Plants

Scarifying!

Scarifying has been the main aim of today.  Recently I was enjoying a cup of coffee in the garden and surveying the back lawn, when I realised that it was looking decidedly mossy – in fact it was starting to take over.  The blades of grass were poking up sporadically between large patches of spongy moss, and it was starting to look like 70/30 in favour of the moss – maybe more in places!

So a plan of action was formed.  The Head Gardener (aka My Dad) appeared today with an electric scarifier and we set to work trying to hoik up a large amount of moss and thatch and non-grass from the grass.  He did the scarifying, I did the raking and scooping.  We filled wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow until his trailer was full of a giant pile of moss, ready for tipping at the local recycling centre.   It seemed like a big job but actually took less than an hour – and was SO satisfying.  Removing all the mossy stuff has left the grass looking a bit scruffy and muddy in places but I’m assured by the aforementioned Head Gardener that it should come back looking much better, although we may need to repeat the procedure annually, if not twice a year.

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One of many, many wheelbarrows full of moss

He’s very good at reminding me that gardeners must play the long game.  We can’t always get results straight away – in fact, we hardly ever do!  It takes time for seeds to germinate, for buds to form and flowers to bloom.  If we prune a shrub, it will take time for it to re-grow into a more pleasing shape; some trees will take years and years to grow – we have a Monkey Puzzle (Araucaria araucana) in the front garden which will take so long to reach a significant height that we will probably be long gone by the time it does so!  And he likes to remind me, Instant-Gratification Girl, that I must be patient when it comes to my garden.  I hope to enjoy it for many years, so a quick transformation is not necessary and virtually impossible, so I must take my time, plan carefully and be persistent with things like the grass and the Secret Garden/Allotment.  Grass must be looked after, soil must be enriched and worked – the results will show themselves in time, and will be worth the effort.

In Bargain Shopping News, I was at Lidl today and picked up some more cut-price plants: two geraniums (99p each), four primroses (£1.89 each, 12 box (£1.99 for six) and a jasmine (£4.69).

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The primroses are gorgeous – I chose two cream/white plants and two in pinky-purple shades.  I will probably put these in pots but to be honest I’ve fallen so suddenly and completely for these sturdy little flowers with their vivid colours that it will be difficult to resist going back for more for the flower beds…

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Primula

 

Wee pea shoots

Great excitement – the first shoots are emerging from my peas!

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I reckon it really doesn’t matter if it’s your first time or your hundredth time planting seeds and watching them grow – those first little nubs of green pushing their way through the soil always give you a little rush of excitement; a sense of satisfaction that you are officially Growing Something.  Nature and you are working together, you are a TEAM!

Nature and I are also working on some aubergines, peppers, sweet peas, lobelia – and as of today, some cosmos, zinnia and marigolds.

I may be running out of room in the greenhouse-utility room already…

10 minutes digging

Sometimes spending just 10 minutes in the garden can be just as satisfying as a whole day.

This afternoon I grabbed the opportunity to do some digging – I’m anxious to prepare the raised beds for the new growing season and had a few spare minutes, so grabbed a spade and fork and got to work in the late afternoon sun.

10 minutes was enough to dig over one raised bed, incorporating a trug-ful of homemade compost.  It’s the bed I’m using for fruit and rhubarb.  There are two crowns already pushing up a number of vivid pink stalks , four small strawberry plants I grew from the runners of a very old one which has since been composted, plus the resurrected shoots of a tayberry which I (mistakenly) pulled out last year. There are now six raspberry canes soaking in a bucket overnight, ready to join this bed as soon as I get the chance to plant them tomorrow.

Look how good this soil looks – ready to grow lots of great stuff!

strawberry plant in the foreground – rhubarb at the back!

And here’s a reminder of just what my raised beds look like at the beginning of the year…


A bit bare at the moment, but I have big plans for this area – lots of fruit, veg and flowers in the short-term and hopefully a potting shed, maybe a greenhouse in the future.  I call it the Secret Garden, because it’s hidden behind a door to the side of the main garden, and there’s so much potential in it, both for growing things and for creating a very special private allotment.  Watch this space.

