Month: November 2008

I recently returned from a week in Lanzarote. While there I had a wonderfull visit with club member Lanzaroteflora. I was amazed at the garden that Trish and Frank have created under quite extreme conditions. They run a B&B and its a tranquil, floral haven. Check my photos page and www.casacladdagh.com
Gorgeous exotic planting

Gorgeous exotic planting

The sun rising on a misty morning behind the Ash tree.  All the leaves are gone, just loads of keys hanging from the branches. This is the only Ash tree I have and it was dug up as a small seedling from a neighbours garden years ago.

Sunrise on Monday 3rd November

Sunrise on Monday 3rd November

Been off the register for a while so hav’nt posted much over the past few months. Well veg went ok for the first try, my spuds were grand a little on the small side but no blight (was not organic and sprayed I’m afraid). My tomatoes were prolific had too much really had six plants and all still going! Also grew peppers in the greenhouse went well still going now. Grew mostly tender plants in the greenhouse this year, grew 2 brugmansias from lidl and they grey from 8" to 8ft in a couple of months.

Had a few strawberries and raspberries but fruit is more long term investment. Peas grew quite well after protecting from the rabbits, carrots did poorly as I’d manured the ground beforhand and thats a no no so all forked on me, but will definitly do next year. Sweetcorn grew well but did not get the weather to ripen and maybe a little too much work and space for no reward. Onions and shallots did ok and have a medium crop. Lettuce did well the green went over very quickly but the purple cos lasted ages.

I planted up two more areas and have put up the pictures, need to mulch soon with bark there a little overplanted as I felt that it was better to get plants in the ground than to leave in pots so I’ll be digging up plenty in the next couple of years. 

I also have a lot of work to do over the winter. I use spray too would like the time and energy to be organic but with three young kids to look after it is’nt practical at the minute and with the garden so young it’s hard to keep on top of things.

Summer produce Update

Summer produce Update

 

Have’nt done any planning for next year as I’m still getting on with jobs for this year getting a big load of bark mulch soon that’ll have to be spread. Also clearing grass and spraying my 120ft french drain at the back so it functions properly in the winter. Currently weeding around my hedging in preparation for the mulch. I have to cut circles around 100 trees and mulch as well but I’m trying not to think about it!

I’m not sure about what to do with the melianthus major, I do get frost here but so tempted to leave it out with a good wrapping of straw and fleece to see how it gets on. I also have a euphorbia melifera treated the same way and a salvia involocrata which is mulched over with a baby or two for safely growing in the greenhouse. It’s always good to try plants outside that are borderline, although this can be sometimes expensive.

On a major seed saving and planting session as with the credit crunch I really want to save money on plants by raising from seed or division. Have collected Ricinus, Agapanthus, zantadescia, aconitum, arum italicum and lots of different grasses so will see what is sucessful.

Invested in a lawn tractor which is the business and also has a small trailer with it which is very handy for jobs round the garden the slope here is severe in places so any help pushing things uphill are very welcome.

Current Nov News

Current Nov News

 

Don’t these crab apples look funny on the two trees. They don’t seem to want to come off either as they hold tight when I shake the tree.

Better get them into jam soon regardless as frost is setting in.

Crab Apples

Crab Apples

Last year my amelanchier canadensis was the autumn show stopper. This year it has come and gone without even being noticed – that’s it in the far left corner of the photo.

The Cherry Blossom tree is still looking fabulous however.

Autumn Colour

Autumn Colour

I had to put this funny photo in. A few years ago I planted three photinias, of equal height, to camouflage the heating oil yoke – two in front and one beside it.
 
One of the two photinias in front of the heating oil was always being knocked as we used to run the hose up the bank beside it to the raised vegetable beds in the garden above. The hose was always breaking off branches when it got yanked from above.
 

The result is two fine bushy photinias on either side and a most sorry looking specimen in the middle. The hose doesn’t get put beside it any more so maybe it’ll take off. Does anyone know the best time to trim Photinia? After the red leaf colour fades?

