February 2021

 The garden has kept me going during the last six months during the ever-changing rules and regulations of Covid-19, giving me a bit of daily sanity whether weeding, deadheading, planting and sowing, or just sitting and listening to the birds and insects around me. I feel very lucky to have this resource.

It is looking a little drab out there now, but there is hope for the spring; my singular snowdrop has flowered, as have the many yellow and purple crocuses, and the dandelions. Pulmonaria is in bud, as are miniature daffodils, and the foliage of primroses, celandines and cyclamen is fresh and green. The borders are full of seedlings of foxgloves, hairy bittercress, daisies, sedge (grrrrr - removed as soon as spotted), and the foliage of chives and other alliums is appearing. 

The vegetable garden has provided delicious parsnips and carrots over the winter, as well as Cavolo Nero and chard. The cabbages are still growing, but are mostly being used as a decoy for snails as I'm not really very fond of cabbage as a food! The rhubarb is starting to shoot, and is covered with a Victorian forcing pot, although the top is open to the sky at the moment. I planted broad bean plants in the autumn; they are a bit leggy but have survived so far so hopefully they will flower and produce plenty of beans. There are also a few leeks but they're a bit skinny so I haven't harvested them yet.

I have plenty of ornamental plants potted up and waiting to be planted out when the weather improves, so I am looking forward to improving the side border and the border by the path this year. Plants include hellebores, doronicum, primula, and eryngium. There's plenty more but I can't recall the names off the top of my head!

This morning I sowed Nasturtiums, Alexanders, Sweet Peas and Geraniums in modules and put them in the lean-to to germinate. It's a bit early for everything else, but I have plenty to sow in the next couple of months.

I have also enjoyed watching the birdlife in the garden and surrounding area over the winter and have seen many species such as sparrows, blackbirds, robins, starlings, crows, mallards, gulls, buzzards, terns, bluetits, swans, white egret, and, on one memorable occasion at very close quarters, a grey heron - it exploded up from a stream as I looked over the bridge! They are huge. Wow!

The outdoors is awesome.

July

It has been a fairly quiet month in the garden, although I have been able to sit out there more than usual due to the Covid-19 lockdown. The vegetable patch has not been an overwhelming success;  I harvested a few carrots and spring onions, and the parsnips appear to be doing ok, the salad leaves and lettuce have all bolted and the beans have been eaten by the slugs and snails. They have also had a jolly good munch on the cabbages. The kale appears to have white rust and I dug up most of the cauliflower plants as they bolted too. The potatoes were reasonably successful and have been harvested and stored, and I have had a small second crop of strawberries. Today I pulled up the remaining lettuce and replaced with pea plants. I imagine they'll have been devoured by the morning!

The tomatoes are fruiting, as are some of the pepper plants in the lean to. The courgettes and squashes all got eaten so I have restarted and am growing them in pots in the lean-to for now. Hopefully this will work!

The flower garden is looking good, with towers of mallow, evening primrose and golden rod, as well as the ever- flowering English Marigolds. The geraniums have been cut back but will flower again soon I am sure. The Hydrangea is covered in pink lacecaps which are very pretty. Fuchsias are flowering, as are pink Clarkia, lemon-yellow hollyhocks, sweet peas and Scabious and the ever present flipping bindweed! 

In the herb garden the creeping thyme has just finished flowering as has the purple sage and lavender. All were covered in bees, which was delightful, and they have now moved on to the golden oregano, fennel and hyssop. 

Seed has been collected from English Marigolds, foxgloves, honesty, lavender, flax, and Sweet William. Basil has been potted up but now needs potting on again! Cuttings have been taken from variegated Lamium, fuchsia, pinks, geraniums, gypsophila and oregano, and I have been given a lovely orange lily and an Ophiopogon nigrescens (black lily grass) by kind friends.

Into June

Well, the last couple of weeks have been far too hot to do anything much more than laze around in the garden. We have made the most of the new patio, using it to sit and play games, eat breakfast and lunch, read and study, and watch birds on the feeder, fences and in the trees surrounding us. We have seen starlings, blue tits, coal tits, goldfinch, sparrows, robin, blackbirds, herring gulls, mallards, buzzards, crows and jackdaws. Most of these aren't in the garden, and the bird feeder is not very popular, except for the mealworms which are devoured by the starlings and blackbirds. I must review what I put in there.

