Flower patch - July

The flower patch in the garden is looking good! I'm really happy with it as a first try. I am still unsure as to whether next year I will sow directly again or if I will grow them in the greenhouse as some were wildflower mixes they did have to be sown directly. I am also still undecided to sow in rows again or to scatter the seeds everywhere. They did help with identifying weeds, but I worry that it looks rather rigid in its structure.

A part from the flower patch, I have been enjoying the sweet peas, the rudbeckias and the dahlias

Snippets of June

June is a month that has never interested me. The only excitement it brought was my town festivities. Since gardening, however, it is the month where everything is lush and green and growing. I have planted out plenty of kale and lettuce, utilising the space I have and embracing the kitchen garden. It's the first year I have done this and I am quite pleased, although I know I can do more next year! I think I will invest in more reclaimed pots, etc. as I really like that look. I bought an old bread bin and paint bucket this week. Thinking about what to use them for!

In the meantime, I have emptied the big plant pot with jasmin and forget-me-not like flowers, and I have planted them elsewhere in the back garden. I have left the lavender pot and have added 2 buckets of daisies I got from M&S a couple of months ago. 

The sweet peas are rapidly becoming one of my favourite annuals. While I am considering not investing so much time and money in annuals, they smell amazing! They remind me a little of jasmine, which is one of my most favourite scents. 

I planted these sweetpeas out last ___ and for a while I was worried that they weren't going to grow as the change in temperature stunted them. Look at them now! They have climbed all the way up the wigwam I built earlier this year have they are producing lovely little flowers. 

These sweet peas I sowed a little later and they have only started shooting up now. I'm expecting a lot from them, so any growth and flowers will be a bonus. 

I also have one snap pea plant growing. I sowed 3 peas directly in the soil and only one germinated. So I think next year I will sow them in the greenhouse and have some more to eat!

This is an example of how I'm using the bits in the garden to grow veg. I do want to do more research on companion planting, so I'll make sure I do more of that next year. Here you can see some lettuce and kale growing among the plants. I also moved the strawberries planter as I don't think it was getting the sun it needed to ripen the fruit. They are growing much bigger and faster now. 

 I have also found some tendrils. These are capable of making new strawberry plants. What you should do is "plant" the tendril so it is contact with the soil. That way it'll produce its own roots. Once that is done you can cut the tendril from the "mother plant" and plant them wherever you please.

I have potted on my pepper plants. They are looking healthy! No sign of baby peppers as of yet but I am looking! 

I planted the ferns in the more sheltered part of the garden. The weeds come in from next door, so the fact that there weren't many plants to begin with make it the ideal place for weeds to go wild. My plan is to slowly add some more ferns and shadow-loving plants. That way it'll look nice and keep the weeds at bay. I was concerned that no one would see my nice ferns, but Boyfriend says he likes looking at them while he practises his martial arts at the top of the garden. I'm not sure what those grass-looking plants are, but there have been bluebells popping up here and there. 

Finally, the top of the garden. I'm loving how it's looking so far. You can see some alpines mixed with kale, onions and thyme on the left. To the right I have my strawberry cage, lettuce, cut flower patch, chives, spinach and some pots. Since taking this photo I have also panted 3 sun flowers where the white painted bricks are. I might have to stake them soon!

I haven't had any flowers yet. I am a tad worried as everyone else on the blogosphere seems to have blooms everywhere. Perhaps it was because I sowed them directly into the soil...? Hopefully they'll bloom soon! I need to see what I think of having rows of flowers as opposed to sowing freely - or, indeed, whether I will grow the seedlings in the greenhouse and then plant them out next time round.

Snippets of Spring 19.05.2015

The weather has been crazy these past couple of weeks!

Things are finally growing on in the garden! I have some snaps to show. However, geez with the weeds!! Most of the time I've been out there I have ended up getting distracted because I "just need to get rid of this one". And "this one" became all of the patch really. Anyway, here we go!

A few months ago, I made this teepee (officially called a wigwam). The sweet peas have started growing big and strong and I am excited to see them in bloom.

Last weekend, I decided it was time to plant out some sweet peas I had been hardening off for a couple of weeks. I didn't have as much germination success as I had before, and I don't really have space to build another teepee. So I put together some bamboo canes I had lying about and made some sort of trellis contraption.I spotted a slug while I was tying everything together, so I decided to scatter some gravel to make it a little difficult for them to nom on my beautiful seedling. 

 I tackled the back of the garden as well. It's difficult because the more you take out, the more it erodes. However, I don't want to spray it all with weed killer. If you have any suggestions let me know!

The of the best things about planting things from seed is not only to watch them grow and plant them out but to give plants to people. I grew some rudbeckia and dianthus from seed. Some friends of mine moved house recently and have been asked to assist in the design of it! (I might ask if I can document the progress). In any case, I thought adding some colour would look nice while they decide what to do with it. I've also got some strawberry plants to one side. In the meantime though, here are the rudbeckia I am keeping.

My spinach and salad leaves are growing so fast! I give some spinach to our guinea pigs and they gobble it all up. The carrots are also showing signs of their "top".

I've been collecting alpines these last couple of months. This area of the garden is a bit awkward to grow anything because it has some shrubs etc. and I have noticed cats like going to the toilet there. Also, given it was so barren, weeds popped up like crazy. So I weeded, and I am slowly filling it with alpines. I'm thinking of putting some ferns in the more shady areas. With these alpines it already looks so much better and I have been weeding a lot less. I chose alpines because they are low maintenance. However, you can't see it in this photo, but further up I have planted some thyme and a couple of onion.

On the other side, my father-in-law gave me a bunch of chives, and the kale and spinach seems happy where it is! The next photo is an update on my flower patch. You can see seedlings in neat rows. However, I'm sure seeds scattered around, so I don't want to weed anything that I don't recognise!

Finally a sneaky peak in the greenhouse. After watching the Great British Garden Revival, I got obsessed with getting "native British lavender", so I ordered a plant of hidcote lavender. It arrived last week and has been living in the greenhouse to aclimatise.

















 The greenhouse is slowly getting emptier now that the temperatures seem to be keeping at a decent level. I've still got my peppers growing, and my sunflowers. I also have 2 courgette plants for my mother-in-law.

Lastly, I'm trying to get these sage cutting to root. I have kept them in a sandwich bag for about a week now, making sure they have enough water. I obviously don't want to pull them out to see if they have rooted, so I don't know how they are doing, really. However, they haven't dried out and they still look pretty green! I hope they continue to remain alive.

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.