Nature abhors a vacuum

It seems such a short while ago that I donned thermal layers to weather the cold outside and watched not very patiently for signs of growth in the garden. At last we had some warm hot weather, a tad earlier than expected while the veg patch was still in spring mode, covered in forget-me-nots and daffodils. 

It looked wonderfully frothy ... mainly because it was too early to plant anything. 

Move on a few weeks and I now have to steel myself to ruthlessly remove (some of) the flowers in order to make space for some veg. The forget-me-nots can be pulled out once they've seeded themselves (thank you May winds) but the calendula, linaria and foxgloves will be keeping the bees and pollinators happy for a bit longer. 

I did actually make a start clearing and mulching this area in late winter ... tidying the strawberries, removing some of the raspberry canes that had crept too close to the path, and digging up last year's Jerusalem artichokes (somewhat optimistically hoping that I did actually find them all). 

And having waited patiently for the gentle warmth of spring - ie keeping late March or April in mind to start sowing seeds - a tiny heatwave jump started the heat of summer and denied us any much needed April rain. The hosepipe came out, the water butts were topped up. 

The result? A veg patch of self sown forget-me-nots, calendula, linaria, foxgloves, feverfew, ox-eye daisies and a host of identifiable weeds.  And a windowsill at home full of veg waiting to be planted out. 

On the plus side, the quince tree canopy has spread providing a nice shady spot for spinach. At least, that was the plan but when I walked around the patch this morning, a small meadow seems to have sprung up in the shade of the quince. Very pretty but oops. 

It all looks rather beautiful to my mind - I absolutely adore the zingy oranges, peppermint pinks and purple hues - and love the sounds of bees making the most of this early season bounty.  I admit I've spent more hours admiring the flowers than working in this plot.  

But now it's time. The forget-me-nots are starting to seed all over the garden for next year, last year's pink chard and Cavolo kale have finished and need to be removed, as does the garlic that never bulbed up. 

And, no, I didn't get all the sunchokes out, there seems to be a fair amount of those popping up again. Oops. (But maybe not.)

Tulips and a grand Day Out in Sussex

Spring is such an exciting time and every day there's something new to see in the garden. But there was extra excitement for me this past week as this town mouse went to the Sussex countryside on a day trip to Gravetye Manor.  

Gravetye is the historical home of William Robinson, a renowned gardener/writer of the late Victorian era who pioneered wild gardening during a period when formal bedding-plant style prevailed. Gravetye Manor is now run as a rather grand hotel and Michelin starred restaurant but Robinson's gardens have been maintained in keeping with his ideas on natural beauty. As expected, they are a visual delight all year round.

Why was I there? Well, the occasion was a talk from award winning garden designer Jo Thompson about her latest book 'The New Romantic Garden'. This was followed by a delicious lunch* and a stroll around the gardens where thousands of tulips, euphorbia, forget-me-nots and fern-leaved Sweet Cicely gave that spring sparkle to the borders in the Flower Garden.

I'm rather envious as my own stalwarts of spring, the hefty amount of tulips planted in previous years, have more or less vanished. There's a reason for this as I was to learn. Allegedly the tulips that can be bought in bulk from the nursery or garden centre are not as robust or dependable as those ordered from specialist bulb suppliers. No prizes for guessing where my bulbs were from. 

Or it could have been that mine just rotted as a result of torrential rain last year. 

So there's my lesson.  Now I know that if I want to keep the best ones, they should be lifted, dried and stored. I'm wondering if I can be bothered. And some species of tulip are more perennial than others as we learned from Tom Coward who, let's face it, knows.  

Tom has been the head gardener at Gravetye for the past fifteen years and imparted much wisdom to us about managing the gardens and, especially, tulips. We were told that 5,000 tulips had been planted in just three days last November (no, they don't have a vast team of gardeners) and that the best time to plant the bulbs is November or December.  (I sort of knew that, but not why.)

But notably, (pay attention please), if the bulbs are planted when the weather is still mild, the bulbs get warm and rot. (Note to self: don't store the bulbs indoors! And don't be tempted to plant while the weather is still relatively pleasant. And, yes, it's okay to plant the bulbs in January, they'll just flower later.)

Tom also mentioned Anna Pavord's book, 'The Tulip', as a jolly good read on the subject; my copy was retrieved from the bookshelf forthwith.

Another surprising revelation came when Tom showed us a small pot of tulips that he had grown from saved seed. Wow. Big respect. This is definitely one for the extremely patient gardener as the seeds take four years to grow. Impressive ... but not something I'll be trying any day soon. Although, as Tom pointed out, if you do this every year, after the first four years you'll have new tulips every year. 

To round off the tour, Tom took us up to the famous, and very large, oval walled kitchen garden. Built by Robinson on a slope to catch all available light, the symbiotic relationship between the kitchen and this garden continues.  Menus are planned to make use of what's growing there. Obviously there's not much that can be harvested at this time of year but an edible posy of wild garlic was included with our meal. 

In the garden long rows of beans are fleeced against pheasants, flowers for the house are starting to grow, herbs spill over the path edges under step over apples and broad beans and winter veg stood ready for harvest; it all looked very pretty. And, just outside the garden gates, who wouldn't want a hut like this to work from?

So, after this and to end the day, we were left to wander through the rest of the gardens, admiring blossom and camassia in the Orchard. This would have been the perfect end to a perfect day ... if we hadn't got stuck in traffic for two hours in the heat behind a road traffic accident. Ah well, you can't have it all.

Let me leave you with this lovely view walking down from the kitchen garden in Gravetye.

William Robinson's spirit lives on .... 

* 'lunch'  doesn't convey the fabulous meal we had; tasty, beautiful and locally sourced fine dining with delicious wine would be a better, if more wordy, description. 

A natural way to control slugs and snails

A baby snail exploring the flower stalks of my Wild Garlic plants.

If you've got a garden, you've got slugs and snails.  Fact.  The little blighters lurk everywhere - behind walls, around pots and under planks of wood. I've even found one behind a pot on a top floor balcony! But they're also an essential part of the eco-system that our gardens need to succeed ... but possibly not in such large numbers.

