December 2005
The picture this month was taken in my parents garden last Christmas - the snow was soon gone. We have had snow and sharp frosts here for a few days but tonight as the Bath Christmas Market opens it is drenching grey rain. And as I pick up this diary entry on a Saturday morning it is raining again - there will be no gardening today.

Some trees are now bare, the frost having given them their call to action, the Toona's huge leaves all sheared off in one go leaving shield shaped scars pocking the stems. Others are clinging to their leaves, in the park there is still some trees all golds and flaming oranges.

The catalogues and seed lists are coming in thick and fast, the RHS seed list seems to have less interesting stuff on it and the Hardy Plant list is shorter than 'normal' but it was as noted, a late ripening year for some seeds at least. I have invested in a somewhat expensive packet of show auricula seed from Barnhaven which have been sown and snugly watered into the gravel pot topping - I have yet to see all the plants flower from Barnhaven garden and double auricula seed sown 2 years ago - slow gardening! It's all change at Chiltern too including the layout which has been loosened up - 'fings ain't wot they used to be .......'

Thank you and greetings to everyone who has corresponded with me over the year - here's to good gardening in 2006!

[03/12/2005]

November 2005
Yesterday a double rainbow over Bath, today in Bristol an almighty 'kaboom' of a lightning strike out of nowhere at 5:20pm - no rumbles before or after - a massive electrical eruption, sky and earth meeting! [turns out the Bristol Royal Infirmary was hit]

The weather is 'unseasonably' warm and very moist, the tender plants are starting to look hangdog and rot miserably. There is nowhere to store the large heliotropes overwinter, sadly, so I have taken cuttings and am rooting them in water which they seem to do quite willingly.

Rats and mice are trying to take up residence in the shed and compost heap in the village garden, I shall have to turn the heap I think, to discourage residents. There are no hedgehogs they seem to have become suburban creatures or perhaps in the country they are there but they have more space to roam unseen.

[The camellia pictured is] Camellia sasanqua 'Narumigata', autumn flowering and scented, which makes it unusual. I have also taken satisfaction in the development of plump buds through summer and autumn on the spring flowering camellias, I can already tell who will perform next year [vine weevils permitting!].

First bulbs are potted-up, I ordered from Avon Bulbs, including their recommended Tulip, 'Snow Parrot' , great write up so had better be worth it [didn't think much of 'Black Hero' this year which got rave reviews - not bought from Avon I must add] ! Also Muscari muscarimi which are recognisably muscari but greeny/golden and scented, the bulbs are huge compared to the more familiar muscari. Most of the old fashioned daffs were already sold out which was a shame, I understand new stocks of very old cultivars are now coming from Holland so may become more widely available again just like 'Rip Van Winkle' and 'Van Sion' now are - having been real rarities in the 1980's.

PS: The more ephemeral parks department bedding schemes were retired last week - beds are now bare earth waiting for the winter to spring plantings-out. Bristol you did much better than last year with the bits I saw, especially College Green - you may yet give Bath a run for their money next year?!

[03/11/2005]

October 2005
The season of green tomato chutney is upon us, the day is bright and sunny, doors and windows can be flung open, but however airy, the tang of boiling vinegar will still cling to the house for days to come. Tomato Peacevine from the HDRA seed distribution is tastier than Aunt Martha and seems to have a better ability to deal with stress [underwatering] and blight - it also has more flavour and texture to it.

The summer inertia is clearing, plants and shrubs are now going on the move around the gardens, I have been grateful for the rain this week. Last weekend despite some heavy downpours the soil was still fairly dry and hard to work just under the surface.

The disaster area this year has been the Red Bed - the soil needs improvement and many of the Crocosmias, Achillea and Helenium have given up the battle with bone-hard clay soil. Some of the Oriental poppies have to go even though they perform well as they leave a gap that is hard to fill - Nasturtium Empress of India refused to oblige this summer. In another area the shrubs are now maturing, swamping the perennials, borders will need to be expanded and plants moved forward as I don't just want shrubs. I suspect the Coronilla is not going to make it through to the spring, it is looking sparse even though I can see flower buds forming and this will create some extra space in the border too.

