I think we’ve turned a corner…..

I’m sitting outside writing this….its been a long time coming but that’s what I had in mind when  I bought this little house with its derelict garden.   I can smell the roses from my garden bench and the air’s warm and the birds are singing.

Almost two years ago I sat out here just after I got the keys.   My plumber and I were eating sandwiches for lunch on the hard stony earth surrounded by the old bathroom fittings which were chucked out here and goodness only knows what else…carpet, radiators, bits of wood, you name it.  Not just that but the garden itself was indescribably awful.  Not a garden at all.  And he said to me what on earth made you move here (I had a perfectly nice garden at my house in Leeds) and I said just listen…. so we sat in silence.   There was practically no sound and sitting here now I can’t see another house.  I can see the tops of the chimneys at Ferrybridge Power Station over the greenery mind you but I can live with that!

When I look at the house pre French windows and pre decking I can’t believe it.  It looks so different.  And well done son….I knew it was a good idea for him to retrain as a joiner!

The view’s changed a bit as well, this is how it looks from the  bench now and last year I’d have been looking at this.

I think the biggest improvement though has to be the lawn.   I seeded it in April of this year and banned the hens from it.   They and the birds were having a fine time eating the seed.   And of course it was so dry.  So much for it being a perfect time to sow grass seed  the driest spring for how many years?   So goodness knows how much water went onto it.   Anyhow eventually it started to grow, and so we said goodbye to the grey earth and welcomed the green growth.  Such a difference.   Its not 100% weed free, but then considering what was here beforehand that’s OK.  Its less than 6 months old so a year of mowing and weeding and it’ll improve.

And the front of house is taking shape too.   I was desperate to get a front porch and some raised beds.   It looked so naked when I moved in.  Not a bit like the cottage that the locals called it.   When I told someone where I lived she said “Oh yes, the old potters cottages”  but this didn’t look a bit like a cottage and there was nowhere to plant a thing.   So I’d been looking here there and everywhere for something to change the look of the front door (which is actually the kitchen door….because the house is back to front, but let’s not go there!) when I came upon a reduced garden arch thingy.  Rang my son who said things like, “Is it tall enough?  Will it be wide enough?”and “OK get it”.

So I did.   Anyway without going into the huffing and puffing about it not being quite right after a good deal of adaptation it was eventually installed complete with raised beds on either side…..yet  to be filled I have to say, but it won’t be long.

There is still much to do.   My veg patch now extends way down behind the greenhouse, but it has further to go and it needs to have the little elder which overshadows it considerably reduced, if not removed.  Not made my mind up on that one yet.  Its producing a good yield as well this year for such a new project.   We’ve had onions, garlic, carrots, courgettes (well who hasn’t?), lettuce and other salad leaves, new potatoes and 2 types of beans and radishes.   Still to come are the maincrop potatoes, spring onions, chard, spinach, purple sprouting broccoli and pak choi.  And of course loads of tomatoes from the greenhouse as well as chillies and cucumbers.

I started on a fruit garden as well but that really hasn’t had the attention it deserves, but I have got some pears that look like they’ll be good to eat this season and I’ve had rhubarb and some strawberries.   The hens got to the last of them though and I think the gooseberries.  Well at least they disappeared.

Now that I’ve got this far I’m thinking about next year.   I’m sure gardeners are the most optimistic of creatures.   Always looking forward.

The focus has got to be on the fruit garden.   I might need a fruit cage to keep the birds off it, and not just the hens.   My garden birds are so well fed I seem to be constantly filling up the feeders but that doesn’t stop them for helping themselves to other things they fancy.

As well as that I’d like to clear a bit of land and turn it into a cutting garden.   English summer flowers are so lovely and although I suspect I shall always have to buy in flowers for my floristry work because I simply don’t have the space to grow commercially,  I’d love to be able to gather bunches from my own garden for the house.

Of course whilst I’ve been writing this I’ve had to move indoors.   Its been trying to rain and its got a bit chilly out there.  Oh English summers hey.  But with a bit of luck it might just brighten up into a lovely evening whilst I’m watering the hanging baskets.

1 Comment

Filed under Chickens, Flowers, Garden, Uncategorized, vegetables

Compost – I love it!