Slugs come in all shapes and sizes ... and names.  A quick google search gives me banana slugs, ghost slugs, leopard slugs, pancake slugs, Spanish slugs, brown field slugs and a rainbow of slug colours - black, yellow, red, ash-grey and pink. And there's also a range of rather cute sea slugs.

They're hermaphrodes so both sexes can lay hundreds of eggs several times a year after mating. Once hatched, tiny slugs become adults within a year and then start the cycle again.

They'll munch on dead leaves, sick plants and, in the case of leopard slugs, they'll also eat each other.  And when that food source runs out, they'll head straight for your newly planted lettuces and legumes. Pity the poor gardener who persists in trying to grow hostas, lupins and delphiniums!  (There is a way round that.)

Putting aside their natural aptitude for destruction, slugs are also an important part of the garden eco-system, providing a food source for birds, foxes, beetles - and, if you're lucky, hedgehogs, frogs and ducks. So the methods I've tried and tested in my veg patch and other gardens are more about control than total annihilation.

When I wrote about natural slug deterrents in 2014, I hadn't yet tried wool pellets or Strulch. But both worked for me in subsequent years keeping slugs and snails away from beans and strawberries.  

This year I'm going to try Grazers, a natural spray recommended by garden designer Jo Thompson.  I can't report on its effectiveness yet as we haven't had much wet weather so far. (Ha! I wrote that yesterday, today it's raining.)

And I've not tried drowning slugs in pots of beer (I prefer to drink it myself) but heard from a neighbour that he'd had some success with a yeast based concoction but was unable to provide me with a recipe. It seems that it's the yeast that gets the slugs attention.

But, happy days, I've since found the magic potion online and have stored up the recipe for the next bout of expected precipitation. (Recipe at bottom of this post or watch here.)

Two more ways of protecting your veg plants; try surrounding them with plants that slugs dislike. Or, secondly, plant into pots and smear a good slick of grease such as a Vaseline around the rim - slugs will arch over copper tape but sticky grease deters them.  It certainly worked with a client's delphiniums last year!

A few plants that slugs don't like are strong smelling plants like nepeta, sage, thyme, lavender and the hairier plants like borage, foxgloves, salvia, astrantia.  I've noticed they also leave calendula alone.  All of these are also good for attracting pollinators. 

But, of course, the best deterrent is to go out during the evening with a torch and bucket of warm salty water; you'll find many molluscs feasting on your plants. Pick them off, drop them into the bucket; the salty water will kill them. Cruel but effective. But put the bodies into the compost, I'm not sure that birds would benefit from eating salty snacks. 

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A recipe to capture slugs

• Approximately one cup of lukewarm water (not hot)
• 2 Tablespoons of plain flour
• 1 Tablespoon of sugar (fine sugar like caster sugar will dissolve faster)
• 1 teaspoon of dried yeast
• A jar to mix it all in.

Add all the dry ingredients in the jar, add the warm water bit by bit stirring as you go to avoid clumps. 

Make this mixture an hour before using. The mix will be active when you see foam on the top.

Pour into tubs or containers sunk partly into the soil, away from your precious plants. Check on the tubs in the morning and expect to find several slugs have found their way there. 

A few pointers on making slug traps from recycled pots can be read here.

Worth a try, eh? 

Bursting with Blissful Blossom (it must be spring)

 

That winter wasn't so bad, was it? And followed by a glorious sunny spring, it's easy to believe that the plants are jumping the gun a bit but, no, looking back at previous years, I can see that everything is right on track.  (A good reason for taking photos of the garden throughout the year.) 

After the gentle unfolding of snowdrops, then the brash appearance of yellow trumpet daffodils, the garden is settling into the season. The flowers that heralded spring in my garden are starting to fade (the pink hellebores are currently a rather lovely pale lilac grey colour) and there's something new every time I go into the garden.  It's taken a while to get to this stage but now the garden is constantly evolving and surprising me.  (No instant tv makeovers here!)

Brunnera, ajuga, camellia, forget-me-nots, white daffs and honesty ... all are brightening up the borders. Bizarrely, so is a very orange Fritillaria Imperialis. I have no idea where that came from - I definitely didn't plant it! - but am rather loving it.  I might even introduce a few more for next year. 

But it's not just flowers.  In this garden (the one I see from my balcony), the lemon verbena is pumping out delicious smelling leaves, as is the Chilean guava; hopefully there will be fruit from that this year. The blackcurrant, blueberries and gooseberries are also looking very healthy. I've planted a couple of purple sprouting broccoli into the beds as well; they're leftovers from last year so who knows if they'll actually grow but there's nothing to lose!

There are pots of dahlias, origanum Kent Beauty (the one that trails pink bracts), four mint varieties, achillea, lemon balm (those herbs are the four that make a refreshing tea) and wild strawberries.

In the veg garden, fruit trees are in full froth; one puff of wind and it will look like a wedding has just taken place. My Cavolo kale plant (just the one left!) has started to flower, the pink Chard is hanging on in there and I've had many delicious stems from my third year (perennial?) purple sprouting broccoli. 

It must be time to break out the seed box again and get the beetroot, chard and brassicas in for next year. 

News from the Veg Patch

I'd like to say that this year's growing season has been a triumph but ... sadly, no.  

But let's start with something cheerful - these nasturtiums are helpfully climbing up through the raspberry canes, the sight of their lovely vibrant flowers just sings happiness to me.

Elsewhere in the veg garden, things are not looking so rosy.  Ideally, the veg patch could have done with spring warmth and summer rain; instead, like many other gardeners, I've found the weather this year has done me and the garden no favours.  

Weeds have thrived, edible plants have not.  

Although, that said, I had a fantastic strawberry season ... over 3 kilos of tasty berries! (I think that equates to nearly 7 lbs. Impressive.)  The berries were mostly untouched by slugs, snails or birds without any protection (remarkable, given the wet weather) and the plants kept producing over several weeks. Copious rain followed by warm ripening sun seems to be the magic formula for success.  

If only I could bottle that and bring it out every year!

But no beans, peas, leeks or courgettes for me this year. What marauding molluscs didn't decimate, the heatwave finished off. Several times I've seriously considered ripping it all up and starting again with perennial flowers. But, as the saying goes, Keep Calm and Carry On Gardening. 

