This weekend

Finally got in the garden a bit. Yesterday morning was a lovely crisp winter morning. The sun was nice and warm on my face though. Tidied the end of the bed by Joes and the hot bed. Cleared away the summer bedding, put a few tulips in, cut back the perennials and then mulched.

Most of the yellow and red tulips went into pots in the end though. The soil on the side by Joes is just too clay-y to put tulips in.

Cleared up some more leaves.

So just the cottage bed and the lawn to do now. Woke up this morning and there was a light covering of snow - so not really the weather for lawn care. Hopefully I'll get a chance next weekend.

Bonfire night

Bonfire night and we've people coming round to watch the fireworks. Unfortunetly its rather rainy. I want to get out and carry on clearing the garden up and plant the tulips but its wet and miserable and I'm so tired.

Daffs in pots

Planted the last of the daffodils today. Too hard to put them in the ground so they went in pots.
So that is all 20 of the sweetness ones in pots and the last 9 of the feb gold. I also put some crocuses bulb from last year in a hanging basket. This is to try and stop the squirrels from digging them up.

Still got the 200 tulips to go. Will just have to plant them a few at a time over the month.

Cleared up leaves from the back bed and have put in bags to make leaf mould. I guess I need to check on last years leaf mould at some point and put it round some plants. I think it would be best for the ferns. Maybe I'll keep it until spring and use it if I plant some more ferns (actually probably shouldn't plan to do any planting in spring!).

We drove to a garden centre in Enfield this morning. It wasn't as good for plants as the one I went to with mum and dad last year. I'll try a different one each time i go up there. It was massive and had lots of gardening stuff there. Got some manure and bulb compost.

Have now mulched the back bed with two bags of manure. There is a little bit not covered but I'll add the soil from the tomato grow bags at some point.

So the two new beds left to clear, plant bulbs in and mulch....

Snow in London in OCTOBER

For the first time since 1934 according to the radio.

Now I wish I'd brought the last two Deliah blooms into the house!

It finished the Cosmos off as well.

70 daffs in

The rain stopped and I got 70 daffs in along half the bed by Joes.
30 Jenny
41 Feb gold.

Its really hard getting into the ground. Its almost solid but very sticky clay. Couldn't use the bulb planted as the little one broken and the big one pretty useless the soil (clay) just got stuck in it and I can't get it out. The bulbs were huge so needed a big hole to be buried twice their height let alone three times. So dug big trenches and mixed in loads of homemade compost from composter and grit.

I was to tired to plant the last 9 Feb Gold so will buy a clay pot to plant them in.

Still got 20 of another sort (I've forgotten what they are called) plus most of the free bulbs to do. Hopefully I'll get time next weekend.

the lawn got pretty muddy where I was walking on it to do the planting. Need to do some autum lawn care next weekend as well. I hope its dry the weekend of bonfire night otherwise it will turn into a mud bath with people walking on it.

Its raining and the bulbs will have to wait

My daffodils arrive this week and today was planned to be the big bulb plant. Its pouring with rain though. I did try and plant some but its just to wet.

The end of the garden did need some rain I guess.

Thanks for the toms tip. I will put the soil along with compsot on the end of the garden. If I ever get out there again.

What to do with the soil from tomatoes with blight?

My tomatoes eventually got blight. I've burnt the plants but am not sure what to do with the soil from the grow bags which still has the roots of the plant in. Can I put it on the compost or over other parts of the garden.

I've started clearing bits of the garden but lots of it is still looking OK. The cosmos are doing wonderfully. Star plants of this year. I will definitely get lots more next year. The rose has also got new flowers on it that have just come out this week. And the fushias are all still doing well.

After a rainy miserable summer most of September and October haven't been to bad.

I've ordered all my bulbs now. The tulips are here but still waiting for the daffs.

Yesterday I started planting the free gardeners world bulbs in the back bed and some pots but didn't get very far. Where the xmas tree used to be I planted some Chinodoxa and Brodiaea. There are some puschkinia to go in there as well but I ran out of time and got to tired. I spread a think mulch over where I planted the bulbs and hope to continue with that over all the beds.

