I collected the last brussel sprouts, most of which have been nibbled by hungry wild rabbits. In my raised bed I also harvested the last carrots and parsnips, which were actually quite small but very tasty in my beef and ale stew.

Cold frame lettuce

My coldframe protected the Winter Lettuce from the worst of the Winter weather including the snow and I was delighted to be able to pick some Lambs Lettuce and Rocket as you can see in the picture below. A few croutons and some fried pancetta accompanied my mixed salad nicely at lunchtime.

I am still enjoying the garlic and shallots which I grew last year but supplies are running out rapidly. And in fact this morning I planted my new shallots (called Red Sun) in the area where I grew potatoes last year. The sun was shining and the crocuses near my greenhouse had opened up their purple petals as a sure sign that we are now coming out of Winter.

The broad beans which were sheltered in my greenhouse did not look too good so I sowed some more in the afternoon. I also took the opportunity on this sunny afternoon to feed my fruit trees by sprinkling some organic bonemeal powder around my apple tree, cherry tree and also the black and redcurrant bushes. This should give them a boost during the awakening season of spring. As I was spreading my bonemeal fertilizer I noticed that my cherry tree was full of buds so hopefully I will get a lot of fruits this year.

Still no sign of any Daffodil blooms in the garden which means a delay of about 4 weeks compared with last year.

My sowing plans are well under way and include indoor sowings of red Amaranthus, Cleomes and Cosmos which I look forward to seeing in my new flower borders.

Clarkia in flower border

Gallardia and Rudbekia

Some of my ideas have worked out, so for example as you can see the Clarkias provided some interesting lush colour in the flower border.
But unfortunately some of the seeds did not germinate so I did not manage to get the homogenous effect which I was looking for. The Clarkias were interspersed with some Sisyrinchiums (Stiatum) which are perennial plants that produce elegant spikes of creamy yellow flowers. Since these flowers tend to self seed freely I ended up with too many of them in the border but it was nonetheless looking good in June.

Then later in the month there were a few unexpected blue cornflowers in the wrong places but they filled in some gaps nicely. I am also rather disappointed with the lawn Chamomile and the Erigerons which do not seem to have grown well as you can hardly see them in the border.

Mixed flower border

So my flower border is not really what I was expecting in terms of general effect but it does look good and colorful, and that’s what matters after all.

As with all changes it was bound to displease some and delight others. In line with the Dig-In campaign supported by the BBC I feel that the programme tried to address the needs of gardening beginners to make it more accessible to everybody.

Work In Progress

A worthy endeavour indeed but it probably means that some long-time viewers started to feel a bit alienated by the new stances and style of the programme.

In particular I noticed a lot of anger voiced not only in forums such as the BBC gardening forum but also reported in articles such as on the Times Online, in gardening magazines, or popular blogs

Having never seen such anger in the peaceful world of gardening I did wonder if the economic doom & gloom combined with the recent MPs’ scandal story had exacerbated gardeners’ recent outbursts of anger.

Personally I have always felt that I needed to see more episodes of the programme to make up my mind, just like a new garden needs time to mature and reveal its full potential.

However, it seems that two main bones of contention remain. Firstly there is still talk about whether the main presenter should be changed. Personally I think that the quartet of gardeners made up of Carol, Jo, Alyss and Toby more than compensate for the lack of single charismatic leader in the programme.

Secondly, a new feature in the programme called What’s hot & what’s not which was based on the Top Gear Cool Wall, with the team discussing the latest gardening trends. This was a flop from the start, and even the presenters enthusiasm for it was obviously lacking. The good news is that it seems that this has disappeared from the programme. Could it be that the BBC have taken on board all the comments that they received through the blogs, forums, and news media?

A recent survey organized by the Gardeners’ World magazine and published in the July edition reveals that the favourite Gardeners’ World gardens were in order: Barleywood (with Alan Titchmarsh), Barnsdale (Geoff Hamilton), and Berryfields (Monty Don).

I was wondering if they may consider replacing that What’s Hot slot by snapshots of the best episodes from Barnsdale, the Magnolias (Percy Throwers garden) or even the more recent Barleywood and Berryfields?

This idea is currently working on the Saturday kitchen TV programme where we go back in time to watch Floyd cooking in Italy or the 2 Fat ladies cooking a banquet for the army for example. I enjoy these flashbacks in time (and yes, I am in the pre-40’s age category!) and I think that it could work with Gardeners’ World too.

Do you think that the BBC is likely to pick up on this idea?

My Flower Border

Obviously you don’t have to plan the border in exact details but you may find that it pays to do so in the long run and it’s also quite interesting and fun. You will find below my personal gardening tips on how to achieve this.

Right now my flower border is adorning a few tulips which will soon fade away (as you can see in the picture) so I need to fill the empty spaces with some more beautiful flowers and plants.

I first had a look at my border area earlier in the year and did a lot of sowings of flowers which are currently growing patiently in the greenhouse. And now I am just considering which plants will be grown in the border and as part of my simplified version of garden design.

Usually I try to plan most of my borders according to two basic principles: creativity and practicality. I don’t necessarily draw out what the border should look like but it can help to sketch it out too.

