Very late November 2009

Have I been idle? Yes and no. This year after a dry start to autumn we have had more than enough rain. As I write it is raining again. Work in the garden is therefore suspended apart from popping in various bulbs. I really should check my orders more carefully, instead of 3 Muscari parviflorum bulbs I got 1 bulb - new to me an autumn flowering Muscari but won't make much of a show! I have put it somewhere where hopefully it won't get disturbed but where I will see it should it decide to perform.

Been out briefly in between showers and last years bulbs are already coming up in the pots including Muscari muscarimi showing signs of mollusc nibbling, frost has not visited us properly yet. Arum creticum is also pushing up a green spike, so whilst some things rest or carry on underground, others are busy saying 'here I am'.

Back to the question of ideleness - my digits have been busy on the computer, Sweet peas ordered in different colours from Kings Seeds, although I liked Albutt Blue this year I found myself wanting an array of colours as in previous years.

I also spent a long time perusing the National Dahlia Collection projecting thoughts towards summer and big blousy ladies and gents in the borders. Also felt it about time to chuck some more clashes into my mothers dahlia bed as Bloodstone is becoming quite dominant for one (it does seem to come through winters outside reliably which accounts for its dominance), a bit more colour won't go amiss.

Trying the strawberries in grow bags again - this time well fluffed-up big tomorite bags not skinny compacted cheapest. Mostly Gariguette from Ken Muir with a few random one's bought from garden centres too. Hopefully this glum but relatively warm weather will help to establish the plants before the cold sets in.

I know you shouldn't really transplant parsnips but I did in the summer, the first batch dug up last weekend quite chubby rather than thin and for Tender and True more starchy than sweet. Need to top up the soil in the raised beds I think. Beetroot yet again did not come to anything when investigated.

Have been in trouble with one correspondent re my mis spelling of Dactylorhiza - I did get it right in some instances - honest!

[28/11/09]

October 2009
Halfway through October already. Have been up in the Lake District but I think the autumn colour is actually more vivid here in Somerset, maybe because there seems to be a lot more roadside planting, the field maples, spindle and guelder in particular add colour.

On the way down off Dollywaggon Pike in the Lakes we spotted Butterworts tucked into the damp rock like pale green starfish. Butterworts are insectivorous plants, tiny flies stick to their slightly greasy leaves and are lightly digested. The flowers are flashy, varying from light to very dark purple, reminiscent of large violets, and are in fact known as Marsh or Bog Violets in some parts of the country. Apparently Butterwort was used in the past to curdle milk and protect one from elves and witches too, a useful plant indeed.

The bulbs ordered are arriving, the Jaques Amand catalogue was late so I ordered from Avon Bulbs and Crocus, however I am tempted by the old striped tulips, unfortunately the stripes will probably manifest in the normal tulips and sometimes lilies over time, not always a good thing.

The tomatoes have been cleared out and tenders moved in to the greenhouse for a final show, cuttings taken of the heliotropes. The strawberries grown in gro-bags on benches did not work well and clearing those I discovered another reason, the evil weevils were well advanced, the chickens enjoyed them!

[17/10/09]

September 2009
Now it is the turn of the Swallows, last week there were many many swallows flying high above the River Avon in the little gorge the train runs through between Bristol and Keynsham. Last week Swallows flying low over the heather on the Mendips and the week before flying at head height over the banks by the sea near Weymouth.

The buddleja have all finished apart from Clive Farrell which is just about to put on its main show. The asters still in the wings, Calliope is huge, thickish dark purple stems and tinted green leaves around 6 - 7 feet, the single flowers are lilac in colour. Penstemon Garnet is a really good doer, dead headed a few weeks ago it is now in full flower again, the refined bells a lovely cranberry juice colour. Linaria purpurea Homebase Car Park [and other self seeded plants] have been flowering on and off all summer too. Ice Queen is the last kniphofia to flower, now the main colour in the South African [well sort of] bed is Verbena bonariensis. Godetia Lady in Blue bit of a let down, hyped as special and all that. Galactities tomentosa Alba putting on a good show, I saw the pale purple form flowering on the roadsides in France in the spring, mine flowering now from seed sown in May in a cold greenhouse. As I was tying them up [they are a bit lax] I found out that they have quite a pleasant scent, and the bees love them, collect seed each year, they are very easy!

The tomatoes haven't performed quite as well as hoped, the ripening has slowed down outside and in. Blight has started on Tommy Toe outside. Erratic watering has slowed performance in the greenhouse. Had a few off Silvery Fir Tree [Garden Organic], interesting for the extremely finely cut foliage and largish quite squat tomatoes.

