The Cutting Patch Update

Tags

Alchemilla mollis, biennials, cut flowers, Orlaya grandiflora, sweet williams

My cut flower patch is such an important part of my allotment. Last year was my first year and my ideas about using some of my plot for flowers were greeted with some scepticism by the established allotment growers who couldn’t understand why I’d wasted so much of the plot on putting in paths, let alone devoting soil to growing flowers instead of potatoes and onions. However, it seems like the flower bug is catching and I won’t be the only one this year with blooms brightening up the site. A couple of the older growers were asking me where I bought my seed from, so I passed around a few seed catalogues and dished out some packets of seed I had collected last autumn. Then on a visit at the weekend I was chatting to two of them and they were telling me all about their plans for cut flowers!! Not such a strange idea after all.

My own patch is taking shape with the biennials and autumn sown annuals coming into their own. The much-anticipated flowering of the sweet williams has just started in the last week and I’ve been able to fill a good 2 buckets full of sweet rocket, honesty, alchemilla, orlaya and the last of the stocks.

Yesterday I got up to the plot early in the hope I could get a lot done before it got so hot that I started to wilt. I had to make two trips with the wheelbarrow, transporting little plants from home to the plot so that the first big plant out could commence. In went some annual asters, daucus ‘Black Knight’, white antirrhinums, didiscus, some pinks grown from cuttings taken in March and some bupleurum. There were also some small plants of lettuce, beetroot and chard for the edible part of the plot.

Sweet williams

Still at home and waiting for the second round of planting out are zinnias, rudbeckias, cosmos, sunflowers, cornflowers, gaura, dill, gypsophila and a few more larkspur. Oh, and two dahlias. It’ll be touch and go as to whether I can fit all this in. There was quite a lot of standing around with hands on hips looking thoughtful, on Sunday, wondering whether I’d had the garden equivalent of piling my plate too high at a buffet because my eyes were bigger than my stomach. My imagination is certainly bigger than any available land I have but I’m sure with a bit of jiggling around I can do it.  That’s squeezing plants in and not me doing some strange dance, by the way.

Cut flower posy

The great thing about gardening is that each year is different and new opportunities open up. I’m still very much learning just how much I can cram into a small space and for how long I can get the season to last. Plans are already being formulated for which biennials to sow later next month and which hardy annuals I’ll sow this autumn. But, for the moment, I’m enjoying this year’s first pickings from my cut flower patch.

My Little Patch of Plant Loveliness

Tags

Aquilegia, Centaurea montana 'Alba', Chaerophyllum hirsutum 'Roseum', Dicentra spectabilis alba

Astrantia

I’m writing this with a head like cotton wool brought on by lack of sleep through the heat and too much pollen in the air. Some matchsticks would be useful for my heavily laden eyes but the sunlight shining like a spotlight on my favourite plants and the warmth inducing them to flower makes it impossible not to venture out into the garden. It feels like we’ve bypassed spring altogether and gone from an April and early May that felt more like November straight to the height of summer. Just over a week ago I was still wearing jumpers and two pairs of socks with my wellies but after a week of temperatures into the eighties I even ditched my ubiquitous footwear one day, in favour of flip flops, on a trip to the plot.

Dicentra spectabilis alba

Plants that were held, almost in suspended animation by the cold spell have suddenly come to life and the soggy, miserable garden of April has been forgotten as geraniums, roses and irises all start to bloom. My Dicentra spectabilis alba have never flowered for as long, with the first flowers appearing in March and still their delicate arching stems dangle their heart-like blooms.

A beautiful delicate Iris

The first Iris flowers appeared today; they were planted for the first time last autumn so I’ve never seen them in flower. Of course, I can’t find the label anywhere so apologies for a lack of name.

I love this little plant, Chaerophyllum hirsutum ‘Roseum’. It was a holiday purchase, as many of my plants are; holidays aren’t complete unless I’ve tracked down a nursery and we return with a back seat full of new members of my garden family. I don’t know if Chaerophyllum has a common name, Chaerophyllum is a bit of a mouthful but its flowers are like a pink cow parsley so that’s what it’s known as in my garden. Its leaves are delicate and fern-like, with an apple scent, although I’m not sure I’d describe it as so. The plant grows to about 60cm tall and likes partial shade with it’s roots kept moist.

