Disorderly conduct

I know as a grower of cut flowers I'm supposed to grow in rows.  But while my back garden provides most of my flowers, I'm still primarily a gardener and a garden is what I grow.  So rather than rows, I've got my usual scramble of patches and blobs - which mean that picking takes longer and I perhaps don't get as much out of the garden as I could in terms of harvests.  But the compensation is that I still can look out on a tapestry of flowers, which comes together as much from luck as from judgement and design.

Blue is the colour at the moment with swathes of bluebells in the shady dry patch under the trees at the bottom of the garden and forgetmenots squiggling their way through any other bits they can fling their seed into.  The vivid blue centaurea or annual cornflower is just coming into flower now as well and the irises will be the next thing to take over the blue baton in the flowery relay.

I've even got roses coming into bud and it's only early May.  Don't usually expect to see that until early June so it's a sign of how mild and warm the winter has been despite the wet.

My greenhouse is full and I've still got lots of things to prick out from their trays - planting seedlings into individual pots for them to grow on big and strong.  I love that job but never fail to be horrified when I realise how much more space they're going to take up.  Mind you, when I look at the hundreds of rudbeckia seedlings that have germinated so brilliantly, I quake at the thought of potting them up!  Only some of them are going to get done as I'd need to be a large scale producer to have the space for all of them.  Wonder if any friends would like some?  I'm sure some of my gardening clients might have space to rehome a few when they're a bit bigger.

Snails seem to be very happy in the garden at present and have munched through a fair number of my baby stocks and have been snacking on dahlia leaves in the cold frame.  It pays to check on the latter regularly as it is easy to get on the molluscs slimy trail and to locate and subsequently squish them.

Have also been purging the blackfly which have set up camp on my centaurea.  Sprayed the whole area with soap solution and blasted the plants with a strong spray from the hosepipe yesterday to force the aphids to release their evil grip on the soft stems.  The plant looked a little shocked initially, but has now regained an upright position and seems non the worse for its ordeal.

Centuarea - now free of pests.

Wordless Wednesday. Goodbye roses, hello dahlias.

Wordless Wednesday. A happy scramble.

Wordless Wednesday. It's a jungle out there.

Wordless Wednesday. Cottage garden flowers

Where's the splash?

Dry borders - how long is it since I've had those?  Well, they are back for the time being and the water butts are starting to run dry.  A light shower this morning refreshed the garden slightly, but the ground could still do with a bit more of a soaking. I never thought I'd ask for rain again after last year, but here I am.... Hope I haven't jinxed the summer now.

Busy busy busy in the garden - keeping on top of weeds and pests - will be looking to stock up on organic 'Growing Success' slug pellets at Gardener's World Live at the NEC this  Friday - my local garden centre no longer stocks them and I'm underwhelmed by the other organic alternatives available.  Slugs are tucking into my dahlias in spite of coffee grounds and wool pellet barriers. Devilish beastlies.

Had to risk planting out my delphiniums - hope at least some of them will make it to join the two grown up plants which have emerged from last year's efforts. The glorious thing about growing from seed is that you can plant in drifts and big groups as you get so many plants from your packet - it would be hideously expensive to do this if buying pot grown plants from a nursery.

The borders are really growing tall now and the roses are starting to open and waft their luscious smells around the place.  A few bright heads of knautia are bobbing, deep pink, in the sea of foliage, and sweet williams will soon start showing colour in their sea anemone flowers and add to the show.

 I love June for flowers - it's often the best time for my garden.  I shouldn't judge it quite yet as things have not really exploded, but I'm a bit concerned that things are getting too subtle again. So much so that I'm pleased to see the shouty oriental poppy which is going bang in the main border.  Need more eye-jabs of colour to liven things up a bit at the moment.  When the yellow rose comes out, that should add a bit more contrast to the pinks and blues - Christopher Lloyd gets his contrasts right in my book - can't be doing with restricted colour schemes really - too boring.

Desperate for a splash of really vibrant colour to set the borders alight.  Greedy gardener.

More along the lines of that orange t-shirt and poppy burst please.  Flowers are coming. Must learn to be patient.

All grown up

The boing moment may have happened a few weeks ago, but now the garden is well and truly into its stride.  The plants seem to have been plotting a surprise party for my return from holiday, despite the hail which was apparently hurled at them in my absence.