I've just found Brodiaea in my book and it needs light soil and full sun and shelter from strong winds so i don't now give it much hope where I've planted it. It should come up May - July.

The puschkina along the front of the bed will be much more suitable. Needs to be planted september / October (I'll do it next week) and comes up March-April.

Narcissus

I've order a few narcissus today:
Sweetness - 14inch march
Feb Gold - 12inch feb
Jenny - 15inch white.

I want the garden to be full of colour in March and so I selected ones that would flower early. I'll get them in the garden by the end of the month.

I ordered 200 assorted bulbs from gardeners world/T&M last week.

So just need to order some tulips now.

And then I will stop!

I'm trying to leave the back bed i planed lots of snowdrops and bluebells there last year, not all of which came up. I'm hoping they do this year so I'll avoid disturbing it to much.

The garden still looks pretty lush and colourful from where I look out of the window at it. Its certainly been getting a lot of rain. The rudbeckia are still the stars of the show with the cosmos a close second.

Somethings up with the toms though. They are all wilting round the bottom. Must investigate.

End of August

Yesterday was a lovely sunny typical August day and I sat in the garden and enjoyed it.

I did a bit of neatening up here and there but actually it was all looking OK after last weeks tidy up. I picked lots and lots of tomatoes that became lasagna and soup and planted some more salad leaves.

Today it is once again raining.

The plan to stop spending on plants is in a precarious position at the moment a the bulb catalogues have started to arrive and I think I just need a few more to go in the new flower beds.

Out in the garden at last!

Today we finally did some proper gardening! It was the first time we've been out properly since before we went away in July. I tidied up the beds, cut back lots of the perennials that had finished, cut the edges of the grass and pulled out all the grass that had grown in the beds. Mr L planted the last few plants that we hadn't done before - a penstemon, the astrantia (shaggy) plants and the ground cover we bought at Hampton.

The soil at the end of the garden is really dry despite the amount of rain we've had. I guess it has a tree canopy to cover it. Yet in the winter it gets all the water come down off the park but that just doesn't seem to happen in the summer. The ferns don't look that happy. I need to think of some other plants that like shade and not much liquid.

I've finally got some sweet peas growing up the pergola. Considering the amount of seeds I planted its not many but at least its some. And actually they are from the two little plants I bought. The passion flower is doing pretty well up the other plant support though. Actually that bed, considering it was a lot of things thrown together, looks pretty good and well thought out. This winter I need to move the horse tail as it gets lost where it is. I'll put it by the fence near the shrub. And then decide whether the cadix and other grass I got can be split to start filling that bed out a bit more. The hostas got completely decimated by slugs whilst we were away. Two of them have been eaten all up. If I'm still planning to have a hosta bed it might be better to take them out and put them in pots! Or to have a re-think about what to put round the edge of that bed. We both really like lambs ear so maybe lots of that - just need to check it's OK in shade.

The rudbeckia in the hot bed looks amazing. The dahlias still haven't come out. I now think that bed doesn't get nearly as much sun as I thought. I cut back the lupins and poppies from the front that had finished and it looks a bit bear along the front. That is the one bed I will add some more things in next year - I want to add some red achillea. There is much more yellow in that bed and not much red. Especially as the red lupins actually came up pink. Maybe I'll move them to the cottage bed.

Mr L also got busy with the compost bins. The one at the far back hadn't been turned at all as I couldn't reach into it. So I'd started using the nearer one again. So he emptied everything out of both of them mixed it and created a new system which means it should be easier to get compost out of both. The further one is now full of almost ready and turned compost and the nearer one is ready to add lots more lovely stuff to. I cleared so much up today we added about another 4 trug loads.

So left to do is the mowing which will hopefully be done this week and finish the garden off nicely. Next weekend I need to feed the plants and lawn and think about taking some cuttings. Plus I need to sow some more salad leaves. I lost all the lettuces whilst I was away and the salad leaves all went to seed. The tomatoes are booming though. We've already had lots off and there are still plenty more!

The tomoatoes have gone mad!!

Well, its been ages since I blogged or really went out in the garden. After a two week holiday it was all looking a bit overgrown and wild, especially the tomato plants. So today I've finally manged to spend an hour or two tidying up the tomato's and most importantly harvesting some! So home made tomato pasta sauce for tea - delicious!