1. Be creative with your gardening

From the point of view of creativity I am looking for a theme which could be a colour or style. For example I have a blue border (with mainly blue flowers) as well as an exotic border. This usually means that I have to work out what type of colour scheme or effect I am trying to achieve. And this is the fun bit.

2. Consider practical gardening options

From the practical point of view, I need to take into account the size of the flowers which I will plant in my garden as well as the flowering season and the suitability to the area (does a particular plant need to grow in a sunny spot for example?).

So I find that in my border I have permanent flowers (perennials & bulbs) which will blossom in the future and must be taken into account. This year I have a few clumps of light pink sedums which are scattered in the border, as well as some hellebores which blossomed in winter and will constitute a green shape in my border.

The back of the border is constituted of dahlias of vivid colours (white, yellow, red) as well as apricot-coloured rose bushes of medium size which will blossom throughout summer. I also have a few left-over pink sweet williams here and there but there is still space to fill in around the plants.

So this is my plan for this year:

At the front of the border I will plant some of the lawn chamomile plants which I have sown in the greenhouse back in January. Now I have never grown these plants before but I guess that they will provide a green sheen to the front of the border and be suitably fragrant as I walk past the border. I will probably intersperse the camomile with some other flowering plants which I have not decided upon yet (yellow marigold or erigerons?)

Behind the chamomile I have already started to sow some clarkias which come in a wide range of vivid hues of pink and should be about 18 inches tall. And I shall also plant a few of the gaillardias, chrysanthemums (tricolor mixed) and rudbeckias (hues of yellow and brown) which I have in my greenhouse and were sown back in small pots back in February.

I have also bought 2 light pink crinums which I will place in the middle of the border between the hellebores and they should flower later in the year.

Now I admit that I always tend to cram too many plants in my border but the advantage of this is that it means less weeding for me since the weeds don’t have enough light to come through. Alternatively I could mulch around the plants but I like to create a patchwork effect of colours in my flower borders.

Now remember I am just not an expert garden designer but overall I think that it should be quite a colourful warm border mixed with annuals, perennials, bulbs and sizes of all sorts.

I really enjoy experimenting with colours and shapes in the garden and I believe that anyone can have a go too. And with gardening there’s always the chance for some unplanned effect or lucky growth which I welcome every year.

So now that you have read my plan do check out this diary soon to find out what my 2009 flower border eventually looks like! And as usual I welcome your comments.

Primula Vulgaris

At this time of year the wild primroses (primula vulgaris) and the common dog violets thrive in the countryside and also in my garden in fact.

This reminds me of a little poem which can be found in the Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady by E. Holden and edited in 1906. And I wonder: will there always be violets and primroses?

This is the poem from the diary:

“Long as there’s a sun that sets
Primroses will have their glory
Long as there are violets
They will have a place in story”

Source: Wordsworth, The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady by E. Holden.

Another benefit of growing your own tomatoes is that you get a wide choice of varieties of tomatoes to grow from seeds. The choice is much wider than the tomatoes which you can find in supermarkets and the varieties are also adapted for growing in the UK.

How to get started

At this time of year you have a few options: you can either purchase a plug plant from a garden centre or order your plants online. Make sure that the plant is watered sufficiently and do not plant the tomato outdoors until all risk of frost has finished.

Potting tomato plants

Alternatively you could try growing tomatoes from seeds, which is my preferred option. All you need is a pot or tray of fine compost where you will place a few tomato seeds that need to be covered with a little compost. Place the tray on a sunny window sill and keep the soil moist (you may want to cover the tray with a plastic bag to keep the moisture in until the seeds have germinated). Within 2 weeks you should start to see some seedlings emerging from the compost.

Once the seedlings are big enough to handle i.e. once they have at least an additional pair of leaves to their original leaves (called true leaf) you can transplant them in their own individual pots to grow on in a sunny area. Once all risk of frost has passed and the weather is warmer you will be able to plant your tomatoes outside. If like me you have a greenhouse, you can move the plants earlier in the greenhouse and either grow them in big pots or grow bags. Grow bags are handy because they take little space and can be disposed of easily at the end of the season. I simply put 3 plants per grow bag of either tomatoes or peppers.

My favourite tomato varieties

I recommend Gardeners Delight which is easy to grow and ripens quickly. Also another favourite of mine is Tigeretta – a middle sized tomato with little yellow stripes, which is tasty and proved to be very disease resistant when we had the really wet summer two years ago and blight and rot was killing most plants.

I tend to use the Roma variety to make tomato sauce or for cooking. I have also grown Alicante tomatoes which are bigger than the above mentioned varieties and therefore take longer to ripen in my personal experience. I normally prefer to grow cherry tomatoes because they ripen quicker than big tomato varieties and produce vigourous bushes full of fruits. Additionally for cherry tomatoes I recommend Sun gold and Black Cherry (although some people find that the colour is a bit off- putting).

You can get some varieties which are specifically adapted to baskets so they are worth giving a go too. This year I will also try the Marmande variety (my friend has given me a few plants that he grew from seeds) which usually produces big beefsteak tomatoes.