On my photo safari this morning, I was spoilt for choice as marshmallowy peonies purred for attention, and ruffled granny's bonnets (aquilegia) nodded coyly towards the lens.  Blue centaurea appeared neon in the post dawn light and dog daisies prepared to sprawl across the borders.

Greenfly peeped round rose buds and cowered from the squishing fingers which loomed towards them whilst slugs crawled along lugubriously, content in the morning dew. RIP slugs (evil cackle).  A snail doing early morning calisthenics on a dried stalk was plucked to meet its final crunch.

Gaps are filling, things are sprouting, clematis is smothering the old pear tree with a twisty tangle of pink-frothed vines and all is well in the Tuckshop Garden. It's good to be back!

Dahlia day. Taking the plunge.

A container grown dahlia from sunnier years. Will they grow well in 2013 if it ever warms up?

Braved the intermittent hail storms  (it's May for heaven's sake) to visit to the allotment this morning.  My mission?  To plant out a selection of dahlias in my rose and cutting flower bed.  This bed was well manured earlier in the year, so they should have plenty to feed on.  I'm currently out of organic mollusc repellents, so am simply hoping they can fend of the evils until I have time to buy more. The last slug treatment I bought was some wool-based pellets but I have to say that for the price, they don't really go far, as they need to be spread in a fairly thick, wide band around the plant that they are protecting.  They also leave you smelling like a sheep. Think I'll stick to wool foraging on walks in future.

At home, I've re-homed some dahlias into the garden borders, yanking out drifts of forget me nots to reveal planting pockets.  I've still got about 12 more plants to find homes for, so am waiting with my trowel poised for the first signs of weakness in any current border inhabitants.  Leggy lavenders watch out, your days are numbered.

I am quite excited about the prospect of mid- and late-summer flowers as I have not previously grown dahlias in any quantity, or, I have to say, with massive success - but the size of some  my 'Rip City' plants still takes my breath away. I had to pot them on into large plastic tubs usually used for storage as I didn't have any plant pots wide enough. Surely even the hungriest of slugs doesn't have sufficient appetite to decimate something that size!

The plants have all been well hardened off for the past couple of weeks, so the current chill in the air should not be too much of a shock to their system.  With them planted out, I can at least now get in and out of the greenhouse without fear of upsetting a crowd of Witteman's Best, Peaches, Purple Gem, Tahoma Star or Rip City.  They were starting to look quite tough and intimidating.

I hope the plants all romp away, but if they get munched and collapse or are otherwise dismal, I can always call on supplies from Dahlia Dave.  Dahlia Dave came to my rescue for a friend's wedding a couple of years ago as he grows them in abundance at both his allotment plot and back garden at home.  Have I got the knack this year or not? I'll let you know as time goes by.

 

The Ruthless Gardener wanders

Decided I'd take you on a quick tour of the garden and made a little video to show you the borders as they are at the moment. 

In my previous incarnation in trade publishing, I used to be known as 'slasher' for my curt editorial tendencies, and listening to my commentary, I can see that this trait has now translated itself to the garden. I didn't realise how many plants are on a yellow card until I heard my multiple pronouncements of imminent death.  It's always good to keep plants on their toes though - once they stop performing or become pests, get them out!  It also gives you room for more new ones....

So, if you are sitting comfortably, then we'll begin. (Don't know why this especially boring shot shows in the preview, but I'm learning all this video mularkey as I go along)

Still holding my breath... and bursting....

The #britishflower hour on twitter last night was awash with talk of tulips and dahlias - both at the forefront of my mind at present. Am spotting the first signs of colour in the tulip buds, and most of my dahlias are growing away nicely now and I am trying to keep them bushy and strong, out of the frosts which are threatened for this week.  None last night though - phew!  The stems on most of my flowers do seem to be slowly lengthening though and lifting them up from soil level at long last.

'Perestroyka' (I think! Can't yet tell if it's a lily flowered form or not)

There seemed to be a general consensus that things are growing a bit shorter this year - well apart from those lucky Cornish growers with big polytunnels of which I am so jealous.  Don't think they'd go down too well with my neighbours though, or my children who would then definitely lose their last remaining bits of lawn!  I was also listening to 'Farming Today' on the BBC World Service last weekend whilst arranging flowers in the small hours where there was a big discussion about more farmers starting to cover their land with tunnels in order to get reliable crops.  This mental weather is playing havoc with their livelihoods I'd imagine.