My tomatoes, on the other hand, are looking very promising. (I'm an optimist.) I planted them out late this year due to the chill weather so things are a bit behind schedule but green fruit has started to appear. And, this year, I diligently removed (almost) all of those little side shoots growing between the leaf and stem; a few have escaped me but I've left them alone as they've formed trusses of fruit. (Probably a mistake.) I'm watering daily and feeding every Friday and have recently pinched out the growing tops of my cordon (indeterminate) tomatoes. 

Why feed weekly on a Friday rather than, say, Monday? Because I love a bit of alliteration so 'Feed on Friday' makes for a good aide memoire.

Still on the bright side of things, apples from both the Braeburn and Core Blimey trees are looking good. They're dropping in droves from the branches but the flavour isn't there yet - it's more cardboard than crisp for now. 

Blueberries and gooseberries have also been surprisingly good and plump; Chilean guava berries, not so much. Thanks, heatwave.

The Morello cherry trees, however, which are usually of minimal interest to the birds here, were stripped bare of fruit as soon as they ripened. A phenomenon that I found both puzzling and annoying. Who were the culprits for the meticulous denuding of my Morellos?  People or birds? My money's on the pigeons.

There will be no fruit from the quince tree either. There was lots of quince blossom in the spring but not enough bees around to pollinate them. Another climate casualty.

And what of the pear and plum trees? Pears are ripening out of reach at the top of the tree, and there are no plums. Again.  That's fifteen fruit bearing years with nothing to show for it; I may have to deploy my recently serviced chainsaw. 

So that's my veg patch year so far ... more food for thought than food for the table but there's still the winter brassicas to plant out. 
 

A Feast for the Senses

 

I was reminded the other morning how rare are those times when it becomes possible to just slow down and deeply relish the moment without any of the distractions of modern life. 

I'd been down to the veg patch to water my tomatoes and, as I walked swiftly back through the gardens on my way home and towards work, I saw how quickly a few days of warm weather had ripened the blackberries on wild brambles growing untamed in one of the borders.  

I slowed down to eat a couple, lingered on to pick a small handful and then I started to look for a pot to gather enough for a pudding, a smoothie or jam. That sweet/sharp burst of juiciness was so moreish!

It was a meditative moment.

As I lingered over the picking of fruit, I relished the warmth of early morning sun after weeks of chill grey skies, the sight of the plump berries growing tall against a clear blue sky and gradually became aware of the sweet scent of honeysuckle flowers rippling towards me on the warm breeze. 

These brambles have been allowed to thrive in an untended border, pushing their way through Cornus stems, an Elaeagnus shrub, honeysuckle vines and a very large pink flowering Hebe. It was the Hebe that has always been a magnet for bees and so I gathered berries to the gentle hum of foraging honey bees and birdsong emanating from neighbouring hedges.  

As juice from the fruit stained my fingers, it occurred to me that this short interlude to my day appealed to all of my senses; it was a blissful, peaceful, hugely satisfying moment. 

It's not that where I live is noisy - planes drone quietly overhead, trains swoosh past, sirens wail, horns beep in the distance, the usual everyday city sounds - but a prolonged moment of stillness among nature is a moment to be cherished.

It reminded me of the time I lived by the sea. There, I would sit on the pebble beach, listen to the waves washing onto the shore and the gulls wheeling overhead, and watch the sun set in the west. Even then, (it was a long time ago), I could appreciate the beauty of the moment.

And now I have my garden spaces and nearby Heath.  Often, for me, the mindful benefits of gardening are limited to the satisfaction of a task finished, the physical movement involved in all that bending and stretching and the joy of a well earned good night's sleep.  

But it's the times we slow down and feel gratitude that life becomes mindful.

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In case you're wondering, blackberries freeze well laid out flat on a tray then bagged up when frozen so I'll put a batch in the freezer to enjoy over winter. In the meantime though, I like the sound of the blackberry muffins and pie from this London based blogger:

https://vikalinka.com/bakery-style-blackberry-muffins/

And sow it begins - an early March update

Tulips have started to flower already!

Today I've been wondering why spring is called spring. Yes, I know, my brain frequently flies off at a tangent. The answer should be obvious but I love a bit of etymology.   In Old English 'spring' meant a welling up of water, a wellspring ... rather than a falling down of water from the sky as is the case today! The word also meant to arise, gush or burst forth which is certainly the case with my garden this year.  

It's a fabulous season, from the daffodils and violets blooming to the whole garden visibly coming back to life.  But it's the magic held in a few packets of seeds that holds the power to excite.  I love every stage of the process from sowing the seeds, the thrill of seeing them germinate and then nurturing my plant babies into maturity. (And then, of course, eating some of them. Although I often find the plants so beautiful that I can hardly bear to denude the garden of their loveliness.)

So, on that basis, February was pretty exciting despite torrents of rain; the winter was relatively mild here in the UK south so February saw the first seeds being sown here in Veg Patch Villas. 

I poopoo-ed the advice of the 'experts' telling me not to sow until mid March.  I worked on the assumption that if it all failed, I would have time to start again. So ... into little Jiffy coir pellets on Valentine's Day went seeds of tomato, chilli, aubergine, and lunchbox cucumbers.  Cosmos and courgettes were sown in the last days of February and Tagetes (marigolds), leeks and physalis (Cape Gooseberry) were started in module trays in the first week of March.  

Outside, at the beginning of February, I filled the gaps between overwintered parsley and chervil in the Veg Trugs with spinach and radish - both of which are coming along nicely. The soil in the Veg Trugs is fairly free draining so the seeds probably enjoyed the regular downpours and sheltered location.  I've not grown spinach in early spring before (who knew it was so hardy!) but it's worth doing as it will bolt more readily in hot weather. Another lesson learned. 

Broad beans that I sowed into pots at the beginning of December and germinated on my balcony were planted out at the end of February - all sturdy little plants that have survived a few deluges in the past week. Regular checks show no slug damage ... so far so good.

Pea and Sweet Pea seedlings enjoying a spot of high-rise sunshine.

Lastly, as I reckon peas are fairly hardy and I had a spare set of root trainers, I sowed 32 tall pea seeds (Champion of England from DT Brown) on the 23rd Feb - they're now a couple of inches tall (fast growers!) and have escaped any hungry mice that would have devoured the seeds if sown direct into the soil.