There’s always been a compost heap in the garden – right from the time I was very small so I’m amazed when I hear people saying “Oh I wouldn’t want a compost heap – they’re mucky or they attract rats and they’re ugly” – I really get quite agitated and find myself preaching the benefits of composting with almost evangelical zeal.

What you get from good compost is a really valuable nutritionally rich material to add to your garden. It adds structure to your soil and improves the pH balance. It’s a great way to recycle kitchen and garden waste and reduces the amount we send to landfill.  And it’s free….which has to be good, and it’s a darned sight easier than carting big bags of mulch and expensive compost from the garden centre.

So having said that how do you go about it? Well you can start with a heap – literally. That’s what we had at home and it was just a big pile in the corner. As more was added to the top we dug out the rotted material from bottom to use. It does work but that can get a bit messy and it’s certainly the slowest method. There are lots of ways of keeping the compost more tidy, and different kinds composting systems to speed up the process. For me it’s a 2 bay compost heap made up of old wooden pallets. If you take 7 pallets and make two squares of the pallets, securing them in the corners you end up with two ideal spaces to make and store the compost. If you have less space there are compost bins readily available to buy which work just as well. Or if you want something more cutting edge there are compost tumblers which you rotate and wormeries supplied with worms ready to get going, both of which speed up the process.

My dad would have been amazed at how much there is said about how you should make a compost heap and what you should put in it. I seem to remember he just chucked all the vegetable matter from house and garden on it and that was that. But if you’ve never made one before there are some key do’s and don’ts.

Don’t add:

  • Meat or meat products
  • Fish
  • Milk, cheese or any dairy related products
  • Cooked food whatever it is including vegetables
  • Really woody or thick prunings which would be hard to break down (although you could shred them)
  • Citrus peel
  • Perennial weeds
  • Cat litter

Do add:

  • Vegetable peelings and fruit peelings (ex citrus) etc from the kitchen
  • Tea bags/leaves and coffee grounds
  • Grass cuttings
  • Annual weeds – although best not to use those with ripe seed heads
  • Waste paper (preferably shredded)
  • Old bedding plants and your cut down herbaceous plants
  • Dead cut flowers from the house
  • Any other exhausted plants from the greenhouse or your garden
  • Egg shells
  • Autumn leaves
  • Old compost from pots either from the house or garden
  • Thinner prunings although best shredded

Be careful about adding diseased plant material to the heap. Some blight and club root affected plants should not go into the heap, but tomato blight (which I seem to get at the end of most seasons) will be gone by the time the old tomato plants have broken down, but if in doubt leave it out!

There are methods of adding material to your compost heap which can make the process quicker. I try not to add thick layers of grass clippings, leaves or shredded paper which can turn into a solid block in the composter. I fill up the first bay of my 2-bay pallet contraption. Then once it’s full you could empty it out, mix the contents really well and then put it back into the bay adding water between layers as you go. The heap will warm up as it composts. A couple of weeks later you can repeat this mixing step, watering again if the heap has become dry. The mixing action will introduce air which helps the composting process and can mean that you could have a finished product in a little as 6-8 weeks.

Whilst all that is going on in one bay I still have another bay to start all over again.

I must say I tend to just leave mine to compost naturally which can take up to 12 months, but I will check to see whether it’s too dry and if it is add some water. Cover the tops of the bays with a square of old carpet to keep the material in and keep the worst of the weather off.

When you have a rich brown crumbly material you’ve made really good compost, and once it goes brown and everything is well rotted you can assume the compost is ready. I have had compost which still has bits in it, which have rotted, but just not broken down finely. You could use that as it is or you could sieve it so that it is fine, or just put the bigger bits back into the compost to rot down further.

There are commercial accelerators available which you mix into the heap and which are made to speed up the whole thing. I haven’t seen the need to use one but you could give it a go.

And what to do with it after all that? Depending on where you’re putting it either you can use it as a mulch on established beds, or dig it into empty beds. You can also top dress pots and mulch around fruit trees and bushes or if you want to get really clever you can start mixing in other ingredients and make your own potting compost.

So if you can don’t put it in the bin, put it on the compost heap.

