archived entries nov 12
Blog 11th November 2012
Gardening on a tight budget:
I spent a lovely happy day today digging out some more of my new border in the garden. This goes in front of the duck pen (I don’t know why I have a duck pen, as I let them out all day in the garden!). I decided that, because I live in a quite windy place, I would try and introduce a few more windbreaks. I am therefore planting some shrubs on this new border, which faces West, basically, and gets wind off the fields. I had taken cuttings from senecio laxifolius and ribes sanguineum some time ago, from friends’ shrubs, so the resulting young plants have cost me nothing at all. I have been growing them on in pots. They were getting a bit desperate for more leg room, so I thought I would put them to good use and plant them out as an ornamental hedge. The senecio will have bright yellow daisy flowers in June/July time. Ribes will flower with dark pink racemes (they look like raspberries to me) in March April and May. In the corner I have placed a young rowan tree a friend gave me, which should carry a good supply of berries when a bit older and have nice red autumn leaves. I have also planted at the other end of the border a crab apple tree I picked up for £2.50 as a fading supermarket bargain – it is now a lovely little tree. In front of these bargains in the new border I have put tansy, (a herb with small yellow flowers) verbena bonariensis, tall, slim feathery with purplish flowers) both from a local sale, (possibly will need protecting if we get a nasty winter) and daffodil bulbs (the orange and red and white types) sold off half price in supermarket. By taking cuttings, spotting bargains and using home made compost, my whole new border has cost me only £7.50, the cost of one good plant from a garden centre! Gardening can be done on next to no budget at all, with patience and work. I want to plant something more in the garden with lots of berries for helping to sustain bird life, possibly a contoneaster and/or pyracantha growing up my duck shed or garage, as these are things of beauty too. The new Ribes Sanguineum shrubs should also produce berries in future autumns.
Apart from making a good start on the new border, I have been reaping the rewards of a year’s diligent composting of everything that can possibly be composted. This home made stuff is lovely, and there is a real feeling of achievement, a bit like picking your own organic food, in digging out the beautiful dark crumbly stuff to use on your ground. I have filled my cleaned, empty pots today with home made compost to move some things into that are becoming too cramped to leave any longer. I meant to do it some weeks back, but didn’t manage in between other jobs. Some of my little trees that I have been growing for a while now from seed are looking as if they need more room, so I shall be moving on the ones that really need it. My small acers are now in a nursery bed in the garden rather than pots, as the ducks kept plucking at the compost in my pots, and were uprooting things. I moved them in desperation, and have had to install low fences and put my pots behind these fences, or raise them up on platforms. It works. The ducks were very excited by the compost and by the digging of the new border. One of them would not leave me alone and kept pecking at my wellies and digging around with her beak (or bill) for worms and slugs, etc. She had a great time!
Another job I did at the weekend was to prune my rose bushes down quite low. The garden is in a windy spot, as I mentioned, so I have taken the bushes down quite low, to avoid their being blown over and damaged in the coming winter. The pieces that I cut off the roses, I trimmed down into cuttings and planted into compost in a large pot to grow on into new rose bushes. They do take some months to root properly and I probably will not move them into the border (if they grow – I find them haphazard compared to other things, even if I dip the ends into hormone rooting powder) until next autumn. I also tidied up the sea holly that had gone a funny shape, and I shall collect some of the seed, leaving the rest for birds in a heap. I realise that I planted it in the wrong place, and it bent into funny shapes searching out the sunlight. I found some Acer seeds in my seed box – the platanoides dark purple leaved variety, which I collected up free from a pavement nearby. I grew a few of them, but now I shall plant the remainder of them to see if they have stayed ok in an ordinary tin in the cupboard. I think they will be fine. Additionally, I have moved a lot of my potted plants and trees around to more sheltered spots, such as the back porch (not an enclosed porch, just an open bit with a transparent roof on it), behind the duck shed, and in front of the garage. I move them around in winter according to how bad the weather gets. I can put some things in the garage if it gets really awful. I have two beautiful and expensive potted Acers that I really am fond of, and they have been in the garage a few times since I moved here. The car stays out! And I have taken down the hanging baskets, which would get battered up here on a windy day.
More next week, when I hope to be doing a major tidy up on the allotment.