The melon won't produce and I have now discovered spider mites are rampant on it. The squash Cornu d'Hiver has at least set this year, we had nothing at all last year. The Skerry Blue potatoes haven't yielded huge numbers but interestingly seem to grow along on shallow runners with potatoes forming at intervals along the runner just under the soil rather than big clumps. It has a floury texture, when boiled the skins burst apart alarmingly but they make good mash, they were also nice as mini baked potatoes. I read I think on Alan Romans website that they originated in Ireland in the 1840's and are fairly blight resistant but Lumpers were preferred for their greater yields but were also more prone to blight.

Went to Cotswold Garden Flowers a few weeks back - not as much stock out as in the spring, bought aster Ringdove, one of those small spray asters, yet to flower, and a couple of other bits and pieces. It was great to walk through the show garden, semi out of control this time of year, with an ebulliance of plants and flickering with butterflies. I have also got my eye on some Sanguisorba canadensis not in stock, so shall wait until next year.

Have been in the garden this evening tidying, gold and shifting shadows in the brisk breeze and the heavy scent of Heliotrope White Lady wafting around.

[06/09/09]

August 2009
Rain, grey, windy, sunshine, rain, grey, rain, you get the picture. Already the shadows are long, the heat of the sun becoming tepid. I consoled myself with the thought that if I ventured to Southern Europe I could pretend summer was still here, take a 2 week holiday now and you would really notice creeping autumn on your return. Sadly no such trip beckons. The Cyclamen hederifolium are in flower, sure sign autumn is on the way.

This year the farmers are getting the harvest in earlier or so it seems, last year it was so depressing seeing the corn rotting in the fields in September. The green of the sprouting ears looked wrong amongst the greying rain swept stems

Just had a quick look at Nigel Colborne's blog, I would concur re the Swifts. I think they left when we had the recent rotten rain bearing southerlies coming up from France! I counted around 15 in one of their final swirling evening displays before they took off for warmer climes - I feel fewer than in previous years.

The butterfly border is working better in its second year including flowering now, buddleja's, knautia, scabious, oregano and alliums. As Nigel C notes, lots of Painted Ladies, a few Peacocks, a few Tortoiseshell's, the usual Whites various but in quite some numbers and a strong flying beige checkered butterfly possibly a Dark Green Fritillary. Some of the brown butterflies - possibly Ringlets prefer the oregano flowers and Gatekeepers have been working the privet hedge. As evening approaches all the other butterflies rest up quite early but the whites various seem to keep on the wing until later. There have also been a few day flying moths but no Humming Bird Hawk Moth's seem to have packed their suitcases for a visit to our blustery shores? Also enjoying having butterflies at eye height on the Verbena bonariensis. The 'primrose path' through the flower border adds to the intimacy of the experience. » British butterflies

In full flower is the Clerodendrum trichotomum, now the fig is a fraction of the size it was the Clero stands out more. A severe hacking hasn't really put the Wattakaka off its stride either. First flower after I don't know how many years on a seed grown Agapanthus africanus.

Foxglove seedlings germinating everywhere, spilled as the flowered spikes were cut back. I have also enjoyed the bee activity on the later flowering Digitalis ferruginea grown from seed a couple of years ago. Potted on some aquilegia seedlings, hopefully dark blue rather than the dirty pink of the current batch in the border. They make such a lovely show in spring it would be sad not to have any at all.

Much capsid bug damage in the gardens especially Bath - don't like spraying but may have to resort to it. My mother does now every year after wondering why things weren't flowering - answer the capsid bug. The lowered light levels and rather jungly growth in Bath have stopped some of the tenders flowering well which is a pity. The on-off rain has had the slugs and snails working overtime and some plants have either disappeared completely or are just lace now. My miniature water lily flowered but I never saw it open, by the time I got home each evening it was closed!

The late late show won't kick-in for a few more weeks - bring it on the asters!

[15/08/09]

July 2009
Much gardening has taken place again, almost to the point of wanting to run away as the mindset has been that of seeing every weed, every branch that needs cutting back, things to plant out, lawns to edge and so it goes on.

Also battling muntjac, rabbits and moles. A deer fence is up, sonic mole scarer is attempting to drive them out into the wilder bits and vulnerable plants all netted against rabbits.

Last week we finished the 'primrose path' after a year of contemplation, one can walk round the back of the flower bed and transition from a more traditional cottagey planting to a woodland area. I quite enjoyed being a foot down before the filling went back in, more 'in the garden'. The path is all woodchip and merges the plantings as well as attempting to create a moister micro climate in the woodland area.