Leave a comment

Filed under Garden, Uncategorized

Soft colours for a new border

I planted up a nice little border this week in Leeds.   It needed a rework.   The established beds had been planted up some years ago and over time plants had disappeared and my least favourite thing – bindweed had been gradually creeping through what remained along with its best friend the couch grass.  I really loathe bindweed.   Its such a nightmare to kill off and it doesn’t matter how much you dig you are bound to leave a bit somewhere and so off it will go again.  However, I’ve written about bindweed before though so I shan’t rant again.

So a lot of digging!  And on the left of the border geranium Johnson’s Blue had got out of hand.   Its got a lovely blue flower early in the year but then it doesn’t do much at all and it keeps increasing in size year on year unless you keep it under control, only its pretty early flower has saved it here but very much reduced to a shadow of its former self.

The newly planted border looks a bit thin (I hope you can tell which is which!) but come back next year and I promise it’ll be full of flower and colour.   The client wanted soft colours, pinks, mauves, whites and blues and lots of flowers with a reasonably long season so in the border are a range of fairly easy plants, phlox, iris, campanulas and grasses….which aren’t doing a lot at the moment – as well as verbenas, ecinacea and sedums, which will be in full flight any minute and continue right into the autumn, and a nicely scented English rose which should flower all summer long with a lovely verbascum which is flowering right now.  There were already alliums in the bed which will now come through the new planting, and on the fence, though tiny at the moment, I’ve planted a white Japanese quince which should cover the panel with flowers in the early spring and then have fruits later on.

Because there are steps up through the border I’ve put in some Mexican Fleabane (erigeron karvinskianus) alongside and hoepfully it’ll self seed between the stones.   I think its probably my favourite plant this week…..ummm or maybe not, maybe it was the verbascum Pink Domino….

At home we’ve installed a scarecrow in the garden to fend off the fox.   The wretched thing took Elsie almost a fortnight ago and so having Googled all things anti fox we came up with either electric fencing (ouch what about the cats?), male urine (so poor son is banished from the bathroom) and a fairly quick fix, Sam the Scarecrow.  This is all well and good but he keeps making me jump!  Let’s hope that he makes the fox jump too.  I must get it into my head that Sam lives here too now.  Somehow I suspect that  this may not be the end of it and so my search for the perfect solution will continue.

Leave a comment

Filed under Chickens, Flowers, Garden

Wittering and Twittering

I think I am developing an unhealthy Twitter habit!  I’ve been taking part in Reach Further’s #12dot (12 Days of Twitter) and have learnt all sort of stuff, but now, whatever I do I need to tweet it…  Not sure I can write anything that’s any longer than 140 characters but let’s have a go.

Lovely wedding on Friday – very pretty bride, beaming groom and the flowers weren’t bad eitherWeather was brilliant too which is remarkable since it’s done nothing but rain since.    I know we all pray for good weather but it isn’t the best for the flowers, you get them from the market in tip top shape and then you try to keep them that way….

As usual the Mustard Pot made a lovely venue and the couple had filled the garden with fun things to do – hoopla, 10 pin bowls, and amongst other things limbo.  Didn’t hang around to see the bride do that in her frock!  And inside they’d collected dozens of pretty china cups and saucers for coffee after dinner which went perfectly with the simple jugs and jars of pretty country flowers

The theme was vintage/country, so lots of seasonal flowers, nothing too stuffy.   The pew ends were simple bunches tied with raffia which we lifted with the pedestal and moved down to the pub for the reception.   Makes sense to get double the use from your flowers where you can.

Of course there had to be roses, in the bouquet were Avalance and Akito roses with gyp, white lisianthus and freesia, and variegated pittisorpum and the bridesmaids’ posies were simple but with blues and violets to match their dresses.

And after all that loveliness I had to find a way to get 19 half barrels from Knottingley to Leeds.   Man with Van was great, but we still had to stuff 3 of them into my car, talk about the sublime to the ridiculous.  But they got there and they look good as well.  I took a photo when they arrived, oozing the smell of booze over the garden but I failed to take one when I’d done.  I suspect I’d seen too much of them by then.

Quite glad of the rain today really – at least I can’t dig anything or plant anything, hooray I get to stay inside.   A little light plant ordering is on the cards I think.  Oh careful the sun’s coming out….

and if you want to know where all the wittering and twittering is find me @MaggyAnne, see you there maybe?