I'll plant those peas out next week and sow another patch of peas (Kelvedon Wonder, a short pea) towards the end of the month, together with another round of broad bean seeds. This time, the Crimson flowered variety; I sowed white and crimson flowered beans next to each other a few years ago and had some very beautiful variations in the flowers as the bees cross pollinated the plants! That, in my view, is what keeps things interesting. 

The next job will be potting on my tomatoes.  Those little three week old seedlings already have their first set of true leaves so I want to bury the stems a bit and give them more root room.  It will be a while before they're ready to go out into the shelter of my balcony so burying the stems will strengthen the plants and reduce any etiolation.

And then I'll have to find space for germinating the next round of seeds indoors; I'll be adding kales, beetroot and broccoli to my seed starting station (aka my breakfast table).  But, you never know, by mid March the soil may well be warm enough to sow direct outdoors. 

Down in the veg patch, milder temperatures are having a noticeable effect. Wild garlic is ready to be harvested, as is chard and broccoli - and, no, I haven't finished digging up the Jerusalem Artichokes. I've taken a couple of half bucketfuls to a friend who adores the tubers, makes a fine soup from them (must get that recipe!) and isn't troubled by the gurgling gastronomic consequences of eating them. 

What I have done though is cleared a lot of the self seeded violets, feverfew, and forget-me-nots to create space for more food growing. Plants to encourage pollinators will now have to be interspersed with veg as companion plants which is definitely a good thing and in true cottage garden style. 

One useful and timely tip for a companion plant is that garlic has a beneficial relationship with strawberries. Thank you Ben from Grow Veg YouTube channel - he mentioned this tip in his Strawberry Masterclass video.  I've been sorting out my strawberry bed as I didn't give it enough attention last year; this year I've cut off old leaves, transplanted the plants from last years runners, given it all a sprinkling of blood, fish and bone to boost the soil and will now plant my module grown garlic in between the strawberry plants.  And then, as usual, I'll surround the plants with a layer of Strulch - the straw mulch that gradually composts down to benefit the soil and that will also protect my strawberries from slugs and snails in the summer.  

So, as ever … onwards! 

Happy gardening  👩‍🌾 

Travels with my Clematis

A couple of weeks back I braved the evening rush hour commute on London’s Underground with a rather beautiful and very tall purple clematis bobbing about under my arm. I let four crowded trains go by before I could get on board and even then struggled to gain enough space for me and my precious plant. It was worth the effort though - that gorgeous plant was gifted from The Guernsey Clematis Nursery via the Garden Press Event where I had spent many happy and worthwhile hours during the day.  

🌿🌿 🌿 🌿 🌿

The Garden Press Event is an annual gathering where the garden media (bloggers, journos, podcasters and other interested parties) get to explore new products, chat with the companies that created them and listen to talks by industry notables. Those talks included (among others) Huw Richards and Niall McCauley (both popular gardening YouTubers) talking about small space self sufficiency (Huw) and how to start a YouTube channel (Niall). 

The event is for one day only so choices have to be made between exhibitors and talks; as a result, I missed hearing Anne Marie Powell (renowned garden designer and all round lovely person) talking about the garden she’s designed to celebrate Octavia Hill, the founder of the National Trust. That garden can be seen at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show this summer.  And if you want to recreate your own little piece of Sissinghurst or other National Trust gardens, Blue Diamond garden centres have teamed up with the NT to produce a range of seeds to inspire your dreams.

... if only I had enough space for a white garden! 

And, of course, it’s important to make time during the day to catch up with friends old and new! 

So, all in all it was a very busy day. There’s always seeds, soil (peat free, of course) and pest control companies offering something new each year as well as an abundance of inspiration, education, garden equipment and generally useful stuff. 

With my gardener’s brain fired up, and over 100 exhibitors there, these were a few of the products that piqued my interest ...

Primeur rubber products (bottom left of photo). Made from recycled tyres, I could see the potential for using their stepping stones, patio tiles and curveable edging in a variety of situations … keeping gravel away from borders, enclosing a grassed area, marking out paths and seating areas. In fact many of those products would be very useful in both my gated garden and the veg patch.

At another stand I gazed longingly at the ever desirable tools from Niwaki. I already have one of their Hori Hori knives, and a pair of their garden snips, but am now lusting after the mini shears and a larger pruning saw. Heaven forbid if I was to go to the Niwaki shop, I’d probably empty my bank balance! 

Throughout the show there was a noticeable emphasis on gardening in a changing climate, ecological awareness, peat free, sustainability and wildlife. 

At the entrance I noticed new product clogs made with sea algae by French company Rochette. (Middle right of above collage.) Sadly not available until later in the year, I love that someone is finding a useful way to clean up the oceans. New gloves from Town and Country are also made from recycled ocean plastics - and very comfy they were too. My next glove purchase for sure. 

Plastic free Bio Fleece made from plants also addressed the perennial problem of too much plastic in the industry. Good to know that this fleece degrades in a couple of years so gardeners don’t have to worry about yards of torn mucky plastic fleece ending up in landfill. (Something we should all be thinking about!)

Along those same lines, Hortiwool, a Staffordshire based family run company, were promoting their wool products - large naturally degradable pads for insulation, nutrition (naturally degrades to feed the soil) and hydration (keeps basket plants moist when used as a liner) ... oh yes, the pads also (allegedly) deter slugs. I might give these a try when the beans and brassicas are planted.

There were funky children’s gardening sets from Burton and Ball, gift sets for rose lovers from David Austen, Coco + Coir compost that also allegedly deters slugs and snails (one to watch!), box moth pheromone traps and seed collections galore to inspire visions of bountiful harvests!  Mr Fothergill seeds are also launching a new coir based compressed seed compost later in the year - click on the collage pic to read more. 

But as a veg grower, one of the most alluring stands for me had to be that of new heritage seed company She Grows Veg. Lucy Hutchins is well known on social media (@shegrowsveg) for the beautiful, healthy and sometimes quirky food she grows and now that expertise has been channelled into her new seed company. Lucy’s beautifully presented range offers seeds of unusual varieties of vegetables - rose chicory, pink celery, ‘Molten Fire’ amaranth and Toona sinensis, aka the Beef and Onion tree, to name just a few.