Photinias

Photinias

Its nice to be able to wander around the garden on a sunny November morning and come back in with a little bouquet.  The pickings were slim but I did find the last of the Asters, some Virburnum just starting to burst into flower, a little bit of Echinops that hadn’t gone brown yet, some Sedum and plenty of greenery, including variegated sage and Lonicera.
A Brave little Bouquet!

A Brave little Bouquet!

I keep this Bay tree up against a south facing wall. It is just outside the back door so I can pull off a leaf for the stew!
3 year old Bay tree grown from a slip.

3 year old Bay tree grown from a slip.

I have to admit that I had grown completely frustrated with the front garden.  No matter how often I weed it, it never looks like a well-tended garden.   The couch grass is the predominant pest and I have lost my patience.  And so the plan was put into action today!

And today was a very productive day.  David, a local gardener, was here for the day and he started to dig up all of the plants from the front garden.  The plan is to take stock of what I plants have and make a plan for the front garden.  It had become completely overgrown with couch grass and creeping buttercup. Then I need to spray the weeds that are left so that I can have a far better chance of keeping on top of the weeds.

Who knew I had so many plants?  He was coming down to the veg garden, which is now half full of the front garden plants, with barrow loads of plants some of which I didn’t recognise or remember.  The light dissappeared on us so I didn’t get the chance to look at what might be left in the front that still might be used or loved before the spray can comes out.

I spent about half of the day weeding the second half of the cutting patch to receive the nomadic plants.  I was determined to finish eventhough I could hardly see what was a weed and what was not.

A truly satisfying day.

Veg beds full of plants

Veg beds full of plants

I just love the shape of the branches on this tree. It will look better when all the leaves come off.
Twisted Hazel tree

Twisted Hazel tree

I’ve decided to get rid of most of my Crocosmia Lucifer. Its fiery red flowers clash with most of its neighbours, especially anything pink!  I like its foliage and sometimes I’ve even resorted to removing its offending petals but now I think I’ll get rid of it altogether except in the darker corners of the garden. Easier said than done!  Its corms on top of corms form solid masses in the soil and make it very difficult to eradicate – I’ve spent several hours at it. Now I’m just about finished and ready to plant up the resulting gaps with more refined plants!

Elsewhere in the garden, ornamental grasses, that seed freely, look great in the winter sunshine making me very reluctant to cut them back or remove them just yet anyway. The seed heads of Stipa  gigantica (  I have two of them ) also look great in winter in the weak sunshine and they divide easily.

Yesterday I managed to break my spade trying to dig up and divide a huge stubborn clump of  Hemerocallis. It probably had a death wish after its encounters with the Crocosmia  earlier in the week! Bye for now!

Grasses and broken spade.

Grasses and broken spade.

I collected my copper beech hedging yesterday and finished planting it this morning. The new plants are taller and stronger that the existing ones, despite their having been planted more than a year ago!

I decided to put down a plastic membrane to keep the weeds off and started with a piece that I had left over from another job.

It seemed impossible at first – trying to work out where to cut on such a long strip whilst simultaneously trying to ensure the whole thing didn’t take off in the wind. I managed it in the end and then put stones on top. I’ll have to get some bark mulch now as it looks quite ugly with the stones on top. I hope the holes I cut are big enough!

Beexh/Copper Beech Hedge

Beexh/Copper Beech Hedge

This Thujopsis is a conifer. It has creamy patches on some of the branches and it looks good in a winter arrangement. I have trimmed the top and sides as it was spreading too near the Japanese Maple.
Thujopsis

Thujopsis

I was glad to get this rooted Japanese Anemone off another gardening friend as I only have the pale pink one. I’d say it came into flower as it was in the greenhouse. They do spread around quite a lot so I will be carefull where I put it. The plum colour of the Pittosporum ‘Tom Thumb’ really shows of its whiteness.

White Japanese Anemone

White Japanese Anemone

I finally got around to dividing my persicaria. Thanks to everyone who gave me tips on doing so. I really appreciate all the advice I can get and this site is great for getting to know and hear from all you fellow gardeners. There is so much persicaria on my existing hill that I don’t think the ones I took will even be noticed. I kind of dug up chunks. It roots very shallowly, which was just as well for where it was to be planted.