Leave a comment

Filed under Flowers, Garden, Uncategorized, vintage, wedding

I say tomato…..

This last few days I’ve been spending time in the greenhouse with my tomatoes….sad I know, but I enjoy watching them grow and anticipating the first fruits.  Won’t be long now I hope!

A great deal is said about growing tomatoes – they take pride of place on the show bench at the autumn plant and produce shows and there are growers across the country who pride themselves on the biggest, the roundest and the most perfect specimens, but for me tomatoes are one of the easiest fruits/vegetables and also one of the most tolerant and rewarding to grow.

In Mediterranean countries tomatoes can grow like weeds they are so quick to germinate, and here with only a very little help you can have a great crop for not too much effort.

Like potatoes, which they are related to, tomatoes came to this country following the colonisation of South America. The Spanish distributed them widely throughout their colonies – everywhere from the Caribbean to the Philippines, and they rapidly became a common part of the global diet.

Remarkably there are around 7,500 varieties of tomato grown across the world, and so there is most definitely one for your garden or greenhouse!

They come in almost every colour, size and flavour available to grow from seed, so think about what you like and where you will grow them and go from there.

I always grow something easy and reliable and then something I’m not familiar with to add interest each year. This year I’ve got some Gardener’s Delight as my easy to grow type. They are cherry tomatoes and they grow almost too well. They need to be kept in check a bit though because they can become enormous.

My dad always grew Moneymaker. They are a reliable and well known variety and I have fond memories of them, but this year I’ve chosen a beefsteak tomato.  I love them and hopefully whether we get a great summer or not they’ll remind me of hot Mediterranean summers as they ripen.  I haven’t really been successful with beg beef tomatoes in the past though.   They become very heavy and so the plants need a lot of support and I’ve had blossom end rot as well so I’m going to be more careful if I can.

Every year there seems to be a glut of fruit at the end of the season and so if I have lots of plum tomatoes I’ll be able to make and freeze masses of tomato sauce. And, of course, there has to be chutney which I can make with whatever else I have in abundance.

Growing Tomatoes

So, back to growing. All varieties will respond to the same treatment to start them off and March is a good time to sow in a greenhouse or a light windowsill. Sprinkle the seed evenly over compost and put a layer of vermiculite over them or more compost in a fine layer. Then water and put a propagation lid over them, or a plastic bag, and let them germinate. As they come through take off the cover and keep them watered. Once they develop about 3 pairs of leaves they can be potted on into little individual pots. Plant them quite deeply and keep them in the greenhouse or indoors.

For outdoor varieties you can harden them off from mid to late May by taking them outside every day and bringing them indoors at night until they are ready to be planted outside. I generally do this for a week or so.

If the plants are to go into pots you need something big – at least 8-10 inches wide. Or they can go into growbags or direct into the ground if they are going into the veg patch. When you do plant them on again make sure you plant them deeply. Tomatoes keep growing roots around the base of the plant and will be more stable if they are planted well into the soil or compost.

Taller upright varieties will need support. Put a cane in each pot and tie the plants in as they develop. Some varieties will grow up to 4 or 5 ft high with no difficulty at all.

They need regular feeding and watering to make sure they develop well. Water every day, you can use up to half a watering can per plant, and feed with tomato food once a week or you could use my homemade nettle goo!  More of that another day I think.

If they’re in the greenhouse make sure you water and check the plants often because, especially in the summer, the heat can dry them out quickly.

If you’re growing a bush variety in pots and baskets they don’t need much aftercare. But the majority of tomato varieties will need pinching out and stopping.

As the plant grows the flowers appear in trusses which will develop into the fruit. In between the branches at this time the plant will try to produce extra side shoots and they need to be pinched out so that the plant can concentrate its efforts on developing the fruit and not producing lots and lots of leafy growth. Keep going back and doing this regularly because the plant is just programmed to keep producing these side shoots.

Then once the plant has about 7 trusses you should stop the plant by pinching out the top of the plant.

Depending on what you’ve chosen to grow you should be ready to harvest from August and well into the autumn.