(Find these seeds at www.shegrowsveg.com)

Despite already buying all the seeds I need for the season ahead, I think I might have to create a whole new list! Tempting for all growers but Lucy has found that her seeds are appealing to a style conscious youthful market. It’s a beautiful range and Lucy’s enthusiasm and background is evident in both her website and her instructional videos. I genuinely wish her every success. 

So that was me at The Garden Press Event; a wonderful day to mingle with my ‘tribe’ … but now it’s back to the real world and putting all those garden thoughts and ideas into action!  

My Frankenstein garden

A picture of my violets just because they are so beautiful 

What is going on in my veg garden?  My laziness in the garden last year is producing some unexpected results in that some of the non-perennial plants have decided to regenerate and come back to life with renewed vigour. Hey, I’m not complaining! 

I gave up on the garlic cloves planted last year; they just didn’t grow much.  Too shady, too wet, too warm? I don’t know.  Inexplicably, those same cloves started to grow again last month and currently stand at 10 inches of leafy growth. They seem to be behaving like shallots with several stems from each clove. Definitely one to watch.

Also last summer I left one of my purple sprouting broccoli plants to set seed as it had been a very good plant. I’m never hasty in removing the big plants anyway as the frothy yellow flowers are a magnet for bees and I think they look lovely. 

In due course, having collected seed and cut back the stems, I noticed that the plant was still producing tiny shoots so I let it be. (Out of curiosity and because I had nothing to go into that space.)  

That broccoli is now acting like a perennial; there are two tennis ball sized heads almost ready for harvest! Surely that’s not usual? In 15 years of veg growing here, I’ve never known a broccoli to behave this way - even continuing to sprout while it sets seed - but perhaps I’ve been too quick to clear the beds. 

 

Elsewhere, the Jerusalem artichoke ‘fence’ is slowly being dismantled. As expected it produced both cheerful yellow flowers on tall stems and an abundant harvest of delicious tubers. Win:win. 

I could leave it to regenerate but, when you get 20 to 50 tubers for each one planted, it’s quite the challenge getting through the 10 metres I grew last summer … even when I distribute the bounty among friends! So this year I’m opting for sense over sensibility and planting up just one smallish square of tubers - as well as some real sunflowers. 

And lastly, one plant that I hope will continue in its new life is the Red Champagne rhubarb which I relocated. Yes, probably the wrong time of year to do that but in the ten years since I planted it near the fruit trees, the annual harvest has amounted to a couple of spindly stems. So here’s hoping that nature gives a lot of love to this little plant. 

As the seasons turn

At last there’s a tangible feeling that winter may be moving on.  That’s easier to imagine on a day like today when the sun is shining, the wind has dropped, skies are blue, snowdrops and hellebores are flowering and daffodils are pushing their way up through the soil - the perfect crisp winter’s day that inspired me to an early morning run on Hampstead Heath.

Last year, I didn’t prioritise the veg garden and consequently played catch up with seeds all year; I’m ashamed to admit that my best harvests were apples and lettuce!  Even the birds left me with only one small basket of cherries.  This year I’m determined to do better and be more productive. I’m tempted to walk my fingers through the seed box but I know most seeds will be happier if started off next month .. I’ve already made a monthly list of what to sow when.

Although ... let's see now .... it is possible for me to make a tiny start; I have radishes and spinach that can both be sown outdoors now. I’ll sow them in my raised Veg Trugs in a sunny corner and cover them with horticultural fleece. I’m optimistic for good germination as my urban gardening spaces benefit from slightly warmer temperatures thanks to nearby heated buildings so (keeping fingers firmly crossed for luck) it’s unusual to get a severe frost here. (The water butts have frozen only twice this winter.)  Plus, daytime temperatures here in North London are hovering around or above the 10℃ mark.

I’ve also got small broad bean plants to go out, sown in modules on the last day of November and grown outside in the shelter of my south-west facing balcony.  Never overlook any outdoor space - my tiny balcony is currently also hosting sweet peas on their third set of true leaves, Cavolo Nero kale in pots, parsley and a trough of winter salad leaves ... all grown outside throughout the winter.

By the end of February I’ll be popping tomato, chilli and cucumber seedlings out there - under a plastic cover, of course! The jury is still out on whether I can be bothered to grow aubergines; if I have enough space, they’ll be out there too … or maybe I’ll have to requisition my friend’s nearby greenhouse?

In the garden itself there’s still time to move plants, tidy and replant strawberries, prune apple and pear trees and mulch the soil.  And if I get the time, I'll be pruning roses.

Although I planned to take a small step back from gardening throughout the winter months, there will always be plenty to do.  Which reminds me ... I've gotta get those leaf-filled sacks stashed away in an unobtrusive corner and empty my Hotbin composter! Onwards!

Garden Watch: Mid August in the gardens

What's happening in the garden this month ? Weeds, weeds, weeds!  That's what. And spiders ... so many spiders. And because it feels like the wrong time of year for spiders to be stretching across every plant in the garden, I'm crashing through them on a daily basis.  How is it with everyone else?

Not surprisingly everything in my garden is responding to warm wet weather - not just the weeds. Everything tells me autumn is just around the corner but when did summer slide out of the picture? (Admittedly we are having a week of heat atm.) But I'm not ready to think about autumn until the equinox (23rd September) and already the days are getting shorter; fading light has me back indoors before 9pm.  

Has this cloud got a silver lining?  Yes. 

Core Blimey apples 

These are ready to be plucked from the tree (the Braeburns usually mature later) and blackberries are ripening by the bucketload.  There are wild blackberries throughout the gardens here thanks to untamed brambles and, in my kitchen, windfall apples are being peeled, chopped, stewed and eaten or frozen. I love how nature helpfully gives us these lovely ingredients at the same time.

I still have several jars of last year's apple and blackberry jam in the store cupboard so of course, my thoughts turned to pie - and who doesn't love pie! Apples, blackberries and a few elderberries (yes, those are ready for picking as well) went into a pie topped with sweet shortcrust pastry to which I added lemon zest and crushed pecan nuts.  Dare I say that the pastry is almost (but not quite) better than the filling? 

Compost!  

This week the Hotbin composter reached 140F! Now that was a very thrilling moment I can tell you - such is the stuff that a gardener’s dreams are made of.