Aquilegia ‘White Star’

I have quite a lot of self-seeded Aquilegias dotted about in a variety of colours,  ‘White Star’ is the only named variety though. It’s creamy white flowers are beautiful but my one gripe with the hybrid versions is their tendency to flop. Large flower heads are only really any good if the plant can support them.

Centaurea montana ‘Alba’

Another new addition last autumn was Centaurea montana ‘Alba’. These flowers with their shaggy petals particularly the bluey-purple varieties, always remind of those plasma balls you put your hands on, that then zing with electricity. I love white flowers which lighten up shady parts of my garden, especially at night when they seem to glow.

Allium

Most of my purple alliums appear to have succumbed to my wet soil conditions but these white alliums don’t seem quite so fussy.

Late spring and early summer have to be my most favourite time for plants, I think because I love the quintessential English cottage garden look, with plants tumbling everywhere and this is when these plants are at their best. They look fresh; the heat of summer has yet to fade the colour of petals and time has not stolen the youthfulness of the leaves. I have attempted to create my own English cottage garden albeit in Wales but I’m sometimes reluctant to share my garden with others.

My own perfectionism means that, whilst I can appreciate individual plants and sometimes plant combinations I am often thinking about the alliums I should have planted last autumn that would now be creating a colour contrast in the white and blue border, which is just a little to blue and white for my liking. There’s always one part of the garden that doesn’t quite work which I find infuriating or the border where I didn’t buy enough bulbs to create the look that was in my head. My garden is fairly small, as well, and to capture sections of it without features such as satellite dishes on neighbours’ houses or the washing line posts intruding is difficult. The great thing about gardening though is there is always next year and whilst my garden is small and not quite perfectly formed it still is my little patch of plant loveliness shining in the May sunshine.

Beauty in Simplicity

Tags

early purple orchid, Gwent Wildlife Trust, Hebridean sheep, Monmouth, Pentwyn Farm, Wyeswood Common

Sometimes beauty can be found in the simplest of things. Of course, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and I know not everyone will agree that a field of dandelions is beautiful but the scene we came across the other evening took my breath away. We took a trip up to a local meadow. I know what you’re thinking, ‘haven’t you just written a post about how you suffer from hay fever and how you and meadows are not a good combination?’ Yes, you’re right but the weather has been so beautiful here with long, warm, balmy evenings that are such a rarity in this country. The last thing I want to do is sit indoors when I could be outside watching the sun set over the Monmouthshire hills.

A couple of miles outside the town of Monmouth is one of Gwent Wildlife Trust’s reserves. Pentwyn Farm was purchased by the Trust in the nineties and since then work has been done to make this a haven for wildlife. Based on a traditional, small farm with a cottage, 13th century barn, stone stiles and dry stone walling separating the fields, it is particularly important for its unimproved hay meadows.

Early Purple Orchid

From spring right through into summer the fields are full of beautiful wildflowers, creating a sight that is now rare in the countryside. No chemicals have been used on this land for over 20 years now and they are maintained using traditional methods. In 2009 a flock of Hebridean sheep was introduced to the site to graze the land, an important part of managing this sort of meadow, helping to control the stronger grasses and coarse shrubby growth that, given the opportunity, will out-compete the more delicate grasses and wildflowers. Grazing can also aid seed distribution and ultimately improve the diversity of the meadow, allowing many more species to flourish.

Bird’s foot trefoil

The other evening the fields were rich with meadow buttercups, red clover, ribwort plantain and bird’s foot trefoil. These meadows are particularly important for the species of orchids that now grow here. We managed to see some early purple orchids hidden amongst the grasses. Later in the year you can see ox-eye daisies, eye bright and numerous orchids, including the common twayblade, the green-winged and the common spotted.

Ribwort plantain

As you can imagine, a place like this is the perfect home for wildlife. We were there as the evening bird chorus was under way, birds singing as if their lungs would burst. One bird was so loud, it was incredible that the sound could come from such a tiny creature. The endangered dormouse has established itself amongst the hedgerows and trees feasting on hazelnuts and berries and barn owls swoop over the fields seeking out mice and voles.