Still, can't complain about it today as in my neck of the woods we have beautiful blue sky, the leaves on the garden trees are starting to unfurl, and the tiny white damson blossoms are looking gorgeous.  My 'boing' moment prediction for last Wednesday was, it seems premature, and I am still waiting for the magic to fully happen.  It must be imminent though as the lawn even got its first haircut of the year at the weekend.

Have got to sow my Bells of Ireland seed this morning as I've had them in the fridge for a couple of weeks in order to encourage them to germinate.  Am also going to sow some red orach direct into the garden as it is such a brilliant plant - dark red, edible leaves and amazing plumy seed heads which are great as fillers in flower arrangments later in the season.  I've sown some seeds directly already: cornflowers, cosmos and sunflowers as they have historically done better for me this way than when transplanted from pots. Will have to keep an eye out for them emerging as everything has to take pot luck with the cats' trampling paws these days.  Have really got to get cracking with my veg sowings at the allotment as well, so that's all on my to do list for this week.

Soooooo nice to be able to garden again after all this waiting. Now that I have a couple of weeks break from flower stalls, I can at least relax about the speed of development.  Having said that, I'll doubtless be doing my garden march yelling at all the flowers to slow down by this time next week, you wait and see!

Still waiting for those tulips to open.
  Narcissus 'Jetfire' have been great for weeks now, with the odd new bud still coming out.

T-shirts and taters

Stop press - was gardening in a short sleeved t-shirt today - can't remember the last time I did that - even if it did end up on the radiator after getting soaked in a downpour.  Fantastic to be out without various layers of swaddling and hats.

Had a multi-site day of digging today - a trip to the allotment to get spuds in, and ground elder attacks and weeding at home. So at the plot I now have a row and a half of Charlotte potatoes, and a row and a half of Rooster main crops in situ, along with a dressing of muck.  Can't wait to see what that does for them.  Forgot to take the raspberry canes which my dad recently donated,  so there is a useful reason to get back down there later in the week.  Checked on my peas, but no signs of life there yet - even under the tunnel cloche.

In the garden at home, things are looking a bit more cheerful as there are actually green things growing in the borders where I have planted my strong seedlings.  Makes such a difference.  A few circuits of the gardener's prowl also reveal that brunnera, astrantia, peonies, veronica and various other perennials are starting to sprout too.  There are even tiny buds on the spirea.   Lurking down at soil level, cowslip buds and grape hyacinth flowers are forming, so am praying for warmth and a growth spurt in time for next weekend's flower stall. Clematis 'Markham's Pink' has big fat buds waiting to pop, and that makes a surprisingly good cut flower, so it would be brilliant if that comes out in the next few days.

This time last year, all these boys were out - none at this stage yet, but buds are finally showing on the cowslips and pink clematis at least.

Primulas are looking cheery, a few daffs are now out, and honesty is threatening to develop its flower spikes.  Allium and tulips are looking leafy and strong too. Come on you lot, get a shift on!

Any of my neighbours peering into my garden would have spotted me doing various jigs of delight today.  The first one prompted by me finally managing to up-end and remove the rambling rose stump after letting the winter frosts do their work (in combination with my loppers, fork and jumping up and down with my not insignificant weight on the stump for half and hour or so).  The second was when I finally got round to chopping down a straggly, half dead viburnum which I've been meaning to tackle for months.  Light can now get into the border beneath it, and it opens up a whole load of planting space, hence jig number 2.

Off to do all the neglected household chores now - if the weather keeps improving, the house is going to get a whole lot dustier and dirtier....

Flitting time for snowdrops

Grabbed a quick hour in the garden before tea (northern English 'tea' - the evening meal, not the southern English light snack at 3 o'clock) and enjoyed the blue skies but not the marrow-chilling blasts of wind which have persisted for days now.  Did manage to shed the thick coat and hat after a spot of digging, but it's still not warm enough to really get my plants bursting into growth.