Pests and diseases:

My biggest problem is always blight and I’m convinced it’s our wetter summers that are to blame. Blight is especially a problem for greenhouse grown tomatoes where the warm and damp can encourage its development, and once it gets going it will develop quickly. The first signs will be brown marks on the leaves, which will spread to the fruit. Make sure you get plenty of ventilation in the greenhouse and if you see anything at all that looks suspiciously like blight remove it as soon as you spot it. Get rid of the diseased plant material by burning or binning, but don’t keep in on your plot. Good housekeeping is your best weapon in the battle against blight and so at the end of the season clean the greenhouse as well as you can so that you get rid of as many spores as possible. If you do get blight a spell of dry weather may well mean that otherwise healthy plants will rally and carry on to develop good fruit for the rest of the season.

White fly and aphids can also be a pest. I prefer not to spray my plants and so I usually try companion planting. Buy a tray of tagetes (French marigolds) and grow them alongside. I grow basil and spring onions in the greenhouse beside the tomatoes as well. This way you’ll deter pests that attack tomatoes and get a crop of basil and spring onions into the bargain.

Onions or any allium will put off all aphids, slugs and snails, marigolds repel aphids and whitefly and the basil is supposed to improve the flavour of the tomatoes and it certainly goes well with them in a salad!

Having said all that I’d better get watering and feeding I guess.

1 Comment

Filed under Garden, vegetables

So much to do….

Work kind of blends from home and my own garden to my customers’ gardens at the moment.  At this time of year there’s so much to do everywhere.  And the weather always surprises me, even when its wet it still seems warm,  and of course that makes things grow, and that means work. Thank goodness I’m at my happiest when I’m out in the garden.

I’m writing lists or else I’ll forget what to do next, still things to sow in the vegetable garden, lots to cut back as the early perennials are going over and as for the weeds, well they’re loving it, then the greenhouse needs water every day, not to mention that its wedding season.  I’m quite impressed with the veggie patch though.  My second growing season but twice the size.  There’s still lots of rubbish in the ground though so I’ve got lots of potatoes again to keep clearing the ground.

This weekend I sowed some more spring onions, mixed leaves and radishes.   Love the lettuces I’m getting at the moment, they’re delicious and  we could have more broad beans than is entirely necessary.  Son isn’t exactly wild about them worst luck.

Then there are the 19 half  barrels I have littering the place.   They are an order for July and I’ve potted them all up with summer plants so they can fill out and I”m thankful for the rain we’ve had overnight lately.  Its saving me about half an hour of watering every evening.  They’re looking good but there’s a lot of ’em.

The first cucumber is almost ready to cut.   I’ve scaled down the number of plants I’ve grown this year, I think I grew 3 plants last year and I ended up pickling cucumbers and giving them away left right and centre.   However, they had such a great flavour, so much better than shop bought ones.

It sounds as though its all about veggies, but not quite.   This morning I made a corsage for myself.  A rare treat – I usually hand them over for someone else.   I was at a meeting and decided to advertise what I do by wearing it.      I think I might have to do it more often……..

Leave a comment

Filed under Uncategorized

All Fenced Out

Last year I cut down some sycamores and I made  a little pile of branches at the bottom of the garden promising myself that I’d turn them into rustic poles for fences, arches, who knew….lots of things.  But they sat there and sat there as things do.   However I just had to do something about the hens who could break into the flower beds no matter what I tried to keep them out.  They’d make fantastic escape artists those birds.  The final straw was the whole crew of them in the veggie plot – there were peas flying, lettuces disappearing and a big dust bath appearing in the middle of the onions.  Enough ladies, time to build a fence.

I was amazed to find that it wasn’t too difficult – and it was almost free, but very rustic.   Apart from a few screws here and there and the netting of course to fasten onto it, what a bargain.  We had to bash in the uprights which was the hardest part and it may not be here in 10 years, but it works perfectly for now.   It looks cottagey which was the plan, the hens are well and truly shut out although a bit miffed, and they still have acres to play in  and I’m happy.

I’ve planted one of my favourite roses to sramble all over it.  Veilchenblau is a ramber with prolific flowers.  Starting off quite purple it fades almost to pale grey.   It can be a bit of a monster if you let it get out of control and I suspect it may decide to take my fence with it but I’m happy to give it a go.  Its only a baby at the moment but watch this space.  And because I want mygarden to be informal I’ve planted into the side of the lawn where I’ve also put some iris to establish and some lavender.  Later I’ll put in some honeysuckle to climb over the fence from the other end and meet the rose in the middle to give a beautiful scented mix.