The hill in the photo is my Daffodil Hill – so named since I covered it in daffodil bulbs two autumns ago. It looks great in spring but is a mess the rest of the time. Up above is  the part of the garden which is uncultivated. The soil on Daffodil Hill is top soil and rubble from next-door’s garden (don’t ask) so it is very hard to dig any depth as I keep encountering lumps of concrete. My daffodils are probably not planted deep enough and today, when I was planting the persicaria, I did slice a few daffodils in half by mistake. The problem is I am trying to re-use the same bits of "good soil" for the persicaria as were used for the bulbs!

Anyway, all is planted now. I hope the daffodils will still manage to push through the persicaria matt, when/if it gets going.

See my lovely 10ft bamboo – it’s doing great. But it is completely wasted in that spot. I wonder can I move it…

Daffodil Hill

Daffodil Hill

My Agave is about to open a new leaf/spike.

I’ve noticed that before it does this the central spike leans progressively to one side – like it’s doing now. The first time I saw this I though it was sick.

Anyway, following the leaning, the claws release the central spike and it pops up straight again. The new leaf/spike continues on down gradually until it’s quite horizontal.

Such a great plant but its claws are savage!

Agave Americana

Agave Americana

I was astonished today to spot a splash of red in my otherwise-drab garden.

Going out to investigate, I found that it was due to this rogue poppy. It really cheered me up with its presumptuousness.

This is the perennial poppy, whose seed is up for swaps under "Seed Exchange", if anyone is interested.

Rogue Poppy

Rogue Poppy

The Hypericum Hidcote hedge has a brave smattering of flowers.

It is planted along one side of the garden on top of a hill and is seven years old – the first thing planted in our garden.

It is a great hedge, mostly evergreen, needs no trimming and glorious when in full flower. The individual plants haven’t quite met up yet but I hope they will eventually.

The biggest specimens are about 4 ft heigh and wide, which isn’t bad since they weren’t weeded at all for the first few years. The smallest one is about 2 ft but it had to battle brambles and other weeds for years and still managed to survive.

I would whole heartedly recommend this as a low maintenance hedge.

Hypericum Hedge

Hypericum Hedge

 

This is my indoor collection.

It has to move over soon for the Christmas tree. I’m trying to work out where on earth I will put it!

House Plants

House Plants

My recently purchased Gardenia opened today.

What a delight – the scent is fabulous.

It takes up the "scent baton", in my kitchen, from the single hyacinth-in-a-cup, which is on the way out.

Gardenia

Gardenia

This is my wiggly Lonicera hedge which I clipped today. I don’t think I have ever trimmed it in November before, but it was untidy looking. In the spring and summer this hedge needs trimming nearly every week to keep it neat.
Wiggly Lonicera hedge

Wiggly Lonicera hedge

what a sight this morning! grabbed my wellies and camera to take some photos of frosted garden. hope you like them i nearly frooze to death!
winter wonderland

winter wonderland

I adore autumn colour but don’t have enough of it. This small apple blossom tree is quite nice.

In the spring I plan to plant a liquidamber, in memory of my late mother. She was a great gardener and would have liked that choice, I feel sure.

Autumn Colour

Autumn Colour

I am hoping to really concentrate on having a  productive garden this year.  The only thing in the veg patch to harvest right now is welsh onions and the only reason they are there is that they are perennial and seem to thrive on neglect!  I had dreamed of harvesting leeks and parsnips and carrots and cabbage at this time of year but other things, namely a toddler, meant I didn’t quite get out to the garden as much as I would have liked.  Every time I brought him out he went straight for the big kids slide and gave me heart failure.  So I have had to accept garden failure instead for a while.  But that is about to change thanks to a creche and a renewed determination.  I have started a course in Organic Horticulture so now when I disappear outside I also have the excuse that I am studying.  I’m laying out some new fruit and veg beds as the old one was too close to the hedge and the veg had to compete with increasingly invasive tree roots.  I’m also planning to make some biodegradble holly wreaths for Christmas.  I really don’t like all that Foam. Maybe I could even sell them at a Farmers market or something.  Now that really would be productive.
Welsh onions in October

Welsh onions in October