Have learnt lots for next year re toms though. I must be more religious about nipping out the extra growth and space them a bit further apart. This year we've mainly got cherry tomatoes but next year I'll try some bigger ones as well.

And once the lawn had been mown it all looked a lot neater. Looking forward to next weekend and spending some proper time out there tidying it all up and planting the last few things that I still haven't got round to doing!

Beautiful

The garden looks amazing now. The campanula in the cottage bed has really made that bed and it looks great. The penstemon is just about out and the pinks look fab. I've been cutting them and bringing them into the house. The foxgloves and lupins are almost over. I need to cut the lupins back for a hopeful second flush. Still waiting for the lilies and something at the front (which I've forgotten what it is!)

The hot bed is beginning to blossom. The coreopis and helenium have come out. The redbukia will be along later and since the great slug die weekend the deliahs have been able to get above ground.

Some more plants arrived from crocus last week. The last I'm buying this year (honest - well except for some bulbs!) I haven't had time to plant them though which is a bit worrying. It had been hot all week and I'd been out there watering them everyday. I was planning to do it today but its windy, cold and raining and I'm not so keen on going out!

I got some of the shaggy plants I loved from Tom Stuart Smiths Chelsea garden. They are a type of astrantia. I also got a couple more penstemon for the cottage bad and a white hydrangea for the shady bed near the house and another hosta.

The tubs out the front and the hanging baskets are all looking good so I'm pleased with them too. I'm now worrying about watering when I'm away.

Windy weekend

Its been REALLY windy this weekend. yesterday was rainy too but i went to my nans rather than go outside in the garden. She has some huge ferns which she wasn't to keen on - the kids call it the jungle! But lots of roses as well. Quite pleased that i can now name a lot of common garden plants. I couldn't fine her camilla though. I think I know what the flowers look like but not so sure about the leaves.

Today we did a little bit in our own garden. I planted the last of the hanging baskets with petunias. Mr L watered and fed the flower beds and the lawn and the tomatoes. I tied the clementis on the back fence up a bit. Its taken a real battering in the wind and didn't look too happy in its spot at all. In general the back bed is looking OK. the ferns are beginning to fill out - even if they aren't at nan's proportions yet. The 2 nicotiana from last year have grown with avengence. So they were perennial after all. they were almost completely bent over this afternoon though in the wind. not happy at all. I thought about staking them, but I'll see how they look when the wind stops. The lilies have a few beetle holes but they are generally OK and its not got worse since i went on pest control and killed a couple of beetles. The laurel trees seem to be doing OK as well. The green netting i put up really does provide some shelter from the wind at a low level. Also it is protecting that bed from the wild grasses and meadow that is now behind it in the park. A few brambles were trying to climb their way in. I could do with going into the field and cutting them back if i get a chance. Some people further down the road got into trouble for mowing the grasses in the field though as its meant to be kept as a wild meadow.

The plants in the two main flower beds were getting a bit of a beating from the wind as well. I thought of doing some more staking but didn't in case it breaks the stems. The campanula in the cottage bed is coming out. One Delphinium got broken but I've got that in a vase in the house now so that's OK. There is a rouge red geranium in that bed that will need moving but i have a spare pink one from an old hanging basket to replace it.

In the hot bed a few things are beginning to come out. There is pink lupin which is meant to be red! The daliahs are beginning to come above ground now that the slug population has been seriously reduced. The popies come out but only last a day or two befine they get rain / sun / wind damaged.

The new mower is fab. It was definitely worth buying. Mr L mowed the grass earlier and none went in the flower beds. It also cuts the edges a treat. So it was worth getting.

windy day

Its been threatening to rain for about 4 days but hasn't managed it. Today it came very close and spitted a bit - but not enough to water the plants. I gave the toms some water anyway. It is really windy though - just when the plants started getting taller!

Planted the three fuchsia tubs today and put the last of the red geraniums in the hot bed.

There are a few gaps still but now I'm really trying not to buy anything else till next year (or the autumn at least). The gaps will just have to stay there for now.