My previous attempt at making quick compost was a failure. I'd been told by the Hotbin people that as I'd left it unattended for too long, the contents were likely to be anaerobic (without oxygen) and so the process had died. Learning curve: I thought the bin had to be topped up and fully composted before I could start to empty it. (I was wrong.)

So, a few weeks ago I finally emptied, cleaned and half-refilled my Hotbin composter - this time with grass clippings, chopped up comfrey leaves and lots of torn up cardboard to get it up to speed quickly. I'd read that the bin would need to be half filled before adding any kitchen waste (food, plate scrapings, etc) - that way the heat needed to effectively compost food waste had already been generated. Then, within 60 days, fresh compost should be ready to be taken out from the bottom hatch; so far, so good.

Calendula skin cream.  

I caught the @LovelyGreens reel on Insta which reminded me of Tanya's recipe for diy skin cream using garden plants.  I have loads of unintentional calendula in the veg patch so I like the idea of putting it to good use.  I need a soothing cream for my hands and arms which are getting very bashed and bloodied with all the chopping and pruning I'm doing!

Topping up the gaps. 

Ever hopeful, even after a disappointing growing season, I've been reading the back of my seed packets and am surprised at how many seeds can be sown in September and October. Always worth giving a late sowing a go so I've been making the most of late summer warmth ...

• I've filled a few pots and planters on the balcony with fresh soil and sown seeds for salad leaves, herbs, radishes, micro leaves and pea shoots. 
• Gaps in the Veg Trug garden have been sown with parsley, chervil, baby turnips and radishes. 
• Beetroot sown in modules several weeks ago have all now been planted out - and I've only lost one to fox cub digging so far. (Yes, way late but let’s see what happens.)
• Romanesco and ordinary cauliflowers grown to a good size on the balcony have been planted out and have (so far) resisted slug and caterpillar damage..  
• Dark Cavalo Nero Kale will be next - I know it's all rather late in the year for this but if it works then the plants should grow away strongly as winter loosens its grip.

Ever optimistic, I'm now hoping for one of those glorious 'Indian summer' finishes to the year - I still have lots of tomatoes slowly ripening!

Back in the kitchen with foraged Elderberries

 

Can it be that time of year again already? I'm just finishing off my summer batch of elderflower cordial and yesterday, as I walked home, I saw that my favourite spot for collecting the elder tree's bounty was positively dripping with ripe elder berries.  

I'm sure a lot of people would either not notice this beautiful spectacle or might think "lovely" and pass on by.  But not me.  I paused to 'see something of the beauty of nature' (to quote John Mortimer) then dashed home to fetch a bucket and secateurs.  

Of course I left plenty for birds and other wildlife and, believe me, they'll have those berries stripped to the stalk in days. 

So my berries are now washed clean of bugs and dirt and frozen ready for pies, jam and syrup.  Why freeze? The berries don't last long in the fridge so freezing is an excellent way of preserving them until needed.  Also, the berries pop off the stalks more easily when frozen, which is a better option than squishing them and getting purple fingers (and clothes!).  

I simply laid them out flat on several baking sheets and popped them in the freezer overnight. De-stemmed them in the morning then bagged them up, and returned the berries to the freezer. It can be a time consuming (or shall we say, meditative) process so quite a few went into the freezer still on the stem. That's okay as I'll discard the stems when I have more time.

It's worth noting that while the flowers are edible, the raw berries are toxic, as is the rest of the plant.  But the good news is that cooking the berries destroys the toxins making them a useful addition to all sorts of recipes.  

Me, I'm starting with Elderberry Syrup.  I've found a recipe on The Spruce Eats, an American site, which sounds rather like the warming winter tincture I usually buy to boost my immune system during the colder months.  In that recipe the berries are cooked, mashed, strained and then lightly spiced with honey, ginger, cinnamon, cloves and lemon. Sounds delicious.  (Find that recipe here if interested.)

Perfecting the art of growing big gooseberries in a small space

This past week the last of the gooseberries have been picked (a bit later than usual, the weather has been so unhelpful this year) and now it's time to reshape the plants with a summer pruning.  

This was supposed to be done in early July but I'm banking on everything being a bit late this year.  And, flushed with the success of squeezing two more gooseberry plants into my overstuffed garden, I want to make sure they're trained properly.

In my gardens I have four red gooseberry bushes - one bush, two fans and one in a pot that's been ambushed by sawfly again this year. 

Gooseberries were never my favourite fruit; at school I couldn't stand the stewed (green) gooseberries served up under soggy pastry as pudding. Not any more though - these days I happily eat beautiful ripe Hinnonmaki Red gooseberries straight from the bush ... the jury is still out on the green ones though!

Having seen gooseberry bushes pruned into an open bowl shape during my garden design studies, I followed suit for my first gooseberry bush.  It enjoyed its spot in my veg patch but, confession time, I didn't prune regularly so it grew large and tangled albeit with abundant berries. So now I'll prune this week to start reshaping it and again at the usual time  in winter while it's dormant.  

I acquired a second tiny plant, and then a third and, finally, a fourth.  Where to put them all?  They languished happily in 5 litre pots for a good while. As ever, my impulse to buy plants had got the better of me.  

A good idea

And then I rescued lengths of slim bendy plastic pipe from a builder's skip. These were destined to be arches to support the fleece over my veg but it occurred to me that I could use them to train my gooseberry bushes into freestanding fans. (Fans are usually grown against a wall or fence.) The plants were moved from their pots and they're now in the car park garden, growing in semi-shade, regularly watered and fruiting prolifically thanks to the beautiful soil there.  The fruit is more visible, the thorns less threatening (more easily seen and thus avoided!). 

But in doing so, I had to learn to prune correctly... with sturdy leather gloves on!

Pruning ... aka shaping the beasts!

Gooseberries fruit on old wood; to grow in a fan shape any stems growing out, rather than up, should be pruned back to the framework - which in this case are the five tall stems tied in to the arch.  Gooseberries growing in an open bowl shape should have inward growing branches and any branches trailing on the ground removed, all being taken back to an outward growing bud and the main stem at ground level left clear of any growth - cut off stems below 10-15 cm.  (Imagine a goblet shape glass on a very short stem.)