The sweet peas started to flower last week, roses at their peak including new purchase, Eugénie Guinoisseau, a pinky purpley moss rose. The first swingeing clearing and pruning back of foxgloves, nepeta and other plants out of control took place, tried to do it fairly subtley without creating too many gaps. It ensures that overrun later comers get their time in the sun too.

Popped up to Derry Watkins Special Plants a few weeks ago and picked up a fantastically scented heliotrope, White Lady and a few other things for pots including Pelargonium Lord Bute and a vibrant pink Salvia microphylla. We could not find a Dahlia Bishop of Llandaff anywhere but spotted a wizened dry tuber of Dahlia Bednall Beauty in a basket at Derry Watkins with just the smallest green nub to tell us there was life in them there tubers. After a few weeks it is now lovely crunchy red foliage, [said to be similar to the Bish but smaller]. Are round tubered dahlias more robust than the fingery one's? Also spent more than I should have on a Dahlia x Cosmos, got potatoey leaves, small single darkest maroon flowers with gold boss and a faint scent.

Visited Hanham Court Gardens on the edge of Bristol which is being marketed quite heavily. A pretty, romantic Country Living style garden filled with old roses, pinks, philadelphus and peonies just going over. The use of wood to mimic masonry arches was fun and effective. The plant fair at Kingston Bagpuize had a lovely setting although I am very loathe to pay £6 a pot for Scabious Chile Black or Cerinthe purpurascens [I didn't]. I did buy a Lantana which is think is Lantana montevidensis, less stiff than Lantana camara, with lilac flowers paling towards the centre, although I haven't seen any butterflies on it yet.

It is now very clear who the winter winners and losers were. A few things that made it through have suprised me including the Melianthus comosus in Berkshire. Correa Marian's Marvel is gamely trying but I fear is out for the count. All of the Abutilon's in Bath came through tucked up near the house.

The first potatoes have been harvested, not sure I like Linzer Delikatesse, slightly slimy texture and not as rich compared to Belle de Fontenay. The Skerry Blues have grown very tall, over 2ft, purple stems and purple flowers [late maincrop]. Also had Broad Beans [Crimson Flowered], carrots and salad leaves. The red onions started bolting so we had what was left of the bulb roasted. Courgettes should be coming on this week and first tomatoes Pantano set a few weeks back. The final grow-bagging of peppers, gherkins and melons all took place last week.

Strawberries in growbags on trestles hasn't really worked, possibly because it was a rude transition for the plants which had been growing in the ground and also the compacted soil in the bags which I should in retrospect have broken up. The most delicious strawberry award so far this year goes to Cobbs Farm Shop, home grown - unusual shape, really red and luscious.

The Buddleja show yet to come - I pruned them hard back in spring, Empire Blue and Clive Farrell were not too happy about that and some branches died back, must remember to do it later next year. Mullein Moth caterpillars have also made rather boring pointless damage, a little nibble here and there into flower buds and top growth - they seem to have gone off to pupate now thankfully!

In Bath the Mount Etna broom is currently an explosion of gold against the blue sky, bees are buzzin' and snails clinging precariously from the very tips of the branches almost out of their shells in their efforts to stay on the tree. The scent of heliotrope and Lonicera japonica Halliana fills the garden.

[04/07/09]

Late May 2009
Oh dear - time has flown. A visit to Saltford Auricula Show and SW France have all happened and gone, and until now unrecorded. Haven't been to Saltford for a few years and I think more entries this time. My impresssion is a lot fewer of the older varieties being shown and a whole lot more stripes and doubles. Being a no real knowledge auricula collector I came away with Reynardine [ginger] and Funny Valentine [deep purple] both doubles, plus an old favourite, the rich blue Remus.

SW France was as usual a delight in terms of wild flowers, but some of the orchids spotted last year not there this year. Near the Cathar castle at Termes a walk from river level into the wooded hills and higher meadows saw heavily scented Coronilla, Early Purple orchids [including a white], tiny single narcissi and the parastic purpley-blue Toothwort, Lathraea clandestina. At Lastours another Cathar castle, a delight was a Swallowtail butterfly intently feeding on the valerian springing out of the golden stone walls of the town. Lady orchids, Orchis purpurea, were also very much in evidence in fields and along roadsides. Other sights included a huge swathe of corn marigolds on the banks of the Canal du Midi, and thistly mauve Galactites tomentosa and rich red field poppies in ribbons and patches along the roadsides.

Chelsea as a TV viewer left me fairly 'cold'. Some years the magic and I guess the hype works, but not this year. What was that municipal looking cedar wavey thing? Although I liked the Sarracenia idea. Ulf's should have had it but from the TV persepctive at least something didn't quite give it a soul.