Not content with the 40 acres of Pentwyn Farm, Gwent Wildlife recently purchased adjoining farmland of 104 acres. This land had been farmed for dairy production, with a monoculture of rye grass but the ambitious plan is to return it, too to species rich meadows; to plant trees and hedgerows and join up the smaller pockets of old grassland creating wildlife corridors, which are so important for creatures like the dormouse.

Field of dandelions

This land, known as Wyeswood Common, was the last field we walked through. Wellyman had gone off, saying he’d spotted some ox-eye daisies, they were, in fact, dandelions and a whole field of them, hundreds of them that had gone to seed. In the soft light of the sunset they glistened and their white seed-heads looked like halos. It was quite a spectacular sight, made even more special by the realisation, as we watched and the breeze carried away the seeds, that this moment would be fleeting.

Already there are signs that the Trust’s plans are working, with the semi-parasitic yellow rattle visible in amongst the grass. This plant gains some of its nutrients from the roots of other plants, in this case the strong grasses around it. By weakening these plants, yellow rattle allows other species to establish themselves and is one of the first steps towards bringing diversity back to agricultural land.

I may have paid for it with eyes that puffed up so much I thought I might not be able to see in the morning (I’ve since bought some eye-drops) but this is truly an idyllic place, I just need to remember the tissues next time.

Sneezy, Itchy and Runny

Tags

allergic rhinitis, grasses, Hay fever, hypnotherapy

The culprit

No, that’s not one of Snow White’s dwarves and his two long-lost cousins but rather my nose and eyes at the moment. Yes folks it’s that time of year, the summer delight that is hay fever. For an outdoors person and garden lover to suffer from hay fever, or allergic rhinitis to give it its medical term, is a bit like a sick joke. At last we get some weather that reminds us that a summer is possible in this country and before you know it I’m reaching for the tissues.

Hay fever is not actually caused by hay or results in a high temperature. Some people find they are allergic to tree pollen, others the spores from fungi, but for the majority of sufferers, including myself, it is grass pollen that is the culprit. Grasses are pollinated by the wind and produce huge amounts of tiny pollen grains that are carried on the breeze; flowers pollinated by insects however, produce pollen grains that are relatively larger, heavier and less numerous and stay on the plant waiting for passing insects. I’ve suffered since I was seven or eight and although its affects have lessened over the years it’s still a pain in the proverbial; at least nowadays I don’t have to do exams when I’m feeling at my worst.

It’s annoying that it’s dismissed by many as a trivial affliction, try spending eight weeks feeling like you have a cold. It’s hard to describe how hay fever makes you feel but there’s an overwhelming feeling that all of your senses are irritated; streaming, itchy eyes, skin rashes and an itchy mouth and throat and even inside my ears. It feels like thousands of ants are crawling about. Worst of all are the sneezing fits, which can go on for several minutes. It’s not even like I have a delicate little sneeze, one of those ladylike achoos that goes unnoticed. Despite being only 5ft tall I have such a powerful sneeze, when affected by hay fever, that I did once propel myself off a table on which I was sitting. When I feel like this it really is hard to function normally and I’m afraid to say it but I do get a bit irritable. Of course, Wellyman would say that wasn’t true!!!

Last year was my first year on my allotment and I would invariably forget to pack some tissues for my afternoon’s plotting. I hate to admit to this but there were occasions when a sleeve may have been used. I know, I’m sorry as that’s really gross (the top did go straight in the wash once I got home) but after carting up numerous plants and tools I wasn’t going home just for some tissues.

Sadly for me, meadows are one of my favourite places and I love the idea of having a picnic in one on a glorious summer’s day. Maybe if I stuck one of the goldfish bowl type contraptions on my head, as was once suggested on Tomorrows’ World but that’s not really the look I’m going for and I imagine it would be uncomfortably hot in there. So there’s no running through meadows in floaty dresses for me.

Of course, there are plenty of products out there purporting to help. I’ve tried pretty much everything from conventional medication to herbal remedies, and even slathering my nostrils in a Vaseline type product, all with varying degrees of success. In recent years, hypnotherapy seems to have had the most impact. And on a positive note, I do start to feel much better by mid July. So if you, too, are a fellow sufferer dreading the next couple of months, you have my sympathy. If not, then spare a thought for those people sneezing uncontrollably this summer and who look like they’d prefer to be lying down in a darkened room.