We've been eating lettuce and salad leaves from the garden for a couple of weeks now as well as the herbs. The tom plants have some flowers now and got their first feed last weekend. The strawberry plant has some almost ripe strawberries so has now been covered with some netting. The strawberry planter seems to dry out very quickly though. In fact i've just eaten my first strawberry from the garden. Wow.

The cottage bed is definitely coming alive. There is a rogue red geranium in there though that I might just have to move.

The table is due to arrive on Thursday - really looking forward to seeing it!

Ant and blackfly control

Last weekend we had to start controlling some naughty little creatures that were eating my flowers. There were a couple of plants in the cottage border with blackfly so had to give them a bit of a spray. We've always had ants and I've always let them get on with their own thing even though they have nipped my ankles. However at the weekend i noticed they had practically killed one plant by having a nest underneath it. Also they were beginning to make quite a few mounds in the lawn so they also got a blast of any killer at the weekend.

The slugs are beginning to take over. No matter how many I throw into the bowl of beer there seem to be more and more and they seem to be getting a taste for more and more things. THis weekend the slugs will get it.

Photos are of the beds that are really filling out and there are bits of colour in their now. The hot bed isn't that hot yet though. The coreopis doesn't seem very happy as the leaves have gone wrinkly. The red hot poker came out but then lost all its colour and looked a bit washed out. The poppy came out and then the rain last week turned it into a black mush. There are the orange marigolds there which at the moment is the only colour in that bed.

The bed on the other side (still needs a name) was still a bit bare for my liking. I bought some more heuchera at the weekend. The garden centre had osteospermum which I love. I was trying to work out where I could fit them in. So rather than buying the pink ones I got some in orange and gold to go in with the heuchera. I think they are just annuals although i think the pink ones they had are perennials - so maybe some of those will find their way to my garden at some point. They are sitting in position waiting for me to plant them.

Pirton Open Gardens

Some lovely gardens again. Mum and dads the best of course. Especially the bonsai trees..

The other gardens weren't as in full bloom as much as last year. Didn't take as many pictures as last year. Had a lovely bit of cake though (thanks K).

My friends down the road had a garden market which was a great idea. Bought some Chinese bowls to put little plants in. And met lovely baby Rose.

The weather was great and all 700 programmes were sold. It certainly felt very busy for Pirton!

Behind?

Although my garden is growing it does seem to be behind other gardens in the area and the magazines. Maybe its because its the first year?

I was away at the weekend again so nothing much has been done. I've been outside for the odd hour or two after work, mainly to pick snails and slugs off the plants. They are beginning to take over.

It's been raining quite a lot of the last couple of weeks but been relatively warm as well. The plants for the fushia pots have arrived so i need to plant them up at the weekend.

Bank holiday weekend 2

We were away this weekend and visited our friends allotment and helped them plant some tomatoes.

On Monday it finally rained after a week of not doing so. And it rained and rained. Wearing my Glastonbury cagoule I managed to plant out some of the bedding - nicotina and pertunias and some of the cosmos.

The foxgloves have started to come out and everything else really seems to be growing.

Chelsea was fab

Read Tams review of the day.

I'll get some of my favourite pics up at some point.

My favourite gardens were:
The Laurent Perrier garden by Tom Stuart-Smith. It won best in show. It had the greatest trees. Plus i got some really good ideas for planting my side and back bed.
The Cancer Research garden by Andy Sturgeon. I liked the pools and the tree ferns.
The daily Telegraph garden by Arabella. The Japanese pool with the line of lillies was inspired. As was the mirror and slate behind the bamboo.

Oh and Cleve's garden. I liked his planting, the big ball and the path.

I liked the elevations garden because the planting was quite different to most of the others.

We saw lots of:
Iris's - which i don't have yet - but plan to get
Green and white - my fern bed is SO on trend
Aquilegia - I love it. There will be more in my garden. I saw all the ones I've already got in show gardens as well.
Heuchera - I may be unable to say the word but my garden is bang on trend

I managed not to buy any thing other than pimms but I do have lots more great ideas.

Dreaming of my design for Chelsea now - one day.

