April 2021

I have done a fair amount in the garden this month; I began by spending a couple of days clearing the weeds from the long border by the fence and have been gradually replanting it since. By the short fence near the brick patio I planted six Rosa rugosa seedlings; these grew from seed scavenged from a white flowered parent plant up the road and appear to be growing well. They are currently about six inches high with vivid lime green foliage. They should eventually form a low hedge covered in flowers and then large rose hips. Moving along the border, I have planted Teucrium, Achillea 'Cerise Queen', Berberis darwinii, Cephalaria gigantea, Rudbeckia 'Goldsturm', Bergenia 'Rotblum', Euporbia amygdaloides Purpurea, Patio rose, Salvia atropurpurea, Primula vulgaris, Acer palmatum 'Emerald Lace', Rostrincula dependens, Helleborus, Acanthus mollis, Libertia grandiflora, Nerine bowdenii and probably other things too! Oh yes, foxglove (Digitalis) seedlings in the gaps!

The side border by the washing line also got some attention, with the bulk of the fern removed (I'm sure I missed a bit), and the ornamental grass which wasn't very interesting to look at. In their place have been planted Penstemon, Rosa 'Brother Cadfael', Achillea 'Cloth of Gold', and Papaver. I have done quite a lot of weeding further down but have yet to make a decision with how to shape the planting here.

Unfortunately the neighbourhood cats realised there was fresh earth so have been digging and pooing liberally; this resulted in me covering part of the side border in a netting tunnel, and putting chicken wire, pots and other obstacles in as many gaps as possible or over new plantings. I like cats really, but these ones are a nuisance. I bought a Nepeta 'Six Hills Giant' forgetting that it's common name is Catnip. The cats discovered it and nearly destroyed it in their excitement, so it is now growing in a hanging basket and appears to be recovering slowly. I managed to rescue some stems so took some cuttings too.

In the vegetable garden the broad beans are flowering prolifically. Slugs are still an issue, so I made a beer trap out of a takeaway tub which caught a few. I have been harvesting purple-sprouting broccoli for a few weeks, and it tastes delicious. The strawberry plants are putting on nice fresh foliage, and the Swiss chard is growing still. I have sown some French Beans in pots in the lean-to but nothing has appeared yet.

The area to the side of the shed was filling with rubbish, so I managed to book a slot at the dump and got rid of several bags of garden rubbish, lots of wood from wardrobes and beds that couldn't be burned, old paint pots from the previous owner and broken garden things I had accumulated. I am considering closing in the ends of this area and turning it into a lean-to polytunnel. Perhaps.

In the lean-to by the house, seedlings of Alexanders (Smyrnium), Nasturtium, black hollyhock, sweet peas, Wisteria, lavender, hellebores and chives are emerging. Many others have been sown but are taking their time to emerge. It is still chilly though. I have rooted cuttings of Hydrangea, Honeysuckle, purple bugle, creeping jenny, daisies, dandelions and herb robert. These latter plants are from the garden and for a project; I have troughs at the front of the house on the wall, installed by a previous owner, so I thought I would turn them into an elevated verge and plant with some wildflowers. I will sprinkle some marigold seeds in too. It may or may not work, and will undoubtedly annoy someone!

Some leisure time has been spent outdoors too, sitting on the patio and watching the local birds in the sunshine; my favourite bit was discovering that a local pair of Jackdaws were pruning dead wood from the the neighbours Ash tree and flying off with twigs for their nests. I have never noticed this behaviour before. Fascinating! My inherited, rusty chimenea has had the top removed as it was gradually rusting through, and I am left with the base to use as a small firepit. It is so lovely to sit by a fire with a friend of an evening putting the world to rights.

After a suggestion by a friend, I have drilled some holes into the conifer trunk and the wooden uprights by the (now sprouting) Gingko. I don't think any bees have moved in yet but they have definitely shown interest.There is, as ever, plenty more to do, but as the days are getting gradually warmer and longer I am sure I will be out there doing it soon!