 

A whole day in the garden

A WHOLE DAY.  This almost never happens, thanks to a combination of family responsibilities, weather, a job and various other demands which crop up on a daily or weekly basis.  But I have a very rare week off work, promised since last year, and it’s allowed me the luxury of time to write, garden, walk and go to yoga classes whenever I please.  So yesterday, I spent all my time outside and I loved it. Following the walk I blogged about in my last post, I wrapped up (it’s still a bit chilly!) and went straight outside, armed with a gardening to-do list.

Focusing on the main garden, I dug, planted, moved shrubs, mulched and snipped myself into a state of bliss.  There were two areas I was aiming to clear – the side patio bed and a section of the back border which is where I want the chicken coop (yep, I’m still planning this!) and run to go.

The side bed has been a bit of a conundrum since we moved in.  It’s got three thriving shrubs in it already – a bamboo, a camellia and a lovely variegated myrtle bush.  At one end I’ve planted some herbs as it’s close to the back door, and easy access from the kitchen when I need some for cooking.  But the middle section is quite shallow and tough to dig, with lots of old roots from a huge ivy, most of which has now been cleared to make way for a gas pipe to be fixed along the wall (don’t ask, it’s a long and boring story…).  Towards the end of last summer I planted some perennials which I’d bought – geums, lavender and a couple of foxgloves – but this was largely because I couldn’t really think of anything else to do with the bed.  They’ve done very little since then of course, so I’ve now lifted them; the lavenders are going into the opposite end of the garden, the corner patio where we have a table and chairs, and where I’m growing a series of climbers to try and hide some of the grey breeze block wall behind.  The lavenders should do a good job of brightening up the areas below the clematis, honeysuckle and roses which are already there.

The geums have now gone in below a twisted hazel which is also next to the back door, again a little bit of interest for the lower level of this small, rocky bed.

The plan now for the side patio is to put down a membrane, some decorative stones and to plant up lots of pots and place around the existing shrubs.  That way, I won’t have to dig into the tough soil, I can plant a variety of containers and can chop and change the pots whenever I like.  So, I’ve managed to clear the space ready for this, and now it looks like this…

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I’ve also ordered a rambler from Peter Beales roses, which I’ll grow at the back and along the wall to try and hide some of the grey-ness.  It’s a pale pink flower, and should complement the vivid green and red-pink of the camellia, which flowered beautifully last year.

I had to move a couple of things out of the back border too, so that I could mark out the approximate space I’ll need for the coop/run I’m hoping for.  I moved a young cherry into the front garden, and removed a hydrangea completely.  I love hydrangea – I don’t mind that they’re a bit old-fashioned, I just love their huge showy flowers – but this one was quite old and woody, plus I’d taken cuttings from it in the autumn so it will live on.  There’s a rhodedendron which might also need moved out of the way but it’s just about to flower so I’ve left it for now.

This is how the space looks now…

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In the foreground you might also be able to make out a small magnolia which was also planted yesterday – another bargain from Lidl!

So I’m quite pleased with the preparations I’ve made in these two key areas of the garden. Looking out and seeing the clear spaces gives me a sense of anticipation – I’m ready for the next stage!

And now for a close-up!  A selection of photos caputuring what’s going on in the garden just now…

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The rhodedendron which is getting ready to flower

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Salix – a new pussy willow for the front border

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The witch hazel is still going strong 

Mild March?

It’s March!

And when I walked out of the door this morning it was much milder than I expected  – about 6 or 7 degrees (which for my corner of the earth IS mild at this time of year!), prompting me to break out my New Spring Coat, which is lighter and brighter and it made me happy to wear it for the first time.   And then I got this…

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…so apparently winter is not done with us quite yet!

On the topic of frosty/mild mornings, a note about hellebores.  If you walk out on a frosty morning and find your hellebores looking rather floppy – don’t panic.  On very cold days, the stalks will bend low, flowers touching the ground, and they’ll look a bit sad.

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happy hellebores 🙂

But when the temperatures rise again, they’ll perk back up and resume the usual position. When I first witnessed this, I was a bit alarmed and worried I’d somehow damaged them, even though apart from removing old black-spotted leaves I had pretty much left them to their own devices since last year.  Thankfully this is normal hellebore behaviour and, being very hardy plants, they should continue to grow quite happily through the rest of the frosts, right through to sunny spring.