Back to the Soil

Tags

blackcurrants, blueberries, gooseberries, Malvern Spring Show, Plant Belles, tayberries, verbena rigida

Alchemilla, Sweet rocket and pink Aquilegias

After a busy week and limited gardening over the last month due to torrential rain and the fact it has been flipping cold I finally managed, this weekend, to spend some time in my garden and at the allotment. Much of the work at this time of year seems to revolve around my packed window sills and the 2 cold frames, shunting plants about trying to maximise growing conditions and hardening plants off, so it feels good to get planting and get my hands on some soil.

Packed cold frame

This spring has been in complete contrast to last year, when, after a warm April I had plants bursting out of pots and with no more space to pot them on and seeds didn’t germinate at the allotment because it was so dry. The cold temperatures recently have meant little plant growth and seeds haven’t germinated this time because it hasn’t been warm enough. My biggest concern though is whether, with a holiday coming up in June, some plants will be ready to plant out. Half hardies such as rudbeckia and verbena rigida have struggled and are little more than 5cm tall with only a few true leaves. Last year they were about 20cm tall and good substantial plants. Hopefully the warm weather that has been forecast for this week will encourage them to put on some growth, I really don’t want to have to take any plants on holiday this time!

At the allotment my Charlotte potatoes are shooting up and the shallots are looking good despite all the rain (they are not meant to like it too wet). The broad beans and peas have both recovered after their mauling by weevils, although the cold weather looks like it has affected pollination of the broad beans as some of the flowers so far haven’t set.

Quite a few flower seeds sown directly have refused to germinate so I’ve resorted to sowing in seed trays at home. It’s always a frantic time as I start to panic and think I won’t have enough to fill the plot, particularly with my cutting patch. I end up rummaging through my seed tin and digging out seeds and sowing more. Ammi visnaga, for instance, has proved disappointing in the germination stakes, not one plant out of 3 batches sown so far. In desperation for something that will create that light airy feel to my arrangements I found a packet of gypsophila and sowed those.

Protection for my kale

Some Russian red kale plants went in and I got the chance to use one of my Malvern purchases, metal hoops from a company called Plant Belles, to create some protection from cabbage white butterflies. The hoops simply have loops in them so that you can push through bamboo canes and by placing hoops at intervals along your bed you can create a tunnel over which you can drape fleece, environmesh or clear plastic, depending on your requirements.

That should keep out the cabbage whites

I also planted out a patch of bupleurum, which is a bit like euphorbia but without the milky sap. It will, hopefully, provide some foliage for my flower arrangements, that’s if the slugs don’t get to it first like they did 2 years ago.

Gooseberries starting to swell

It’s looking like it’s going to be a good year for fruit with my blackcurrants, gooseberries and blueberries covered in small fruit. I’m particularly looking forward to sampling tayberries. Last year was the tayberry’s first year and we only had one fruit from it which we halved and ate, to be honest it was such a small piece of berry that it was hard to get a real taste sensation. However, this year looks much more promising with the canes covered in flowers, all about to open.

My entwined tayberry covered in flowers

The biennial flowers I sowed last summer to provide some early colour are starting to bloom and my patch of sweet williams are poised. So all in all, things are looking promising and with predicted warm weather it’ll hopefully feel more like May this week than November.

Blooming Marvellous – A Day with Sarah Raven

Tags

Cutting Garden, Growing Cut Flowers, Perch Hill, Sarah Raven

You may have noticed that growing cut flowers is a bit of a passion of mine. I first came across the idea that I could turn over a patch of land purely for the purpose of growing flowers to cut when I discovered Sarah Raven’s book The Cutting Garden. Inspired I used a part of my garden to cut flowers and then when I took on my allotment last year I decided to devote 3 beds to producing my own blooms. I love it; the sense of satisfaction is immense and I get huge pleasure from giving away bunches to friends and having the house filled with flowers. So it might have been a long way to go for a day, Wales to East Sussex, but when I was asked to attend a press day at Sarah Raven’s Cutting Garden it was just too good an opportunity to miss.

