The Garden
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Sciatica Makes For A Frustrated Gardener!
I need an apprentice! This has to be the busiest time of the year in the garden. Unfortunately I am still struggling with sciatica. So I can safely say this is the most frustrating spring of my gardening life! There is a reasonably famous garden, blogger Dan Cooper, he calls himself ‘The Frustrated Gardener’. If he hadn’t have already used the name, I’d be pinching it! I’ve been comparing this time in my head to lockdown, stuck at home for weeks on end. However lockdown physically for me was good, beautiful weather, no bad back and all the time in the world to garden! On the other hand mentally it…
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Catching-Up With The White Garden – Part 2
The White garden is at the very end, where it eventually goes to a point. It is split in two by a central path, dividing the white shrub border on the left and the perennial border on the right. The Holly Border – White Perennials The right border has the holly hedge running down the side of it. This means we had to plant perennials on that side, so that they die back in the winter. Allowing us access for the annual hedge trim. Conditions in this border are quite tricky, because it’s dry from the hedge. It’s also reasonably shaded as it faces North West. Although I do believe…
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Catching-up with the White Garden – Part 1
Five years on from the first flowers being planted. The white garden is now needing a bit of a sort out. As with any new garden, or just new border, some things work out and some things don’t! You need to give plants a few seasons to see if they settle. Some plants need to put their roots down before they start to grow properly. This usually means after a couple of years of underperforming, I have a stern talk to them. It goes a bit like, “ok, one more year, if you don’t do anything between now and then, you’re out!” I’d say eight times out of ten, it…
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The Greenhouse – My Happy Place
What’s been happening in the greenhouse? Thanks to my reoccurring back problem, I’ve been spending more time than usual in the greenhouse recently. Gardening probably isn’t the best hobby for someone with a bad back, but I’m afraid I didn’t pick it, it picked me! Gardening is the one time that I feel completely relaxed. Time just vanishes, even doing small tasks like pricking out and potting on. As these are the main tasks at this time of year, it’s lucky they can be done sitting down! Chillies – Young and Old I sowed the chilli seeds back in January and they are still only two inches tall! They are…
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Chilli Explosion
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Muscari
The grape hyacinth, as Muscari are commonly known. Really do resemble little bunches of grapes, but they are not in fact related to the traditional hyacinth. True Blue The intense blue of these little bulbs, is incredible. In gardening terms, any flower that’s a shade of purple, is classed as blue. These bulbs are true blue. The majority of our blue muscari, our planted in the woodland border. They seem to tolerate partial shade very well. You don’t find many properly blue flowers. Here I have two together, with the Brunnera in the background. At this time of year, the deep blue is ideal for setting off yellows of primulas…
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Snakes Head Fritillary – ‘Fritillaria meleagris’
If you like something unusual in your garden. Then look no further than the snake’s-head fritillary. They are actually a native wildflower, widely naturalised across Britain. But for those that haven’t seen them before, they cause quite a stir. Resembling a Snakes Head Before their bell-shaped flowers open, they really resemble a snakes head. Poised and slightly menacing. Extraordinary Pattern That’s before you examine the pronounced patternation. Which is also very similar to snake skin. The flowers are literally chequered all over. Dark maroon with tiny checks of the palest pink, and sometimes white. Really quite stunning! White ones too! They do also come in white, but they don’t have…
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Early Spring 2022 – Let’s get back to the flowers!
Early spring is a wonderful time of year. It starts slowly with the snowdrops and hellebores. Incredibly the hellebores are still going strong, after all these weeks. Then the first of the crocus come out to join them. Suddenly, you can hardly keep up with things popping up, here there and everywhere. You notice the first odd flower on the primulas. It feels like the next time you look they’re covered in bright little yellow flowers. On a sunny day as you walk down the garden, you smell the hyacinths before you see them. Of course the bees have already found them. It’s so important to have nectar rich flowers…
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Happy Birthday Walnut Kitchen Garden
This week, marks twelve months since I started this garden blog. Is it me or is time going faster! It’s gone by so quickly. I’ve had such an enjoyable time, writing about the garden each week. And as I have done research for a number of the topics, I’ve leaned a great deal too. To celebrate our first anniversary. I’m going to take you back through the original garden transformation series. And show you where we’re up to today. If you’d like to read any of them again, just press on the titles. Part 1 – Let’s get stuck into the garden makeover! In part one, we did nothing but strip…
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Crocus – The First Vibrant Colour Of The Year
And this week’s favourite flower is…. The crocus! I’m so fickle, my favourite flower changes as I walk around the garden. It’s more tricky at this time of year though, as there’re a lot less to choose from. My favourite can last up to a week! Crocus – They lit my gardening fire! The humble little crocus bulb, was the first plant I ever payed money for. When I started to create my first little garden, with virtually no plant knowledge. Lots of generous gardeners gave me all sorts of plants. Things that they’d split from their own gardens. It was autumn, and in those days, there wasn’t the choice…
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Discovering the Beauty of Hellebores
Hellebores are commonly known as Lenten Rose or Christmas Rose, despite being no relation to the rose family. They are from the Ranunculaceae family, and are mainly native to the Balkans, with a few from Asia. My first Hellebores The first hellebores I ever grew, were at our old garden. Helleborus ‘argutifolius’, these originate from Corsica and Sardinia. They are commonly known as holly-leaved hellebore, because of their prickly leaves. Each leaf has three spiny-toothed leaflets, and take it from me they do scratch! The flowers are green, and shall we say, they’re not exactly a show stopper. It’s obvious that I wasn’t impressed with them, as this is the…