Here’s the first little rose that’s just come out as I’ve planted it.

Leave a comment

Filed under Uncategorized

Why June is Wonderful

Suddenly at this time of year the English garden is transformed.  The beds are full, flowers are everywhere, and there’s a scent of roses on the breeze.   Even this year when the weather is completely unpredictable the magic is still happening out in the garden.   I love roses, just love them, and especially heavily scented ones.   Old fashioned roses are some of the most beautiful, but their beauty is short lived, they flower once and then they’re over.   Here in my new garden I’m mostly planting new varieties that will repeat flower until the autumn, are disease resistant, but still have the scent and the flower shape of an old rose.  One day they’ll fathom a way of publishing the scent, if only.

To keep your roses looking good in summer, unless its the kind that has attractive rose hips in the autumn, dead head (take off all the dead flowers) as soon as you they start to go over and that will keep new flowers coming.  Just cut back to a leaf bud with a sloping cut.  And if you see any black spot on the leaves pull the leaf off and get it into the bin, not the compost heap.   You need to get rid of the disease and out of your garden altogether.

Other than that just weed around the base and get a good rose feed to give them a boost and keep them flowering throughout the summer.

Of course there are lots of other amazing things going on – and allium christophii has to be one of the most amazing.   Up it comes like any other allium on a tall stalk and then it opens and every year it makes me stop and stare.   With a flower head around 8 inches in diameter and its shiny purple petals it glows when the sun shines on it.   Order some for the autumn and sit back and wait.   All alliums are easy to grow, like many bulbs you can almost put them in and forget about them.

This weekend I’ve got lots of weeding and tying in to do, I’m going to try to keep away from the serious digging.   The recent winds have knocked my roses about a bit so they need some support and the rain has brought on the weeds so they have to come out.  Finally I have to get my broccoli planted out (again), the netting came off and the pigeons got the young  plants so I’ll  have to do it a bit better this time.   May be then I can take a seat out there and enjoy!

Leave a comment

Filed under Flowers, Garden

All Decked Out

Yes – all these years after the demise of the instant garden makeover show we’ve installed decking.  And I love it and what a difference it makes. It gives a sort of verandah out from the French windows. Since the window went in you had to risk life and limb leaping out of them onto the ground about 2 ft below and then do the same thing in reverse if you wa

nted to get back in.

My son, fortunatley he’s a joiner, had been being pestered, and he gave in in the end. However we can’t finish it off till I get cracking on the next bit which will be a low seat/wall made of gabions (more of that later).

Meanwhile the new ex battery hens have arrived.   Its clear that exbatts may or may not live for very long, so of the 3 I adopted last May I only have one left.   Gertie died after a few months here but Daisy made it to nearly a year of freedom.  So that left us with Elsie – chief hen, not from a battery and so seems quite strong, and Ivy, commonly called Scabby Ivy, because of all of them she was the one with the least feathers.   However she stumps round the garden like a good ‘un and still lays….if somewhat erratically.

Anyhow 3 weeks ago Sylvia, Betty and Flo joined us.   They are getting the hang of things and 2 of them are laying already is  brillliant.  Try as I may I cannot make them pose this morning – so I’ll have a bash later.  Unfortunately hens don’t sit when you want them to.

Leave a comment

Filed under Chickens, Garden, Uncategorized

Lovely suddenly

After such a horrible winter how lovely is it to feel the sunshine?
Mother’s Day has just passed and the flowers seemed to come out just in time.
I used jelly beans in this arrangement and it tempted the bar staff where it was to try picking them out….hopefully it’s still in one piece and they’ve not managed to eat the lot.
Meanwhile in the garden I’ve at last seeded the lawn. Must keep watering it!
And in the greenhouse and garden there’s lots of activity. The broadbeans are on the up as are the lettuces and pak choi.. the sweet peas are coming through and the cerinthe is almost ready to go out (bit soon maybe), I can hardly keep up.

Leave a comment

Filed under Flowers, Garden, Uncategorized