The vegetable garden is doing well, despite no rain for weeks and irregular watering from me. The mixed salad leaves have bolted and I now have a beautiful display of rocket flowers, but the lettuces are doing well and taste nice, and the beetroot are coming along splendidly. Unfortunately I had to dig up and destroy the radishes today as they have succombed to brassica white rust; this is not a disease I have encountered before but will now need to be vigilant on the remaining brassicas. Talking of which, the spring cannages, Kale 'Cavolo de Nero' and cauliflowers all seem to be thriving under their tent of netting, for which I am delighted. The leeks and spring onions are growing very slowly, but will get there eventually, the parnsips are growing thuggishly and the carrots are trying to keep up! The bronze fennel is reaching for the stars and the runner beans are twirling their way up the canes and heading for the washing line. Flowers have started to appear. My pea plants have survived and are starting to put on growth, and the broad beans are flowering madly and battling an infestation of black fly. They'll be fine. There are lots of hoverflies in the garden which should produce larvae that will eat them. I really can't be bothered with pesticides. The strawberries have put on lots of growth and have a good crop of berries ripening, with a layer of straw laid over the soil to hopefully keep slugs and soil off  them. The garlic is still growing well, but I am waiting for it to ripen and be harvested as I have nowhere to put my tomato plants. It is rather like waiting for a pot of water to boil. I also planted a courgette plant that I got from a GIVE (see end) stall, and a butternut squash that I grew myself. Finally, the potato plants, both planned and unplanned, are doing well. I dug a handful up yesterday and had them for tea with some homegrown mint and some butter. Lovely!

In the herb garden (OK, the whole garden, I like herbs), everything is thriving. I have creeping thyme, common thyme, mint (slightly mildewed), purple sage, rosemary, winter savory, bronze and green fennel, flat-leaved and curly parsley, and lemon balm, and golden oregano. English marigolds have turned the garden a glorious shade of orange, and seem to flower forever. I love them!

In the rest of the garden the flowers are making me happy. My somewhat neglected climbing rose has produced 5 or 6 large, blowsy lilac flowers with a faint scent. Beautiful. The foxgloves that my Mother gave me last year are at least 6 feet high and permanently buzzing with bumblebees. Sweet Williams in at least three colours are coming into their own and filling the garden with a heady, clove-like scent, and the annual sweet peas have just started flowering. The perennial ones will be flowering soon by the look of it. Pink scabious at the bottom of the garden seems to go on and on, and the passion flower that I found poking out from under the shed is blooming away now it has been trained up the shed. The honeysuckle is flowering, again highly scented, and the euphorbia is a magnificent shade of acid yellow. All the geraniums are in flower and covered in bees. One of my favourite plants, Verbena bonariensis, is blooming with tiny purple flowers and should keep going for months.                                

Verbena bonariensis

Foxglove 

I decided to do something about the dilapidated rose arch that I inherited with the garden; I thought it was being pushed over by the hedge, so I cut the hedge back. This made no difference, so I took it to pieces instead. This was very easy  - just unscrewed the top, and wiggled the side by the hedge like a wobbly tooth until it came out. I have left the other side standing as the rose and honeysuckle are climbing up it. The view down the garden path has improved! I trimmed most of the hedge a couple of weeks ago but stupidly managed to slice through the electric cord so couldn't finish the job. Luckily I have a very handy friend who has fixed it for me. I will be more careful in future.

Finally, the garden curiosity reappeared; there is a lot of ivy along the base of the hedge, and in it grows Orobanche hederacae, or broomrape, which is a parasitic plant which lives on ivy and flowers at this time of year. Fascinating!

Edit: GIVE stalls were set up by Holly Maslen on the Isle of Wight, and stands for Green Island Veg Economy; the idea is that gardeners give away surplus vegetable plants for free to people who need them, and other people can leave them vegetable plant donations if they have them. Later in the year it is hoped people will swap excess crops. I have got a few plants through this scheme, and have passed a few on. Fantastic idea that is going from strength to strength. 

Flowering Rocket

Orobanche hederaceae

Middle of May

The garden plants are growing rapidly now, and I spend a small portion of most days pottering around pulling up bindweed. It's mostly under control now but won't give up. The broad beans are flowering, and growing on despite attacks by slugs and black aphids. The salad plants are growing quite well, but I need to remember to water them often as their bed dries out quickly. The beds are only raised a couple of inches off the ground but it makes a huge difference with drainage. I shall have to source large quantities of well-rotted manure once lockdown is over, as this will help with soil structure and water retention.

I have been quite busy this week, and have thinned out the carrots, leeks, and beetroot seedlings. I replanted the thinnings; many people say this won't work, but I watered them in well and they seem to be OK. Time will tell. This afternoon I planted the runner bean plants, some pea seedlings and swiss chard seedlings. Again, watered well in and supports put in for the peas and beans. Fingers crossed that the slugs and snails don't find them!

Last week we cleared a space for the brassicas and planted spring cabbage, Kale 'Cavolo de Nero', and some cauliflowers. We then erected a netting tent around them to keep the cabbage white butterflies off. This seems to be working as the plants seem happy and the eggs are being laid on other things.

In the flower garden the marigolds are blooming (so orange that I might start calling them Donald), as are the foxgloves, ornamental Alliums,  Nectoscordum, chives, Scabiosa, daisies, dandelions, buttercups, broad beans, stocks, sweet william, and honesty. Verbena bonariensis is coming into bud, as are hydrangeas, coreopsis, honeysuckle, climbing rose (yay!), and passion flower.