Cut flower beds at Sarah Raven’s Cutting Garden

Sarah Raven’s name is now synonymous with cut flowers and her style of naturalistic, billowing and slightly unkempt arrangements, that are the antithesis to the uniform, stiff and well-behaved bouquets on offer from most florists. It all started 18 years ago when she was working long hours as a doctor in a local hospital. With a young family she was looking for a way of earning money which gave her time to see her children and that idea was cut flowers. She had just moved to a farm in East Sussex and had land at her disposal so she trialled the idea of growing flowers as a business. She realised that maximising the productivity of every square inch of ground would be essential if her idea was to be a success. At the time no one was growing annuals, they had completely fallen out of favour but Sarah saw their potential; the key being the sheer number of flowers they produced over a season.  Her business soon grew not just from selling flowers but also to teaching, writing and TV presenting, inspiring people like myself to grow their own cut flowers.

Masses of Euphorbia oblongata – an essential part of Sarah’s arrangements

As part of the day I was given a taster of the cut flower course she offers. Even for myself who has read and reread her books many times there was plenty to learn. Her 2 acre garden maybe substantially bigger than most but after nearly 2 decades of trialling which plants are most productive, her knowledge makes it easier for those of us with limited space to maximise its use. For plants to gain a place in her garden they have to meet certain criteria, such as time from planting to harvesting, the length and size of the harvest, the cost of growing and their versatility. The idea she is working on at the moment is what she calls ‘plant lasagne’, the layering of plants in the soil to cram even more into a space. Similar to planting different bulbs in a container at different levels, Sarah is currently growing artichokes, alliums and dahlias in beds producing high quantities of flowers and also an edible crop. I loved the colour contrast of redbor kale and the pinky/apricot coloured Tulip ‘Menton’ that were growing in her vegetable garden and is an idea that may well make its way onto my allotment.

The Cutting Garden at Perch Hill has four seasons which are dictated not by the actual season but by the plants that dominate that period. So season 1 is all about the bulbs with some biennials thrown in and runs from March to mid May, season 2 lasts from mid may to mid July and is the time for hardy annuals, which Sarah sows the bulk of in the autumn. Between mid July and September, season 3, the half-hardy annuals, tender perennials and dahlias take over. The final season can last, in this milder part of Britain, right up until Christmas and is the time for dahlias and chrysanthemums. This different way of looking at the growing season will certainly influence my planning for my own patch.

A stunning salad from the Perch Hill vegetable garden

A tour of the garden and a taster of her vegetable growing course were equally fascinating and informative but the icing on the cake was a demonstration of creating a hand tied bouquet in her inimitable style. Tips included holding a mass of flowers if you only have small hands, the easiest way to tie the bouquet without it falling to pieces and how to create a sieve with the foliage to give the bouquet structure.

I left with masses of notes and a head swirling with ideas. Maybe next year I might have to devote a fourth bed to cut flowers!!

For more information about Sarah Raven, her garden and courses visit her website. Perch Hill is open on selected days throughout the summer.

Super Seaweed Shetland Style

Tags

Bod ayre, clubroot, natural fertiliser, organic farming, Scottish Natural Heritage, seaweed feed, seaweed fertiliser, seaweed products, Shetland

Harvesting Seaweed on Shetland

For me gardening and looking after the environment should go hand in hand. I garden organically and try to feed my soil with compost and manure rather than feed my plants but like many gardeners there are times when I need something a bit extra, whether it’s to boost a sickly looking plant, to feed container grown plants or to help produce more flowers and fruit.

I’m a great fan of seaweed as a fertiliser and wrote a post a while ago about the wonders of this product. There is always the worry with a natural product like seaweed though, that the harvesting of it is damaging the environment. However, it is heartening to discover a business that is harvesting seaweed in the most sustainable way and producing a product that has as little an impact on the environment as possible is fundamental to their ethos.

Böd ayre are based in Shetland and are husband and wife, Margaret and Michael Blance. They are crofters and over 10 years ago were looking to convert to organic farming but were having difficulty finding natural fertiliser for their soil. This is often a problem for organic growers but for islanders, where there is not a ready supply of compost or manure it is a big obstacle.