In the garden this weekend, bright pink campion is mingling with blue polemonium, the first Iris sibirica, Foxgloves, Centaurea montana, Hesperis and ferns various to create a giddy melee. This weekend was spent potting-on and putting out plants various including Godetia, Galactites, Dahlias and Geraniums. Dahlia Bishop of Llandaff seems to have had a run on it, local garden centres out of stock [I can't remember, was it shown on the Chelsea coverage? The old Bish of Canterbury doesn't quite do it for me].

Priorities - trying to keep on top of the bindweed and taking time to sit and smell the Hesperis in the warm evening air whilst ducking as a queen hornet thundered by every so often searching for a home - hopefully not in the garden! Yesterday the sun was warm and the sky blue - a hint of the summer to come??

And just for the record, the Chestnut candles were well lit by Mayday this year! In SW France they give bunches of Lily of the Valley [Muguet de Bois] on May Day.

[25/05/09]

April 2009
A lazy start to April, wasn't meant to be - we have had some delicious days, warm sun bringing leaves out, buds a poppin' everywhere. But today it is gloomy, drizzly and cold, streamers of cloud coming up from France and dousing the sun. I feel for the Swallows who I heard arrive last Saturday - well passing through probably. This morning it was muggy and the toad was singing at 6:00am now probably hunkered down again in a nice moist burrow.

I can't believe how early all the blossom is - I have to pinch myself and say 'It's only April', it feels like May, the fat pink cherries are in full flower, the Horse Chestnut candles lit, lilac misting over fresh leaves in suburban gardens and lurching over railway embankments. The gorgeous crab apples and apples too. So much! Cowslipsnod in green fields, the light green hawthorn fill and fuzz the hedgerows - opulence and abundance. Milk Maidens cluster in damp meadows. Soon, soon all that lush rush will calm and the ripe greens will settle into their summer fixedness. The emerging leaves of a Scented Poplar waft me to the bus stop, a month ago it was a Lonicera syringantha.

Bouncing around on the bus a week or so ago vaguely Betjeman... Downend, Kingswood, Cadbury Heath and Cherry Gardens [not quite as picturesque as you might imagine] a warm low sunlit evening, the Magnolia's were at their peak in suburban Bristol gardens some even hacked into hedgy cubes still trying their utmost to flower in their twiggy boxes. The frost has not bitten them this year. In the Bath Botanic Garden their shed petals make lushy fading carpets.

Plant nurseries come and go. The nursery at Mells is no more [well it is re-incarnated by different owners as an organic florists]. Paid a visit to the Mead Nursery at Brokerswood, tempted by a few things inlcuding Dierama, Arum creticum and allium. Also visited a plant fair in Wells picking up two auriculas, Golden Hind and Basuto and amongst other things a small Chatham Island Forget Me Not.

Crimson Flowered Broad Beans are in the ground, started off in the greenhouse. I look out on to Thornbury's allotments each workday morning to check where my plants are compared to some very well tended plots. Potatoes also starting to show, they have been under clear plastic in a raised bed. Tomatoes sown 4 days ago are already up in the heated propagator. The seeds at least 3 years old but have been kept in the chiller draw in the fridge, Pêche and Tommy Toe.

Enough!

[17/04/09]

March 2009
Snow, snow, came and stayed for a while. Many gardeners are used to the white blanket over their gardens, generally in the South West of the UK we are not, a bit of a shock! Some small breakages from the weight on branches, Camellia and Myrtle are showing bruised leaves. So far a tender Abutilon bought has survived outside tucked away by the house. Sadly a big pelargonium Springfield Black was taken out, even though under cover and by the house, some years I might have got away with it. The Acacias have also probably had it.

The snow had laid old stems in my parents garden into flowing mats, as if water had run through. I did battle with bittercress in one of their flowerbeds for a couple of hours last weekend, picking around the rhizomes of bearded iris, satisying work this time of year. Calm and order before the full-on rush of spring.

The fish in the garden water tank are muddying the water so I think spring is on its way as it means they are getting more active and foraging on the bottom. At my parents house the ponds were full of frogspawn and although toads are being mown down by careless drivers in Charlcombe Lane in Bath, I have yet to see my local amphibians on the move.

Snowdrops are already withering, they have been allowed a more fleeting show this year and are chivveyed along now by less retiring daffodils. Today the crocuses in the park were wide open to the sun, viewed from a distance a blanket of pale lilac spilling out of the botanic garden. In town a cluster of Cyclamen coum are scattered daintily in pinks and whites under a tree in the St Johns Hospital gardens growing in short grass.