There is, as ever, lots of wildlife. We have now purchased a hanging bird feeder and I have seen starlings and blue tits on it. Something adores mealworms, but they are not so fond of black sunflower seeds or suet shreds. 

Baby slowworm and woodlouse

Pottering

With the mostly glorious weather throughout April, I have been able to spend a lot of time in the garden. Breakfast on the new patio on a sunny morning is a particular delight, and is also a lovely place to sit and watch, and listen to, the wildlife. And shoo the cats away! I now know the names of all three of the pests, but it makes no difference to their behaviour. Ah well.

We have lots of blackbirds, with at least one nesting pair, all expert worm hunters. There is also a robin, who is a little bit fluffy around the edges and is an expert acrobat. I have seen a wren, sparrows, pigeons, blue tits and crows. In the skies above are gulls, terns, ducks and the occasional buzzard. Other wildlife includes black and red ants, several species of slugs and snails, slow worms (babies too!), red aphids, woodlice, wolf spiders, jumping spiders, bumblebees, honey bees, mason bees, beeflies, several species of hoverfly, shield bugs, earthworms, tiger worms, millipedes, centipedes, cabbage white butterflies, blue butterflies, red admiral butterflies, speckled wood butterflies, peacock butterflies with larvae in the nettles, several spiders I haven't identified yet, and probably a great deal more!

The plants are doing well too! Most of the vegetable seeds we sowed in the ground are growing well, particularly since three wet days last week. The radishes taste good. Potatoes planted this year are thriving, and we have some coming up near the garlic that I must have missed last year. In the flower garden, the marigolds are abundant and providing cheerful splashes of orange. The Alliums planted out earlier in the month are bursting into deep purple bloom, and the flowers are breaking out on the Nectoscordum bulbs too. The flower spikes are shooting skywards on the foxgloves, flower buds are forming on the hydrangea, the night scented stocks are blooming and blooming and smell amazing, and there is a bud, just one, on the climbing rose. Behind and beneath the conifer is a large leaved Arum maculatum with a large flower spike forming. It's all rather lovely really.

Patio

When we moved into the property, we found, beneath a lot of broken roofing plastic, a large slab of concrete in front of the shed. After we had cleared the brambles, nettles and junk from the side of the shed we found a pile of bricks that was in danger of pushing the fence over. This week, with nothing better to do, we moved the bricks to the concrete slab, cleaning old cement off with a bolster and lump hammer as we went. We now have a brick patio! It is somewhat wobbly in places as I need to secure some of the edges, and the bricks are old. When the DIY stores reopen properly I shall spread a mix of sharp sand and compost on top to fill the gaps.

Once the patio was finished I realised that there was no view so spent this afternoon dismantling the existing wooden structure that obscured the view. This had been put together very badly (proper bodge job!), but most of it came apart relatively easily. I have another pot of rusty screws to add to my collection. The outer structure is still there as it has been bolted together and looks difficult to dismantle. I will find a way! 

Lastly, I moved the compost bin. To my delight I found a slow worm, as well as lots of worms and woodlice. When I had finished I sat and watched our neighborhood blackbird hen come back and forth collecting grubs and worms. Lovely! Next step is to make a flowerbed where the compost heap stood.

Dig for Victory

22nd March
Well, not quite, but we are in the middle of a pandemic and it seems wise to grow whatever vegetables that I can. Today was gloriously sunny with a cold breeze in the afternoon, so teenager and I picked up the seed packets and divvied up the prepared veg patch into rectangles and sowed seed. Small amounts of each variety, but we can do more later. We have started with three varieties of carrots, parsnips, two varieties of radish, spring onions, three varieties of lettuce, rocket, perpetual spinach, mixed salad leaves, leeks, and three varieties of beetroot. We then put netting up to try and keep the cats off. I sowed French climbing beans in pots in the outhouse too.

2nd April
All that is coming up so far is bindweed and ash seedlings, but we'll keep fingers crossed. The weather has been chilly but beautiful so am trying to get out into the garden every day. I have painted two sides of the shed in sage green, and trained the passionflower up chicken wire on the front. I have weeded the long border as far as the conifer, and now need to do the other side so that I have space to plant the seed potatoes and the vegetable seedlings growing rapidly in the outhouse.

There are plenty of flowers blooming in the garden, with a glut of dandelions and daisies in particular. Red and yellow deadnettles are also in bloom, as well as bluebells, cowslips, primroses, hairy bittercress, and celandines. Gorgeous! There is plenty of wildlife too, and I have seen peacock and red admiral butterflies, several species of bee and bumblebee, and can hear a multitude of birds singing in the nearby trees now that there is little traffic making a noise.

I have been busy planting in the flower beds too, and have planted Allium, Nectoscordum (both grown in pots), Peony, Sedum spectabile, Sweet Williams, Penstemon, and a pink-flowered shrub that I can never remember the name of, but the bees like the flowers! I have also removed the ivy and soil from under the back door step, so that the step fits properly in place.