The snowdrops emerged from their snow dousing looking a bit worse for wear, but they had given me a pretty spectacle for several weeks before they got buried.  The time had come, therefore, to shift the ones which were badly placed now that I've widened my border, so up they came to settle in their new spot under the apple tree.  I think they'll look great there next year with their newly installed neighbours, the primroses.

Also planted my Japanese flowering cherry tree 'Amanogawa' down by the bottom shed near the hedge.  I bought it a) because I can't resist a bargain - £4.99 in Aldi, and b) because if we have more years like this on the cards, it will be good to have more spring blossoms available for harvesting. I plan to use it for cutting, so hopefully this form of annual pruning should keep the size in check. And at £4.99, if it turns out to be a mistake, it won't be an expensive one.

Have got no half term plans for tomorrow, so am hoping to spend a fair bit of time in the garden. Am debating whether to risk planting out some of the September sown ammi, which is well toughened up already. I planted six out just before the snow came as a tester, and although they are twisted into somewhat malformed contortions, they seem to have come through their prolonged burial under snow.  Surely we aren't due any more serious snowfalls?

I still have one drift near the patio, ice slabs which have fallen from the roof, and the path to the compost bin is still under a few inches of white stuff, but it is, thankfully in retreat.  We did however, have a light snow shower this morning, which had me swearing quietly over my cornflakes. I think I want to move into the Eden Project, and garden under a biome.

Now they're over, move your snowdrops before the foliage disappears.

I love George

I've made a new discovery this year - iris histrioides 'George'.  The first two flowers are out and are lovely objects to ponder as I do the washing up.  Despite the subzero night time temperatures, they are there every morning, as perfect as ever, their deep purple petals defying the frosts.

They seem very happy in the raised bed I created last September - they relish the gritty, well-drained conditions and cope happily with the shade cast by the neighbouring house  for the latter part of the afternoons.  Originating (via Sarah Raven) from the mountains of northern Turkey, they are tough characters and their immaculate blooms are apparently impervious to rain, snow, sleet and frost. It's hard to believe these flowers have been held for the best part of two weeks already and still look perfect.

Early and fabulous though they are, there is a problem. They are, to put it bluntly, short-arses.  It's not that I'm size-ist, it's just that they are only about 10-15cm tall and are planted amidst rows of emerging tulips, which will engulf them over the coming weeks. That's the price paid for putting bulbs in as they arrive,  rather than doing a single bulk order and planning out my planting more strategically.  So....  once their show is over for this year and they've had a bit of rest, I will move them over to the other side of the garden and plant them in the narrow border down the side of the drive which needs cheer at this time of year.

I think they will look much nicer planted in informal groups, adding a bit of colour, and keeping my rose and baby Christmas box plants company.

More haste less seed?

Looking at my lettuce-box on my porch windowsill, I can't help feeling that my eagerness to sow in January got the better of my good sense.

Even with indoor conditions, it isn't worth trying to get ahead of nature while daylight hours are short as things just don't grow well.  I think I'm going to now crop this lot as micro greens and try again with a new batch now that we're only 2 days away from March, which I always deem to be spring, whatever the official vernal equinox may say. (March 20th this year according to Googled sources, for those of you who care about such things)

Sowing when you should is always more productive, so that's why I've been sticking to sprouting seeds in the airing cupboard for  my recent weekly salad sowings - they're a roaring success, super quick,  and very tasty too.

Edible things you can start sowing in heat now include chillis (which need a long growing season to flower, fruit and ripen) and the majestic globe artichokes which are so fantastic for their architectural stature and leaf form, their delicious immature flowerheads and for their glowing violet spiky flowers.  These babies love to grow - here are my sowings from a week ago:

Already ready for potting on into small individual containers. I sense windowsill congestion is imminent.  Just as well I have lots of space at my allotment to house these giants when they grow up.  But they do make amazing border plants as well - don't be scared of statuesque specimens (says me, the six-footer) as height in the border is always a fine thing and stops things from getting boring.

The jagged grey form of artichoke leaves adds interest and they're also great for flower arranging.  Don't be scared of tall things in your garden, whatever its size. Here, spring height is given by the dark-leaved shrub Physocarpus Diablo, and by the towering spires of foxgloves and russell lupins.  The artichokes will take over the upper storey dramatics from mid to late summer with their huge thistle-like flower heads.