First seeds went in last weekend in a covered but not heated propagator. Also some in the cold frame. I am itching to do more - patience! In a few weeks it will be time to start sowing lettuce and spinach in the raised beds, the vegetable year will start again in earnest.

Buds are swelling and leaves emerging. The first blossoms on the delicate prunus fleck the tangle of dark branches.

[01/03/09]

February 2009
Misled! I thought spring was on the way. Last weekend the soil was wet and cold but not frosted and a little weeding and forking over of compacted beds took place. I excavated clumps of Snowdrops hiding under last year's brambles and creeping ivy and thought of warm days to see them arch their necks up and open their skirts.

In the Bath garden I spent a manic hour yesterday tidying as it grew dark exposing the emerging buds of Helleborus purpurascens, uncovering Ypsilandra, just showing white, the egg bud tucked into the leafy rosettes. Camellia Masayoshi can't wait to show me her buds, tentative childlike emerging leaf hands of Geranium Ann Folkard already show. In the Botanic gardens today Crocus tommasinianus are up, randomly scattered through the lawns and they would flirt with the sun if we didn't have bitter winds and the promise of snow on the way - cruel!

Yes already there are casualties of the colder than average weather - the full extent will be assessed in March as the sap starts to rise and the final marginals decide whether to give up or go on.

Last week more than 750 gardeneres and allotmenteers desperate to be 'doing', converged on a Potato Day in Whitchurch, Hampshire. My pickings were old favourite Belle de Fontenay and I am trying Linzer Delikatesse again plus a new one to me, Skerry Blue and Golden Wonder. The last two are Late Maincrops which wasn't really the intention, if we have a wet summer [again] blight will hit the later crops hardest.

From the Garden Organic seed distribution I have got a Tomato called Silvery Fir Tree, should be interesting. Didn't get the mixed Trillium from the Hardy Plant Society but got plenty of other seeds to have a go at.

Also tempted myself with Silverhill seeds, two Kniphofia's one I have tried with no success K brachystachya and another new to me. I am also trying Berkheya from seed again as the plant shown which came from Derry Watkins has turned up its toes, I am not very lucky with these plants.

I am desperate to start sowing indoors - soon, soon. But cold weather go away! I am toying with the idea of sowing Sundews [Drosera] but not sure I will get the compost mix right to suit them, I never seem to be able to overwinter the hardy ones.

The deer are having a go at some plants, they seem to like campion which they are welcome to, but their nibbling on a rose is not so welcome and they have positively shunned the Swiss Chard.

Snow, snow go away quickly so I can get sowing! That's why the picture is from sunnier days!

[01/02/09]


January 2009
Another New Year. Unlike last year the cold hasn't abated, the temperature lifting just above freezing in my garden today and for the last few days. Briefly we had a frosty wonderland on New Year's Eve which disappeared overnight even though the temperatures have remained down.

None of the healthy outdoor new starts in the garden this week, shifting the Iris ensata and other such jobs will have to wait for a thaw. Bank voles are enjoying the lack of weeding and tidying activity, holes appearing in the beds around tree roots especially. Deer hoof prints show up in the frozen soil too, a nibble here and a nibble there.

As with any prolonged cold non-gardening spell outside and post Christmas, thoughts have turned to seeds. The Hardy Plant Society order this year is primarily shade lovers, such as mixed Trillium which I have not tried before. The Garden Organic catalogue is out but no Crimson Flowered Broad Bean, have had to look to Plants of Distinction for a supply. I like CF because it remains fairly compact and starts flowering and setting pods early on in its growing season. In the greenhouse the first batch of Sweetpeas has been sown, mixed collected seed from last year, Albutts Blue in particular impressed for delicacy of colour and scent and Flora Norton also sown. More catalogues arrive by the day to tempt me but I can't justify much more, no room in the garden and as I won't be doing any plant sales nowhere to sell excess either.

I wonder how many nurseries will find this year very difficult for trade. I think looking back, people were starting to tighten their belts plant wise even in 2007, less spur of the moment purchasing. Will this phase herald a return to comfort / nostalgia gardening of the late 80's? Or is it more the Tom & Barbara make do and mend of the 70's, foraging, macrame and muesli?

Last year at this time I wished for better summer weather, we didn't get it. At the risk of jinxing the summer again, some warmer weather please, I would like to see squash and tomatoes ready for picking in good time and enjoy butterflies and bees in the newly planted Buddleja bed.

Good gardening and warm breezes.

[03/01/09]

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