The day before Chelsea

And here is my garden...

Plus my first salad leaves

Pictures of the new bed..

and one of the barby.

The pictures aren't the best as it was so sunny. I'll take more in the week.

The sun is still shining

It has been a glorious week of sunshine and a lovely weekend. On Saturday I planted up the bed on the left of the garden. The bit near the house is in the shade most of the day but the bed gets sunnier the further up you go. I didn't want anything to over the top as that's what the sunny beds are for! The bit near the house had the phorium before but that has died since being moved. I've got 5 hostas on order for there. Then it goes to the bit where the grasses were. I didn't like them as it was too much of the same but now that there is bed in front and we've covered bits up so it is less uniform I've decided to go with the grass theme. So I've got some different grasses to go there. As we move up to the beginning of the (newly painted) fence I was going to get another phornium but then I saw some Cordyline at the garden center. When I went to buy it on Saturday I ended up getting a much smaller (and cheaper) one - it will grow. Then there is the photina "red robin" which is a bit of a funny shape because it used to get overgrown with the lavetera. Now the lavatera is dead the photina will get a chance to grow and I'll start shaping it next year. This is the point wher ethe bed starts getting a lot more sun and I've a sweetpea wigwam and planted some Daliah tubers. Then the bed ends with the lovely silvery shrub. At the front of this bed I've planted 5 Elijah Blue" and 2 Heuchera "coral". I read today though that Elijah Blue are meant to be in acid soil so I don't know how well they will do. There is also a Euphorbia here as well. Going back along the border into the shade are 3 more heuchera; 2 in lime green and 1 in purple. Then you get to the new grasses. I was going to get Carex frosted curls but they needed sun so I got a carex "milk chocolate" and a carex "northern lights" plus a chondspopetall tecturum (need to confirm that spelling!).

On Saturday we also put manure on the new bed by the house and dug it over. I'd like it to be a veg patch but most of it doesn't get enough sun. A bit does though and I'll put the tomatoes there. We also moved some other pots and containers (including the Japanese maple) onto the patch so it doesn't look bare. So that freed up the patio in front of the shed for the table, chairs and the barby. The new table and chairs will go on the slate patio at the end of the garden. They should arrive in July (by which time summer will probably be over!).

I also cut the lawn and trimmed teh edges. Our mower has broken. I think its just the blade but have been having problems finding a new one. In homebase on Friday I bought one that was far too large in a desperate bid to do something other than buy a whole new lawn mowe (wich is what I really wanted - one with a roller that does stripes!). Anyway on Saturday I actually borrowed the neighbours flymo. It annoys me that grass clippings go in the beds. But what I'm not sure about is whether all mowers do that or just flymos. If a normal electric rotary mower didn't shower the beds with grass then I might get a new one. Although I have promised D that I won't buy anything else for a while.

Sunday we relaxed, ate b-b-q, drunk Pimms and generally enjoyed the garden. Lovely.

Today I spoke to P and found out I need to water garden every day. So I'll try and get up 10 minutes early in the morning. Today I left work on time and despite waiting 20 minutes for the bus was still home well before 7 and had a good 90 minutes in the garden. I gave the beds a liquid feed as well as watering them with the sprinkler. I'd been meaning to do that for ages, ever since the tulips started dying back. I also feed the lawn with a lawn liquid feed. I'll try and do that every two weeks for a couple of months to try and get it looking nice.

May bank holiday

It was a lovely sunny bank holiday weekend.
I painted the fence and did some weeding. There are millions of little ash trees in the back beds.

daz made the new storage shed to go behind the shed so I was able to clear out loads from the shed which means I can now use it as a potting shed rather than a storage cupboard. we also tidied up the back area.

There are flowers and colour popping up everywhere. I've been cutting quite a lot of the tulips to bring into the house. The bed by the house has had a good succession of three different types. The other bed is definitely to crowded. I'm not sure the alliums will be able to grow properly. What I'm not sure about is whether I should lift the`tulips now and store them somewhere or move them next Autumn.

There are also lots of slugs about and I've started waging a war on them. They completely eat a delphinium plant.

Look at this little white flower - how pretty is that? I found that hiding away.