March flowers and wildlife 2021

Lungwort

Celandine

Dandelion

Speedwell

Daffodils

Crocus

Primroses

Sow thistle

Common daisy

Hairy Bittercress

red ants

Bee fly

Large red mites

Woodlice

Ladybirds (7 spot and harlequin)

Black ants

slugs (various)

Small beetle

Crab spider

Zebra spider

Jackdaws pruning an ash tree for nest material

Brown bees

Centipede

Comma butterfly (next door)

Yellow aphids

Earthworms

Tigerworms

Blackbirds

Robins

Pigeons

Ducks (above)

Herring Gulls (above)

Sparrows

Brown caterpillar on broad beans

March 2021

The weather has been improving so I have been outside as much as possible. Lots is happening - plants springing up everywhere, quite a few flowers, insects, arachnids and birds all over the place. And cats, but you can't have everything I suppose. 

This year's challenge is to sort out the borders as I have lots of plants growing nicely in pots, seedlings starting to emerge, plug plants on order, and lots of lovely birthday garden vouchers to spend! I started on the side border by taking the plunge and stripping the conifer of all it's branches. It wasn't the most pleasing conifer I've seen, and wasn't really in the right place, so after fifteen minutes with a bowsaw the garden looked considerably bigger and brighter. I have left the 8 foot high stump in place and will probably grow a climber up it - maybe transplant the honeysuckle from further up the garden. After that I weeded the border between the conifer and the hydrangea, so there is now plenty of space for the thousands of foxglove seedlings to grow. Might need to thin those out perhaps.

I have made a start on the other side of the conifer, but am waiting for the kale to flower so that there is some food for early insects. After that (it won't take long) I shall take the main border by the path in hand; this contains various well-established grasses and a fern that predate my occupancy, as well as several things I have just bunged in to keep them alive. That's April's project.

The lawn needed some attention, so I gave it a quick scarify and removed a lot of dead grass. I don't think it was cut by the previous resident so there is a lot of stuff to remove. I will repeat in the autumn as that is the best time of year for doing it. I also transplanted a few daisies into the lawn because they're pretty!

In the lean-to I have been sowing various seeds: flat-leaved parsley, chives, garlic chives, Wisteria, nasturtiums, geraniums, Cercis, and Alexanders. Some are starting to germinate now, but it is still quite early. I have no idea which variety of Wisteria I took the seeds from, and they certainly won't come true, but it is a fun experiment.  Six of the Pink-spotted Hellebore seeds germinated and these have been successfully potted on. The remaining seed tray has been left outside to see if any more germinate - there are purple spotted too - so fingers crossed that they do as they are from beautiful varieties. I have also been taking cuttings of Hebes, Nepeta 'Six Hill's Giant', and a purple Tradescantia that has been failing indoors. Wrong compost I suspect. I bought the Nepeta completely forgetting that it was actually catnip, and left it outside the back door. Next morning I discovered it knocked over and damaged, so took cuttings from the damaged parts and moved the plant to a table top where it has been unmolested since.

In the flower garden, the primroses, crocuses, miniature daffodils and lungwort have been superb, and I have spotted huge bumblebees on the lungwort. Daisies, dandelions, hairy bittercress and sowthistle are also flowering. Not a great deal going on in the vegetable garden yet, although the autumn planted broad beans are flowering, and I have begun to harvest the purple-sprouting broccoli.

Another project is to create a beetle hedge out of dead wood, so will use the stripped branches from the conifer and the hydrangea prunings to get started. I will probably put it at the back of the wild flower border.

My friends have continued to be generous, and have given me a large rooted cutting of Rosa 'Brother Cadfael', a champagne rhubarb, Euphorbia seedlings, and an enormous (I can barely lift it now it's potted) Sanseveria for the house. Fantastic!

February Flowers and wildlife2021

Primroses

Yellow and purple crocuses

Dandelions

Daisies

Celandine

Lungwort

Rosemary

Hairy bittercress

Miniature daffodils

Snowdrop

Euphorbia x2 species

Red deadnettle

Wildlife:

Robins, sparrows, pigeons, blackbirds, starlings

Buzzards, mallards, herring gulls, and crows flying overhead

Slow-worm

Red ants and black ants

Woodlice

Yellow aphids

Slugs and snails (not many yet)

Wolf spiders

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