Weekend project: Strawberry "cage" for people who are renting

As someone who doesn't own their house but who enjoys pottering around in the garden and growing things, I don't really want to buy anything that involves cement, major digging, drilling, etc. So, when I planted my strawberry plants, I was faced with the conundrum of how I would protect my precious berries from those pesky birds. So, I gathered some netting, bricks, string and frames and I concocted a "protected area".

I placed it on the edge of a bed as the garden is tiered and slopes upwards. It's also paved quite a lot, as you can see in the photo below.

A couple of details that show how I put the frame and net together. I had visions of animals trying to struggle under the net, pull the net, etc. So I tried to make it as animal proof as possible both for my benefit and for theirs. I don't want anything getting trapped!

By tying the net to the back of the frame, I have made the fruit accessible only on one side. Granted I need to shift the bricks, but I don't mind doing that. As you can see, I have some hay (which I stole from The Pigs -the Guinea Pigs) and which I am using to keep the strawberries dry. Someone told me that if they are in direct contact with soil they can get spoiled, so I thought I would try placing hay in between to keep them nice and dry. Also, I saw the light when I friend said: "well, they are called straw-berries". That blew my mind!

A bit of a tidy 02.06.2015

Last weekend I had some help with the weeds in the garden. Boyfriend's brother came over and kindly spent the day weeding in exchange for food. I am so very grateful for this, especially as it took him hooooours. He has promised to come back in a few weeks to help me tackle the back of the garden. This allowed me to look at the greenhouse and have a bit of a tidy.

On Sunday I went to The Vintage Emporium in Stockport (Well, Bredbury). Here is a link with some info: https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Vintage-Emporium/1436793629917807?sk=timeline

I bought a couple of things that I want to use in
the garden. I have an idea of what I want to do with them, and I will write about the project on here, of course!

That's all for today. A quick and snappy one to maybe get your creative juices flowing.

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.

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!

Job this weekend

So far, I have written blog posts of projects I have done already. This is what I need to tackle next! Someone recommended I invest in one of those weed killers that has a long snout. I don't want to "poison" anything else, so unless anyone has a better idea I might just have to spend the day in the garden this Saturday to try and keep the weeds at bay! Need to find some plants and flowers that will be happy to grow there.

My problem with this area is that, as you can see, the soil has eroded over time. This means that the more I touch it, the more soil runs down. Obviously I know I'm not to blame for it, but it still is sad. A cherry tree used to live at the top of the garden, but we had such strong wind back in January that it fell over during the night!

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  :)