Gooseberry bushes have vicious spiky thorns so keeping the centre open, or space between the fanned out branches, helps with easier access to the fruit in summer. And good airflow helps to prevent mildew.  

How I planted my fan gooseberries 

Having planted the 'bushes' and pushed the hoops deeply into the soil 2 feet (60cm) apart, I tied the long upright stems in a fan shape and pruned the rest back to two buds. This would have been quite traumatic for the plant so, after pruning, they were watered and mulched around (not up to) the base. 

How to get bigger berries

In early summer when the fruits have appeared it's time to direct the plant's energy into quality rather than quantity.  So, as with thinning out top fruit (apples, etc) to get bigger fruit, the same is true of gooseberries. Reduce the number of berries as they start to ripen so that the plant concentrates on developing those that remain.  The underripe berries needn't be wasted as, although still hard and quite tart, they can be used for savoury sauces, mixed berry jams (usefully high in pectin!) and chutneys. It's not essential to do this but if you want bigger gooseberries, take two pickings a month or so apart. 

Here's some I grew earlier ... 

And what of Hinnonmaki #4?  

The fate of this plant is undecided. Growing in a large pot, its leaves have been eaten two summers running by sawfly and now a Cape Gooseberry aka Inca Berry, Ground Cherry or Physalis peruviana is taking over the pot. I have no idea where this interloper came from but I like it! 

And, by the way, despite the similarity of nomenclature, Cape Gooseberries are related to tomatoes, peppers and potatoes (the Solanaceae family) and not ordinary gooseberries which fall into the Ribes (ie currant) family.  So now you know.

Carry On sowing! Crops for autumn, winter and beyond to sow NOW

It's been a pretty disastrous year for veg growing in my patch and this morning, late July, it feels positively autumnal. (Not in a good way.) But I've been through my seed packets and found potential for quite a lot of late summer sowings. By taking advantage of the (relatively) warm and wet weather currently in play here in London, I'll have quick growing crops in the next few months, plus winter leaves and spring harvests.

Just a small selection of what can be grown this autumn!

I don't usually give much thought to late summer sowing at this time of year (there's usually plenty more to be getting on with, like picking, freezing, pickling) and I also have balcony sown crops waiting to go out (kale, beetroot, spring onions) ... but this year there's precious little to harvest.  However, accentuating the positive, I'm excited to realise exactly how much growing is still possible. 

Erring slightly on the optimistic side, I've sorted food seeds into chronological piles: Last Chance for sowing, Sow By end of August, Sow By the end of September and Balcony Baby Leaves.  This way, I can pace myself and sow when I have/make time. And, of course, there's also seeds to sow in the next few weeks for flowers.  

Last Chance ...

Dwarf Beans.  As my broad beans produced only a few usable pods and my french and runner beans were annihilated by a dastardly extreme heat:no water combo, I'm going to take a gamble on sowing some Dwarf Beans. The best results are from sowing between May and early July but as they're fast maturing, I may just get a harvest by the end of October.  I'm sowing Elba from Mr Fothergill seeds for round stringless pods and 'Atlanta' from Johnsons seeds for flat pods that promise to have a crisp texture and excellent snap. Yum!

I've also added peas to this category as I remember sowing Kelvedon Wonder peas late one year and having many pods to pick before winter.  This time I'm trying 'Champion of England' from D T Brown seeds.  

And I mustn't forget carrots.  I was harvesting a summer sowing in December last year so it's well worth sowing these, particularly Amsterdam Sprint (Mr Fothergill seeds) for sweet baby carrots. These should be ready in under 3 months, so I may do a couple of successional sowings.

Balcony Baby Leaves ...

aka Cut and Come Again.  Always useful to have an instant salad bar to hand but it doesn't matter if this doesn't go to plan, it's a good way to use up seeds which may or may not still be viable ... and seeds that should have been sown much earlier.  So for baby salad leaves, into my window box planters will go peas (for pea shoots), spinach, red kale, Cavolo Nero kale, mustard leaf, little gem lettuce and fancy salad leaves.  I could also throw in a few herb seeds like chervil and coriander.

Sow By End of  August ...

It looks like I'll be busy during the next few weeks (the sooner sown the better).  Pink stemmed chard, winter spinach, spring onions, radish, saltbush (Sea Orach), lettuce, lamb's lettuce (corn salad) and Kohl Rabi are all on my list.  Another early veg patch success was a bed full of parsley, vigorously sown by the children here, which flourished after a downpour of warm rain shortly after sowing.  So parsley (curly and flat leaved) is going in, as is Coriander (crops in 6 weeks, allegedly).

Sow by the End of September ...

According to packet instructions, it's okay to sow seeds for kales, pepper cress, onions and breadseed poppies from now to the end of September. These won't be ready this year but I can look forward to earlier crops next year.  And if there's any space left, I'll pop in some rocket, radishes and turnips for an early winter crop this year.  

Flowers ...

It's well known that intercropping flowers with veg not only makes the veg patch pretty but has the added benefit of keeping pollinators happy.  Flowers that drop their seeds in late summer can be sown now - foxgloves, nigella, poppies, calendula, cerinthe and poached egg plant (Limnanthes).  The nigella I'm sowing is called Black Caraway (Mr Fothergill seeds) - the seeds can be used in cooking and I save the seed pods for decoration.  

After the challenges of this year, I admit I have entertained thoughts of planting perennial flowers and having done with it. But could I bring myself to do that? Probably not.  My secret passion, like most veg growers, is munching my way around the garden, nibbling at gooseberries, peas, radishes, et al. And the satisfaction in bringing freshly harvested fruit and veg - yes, even courgettes - back to the kitchen is addictive. And so, of course, the work continues.  

Prunella - weed or wonder?

Once again, Prunella vulgaris, aka Self Heal, has returned to the veg patch with renewed vigour. It's a perennial, an enthusiastic self-seeder, low growing, edible, medicinal and a food source for bees. Sounds good, yes?

Photo via Google Creative Commons licence from Wallpaper Flare

I sowed seeds for this about ten years ago because of its appeal to bees and other pollinators and since then it has sporadically re-appeared over the years to fill cracks in the brick paths.  

