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

Growth and seedlings everywhere

It's lovely to see seedlings coming up, isn't it? Went to check on the little things after several days of cold wet weather.

The sweet peas are doing well! They were stunted for a couple of weeks, but I tied them to the frame and now they seem to be finding their way up. 

Similarly, the strawberries look healthy. I think I need to start thinking about laying some hay and find some sort of netting for the plants that I have further up the garden. Don't want those pesky birds to steal any! I already get them bird food. 

Got some dahlia tubers from Sarah Raven. The varieties are Gerry Hoek and Jowey Mirella. I was tempted to get a third one, but thought I would see how I go with these two and maybe invest in another next year. 

This is what my flower patch looks like at the moment. I have some strawberries growing, which will hopefully get some protection from the birds when the flowers grow taller. I also have some heather, but it's not working too well for me... Not sure what I am doing wrong there. Stalker Cat likes to rub her face in it...

I divided the plot into lines and sowed a mix of seeds in there. They are all starting to come up now, but I am actually thinking whether it would be best if I had just let them fall wherever and raked over. I might just do that for next time.

In the greenhouse I have some seedlings growing as well. I have some courgettes that are my fallback should the direct sowing fail. I'll let these grow a little more and then I'll have a look in the garden, see where I can plant them out. I might actually use the "wild part" at the back of the garden! We'll see. 

I also sowed 3 sunflower seeds that have just started sprouting. I sowed three directly, but it's a no-show at the moment. You can see 2 huge seedlings in the small terracotta pots, the 3rd one is about to break the soil level, I checked today!

The other two pots contain kale and some recovering winter pansies.  

The rudbeckias are looking good! the dianthus are also getting stronger after a leggy start. Will be potting them on shortly, to fewer seedlings per bigger pot. I am giving some to a friend in a couple of week. 

I'm so happy with these 4 pepper plants!They are looking nice and healthy and can't wait to start seeing little peppers growing! Peppers are easily the vegetable we eat most of. It's ironic because I hated pepper as a child, I didn't want to go anywhere near it. However, the boyfriend is a fan of pepper, and is one of the few veg he will eat so I caved and I am so glad I did! So tasty.

I couldn't end the blog entry without a word of warning. I underestimated the weather and assumed people exaggerated when they said we could still have frosts late April. I had these poor geraniums outside when the frost hit and this is the result. It does not all look like that, but I was sad to see the white specks :( that'll teach me to listen to other people. Happy gardening!

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.