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The First Week of July
Well, to say that it’s been a busy week is the understatement of the century. Hasten to add that there hasn’t been much chance to write about the garden. The building work on the house is in full swing and as is so often the case it hasn’t all been going smoothly! So this week I’m just leaving you to your own devices to have a little look at what’s growing in the garden in this, the first week of July. Keeping the bees happy It’s getting fruity Eat up your greens The colours of summer A lesson in relaxing And of course whilst we’ve been running around like two…
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The Kitchen Garden Produce is Ramping up!
Since early in the year we’ve been eating a few things out of the kitchen garden, but this is when production seriously ramps up. We had some cavolo nero kale back in winter and we’ve managed to keep the purple sprouting broccoli limping along. It’s desperately trying to go to seed now, but I just keep chopping it down. We’ve had salad leaves for quite a while and rhubarb for breakfast for a good few weeks. The asparagus season is now at an end, we have to stop harvesting it this weekend. You should only cut it for six weeks, before letting it go to seed. Broad Beans Those beautiful,…
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Sentimental Plants – Plants that remind you of others
By sentimental plants, I mean plants with connections to others. For me the nicest plants in the garden are those that have an association with people I’m fond of, or have been fond of. Whether it’s plants passed down the generations; or plants with memories and associations; or all those plants given to you by other gardeners; maybe it’s memories of plants bought on days out with special people; or cuttings taken from friends gardens; there’re plants with meaningful names; and plants you’ve bought with vouchers, gifted to you by loved ones. All of these plants mean that bit more to you. I think most of us can walk around…
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Gardening for your mental health
In this week of mental health awareness, I’d like to shout from the rooftops, that gardening is good for your general health but especially for your mental health. I’m a person that doesn’t find it easy to relax, not my body or my mind, but in the garden I am truly zen. It’s actually quite difficult to describe quite how it makes me feel, but mainly calm, happy and that nothing else really matters. I’m not sure if it’s being outside in the fresh air; or the process of tending living things; or the company of wildlife that a garden brings; or the constant planning and looking forward to what’s…
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Happy Easter from Walnut Kitchen Garden
Happy Easter everyone on this beautiful Easter Sunday. Can you believe the weather? Three bright sunny days on a bank holiday, unheard of! I hope you’ve all managed to get out and about enjoying the marvellous spring flowers that are appearing everywhere. I heard a rumour that it’s going to rain tomorrow, but we’ll think about that tomorrow! Today we’re just going to soak up all the sunny joys that an April Easter bank holiday brings. For the last few weeks there’s been a real blue and yellow theme here in the garden, which always makes me think of Easter. No more so than in my new little planting patch,…
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It’s all go in the garden – Spring has Sprung!
Gosh it’s all go at this time of year! I’ve been sowing seeds on and off since the end of January now, when I started with the chillies. It’s been a continuous cycle of sowing, then potting the seedlings on once they’re big enough to be handled. I actually risked putting them out into the greenhouse a couple of weeks ago. Thank goodness it had finally turned milder as I was totally running out of space on the windowsills! Anyway I’m glad to report that they’re all doing well, streaking ahead now they have so much more light. It’s just a case of keeping a close eye on the watering…
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Time to chop down Karl Foerster
It’s the time of year to chop down ‘Karl Foerster’, don’t worry it’s a grass not a person! Official name Calamagrostis × acutiflora – tall grass to most of us. I discovered this grass about six years ago, when a neighbour gave me a clump in a large pot after splitting his own. Now at this point I would normally say, “beware of other gardeners baring free plants”! They are usually things that spread like a weed, but not always. This neighbour is a particularly good gardener with some lovely plants in his gorgeous garden borders. He told me that it was a well behaved grass and that it stays upright, well he…
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So we did get snow this week!
Well, the weather forecast was certainly correct, we did get snow this week! What a strange weather week it turned out to be! Up until Tuesday it was still feeling like spring had sprung, with more flowers appearing each day in the warm sunshine. The now familiar daffodils all along the grass verges were bursting into flower. But Tuesday morning. I thought it seemed a bit bright when I woke up. Sure enough we’d had a sprinkling in the night, just enough to make everything in the garden look really pretty. By mid-morning though, the sun had come out and the snow was a just memory. We had clear blue…
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Just as the garden is waking up from its winter slumber…
It’s typical really, just as the garden’s waking up from its winter slumber, with all the plants pushing up and the lovely flowers bursting out everywhere I look. The weather forecaster tells us that for the next week or so we’re going to be having, snow, sleet, rain and temperatures dropping below zero! So no doubt they’ll be taking a quite a bashing! Just as we’re all desperate to believe that spring has sprung, it reminds us that we’re not past the bad weather yet. In all fairness though we have had another incredibly mild winter taken as a whole, just that one very cold snap in mid-December. Seed Sowing…
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Pulmonaria – Perfect plant for a shady border
If you are looking for, a ridiculously easy to grow; hardy plant; with beautifully coloured flowers; a long period of interest, and something that grows in shade, then look no further. ‘Pulmonaria’ – or its rather unpleasant common name, ‘Lungwort’ – is the plant for you! When most perennials haven’t even started to wake up, and only the small snowdrop and crocus bulbs are out. Pulmonaria’s have shot their little flower spikes up and are flowering profusely. I hadn’t come across this fabulously good value plant until we moved here in summer 2013. There weren’t many flowering plants in the garden considering it’s size. A few nice bulbs, some grasses,…