Update on Fig Jam: not entirely sure I like the cloves the recipe called for, it seems to dominate the flavour and reminds me of the old Beechams Powders which also had clove in them.

The Woottens October sale email is tempting me, The Great Western Gladiolus catalogue arrived this morning as did my order acknowledgment from Avon Bulbs - busy, busy planning for next year!

[01/10/2005]

September 2005
Yet again time has flown - where did August go? It certainly went out with a bang. Wednesday 31st was in itself an odd day, there was a strange feeling in the air. In late afternoon some huge thunderstorms moved in mainly to the east of Bristol [where I was at the time]. In the village garden there was apparently a loud crack around 6:30pm and the chimney pot was blown apart with large bits of stonework landing in the garden. A television cable which ran through the plaster in a room upstairs was blown out and plaster scattered all round the room. Fortunately the only casualty was the toolstore which took the brunt of a large chunk of masonry.

The figs have been ripening with alacrity and I have made fig jam for the first time, a rich ruby colour, I have yet to taste the jar matured product. The few mulberries this year were whipped by the birds, there are only two apples on the small Worcester Pearmain and no hazel nuts at all on the Purple Hazel.

The village veg patch has yielded a crop of beans and misticanza lettuces. The sweetcorn went in late and although it grew sturdily did not produce cobs only tassels, these have been composted and the cucumber has been allowed to run riot. Tomatoes slow to ripen again this year, 'Aunt Martha' fairly tasteless and 'pappy' from pot grown Bath garden but a little tastier from the village garden grow bag.

[My picture this month] shows the startled flight of Cyclamen hederifolium [white form] flowers which for many gardeners heralds the autumn season.

The scent of wetted earth and tarmac being carried around the house on the cooling and increasingly vigorous breeze proclaims that the expected showers have arrived.


[04/09/2005]

August 2005
Drought was predicted for this summer and I suppose we could yet have a warm still and rainless period as we drift towards Autumn. The past few days have been rainy which has suited me and the toads. I have seen two of the females who I have to usher out of the dining room from time to time but the rusty coloured males have not been around recently.

Digging the tiny vegetable patch in the village garden demonstrated that in the hard clay earth the rain despite its intensity has not penetrated that deeply. A little late I admit, I planted out the leek seedlings this weekend [St Victor] and sowed some spinach [Atlanta] which I hope will not bolt. The Purple Podded peas have finished as have the Crimson Flowered broad beans - have tugged these out to give the tomatoes [Peacevine, Wladeks and Aunt Martha] at the back, air and light as the murky conditions are not exactly suiting them.

Went for a new walk around Hinton Charterhouse and admired the spectacular Woolly Thistles - could they be grown to effect in the gravel garden I wonder. Teasels are in flower and I see the evidence of their willingness to survive spreading across the lawn. On the walk there were clumps of Wild Oregano [there is also a patch on the banks of the railway between Bath and Bristol] and some fetching yellow vetches including Melilot. Yellowhammers sang their bread and cheese songs and the swallows knittered overhead. I think maybe the swifts have gone fairly on time as usual - safe journey.

The low light levels are encouraging juicy growth which the snails and large ginger slugs are making the most of, one warm evening recently the air was filled with moist chewing sounds as the snails got to work on the spent Passion Flower buds. The rampant greenery is occasionally punctuated by the flowers of dahlias [Asahi Chohje] and red nasturtiums, the gingers are behind in flowering this year as are the cannas. Sadly I may have to remove the fan trained apple tree this winter as it is just not healthy - too humid and shady, I hate those sort of decisions!


[01/08/2005]

July 2005
One of my favourite summer scents - the Lime tree [Tilia] I love that sweet but not cloying cucumbery smell and the freshness before the aphids make sooty leaved monstrosities of some species later on. We are lucky in Bath as the parks department has planted a number of species/cultivars which gives a longer flowering season and adds extra interest.

I feel a bit sorry for Lime trees [and beech], in European folklore people have used them to transfer their problems and ill wishes to others by driving nails into the trunks - some I believe are heavily burdened! I am not sure it was a particularly common practice in this country. The flowers though make a good tea to soothe and calm.

The weather has been tricksy - first we were in a mini heatwave and then the thunderstorms hit us and now on and off it is grey and rainy, some of the old roses have decided enough is enough and balled their flowers and shut up shop early - a pity!