Research pointed them in the direction of a natural resource abundant on the island’s beaches, seaweed. Historically, seaweed had been used as a fertiliser in coastal areas, making agriculture possible even on the poor, stony soils of the Western Isles. Packed full of minerals, seaweed is a true wonder plant and is often used by gardeners to boost plant health, especially for sick and ailing plants but further benefits are being discovered. Margaret and Michael have carried out small scale trials and possibly the two most interesting findings are the suggestion that adding seaweed granules when planting out Brassicas can prevent clubroot, even when it is known to be present in the soil, and that dusting carrots with fine seaweed powder can prevent carrot fly.

Certainly, the Brassicas I planted out last year on my allotment, where there is club root present, showed no signs of the disease. Maybe this can be attributed to the seaweed meal that I had incorporated into the soil when planting out.

Margaret and Michael now produce a range of products. There is a granular plant food and a finer seaweed meal, both of which can be used by incorporating into the soil. For faster effects there is a liquid extract which can be used diluted throughout the growing season and there is also a powder, which can be used to make a foliar spray or dusted onto your carrots and broad beans to prevent carrot fly and aphids.

From the outset the Blances wanted their business to have limited environmental impact. The seaweed is harvested by hand. It’s important to know what you’re doing as it is essential to leave the root and some of the plant behind so that the seaweed can regenerate. Margaret and Michael’s pickers never overpick from one area and sections are left for 4 years before repicking. The whole harvesting process is monitored by Scottish Natural Heritage.

Nothing is wasted in the process with the seaweed powder product created from the waste product of the other processes. The finest dust that cannot be sold is used by Margaret on her own garden. A combination of rainwater and seawater is used to wash the seaweed. They do use a small amount of oil in a generator in order to dry the seaweed but they have plans to erect a wind turbine to provide the necessary energy for this part of the process, taking Böd ayre one step closer to being a low carbon business.

For more details of Böd ayre’s products (they also sell seaweed to eat and feeds for animals), a list of stockists and how to buy online visit their website www.seaweedproducts.co.uk. There is a special offer of free delivery within the UK until the end of this month.

How to Survive a Flower Show

Tags

Carol Klein, Chelsea Flower Show, Joe Swift, Malvern Spring Show, RHS Flower Shows, Terry Walton

The flower show season is now in full swing, with Cardiff, the first, in mid-April and the prestigious Chelsea only a week away. This weekend was the turn of Malvern. Not too far from my home, the showground is set below the stunning Malvern Hills, which run like a spine through the Worcestershire countryside. It had been a while since our first visit, long before we had a garden of our own, so we thought it was about time we returned and on Saturday morning, under cloudless skies we set off. After a detour to buy some sun-cream. I know, would you believe it?

‘Best in Show’ winners Cacti-growing Specialists Southfields Nursery

Flower shows are big events on a grand scale, with huge marquees where plant nurseries display their wares, creating stands to show off their plants to their best and competing for a RHS medal and the ultimate ‘Best in Show’ award. Outside the marquees you’ll find row upon row of trade stands selling everything horticultural and more besides. At Malvern there was a botanical art exhibition; talks from allotment guru Terry Walton and TV presenters Carol Klein and Joe Swift and a multitude of independent food producers with tasty treats to sample and buy. You could see stunning floral art designs and artisan craft producers from jewellers to furniture makers. For the uninitiated shows like this can seem a little daunting with so much to see and buy, it can all be a bit overwhelming, so here are a few tips on how survive a flower show.

A gorgeous display of Sweet peas

Firstly, get there early to beat the crowds. Shows seem to get very busy by lunchtime. If you can get there as the gates open you won’t have to queue to get into the car park and queue to get your ticket and if you want to take photos it’s your chance to get some images without people walking into shot.

If you’ve followed my first tip then make the most popular attractions your first port of call. The show gardens and floral marquees can be hard to see once the crowds have built up. Don’t worry about the plant stands running out of stock. The nurseries come well prepared.