I am feeling very pleased that I got organised enough to get ahead with September greenhouse sowings of some of my annual flower seeds. My greenhouse dwelling ammi, sweet williams and hollyhocks are now ready to shunt across to the cold frame, and those already overwintering in there can begin edging towards the great outdoors for proper planting in the borders.  Which should make room for all my spring seedlings.  (Why are greenhouses never big enough?)

Snippy snippy snip snip

Don't chuck away your empty plastic food packaging at this time of year - get yourself a sharp pair of scissors and recycle them as plant labels. Best recycling tip I ever got!  Any white plastic will do, though I find the thickness of margarine pots particularly suitable.  Even milk containers can be pressed into service.

Make sure you use a good permanent marker though, or you'll have mystifying blank strips of plastic 3 months from now...

Saves me a fortune in plastic labels, so thought I would share.

A small nip of snowdrops

Finally my snowdrops are starting to come out. Love them in these tiny glasses - I'll have to look out for more of these venerable curvy sherry sippers as they are perfect for posies.  Plan to do lots of these on my stall with other small flowers. Makes me feel all spring-y.

As these snowdrops are in the border I've widened, I'll also keep an eye on when they finish flowering, because that's the time I'll need to hoick them forwards to the front of the border as they are traditionally moved 'in the green' rather than when they are dormant.  Watch over your snowdrops and seize this moment to split them into new clumps to start off small new colonies in shady corners which cry out for some late winter/early spring highlights.

Will make the most of this mild weather to go out and do some weeding while it lasts. Also need to turn over and feed the areas of garden which I have just denuded of turf.  Are things really swinging towards the growing season now? Sincerely hope so...

Wordless Wednesday. Wishing and waiting.

Pruning the allotment swamp

A quick drizzly trip to the allotment revealed just how far from cultivation things still are - very claggy underfoot, still too wet to dig.  When you get clod-platforms from walking across the paths, you know that you should NOT be venturing into the growing areas...

Dragged down there by my children (interesting role reversal) who wanted to continue their treehouse building exploits, I had my second visit in a week yesterday.

No digging to be done as we squelched around the edges of the plot, so I continued clearing the path down the side, cutting back the hedge and digging out brambles.

Also tackled the list below:

Jobs for February

Cut down autumn fruiting raspberries to the base as they fruit on this year's growth - cut them down to get lots of new fruiting canes.

Prune roses - cut back hybrid teas to 4 or five growing points per stem.  Cut back English shrub roses  by about a third.

Prune blackcurrants - take out older wood (darkest colour) with few sideshoots, keep two year old wood (tea coloured) with plenty of sideshoots as these will bear this year's fruit.

Buy seed potatoes and stand the tubers in egg cartons, or a box, in frost free place to start sprouting those little knobbly shoots (long whizzers mean there's not enough light in the place where you've put them - keep them somewhere cool, frost-free and light).

Still to do this month

Prune apple and pear trees
Prune gooseberries
Prune redcurrants

If (as if!) dry enough, prepare planting areas.


Looks like I'll have to keep my secateurs sharp for the rest of the month and keep on chopping in the absence of other heavy duty tasks.

Have to keep myself busy to resist the urge to sow too many new seeds as it is still a bit too early really - trying to force myself to hang on for another few weeks.

Finding buried treasure

There are many benefits to a tidy greenhouse - fewer slug and pest harbouring pile ups of old pots and detritus, the banishment of plants and cracked plant pots long past their sell by date, the mental stocktake of potting materials it facilitates, and the delight of having short-lived space on your greenhouse staging.

Tidying and insulating the greenhouse was my task yesterday - it was going to be sowing seeds initially, but I thought it wiser to do the more prosaic task first, rather than filling the staging with more seed trays that would just have to be moved when I came to insulate.  And so the job finally got done.

I find myself repeatedly peeping through the door to marvel at my bubblewrapped micro-climate, and at my tidy (by my standards) stash of pots and compost stacked under the bench.

But best of all, I refound these:

which makes me feel like a trip back to my old stomping ground in North London is imminent, just so I can stock up on them again - with a few holes in the bottom they make exceedingly charismatic herb containers.  Imagine that topped with some lush green basil leaves.  Brilliant!

Wordless Wednesday - Anticipation