My favourite pests, the slugs and snails, have been very happy in this muggy moistness as have 'my' toads who insist on coming inside, in particular a large gold female and a small rusty coloured male. They lie in wait in the pots by the back door and then sneak in. The wasps have not descended this year which is a relief.

Loads to cut back - I regret planting some of my now rampant climbers including the Stauntonia hexaphylla and Schisandra, I am descending into a leafy murk which is fine on a hot summer's day but in this weather is merely gloomy - signing off for this month with secateurs at the ready!

[01/07/2005]

June 2005
I thought April was fast but May whizzed by too! Now it is very very green as the tree canopies are nearly full now and the flush of youthful green exuberant spring is almost over. The Queen Anne's Lace [Anthriscus sylvestris] is giving way to the rougher and more sturdy Hogweed [Heracleum sphondylium], and the first Geranium pratense are providing a flash of blue along the road verges. I have not yet spotted the Bath Asparagus [Ornithogalum pyrenaicum] but it hides itself well unless in great profusion.

We are having a fairly typical start to June so far - cool and rain which in some years really spoils the display of older roses. Souvenir de Madame Léonie Viennot is up to her old tricks and is way out of control! The lovely icing pink Ispahan was first out this year again, closely followed by R x odorata Mutabilis and the small single pink flowers of the Threepenny Bit rose [R elegantula Persetosa].

Having given up the allotment we have carved a small patch out of the village garden which has so far been of great interest to the neighbours cat! The sowings and plantings have been a bit later than normal and as much as possible is being crammed in just for a 'taste' of home grown veg - including a few tomatoes - Wladek's, Peacevine and Aunt Martha's; Crimson Flowered Broad Beans; sweetcorn; spinach and beetroot. My friend in France started harvesting her crops some weeks ago. She tells me that having put down snail pellets the local ants have carried them off and piled them up elsewhere - is this a protest of the creepers and crawlers I wonder??

[05/06/2005]

May 2005
'Time is a jet plane it moves too fast' or words to that effect - so sang Bob Dylan. Today is the 1 May and yet it already feels like mid-May, apple and lilac blossom are out as are the candles lighting up the Horse Chestnut trees [have just re-read last year's diary and it was ahead then too]. The Swifts returned a few days ago on the warm winds.

A frost in mid April did crisp the poor magnolia flowers but at least we had a magnificent show for a while. There is a wonderfully blowsy pink magnolia in a small front garden on the Wellsway in Bath, last year it managed about 3 flowers, this year it put on a positively exuberant display for all to enjoy! [and the owners have since hacked it hard back, be interesting to see what affect this has!]

The slugs and snails continue their vandalism, lopping off and eating through my bearded iris buds so yet another year passes with a bad display. And I insist on growing hostas in the town garden which has so many crevices for snails in the crumbling walls. They grow to such a monstrous size [well fed on delicacies] that the resident toads are overwhelmed, so doily leaved hostas are to be expected.

I have enjoyed the opening of the two flowers on Paeony Duchess of Marlborough, I think I prefer the nearly but not quite open phase, there is something tantalising and voluptuous as the pale pink petals start to break through the fresh green cupping outer casing of the bud. May is busting out all over!

Happy May Day and Good gardening!

[01/05/2005]

April 2005
March did its lion to lamb thing again. Snow showers and a cold spell gave way at the end to balmy above average temperatures which has advanced flowers and leaves at a great pace. Daffodils are all pretty much over, browned and tatty. The Magnolias in the Bath Botanic Garden are magnificent as we have not had a stinging frost to crisp and brown them as happens in some years.

Having given up the allotment I have sort of missed the drudge of putting in potatoes and I will certainly miss the pleasure of having really freshly dug potatoes in the summer.

I think the cold spell has made the slugs and snails desperate, they are decimating plants which are normally attacked a bit but not left quite as damaged, for example Irises such as I sibirica and they ate the flowers on my small species narcissi completely. I am not sure the emerging crambe is going to make it through and seedlings in my mini greenhouse are under threat, a whole batch can be wiped out overnight.