Initially I was drawn to the look of the flowers and their appeal to pollinators. Its flower stems should reach a height of at least six inches but, in the drought conditions of my veg patch, flowers remained tucked among the leaves and it looked more like a weed between the paths.  A few were left to make the paths look inhabited but most were dug out of the borders.

More recently I have had to reevaluate my opinion of this plant as I've discovered what a useful herb this is - both medicinal and edible.  Like so many herbs, they're not just tasty but have hidden benefits (see my post on Immuni-tea!).  I've not yet tasted Prunella but will remember to try a few of its leaves in my salad in future ...  although bearing in mind that the leaves are best picked in spring or early summer. (So late July is possibly a bit late in the season for first tastes.) 

Prunella has a common name of Selfheal or Heal All.  It's antibacterial, antiviral, edible and a useful summer herb for bites and stings when made into a decoction, ie, steeped in boiling water. I've been nibbled several times in this hot weather so that's definitely good to know! 

Another of Prunella's folk names is Carpenter's Herb, so called for its effectiveness in healing cuts; this makes it a good herb for me in my gardening work as I'm regularly nicked by rose thorns and pyracantha!  

If you like the sound of this useful herb, more can be learned about it here and seeds bought from Jekka's Herbs. I, for one, will definitely be resowing more Prunella next spring or looking to propagate a few plants by division.

Improving and re-nutrifying my clay based soil with PeatFree mulches

Peat based composts will be banned for domestic markets from 2027 although trade growers can use peat based products until 2030, if they so wish. This is good news for peat bogs and the wildlife they support but would have been even better if UK's government had kept to their original deadline of banning peat products from 2024. Thankfully, there is now quite a range of good peat-free composts available to buy and I've been privileged to use several of them. A few years ago, peat-free composts were no contest for more traditional peat based ones but a lot of research has gone into improving peat-free and I've found they're now pretty good.  

Some of the top names to look out for are Melcourt/Sylvagrow, Dalefoot, RocketGro - all of which I've used in my own gardens and in client gardens.  Two more that I found this year are from Newleaf composts (in Northern Ireland) and Brontë. I smiled at the name when chatting to one of the founders of Brontë ... were they from Yorkshire, I wondered? No, they're both from Lancashire - Colne and Darwen, both of which I've visited - and adopted the Brontë name due to their relative proximity to Haworth, the Brontë family's historic home village. Memorable. 

But I digress.

Mulching ...

Earlier this year I used SylvaGrow Farmyard soil improver as a mulch over the veg patch beds; last year I used home made compost from my Hotbin composter and in the years before, Dalefoot Lakeland Gold.  All are 100% peat free and I can already see the positive difference these additions have made to my soil.  

A word of caution: I look out for 100% peat free products as it's important not to fall for 'peat reduced' or 'organic' composts. Products are not guaranteed peat free unless specifically stated!

Mulching is not something I bothered with in the very early veg patch days as we used raised beds over the hard clay soil; those early raised beds have mostly been removed now in favour of maximising space and planting straight into improved soil. 

Which is where mulching comes in ... vegetables are hungry plants and it makes a huge difference to keep the soil healthy by boosting the soil's eco-system by adding living organisms and micronutrients.  Good natural mulches will do that so now I consider it an essential task in spring and late autumn, for both my gardens and for clients. 

Peat-free products I've used for mulching and seed sowing ...

The Melcourt SylvaGrow Farmyard is a new one to me, although certainly not new on the market. I'm particularly interested in seeing how it performs over the year as the company claims the product will help with water retention (remember I have to water by hand), with soil structure and will renutrify the soil.  Plus, being made from anaerobic digestate rather than the more traditional straw and horse poo, there should be no herbicides ruining my crops. Sounds like a winner to me! I'm also a big fan of the Melcourt Sylvagrow products just because they're high quality. 

Somerset-based RocketGro is another company whose products I've embraced this season. I intend to use their Magic Mulch soil improver in the herbaceous borders of my flower garden as well as around my fruit trees ... especially the plum trees. I think it will help enormously. Their composts are all 100% organic and peat free, made with a clever process inspired by the way cows digest their food.  You had me at cow. I love it.

Dalefoot composts are an old favourite that I've used where possible for many years.  They have a range of composts tailored to different uses, all of which are made to an old 'recipe' using bracken from the Cumbrian hills mixed with sheep's wool from their farm. The company is also actively involved in restoration of peatland bogs; read more about this on their website via this link: Saving Peat Bogs

Seed sowing ...

This year I was given a bag of  RocketGro's Peat Free Seed and Cutting compost which I've been using for most of my seed sowing. It feels like beautiful stuff but, to keep things fair, I've sown half my seeds into Dalefoot Seed and Cuttings compost to see if the two composts produce equal results.  

Reducing plastic ...

From pots to potted ...
© Images from Wool Pots

While writing about seed sowing, I should also mention Wool Pots as I'm using these for my larger seeds like squash, pumpkins and courgettes.  I spotted these at the Garden Press Event in February this year and was allowed to take a sample away with me. 

The company was founded when the owners leapt into action to think up an alternative option to the plastic plant pots that would otherwise end up in landfill; they created knitted tubes of unwashed raw British sheep wool from unwanted excess that would otherwise have been burnt.   

The website gives several very logical (to my mind) reasons to use their wool pots - growing plants in the pots will allow the roots to be air pruned for stronger growth; there's no need for transplanting as the wool pot can be planted (as in the above image); the wool acts as a slug and snail deterrent (hopefully!); the wool will break down in 6-7 weeks to add nutrients to the soil. By watering the pots from underneath, the water is drawn towards the roots. 

It all makes a lot of sense but there's one drawback ... the wool pots have a one time use and although I hate the idea of overwhelming amounts of plastic being chucked away, if you've already got plastic pots, use them.  I take care of my sturdy plastic pots and have reused them for many years now.  So there's a financial argument against using wool pots but let's see how the seedlings fare as I won't have to disturb the roots when planting them out.

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Has anyone reading this had success with peat free?  And what do you think about any alternatives to plastic pots?  I'd love to know what has worked for you!

Some more information (if you want 😉) ... links open in a new window

New Leaf's guide to mulching - here

Wool Pots - website here

RocketGro - website here

Dalefoot - website here

Melcourt SylvaGrow - website here

New Leaf - website here

Brontë Heritage - website here