There are plenty of places to get some food and drink but if you want to save your money for shopping and a few extra plants it might be worth bringing some of your own sustenance. Don’t however eat your lunch whilst wandering around the plant exhibits. It’s rather off-putting to discover someone chomping on their potent smelling sandwich right near your ear, whilst you’re deciding whether or not purchase a delicate little Saxifrage. I apologise to the nursery owner for the lost purchase but I couldn’t linger. It was the equivalent of being trapped on a bus next to a Big Mac eater!!

Alchemy Gardens and Villagio Verde Silver-Gilt Medal Winners and their show garden Un Poco de Hogar (A Little bit of Home)

Bring some cash and a cheque book (yes they still have a use) as not all the exhibitors have access to card machines. Don’t worry if you run out of ready money though and you just can’t say no to the 8ft tall wooden giraffe, there are on site cash machines.

Beautifully displayed carnivorous plants exhibit

You can rack up quite a bit of mileage wandering around the showground so wear comfy shoes. This is not the place to worry about fashion. The celebs who will attend Chelsea next week may turn up in the latest wedges or towering heels but I bet they won’t walk much further than the Pimms tent. Wellies maybe necessary if it has been wet as thousands of feet on muddy ground can very quickly turn it into a quagmire. Heeled cowboy boots are not recommended if the limping lady walking past us, as we were leaving, was anything to go by.

And finally, remember to enjoy the experience. Use it as a day to be inspired and to acquire some goodies. The sites are large and it takes some stamina and leg work to see everything. Pace yourself and sit and watch the world go by, and a surprising amount of extendable mops (it really is amazing what you can buy at these places). Treating it as a military campaign may not make for the most satisfying day out, certainly not for the partner of the lady who marched past me shouting to her trailing companion that the plants she wanted were over there, pulling her already laden trolley behind her. He dutifully followed with a weary look on his face and the show had only been open an hour. If you have got an extensive list of must-buys make use of the on-site porter and plant creche services.

With Chelsea, Gardeners’ World Live, Hampton Court and Tatton all still to come there are plenty of opportunities to visit a flower show this year. For more information on the RHS show programme.

Why I Love Britain in Spring

Tags

Abbeydore, Aberglasney, Diarmuid Gavin, Kentchurch Court, Lanhydrock, RHS Chelsea Flower Show

Anyone who is a regular Wellywoman reader will know that it has been a frustrating start to the gardening year for me here in Wales. I know I’m not alone in feeling frustrated about the rain and the cold and the lack of sunlight. The blossom didn’t last long, my tulips flopped and my lettuce are simply refusing to grow up at the allotment. It’s too wet to sow any seeds at the allotment or plant out those plants bursting out of their pots in my cold frames. It has been one of the wettest Aprils for a hundred years and May is continuing in the same vein.

It’s all quite disheartening and demoralising. I’ve even mentioned moving abroad, to warmer, dryer climes. But I was thinking the other day, I’ve tried living in another country and although it was an experience, I did miss Britain incredibly. The chances of me leaving again are slim even if the weather does suck. So to cheer myself up and, hopefully those of you out there feeling the same, I thought I’d come up with a few reasons why I think Britain in spring is a great place for gardeners to be.

Some of my favourite plants come into flower in May. I’ve always loved poppies for their delicate, ethereal quality combined with their ability to adapt well to a variety of conditions. I’ve seen them growing in the tiniest amount of soil, sprouting from the gaps between stones but also in my own heavier, wetter Welsh soil. Poppies will spring up throughout the summer but the sight of the first flowers of the year fill me with joy and once the petals have gone, you are left with one of the prettiest seed heads of the garden.

Alliums are another favourite that first appears in May. A great plant for adding height to a border without any bulk, they look great drifting through clumps of geraniums and astrantias. Creating a purple or white haze from a distance they are a fascinating plant up close, like little stars on stalks. A lot of bulbs struggle with my wet soil but Alliums don’t seem to mind.

Lanhydrock

Britain has some truly beautiful gardens and, after a winter cooped up indoors, they are the perfect places to wander and be inspired. Some of my favourites at this time of year include the restored gardens at Aberglasney, Lanhydrock and 2 local gardens, Abbey Dore and Kentchurch Court. We have such a wealth of gardening history and expertise, I really couldn’t imagine living somewhere that didn’t have the same passion for growing as we have in this country.