Caring for your tomatoes

You will need to feed your tomato plants as soon as they have flowers. I recommend using an organic tomato feed which you can find easily online or even in DIY shops. This will ensure that you get a bounty of juicy and tasty tomatoes.

Some tomato plants need to have their side shoots removed for plentiful crops; it’s best to follow the instructions on your packet of seeds. As the plants grow, they will also need staking to alleviate the plant from the weight of the fruits and branches. I personally use bamboo canes and some garden twine. Also, I have always been advised by my peers that you should avoid getting the tomato leaves wet as tomato plants don’t like the damp and can get diseases.

Don’t worry if you get it wrong, you should still get some tomatoes as long as you give them a little care every so often. And harvesting couldn’t be more fun!

My top tip: marigolds are a perfect companion plant to tomatoes, i.e. they repel the pests which are likely to damage your tomato plant. I always grow marigold every year and I plant them along the path which is near the tomatoes so it does not only looks good but it’s beneficial to my vegetables too.

Weeding in my English Garden

I have also finished pruning the roses which are at the back of the border. I found a few slugs as I was weeding that area and promptly disposed of them with my secators.

There is a semi permanent structure to my border in the sense that the rose bushes always form the background colour of the border and a few perennials and bulbs make an appearance when the season is right for them.

Each year I look forward to selecting the flowers which will make up my border throughout the seasons. And that’s probably the most challenging part of the task: finding plants which will contribute to a constant display of flowers from april to september. You can see a picture of my long border in full bloom in the introduction page to my English garden.

There are flowers which I am really fond of, and will include invariably in my borders and it includes: Dahlias, Cosmos, Clarkias, Californian poppies and sweet williams. This year however I shall remove the self seeded sweet Williams and try some new Crinum bulbs, as well as Gallardias which I have not grown for a long time (I have chosen a variety with double flowers called Razzledazzle). The seedlings for most of these plants are still indoors for now and doing well.

One thing you can guarantee with a border like mine is that whatever I plan to do, there is always some unexpected flower, usually of an odd colour, that will crop up amongst the composition. But I guess that’s all part of the magic of gardening…

To me nothing compares with the fragrance of an old English rose and certainly 2008 has seen the resurgence of the famous English rose amongst gardeners. In my garden you will find fine specimen of luscious roses – a total of 12 varieties, mainly from the David Austin nursery.

Gertrude Jekyll rose

Also high on my list of favourite rose varieties is Jude the Obscure. It is said to be rather susceptible to rain damage on the petals but I like the shape of the flower which is quite distinct (very large incurved cup shaped flowers) as well as the subtle perfume: sweet and aromatic like a glass of chardonnay wine.

Finally, it is said to be the nation’s favourite rose and it is surely mine too: Gertrude Jekyll – stunning with its rich pink blossom and the true perfume of the English Old Rose.

English roses are generally fairly easy to grow. I have had some diseases with my roses but I still do not use any pesticides or other chemical products.
For example one of my apricot-coloured rose (called Pat Austin) was badly affected by blackspot two years ago. A friend of mine recommended to cut the bush right back and to dispose of all the cuttings in the green bin.

So we cut the rose back to 2 inches from the ground which seems quite cruel at the time and I wasn’t sure that the bush would recover from this drastic approach.
The following year the bush grew back some new shoots and admittedly the rose was overall smaller than before; but last summer it looked healthy and good and it is coming back to its original height.

Roses and Sweet Williams

They tend to appear in mass in Spring and they feed on the sap of roses. Because I try to garden organically I do not spray my roses. At the beginning of summer I try to squeeze the insects between my fingers. But then the lady birds take over and I guess I am lucky to have enough lady birds to rid me of the little aphids throughout summer. Or is it because I don’t spray my plants that I get so many of the beloved insects?

Certainly I have noticed that my greenhouse offers the little ladybirds a nice shelter to over winter each year. And yes – the early rose buds do get damaged by the first aphids but I believe that it is worth it to remain organic.

My top tip: the perfect combination: roses & sweet williams.
Sweet williams are fairly compact plants which surround the rose bush tightly hence preventing a lot of weeds to come through. I definitely recommend growing them together.

Was it tip-top for you? Please leave a comment – thank you!

Robin in the snow

This is January and it’s time to prepare for the growing season, although I tend to think that November is when it all starts for me as I look back on what has been cultivated and start clearing the dead crops and flowers from the garden.

So this week I shall take another look at all the seed catalogues to see what new varieties will tempt me (what with so many varieties of flowers, vegetables and fruits to choose from!).

I shall also look back at which seeds I will continue to grow this year and establish a sowing schedule for the calendar.

Already it looks like the first seeds that I will grow this month will be chilies. Chilly seeds are very easy to grow and the plants do well on a sunny window sill which is ideal if you do not have a garden.

I hope that you will follow me on this journey as I am aiming to post my gardening activities on a weekly basis. So look out for my next post on my gardening plan!

I am only an amateur gardener and therefore welcome your comments and ideas for improvements.

May 2009 be a Happy gardening year for us all! (with a lot of sun…)