This month sees more urgent activity on the seed sowing and propagating front and more interesting suprises as plants new to me make their appearance.

[03/04/05]


March 2005
We are having some more prolonged cold and there have been snow flurries and minus temperaures for a couple of weeks. The SE of England has had more pronounced cold and snow - here in the SW it has generally been lighter.

A few weeks ago I finally started seed sowing a little later than the last few years and as luck would have it just as the weather turned cold. Dianthus superbus 'Crimsonia' was the first up followed by some mixed Cistus from last years RHS seed allocation [most of my seeds are stored in the fridge when not required and the dianthus seed is 2 years old at least].

The snowdrops are on their way up and out - poor old 'Sam Arnott' had his bud bitten off by early slugs, 'Magnet, 'Brenda Troyle' and 'Lady Elphinstone' have fared better. Lady Elphinstone's double flowers are split between the green and the yellow edged. Some daffodils have been precosiously early and 'February Gold' has been roundly trounced by quite a few others. One clump of N obvallaris has flowered well ahead of the others of its species growing in grass in the village garden.

Have enjoyed my excursion into hyacinths bought last autumn - 'Woodstock' is definitely deep reddy purple but with white in the throat so not as intense as expected, 'Splendid Cornelia' is a pastelly mauve with blued colouration on the bulbous end of the flower and very well scented.

[01/03/2005]

February 2005
I took the somewhat sad decision to give up my allotment this year after 6 years. I haven't been able to spend enough time to do it justice and felt it would be selfish to keep it when someone else might get more enjoyment. I will miss my own veg as neither my own or the village garden has the space.

No more March days on the south facing slope sowing the first veg of the season and watching the first dozy bees and butterflies enjoying the sun or those summer evenings when everything is reaching full ripeness picking veg for tea as the shadows lengthen.

I see my ex plot, 42, from a distance on my way to work, it has been razed, the raspberries and fennel I inherited from the previous incumbents gone as are the roses, currants and lavender I planted. My residency has been erased. I feel a little sad - Move on! As they say.

The daffodils are about 2 weeks at least ahead of last year, we haven't had one of those prolonged cold spells [yet?] where the temperature fails to rise above 0°C for a couple of weeks.

The Iris reticulata have been flowering for a few weeks, the rather thin dark purple 'Edward' I won't bother with again altho' he is OK. This week the sumptuous 'Katherine Hodgkin' has come out, primrose and bruised blue and fine lines in black on the falls - wow!

Late sown sweet peas snaking up out of their compost, very recently planted Triteleia and Gladiolus also showing through. The first Dahlia 'Union Jack' brought in to sprout for cuttings also ready to welcome the lengthening days.

Things are moving - spring is on its way.

[06/02/2005]


January 2005
December went in a flash and we even had snow on Christmas Day which is very unusual. Last night there was a great gusty wind which made the trees groan mightily at times - blowing away the old year!

Today is bright and breezy and it's time to look forward to growing things - although I contemplated the village garden today and thought I won't see the bare twigs of many shrubs start to clothe themselves again for another 12 weeks at least.

The hazels in the hedgerows are already plumping up catkins ready for their successional flowering/pollination. Many hedgerow apples and ornamental crabs in gardens have held on to their fruits and the low sun today picked them out beautifully, especially a gloriously huge tree with small golden apples on the Midford road.

Got my hands dirty for the first time in a while weeding and opening up the compacted soil in the flowerbeds - my activity seemed to prompt a number of fat worms in the lawn to investigate and go for a wander. The most numerous weed at the moment is creeping buttercup, the couch grass is still underground and therefore invisible.

Snowdrops and crocuses are beginning to emerge alongside daffodils. I had forgotten where I had planted crocuses so it is a nice surprise to re-acquaint myself with 'Cream Beauty'.

I have just about finished choosing seeds to grow this year although I am probably too late to get most of my Hardy Plant Society first choices. I am toying with Acacia mucronata, Zinnia 'Envy', Begonia laciniata and Geranium sinense to name but a few.

I envy a little a friend who has moved to SW France to set up a chambres d'hôte as she discovers plants emerging in the nearby garrigue and the much earlier start to spring in her new garden.

[02/01/2005]

2004 Diaries

2003 Diaries

2002 Diaries