Diarmuid Gavin’s Irish Sky Garden Chelsea 2011 (image courtesy of picselect)

That brings me to flower shows. Spring is the season for gardening shows. They pop up everywhere from the local village hall, selling plants to raise money for Britain in Bloom to the most prestigious of them all, Chelsea. What gardener doesn’t like the opportunity to wander round stalls laden with plants and horticultural paraphenalia? The RHS Chelsea Show may have its critics and a lot of it is the gardening equivalent of the catwalk but that doesn’t stop me from being glued to the TV watching coverage of the show gardens, wondering what Diarmuid Gavin will have created this time, predicting who will get a gold and being inspired by the planting schemes.

It’s not just gardening that makes me love Britain in spring. Our stunning countryside maybe a bit soggy and muddy at the moment but the bluebells are in full bloom, creating a bluey purple haze through our woodlands and cow parsley is just starting to flower in the hedgerows with its frothy white umbels.

Sea thrift on Cornish cliffs

There is only one place I would rather be than my garden or allotment and that is by the sea. Give me some cliffs and the sound of the waves as they crash onto a beautiful sandy beach and it doesn’t get much better. It’s not long though before I’m plant spotting. Spring is the perfect time to see our coastal wildflowers, growing in the toughest of conditions with salt-laden winds and poor soils. I always marvel at how they can grow in almost pure sand or tucked into the tiny crevice of a wall. One of my favourites has to be sea thrift or Armeria maritima, a little plant which produces dark green almost grassy like clumps that send up gaudy pink flowers held above the tussock on stalks so that they resemble lollipops. It can be spotted all along the coast of Britain clinging to rocks but I most associate it with holidays in Cornwall.

So there you go, just a few reasons why, for me, even though as I write it has started to rain again, Britain is a great place to be in spring. Of course, it all looks much better when the sun shines but you can’t have everything.

Under Attack

Tags

natural pesticides, organic pest control, Scale insects

My acer tree under attack from scale insects

In a rare spell of dry weather the other day I ventured out to drop off some veg peelings into the compost bin. Pausing to have a quick nosey about the garden and see how everything was coping with the deluge of rain we’ve been experiencing I spotted with a sinking feeling an assault on my acer. Peering under the leaves I could see little limpet-like bumps on the branches and trunk of the tree. A couple of years ago I had had the same problem with my Viburnum bodnantense so I knew it was a type of scale insect.

Scale insects suck the sweet, sugary sap from plants, weakening the plant and possibly transmitting viruses. They start life as eggs and then hatch into their nymph stage where they look a little like aphids. These nymphs crawl over the plant looking for somewhere to settle and develop into a scale where there will sit happily sucking on the carbohydrates flowing around the plant just below the surface of the branch. Eggs are then laid under the protective surface of the scale.

Now is the perfect time to go out and check over your plants for any pests like this. Plants are putting on a lot of growth at the moment, especially with all this rain. This new growth is particularly sweet and juicy and has yet to toughen up so it is a prime target for pests. When looking for pests like this start with the new leaves and buds. Aphids, in particular, love this fresh, new growth.

As for dealing with them. The scale itself protects the insect and any sprays are most effective when used on the egg or nymph stage. You could use a systemic pesticide, sprayed on the leaves it is absorbed by the plant and carried throughout the plant, as the pests eat the plant they absorb the chemical and die. There are natural pesticides, such as fatty acid sprays but these need to be used regularly because they don’t persist on the plant for a long period of time and are not suitable for the scale stage of the insect.

I garden organically though and the best way to deal with pests like this is with your fingers. It is, I have to admit pretty disgusting. You can use an old toothbrush, just dipped in some water and then run up and down the affected branches and this is what I started doing. My acer is a bit more delicate than the Viburnum though and after a while I gave up with the toothbrush and resorted to the good old ‘finger squishing’ technique. Messy yes, but effective. As I was scouring the plant for any more signs of scales I also spotted some of the nymphs congregated on the leaves so these were squished, too. I’ll keep an eye on the tree over the next month or so.

Scale insects are quite common on greenhouse and conservatory plants and because these protected spaces have good growing conditions they can survive all year having several generations of offspring.

I also spotted this …

Tasty Marsh Marigold

needless to say this slug didn’t last much longer!