So although I might suffer with tomorrow’s predicted severe temperature dip (the New Spring Coat will go back into the wardrobe for now), at least I know my hellebores will not!

Chitting! 


We have potatoes!

Well, the beginnings of potatoes anyway – my lovely dad picked me up some seed potatoes when he was buying his own, so now I have 10 Duke of Yorks chatting in my utility room.

Why the utility room, you ask?  Well it’s a conservatory-style room leading out to the back garden and in lieu of a real greenhouse, which I don’t yet have, it’s got the right conditions (cool, sunny, warmth in spring/summer) and a bit of space for sowing and planting.  It’s typically the coldest room of the house, being unheated and with a plastic roof, but I love this little room as it holds the potential of vegetables and flowers and it makes me happy to stand inside it and look out at the garden.

You might also notice some small plants in the propagation behind the spuds in the photo – these are hydrangea cuttings I took in the autumn and are hanging in there nicely so far.

Sorting and planning

Is there any better way to spend a snowy Saturday morning than sorting out your seed packets?!

I spent a very satisfying hour this weekend disposing of the old packets, rediscovering ones which I had bought some time ago (I bought dozens out of season in Lidl for 15p each!!) and then planning my sowing/planting calendar for the next few months.  Having also cleaned out my utility room in the past few days, which also serves as my greenhouse, I am now ALL SET to start growing!

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I am trying to keep it simple this year, and have plans to repeat my attempts to grow potatoes, carrots, onions and peas.  I’m also going to add some lettuce and rocket – mainly because these were some of the bargain 15p packets so if they don’t grow I won’t have lost anything!  I think these will be good to try under cover and I have a cloche which I bought in Aldi last year marked down at the end of the growing season (there’s a definite theme developing here…!) so I fancy trying it with the salad veg and maybe a few carrots.  Sowing some of these under cover also means I can start growing early, which is good because I’m itching to get started.

First things first, though, and I need some seed potatoes so I can start chitting them.  I hope to get my hands on some by the end of the week.  I’m also going to sow the first of my sweet pea seeds.  These are a must for me in the garden – they are so colourful, they flower abundantly and smell gorgeous.  I’m going to plant loads, everywhere!

2015…a summary

These pics display the best of the vegetable beds for 2015 – a poor show I’m afraid and I’m not sure if that’s more to do with my lack of expertise, the quality of the soil or the fact that this summer’s weather was frankly pretty rubbish.  Nearby fellow gardeners with a great deal more experience than I have reported that many of their own vegetable crops were also unusually bad so I’m hopeful that with a year’s worth of knowledge under my belt and a much sunnier, warmer spring/summer (fingers crossed) that 2016 will see a lot more growing in these veg beds and that they’ll look a great deal more green and fulsome.

It’s now January so I’m beginning to make a few plans about what will go in this year – for a start I think I will try to grow some more fruit.  Some Tayberry bushes left by the previous owner, which I thought I had removed (I didn’t know what they were at the time), seem to be growing back so I’m going to encourage them to return!  I’d like to have some more raspberries and on the veg front I will probably try again for some potatoes and maybe carrots.  I’m going to be less ambitious and plant more of a smaller number of vegetables, rather than a wide variety.  And I’m hoping I can pull some rhubarb this year – the plants grew ok but never looked particularly ripe and ready…

Another thing I would also like to repeat is planting a bed of flowers for cutting – this did well, although it looked very unruly a lot of the time!  But my daughters enjoyed picking the flowers and making up little bouquets and vases with different stems and I really loved seeing how quickly they grew, even if many of the flowers did take a long time to bloom (like I said, it was a cool summer!).

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The snapdragons did quite well and the sweet peas were marvellous – these will definitely be back in 2016 I think.

The Thrifty Gardener

Aldi is my friend!  I have been in need of a few bedding plants to fill some spare pots and was very keen to add some bulbs to the garden after a fairly poor showing last year.  However I’m also trying not to overspend after a month which saw a few extra payments leave the account.  So I decided to get down to Aldi, having had a good experience there previously, picking up ten – TEN! – bare root roses for just 90p each! I’ve also had a cherry and two raspberry canes from Lidl and all of these, planted early last winter, seem to be doing ok. And even if they weren’t, I would be safe in the knowledge that I hadn’t wasted my money killing off a pricey plant!