Blog 11th November 2012
Gardening on a tight budget:
I spent a lovely happy day today digging out some more of my new border in the garden. This goes in front of the duck pen (I don’t know why I have a duck pen, as I let them out all day in the garden!). I decided that, because I live in a quite windy place, I would try and introduce a few more windbreaks. I am therefore planting some shrubs on this new border, which faces West, basically, and gets wind off the fields. I had taken cuttings from senecio laxifolius and ribes sanguineum some time ago, from friends’ shrubs, so the resulting young plants have cost me nothing at all. I have been growing them on in pots. They were getting a bit desperate for more leg room, so I thought I would put them to good use and plant them out as an ornamental hedge. The senecio will have bright yellow daisy flowers in June/July time. Ribes will flower with dark pink racemes (they look like raspberries to me) in March April and May. In the corner I have placed a young rowan tree a friend gave me, which should carry a good supply of berries when a bit older and have nice red autumn leaves. I have also planted at the other end of the border a crab apple tree I picked up for £2.50 as a fading supermarket bargain – it is now a lovely little tree. In front of these bargains in the new border I have put tansy, (a herb with small yellow flowers) verbena bonariensis, tall, slim feathery with purplish flowers) both from a local sale, (possibly will need protecting if we get a nasty winter) and daffodil bulbs (the orange and red and white types) sold off half price in supermarket. By taking cuttings, spotting bargains and using home made compost, my whole new border has cost me only £7.50, the cost of one good plant from a garden centre! Gardening can be done on next to no budget at all, with patience and work. I want to plant something more in the garden with lots of berries for helping to sustain bird life, possibly a contoneaster and/or pyracantha growing up my duck shed or garage, as these are things of beauty too. The new Ribes Sanguineum shrubs should also produce berries in future autumns.
Apart from making a good start on the new border, I have been reaping the rewards of a year’s diligent composting of everything that can possibly be composted. This home made stuff is lovely, and there is a real feeling of achievement, a bit like picking your own organic food, in digging out the beautiful dark crumbly stuff to use on your ground. I have filled my cleaned, empty pots today with home made compost to move some things into that are becoming too cramped to leave any longer. I meant to do it some weeks back, but didn’t manage in between other jobs. Some of my little trees that I have been growing for a while now from seed are looking as if they need more room, so I shall be moving on the ones that really need it. My small acers are now in a nursery bed in the garden rather than pots, as the ducks kept plucking at the compost in my pots, and were uprooting things. I moved them in desperation, and have had to install low fences and put my pots behind these fences, or raise them up on platforms. It works. The ducks were very excited by the compost and by the digging of the new border. One of them would not leave me alone and kept pecking at my wellies and digging around with her beak (or bill) for worms and slugs, etc. She had a great time!
Another job I did at the weekend was to prune my rose bushes down quite low. The garden is in a windy spot, as I mentioned, so I have taken the bushes down quite low, to avoid their being blown over and damaged in the coming winter. The pieces that I cut off the roses, I trimmed down into cuttings and planted into compost in a large pot to grow on into new rose bushes. They do take some months to root properly and I probably will not move them into the border (if they grow – I find them haphazard compared to other things, even if I dip the ends into hormone rooting powder) until next autumn. I also tidied up the sea holly that had gone a funny shape, and I shall collect some of the seed, leaving the rest for birds in a heap. I realise that I planted it in the wrong place, and it bent into funny shapes searching out the sunlight. I found some Acer seeds in my seed box – the platanoides dark purple leaved variety, which I collected up free from a pavement nearby. I grew a few of them, but now I shall plant the remainder of them to see if they have stayed ok in an ordinary tin in the cupboard. I think they will be fine. Additionally, I have moved a lot of my potted plants and trees around to more sheltered spots, such as the back porch (not an enclosed porch, just an open bit with a transparent roof on it), behind the duck shed, and in front of the garage. I move them around in winter according to how bad the weather gets. I can put some things in the garage if it gets really awful. I have two beautiful and expensive potted Acers that I really am fond of, and they have been in the garage a few times since I moved here. The car stays out! And I have taken down the hanging baskets, which would get battered up here on a windy day.
More next week, when I hope to be doing a major tidy up on the allotment.
