly which is not in pots, but I figured won't ever be able to improve if I don't try. If it works, great. If it doesn't, make a note of why and change it for next time.

So, I have used one bed in the garden for a small crop, and will try my hand at companion planting while I'm at it. So, here I have lettuce, spring onion and carrot. Not sure if the string is supposed to be there, but for me personally it helps me know where I have sowed should I want to add any flowers. Poppies, for example, could be grown with carrots. I have a fear of attracting carrot fly, so I invested in a big tall pot and thought I try to grow a smaller variety there, and use mint as the companion plant. After giving the seeds a sniff, I can totally understand why the fly wants the carrots; the smell is exquisite!

I also planted 3 peas, I want to try and grow Sugar Ann snap peas. We'll see how they go. If nothing happens, I might try again in the greenhouse and then plant them out. Not sure what that random lonely shoot is...

My mother-in-law likes courgettes, so I am trying to grow some for her. I only sowed 3 seeds at first, to see how it goes. I also sowed some calendula (marigold) around it as those two seem to be good for companion planting. I'm hoping that at least one of the seeds will germinate and make a nice little display on that bed.

Strawberries I'm really excited about. Birds stealing my fruit is something that is worrying me, but I will invest in a net and some hooks in the next couple of weeks. Birds never come to the part of garden nearest to the house as we have a cat that treats our garden and that of our neighbours at each side as her playground - I know she poos in mine, I have seen her digging!! Not impressed. Anyway, what I mean by that is that hopefully the strawberries in the tub will be safe... We'll see. I can always cover them up too.

Do people net spinach, kale and salad leaves too? Something else I need to look into. So far, I have taken the spinach and salad leaved out of the modules they were in because they were annoying me, all floppy. The salad leaves have been in the pot for a couple of days and it might be wishful thinking but I could swear some of the leaves have got bigger!  They are still living in the greenhouse for now, but I think they will go out in May.

Lastly, the potatoes! All of the bags are finally showing signs of growth. I am waiting patiently to cover the leaves up. I had the 3 bags sitting in a huge plastic tray so they wouldn't dry out, but I just found the water would collect from random showers during the day and the sacks would be sitting in an inch or two of water all day. So I have them sitting about in a little trio. 

Easter stroll at Lyme Park

Today we went to Lyme Park for a stroll. Apparently, we are contradicting the rule of thumb that only people with children and middle-aged people are National Trust members, but we enjoy going for walks and I dislike crowded places a lot, so... Manchester doesn't happen every weekend.

I always check out what the gardens look like when we visit as it gives me ideas for future plants to buy. What follows are some snapshots that I found particularly inspiring. I have noticed I am partial to pastels in the garden with an occasional pop of colour. I also enjoy tulips a lot.