Aldi came up trumps this time too – allowing myself £20 to spend I managed to scoop dozens of bulbs, four trays of bedding plants, 20 packets of seeds (just 19p each!) and two small patio roses, all within my budget.

Here’s the haul in all its glory…

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…and here’s the final result.

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I spent sunny afternoon potting the bedding plants into an assortment of spare containers, including an old chimney pot (which I think we found at our previous home and subsequently moved it with us!) and an abandoned giant teapot which I found beside a skip at the local dump and ‘reappropriated’ for my garden.  I’m really happy with this mini burst of colour and interest in my fast-fading garden, particularly with the cyclamen – I love these little twirly flowers!

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Spring is doing its thing

I’m finding it really exhilarating to watch Spring unfolding in our garden for the first time.  Trees and bushes are budding and blossoming and little green shoots are appearing in unexpected places, so that I’m wondering what plants are hiding under there that I didn’t even know I had!  Among these surprises are dozens of grape hyacinth which are now in full bloom in the front garden, the snakes head fritillary which I posted about recently and dicentra, Bleeding Heart, which I was admiring in a garden centre recently, totally unaware that one was pushing its way up in the back garden.

One of the plants doing the best in the back at the moment is a stunning red rhodedendron.

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It’s in full flower and sort of socks you in the eyeball as soon as you step round the corner! We have a few more rhodedendrons which are also doing nicely and providing bright splashes of colour at the front and back of the house.  This pretty white one has a lovely delicate fragrance:

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Rhodies weren’t traditionally a big favourite of mine, and I confess to trimming a couple of them quite drastically and yanking out a few of their azalea cousins in the autumn when I was tidying the beds up before the winter.  However seeing their early displays of colour in our gardend also at Glendoick Gardens (more on this visit later) has definitely made me reconsider their virtues.

Finally, a wee photo of the fab little grape hyacinths – they’re such a gorgeous vibrant purple right now!

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Before – Back Garden

It’s occurred to me to take some ‘Before’ photos of the garden.  I have lots of plans which, realistically, will probably take some time to achieve, and will no doubt change and adapt over the years but I want to be able to look back in a year, two years, ten years, and see how things have changed – or not, as the case may be!

First up, the Back Garden:

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Yes, that *is* a blue toilet smack bang in the middle of that border.  (Placed there by my husband.  I have plans to fill it with something that will quickly grow all the way over it!)

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This border is pretty large and has quite a few gaps, although I’m enjoying seeing a few surprises emerge now it’s spring, such as Bleeding Heart and snakes head fritillary.  It’s also the home of several bird feeders which are attracting a very wide variety of garden birds (more on these later.)

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We have an apple and a couple of plum trees, which were producing a good deal of fruit when we moved in around 8 months ago.  Husband made plum wine 🙂

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And this is the back corner – a lovely, crazy paving area with a couple of small fruit bushes (gooseberry and blueberry I think) plus honeysuckle and a couple of clematis.  I’ve also recently planted a couple of climbing roses.  This is also the last zone of the garden to get the sun in the evening – I have plans to have some kind of table/seating area here and a vision of sitting out in the summer, surrounded by gorgeous flowers and sipping some nice cold white wine!

My corner of the earth…

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…is the garden at my home in the North East of Scotland.  We have lived here for less than a year but I already know that this garden is my favourite place in the world.  Virtually overnight, a passion for gardening and cultivating the ground around this house has seized me and I take every opportunity, especially now that the weather is improving, to walk outside my back or front door with an implement of some kind so that I can tinker in the garden. Even during the winter when the weather was poor I still walked around it, still, possibly, in a state of shock that we have managed to find the perfect house and garden for us, and envisioning all the things I could do when the spring rolled around.

And now that it has, my mind is full of those plans and I’m desperate for the next opportunity to go out into the garden and put them into action.  So I’m writing this blog to document what I’m doing in my garden, my corner of the earth, and using it as a gallery for the photos I’m taking as the seasons change and new plants emerge or are planted.  It’s only Year One of our time in this house and already I’m marvelling at what’s out there – and everything that’s to come.