04.11.2012
This has been a great day. I have been outside most of the day tidying up the allotment. I have been weeding and sorting out the different parts of the allotment. All the persistent weeds I dug out such as dandelions and knotweed have been put into the bin to go to the council tip. I am adopting a no-dig (basically) form of allotmenting, and today I have more or less emptied the big compost heap out onto the soil. It was quite a big heap that I had lovingly nurtured over the past year.. Anyone who hasn’t learned the art of composting, is missing out! It is really satisfying to dig out all the beautiful crumbly black goodness, knowing what has gone into it, and not having paid any extra for it, which is a bonus these days. My heap consisted of bits of paper, cardboard, hay from the duck shed (along with duck droppings), peelings, leaves, lawn cuttings, etc. It feels great to put it onto the earth in a nice thick mulch layer, knowing that the worms and the rain will take the goodness into the soil. I have other heaps, of course, not just that one, and will be doing similar on the garden later on at the end of winter. I really like composting. I might write a book entitled Diary of a Secret Composter.
Whilst on the allotment today I pulled up some beetroot, which is still tasting good. I use the leaves like spinach and just steam them for a couple of minutes at the end of cooking the rest of the veg. The artichoke leaves on my younger plants have been nibbled at, I see. My parsnips are not quite ready yet, and so will be left a while longer to grow larger.
The asparagus plants I grew from seed this summer are now out on the plot. I hope they will survive, as they have not been sheltered particularly at home, but are now in a fairly open spot. I have left the row of tree spinach standing at present, as it acts as a bit of a windbreak.
The garden looks rather colourless, with a lawn that is a bit mucky looking, having been tramped upon by ducks all day each day. Being a rented house, the garden is temporary, and this means lots of things are in pots. I have moved many of them into more sheltered spots, so pot-growing things proves to be an advantage in readiness for winter. My lovely Ceanothus is now starting to flower (some do at this time of year), but the bright things in the garden have now ceased, apart from some fuschias (Winston Churchill and Bealings mainly) and marigolds. I have some lovely golden marjoram growing in front of pyhysocarpus (the purple leaved variety) which is a good colour effect. I have planted young crab apple trees in this garden, mainly for future wildlife and hoping that future tenants will not dig them up. It has been good to take over a bare garden and then put some structure into it with trees and shrubs, then use potted Acers, etc. to introduce more interest. Annuals like poppies and marigolds are cheap to plant, as are pansies, and colour borders. I have used lemon coloured winter flowering pansies this year with dark purple, nearly black ones, as a combination for the small area of front garden, and it looks good. I saw some nice caramel coloured pansies this week, called Honey Bee, which I shall go and buy and add to the garden. I have purchased some beautiful daffodil bulbs, which are apricot and pale lemon or white combinations. I must plant them, as I haven’t got around to it yet! I inherited a rockery full of ground elder, which I have cut down again this autumn, but have recently been digging out again. It is a nuisance, but is actually edible and used to be grown as a vegetable.
You don't have to spend a fortune on seed either, to grow beautiful and useful plants. I have grown a splendid plant from kiwi seed scraped out of a supermarket kiwi fruit. See below; it is the plant in the first pot on the left of the picture. I have grown raspberry and tayberry plants from seeds out of the fruits, and strawberry plants by scraping the seed from the outside of a fruit. Anyone who thinks that gardening is boring and just hard work hasn't had the delight of experimenting with seeds! To get the kiwi or tomato seeds dry and clean to store away or plant into compost, just scrape some out onto kitchen roll (or loo roll!), let it dry out, then the seeds are easy to scrape off the tissue. If I want to store them they go in a tin in a cool dry place or a jar in the bottom of the fridge. Last year I used seed from a blackcurrant and made some new bushes which are small now, but big enough to pot on or plant out.
Tonight we tried my artichoke from the garden - the first I have ever grown! We had it steamed and then drizzled in butter. The taste is lovely, like asparagus, but there is not much to eat on them really. You pull each 'petal' off and eat the fleshy bit of it. Dinner was great but took me a while to eat!
