June 3, 2011

Last minute activites

Posted by Barhi under Gardeners Diary | Tags: |
[2] Comments 

This weekend is our opening under the National Gardens Scheme.  The garden is looking great and almost ready for our visitors.  There are just a few last minute things left to be done.

I’ve filled in the holes in the planting and cleared the paths of most of the plants that have billowed out of the beds.  Obviously there will be dead heading and sweeping of the paths to do again a good few times before the gate is opened to visitors. 

Fortunatly visitors realise that they are coming into a real garden, and to be honest that is the reason that most people seem to come.  This is not a show garden a la Chelsea.  We can’t force or hold back plants to make sure that they are looking perfect on the day.  I don’t plant only for the day, I choose plants that I want to grow – which is a very good thing as each year the weather means that some plants are at their best at different times.  This year, most of the plants are about three to four weeks ahead of last year. 

While there are some flowers in the garden, this year I would have to agree with our NGS County Organiser’s comment when she visited this morning – the garden is a “Symphony in Green”.

As usual, the dogs will be in attendance to welcome our visitors over the weekend.  We will even have a few more as some of our helpers are bringing theirs.

 

April 5, 2011

Early Spring?

Posted by Barhi under Gardeners Diary | Tags: , , |
Leave a Comment 

For some time now I have felt that Spring was early this year – I suppose it makes sense as we had our snow two months earlier than we would normally expect, and there was much more of it this year, so the plants really believe that they have had a winter.

Amelanchier - Apr 2011

I now have my confirmation that Spring is earlier this time around.  Last year the Amelanchier (Snowy Mespilus) was in flower in May – over a month later than in 2011.  It only flowers very fleetingly – within a week, those beautiful snowy white flowers drop to the ground to allow the wonderful bronzy leaves to take over the show.

Magnolia - Apr 2011

The Magnolia isn’t quite into full flower yet, but the Garden Introductory video taken almost exactly the same day a year ago showed absolutely no sign of flower then, and just look at it now.  In fact the whole garden is so much further ahead than it was when I made that video. 

The interesting thing will be what is in flower when we open under the NGS in early June.  Luckily the garden is designed to have a succession of plants in flower rather than peaking at one particular moment, so there is bound to be loads looking really wonderful when the weekend arrives.

 

January 16, 2011

Garden Catalogues can cause Quandaries

Posted by Barhi under Gardeners Diary | Tags: , , |
[2] Comments 

The gardening catalogues are coming through the door thick and fast and leaving me in a quandary. I buy very few annuals as I have so many perennials in the garden, but I do like to have some cosmos to fill in any gaps that might show, these are particularly important for my NGS opening day. They are certainly cheaper bought from the catalogues, but if the delivery is delayed by the weather, as it was last year, then they have virtually no time to establish before the big day.   Last year, I was so worried that they might not arrive in time that I went out and bought some from a garden centre. The plants there were much bigger than those that eventually arrived in the post, and when I went to buy, I knew how many I needed to fill gaps. Buying now, I have absolutely no idea what I might need, and usually end up giving quite a few away.  Still there is a certainty that the plants will arrive at some point when you have bought them by mail order and that is much better than not having them at all, so on balance I think I will end up doing what I usually do and buy them now via mail order and supplement from the garden centre if necessary.

Home grown tomatoes taste spectacular straight from the vine

The other thing that struck me when looking at the catalogues is how main stream vegetables have become.  There may be plenty of reasons for this from the economic conditions to people wanting to reduce food miles or maybe even that more and more people are realising how much better vegetables taste when prepared minutes after they have been picked.  No longer does one find just page after page of seeds (but they are still there and loads of new varieties).  More and more it is possible for those of us who do not have the best of luck germinating seeds to buy plug or garden ready plants.  Garden centres are just starting to get into this market, but it is here that the catalogues really excel.  The choice is not as wide as for seeds, but they have chosen those varieties that easiest for novices to grow.   I am really happy growing my tomatoes and since I grow in pots due to the dogs, don’t have a lot more space available, but I am really tempted to give peas a try.

What ever you decide to buy for your garden this year – I wish you the best of growing weather and pleasure from your endeavours.

 

« Previous Page — Next Page »