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Dierama Plants – Fussy, but worth the trouble!
Dierama plants are fussy, but once they are happy in your garden, they will reward you with multiple, unusual flowers, that dangle delicately on a tall, impossibly thin arching stem 5ft in the air. Then you will understand their common names of ‘Angels fishing rods’ and ‘Dancing Ladies’. When the wind catches their flowers, they literally do dance around. Dieramas are classed as a perennial plant but their leaves are evergreen. They’re thin and resemble a type of grass, with tufts around 2ft or 60cm high. They originate from mountainous grasslands in South Africa. So they are looking for a sunny, south facing position with well drained soil. Anything less than these…
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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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Salmon Pasta with Broad Beans, Soy & Honey
Salmon pasta with soy and honey, is one of those meals we never tire of. It’s a weekly staple that tastes delicious; is really good for you; and only takes half an hour, so what’s not to like? There is however one little down side, it uses three pans. So not the end of the world if you have a dishwasher, either the mechanical type or the human type! I grew up with a rule that whoever cooks, gets out of the washing up! I appreciate though that that doesn’t really help if you live alone. Back to the food! Today I’m using broad beans, because the harvest is in…
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The garden is full of life
Birdsong for better or for worse As soon as you enter the garden at the moment, your ears are full of birdsong. Admittedly some are more pleasant than others, as we do get gulls regularly squawking overhead, despite being rather a way from the sea – even as the crow (or gulls) fly. Talking of crows, we also have rather a lot of them too, Jackdaws mainly. I think it’s because of the huge old trees we have around. You really can see where the saying ‘Noisy old crow’ comes from. And of course wood pigeons, that go on, and on, and on. But despite the not so pleasant cries,…
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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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Last week of May
Moths & Butterflies – Welcome and not so welcome I saw my first ‘Mint Moth’ this week, of course I didn’t know what it was but as I managed a quick snap shot it enabled me to come in and google it. Not surprisingly they like mint plants! As well as thyme and other herbs. It’s only small about 2cm across and it’s unusual in that it flies around in the daytime. The downside of beautiful butterflies and moths is at some stage they have to be a caterpillar and caterpillars eat plants. With the exception of the cabbage white caterpillar eating my brassicas, I do just tolerate plant damage.…
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Rhododendrons and Azaleas
Having acid soil, the ericaceous loving Rhododendrons and Azaleas do really well in our garden. We have two Rhododendrons, a white one and a purple one, plus a bright orange Azalea. The White One The white Rhododendron is the first to come into flower. Unfortunately I don’t know the name of it as it was already here when we came in 2013. Poor thing was surrounded by weeds, mainly the dreaded ground elder. In 2014 as we cleared the garden out to make way for ‘The Great Wall’ and a complete re-design, we dug it up with a substantial root ball, trying to avoid the weeds! It was moved to…
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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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Disaster in the Greenhouse
Well I had such a lovely morning planned out. One of my favourite jobs of the year, planting the tomatoes in the greenhouse, when disaster struck! The garden apprentice (otherwise known as husband) was with me, as he has to help me with the heavy bags of compost to replenish last years. He said, ‘what’s that weed?” I started to pull it, then gently started to uncover it’s roots. I said, “it looks like a potato”. More uncovering in sued. The gardening apprentice said, that’s no potato! We dug deeper and finally realised with dread, that it was Ground Elder!!! Or it’s rather unpronounceable Latin name Aegopodium Podagraio. I think…