Gardening on a tight budget:
I spent a lovely happy day today digging out some more of my new border in the garden. This goes in front of the duck pen (I don’t know why I have a duck pen, as I let them out all day in the garden!). I decided that, because I live in a quite windy place, I would try and introduce a few more windbreaks. I am therefore planting some shrubs on this new border, which faces West, basically, and gets wind off the fields. I had taken cuttings from senecio laxifolius and ribes sanguineum some time ago, from friends’ shrubs, so the resulting young plants have cost me nothing at all. I have been growing them on in pots. They were getting a bit desperate for more leg room, so I thought I would put them to good use and plant them out as an ornamental hedge. The senecio will have bright yellow daisy flowers in June/July time. Ribes will flower with dark pink racemes (they look like raspberries to me) in March April and May. In the corner I have placed a young rowan tree a friend gave me, which should carry a good supply of berries when a bit older and have nice red autumn leaves. I have also planted at the other end of the border a crab apple tree I picked up for £2.50 as a fading supermarket bargain – it is now a lovely little tree. In front of these bargains in the new border I have put tansy, (a herb with small yellow flowers) verbena bonariensis, tall, slim feathery with purplish flowers) both from a local sale, (possibly will need protecting if we get a nasty winter) and daffodil bulbs (the orange and red and white types) sold off half price in supermarket. By taking cuttings, spotting bargains and using home made compost, my whole new border has cost me only £7.50, the cost of one good plant from a garden centre! Gardening can be done on next to no budget at all, with patience and work. I want to plant something more in the garden with lots of berries for helping to sustain bird life, possibly a contoneaster and/or pyracantha growing up my duck shed or garage, as these are things of beauty too. The new Ribes Sanguineum shrubs should also produce berries in future autumns.
Apart from making a good start on the new border, I have been reaping the rewards of a year’s diligent composting of everything that can possibly be composted. This home made stuff is lovely, and there is a real feeling of achievement, a bit like picking your own organic food, in digging out the beautiful dark crumbly stuff to use on your ground. I have filled my cleaned, empty pots today with home made compost to move some things into that are becoming too cramped to leave any longer. I meant to do it some weeks back, but didn’t manage in between other jobs. Some of my little trees that I have been growing for a while now from seed are looking as if they need more room, so I shall be moving on the ones that really need it. My small acers are now in a nursery bed in the garden rather than pots, as the ducks kept plucking at the compost in my pots, and were uprooting things. I moved them in desperation, and have had to install low fences and put my pots behind these fences, or raise them up on platforms. It works. The ducks were very excited by the compost and by the digging of the new border. One of them would not leave me alone and kept pecking at my wellies and digging around with her beak (or bill) for worms and slugs, etc. She had a great time!
Another job I did at the weekend was to prune my rose bushes down quite low. The garden is in a windy spot, as I mentioned, so I have taken the bushes down quite low, to avoid their being blown over and damaged in the coming winter. The pieces that I cut off the roses, I trimmed down into cuttings and planted into compost in a large pot to grow on into new rose bushes. They do take some months to root properly and I probably will not move them into the border (if they grow – I find them haphazard compared to other things, even if I dip the ends into hormone rooting powder) until next autumn. I also tidied up the sea holly that had gone a funny shape, and I shall collect some of the seed, leaving the rest for birds in a heap. I realise that I planted it in the wrong place, and it bent into funny shapes searching out the sunlight. I found some Acer seeds in my seed box – the platanoides dark purple leaved variety, which I collected up free from a pavement nearby. I grew a few of them, but now I shall plant the remainder of them to see if they have stayed ok in an ordinary tin in the cupboard. I think they will be fine. Additionally, I have moved a lot of my potted plants and trees around to more sheltered spots, such as the back porch (not an enclosed porch, just an open bit with a transparent roof on it), behind the duck shed, and in front of the garage. I move them around in winter according to how bad the weather gets. I can put some things in the garage if it gets really awful. I have two beautiful and expensive potted Acers that I really am fond of, and they have been in the garage a few times since I moved here. The car stays out! And I have taken down the hanging baskets, which would get battered up here on a windy day.
More next week, when I hope to be doing a major tidy up on the allotment.
Blog 11th November 2012
Gardening on a tight budget:
I spent a lovely happy day today digging out some more of my new border in the garden. This goes in front of the duck pen (I don’t know why I have a duck pen, as I let them out all day in the garden!). I decided that, because I live in a quite windy place, I would try and introduce a few more windbreaks. I am therefore planting some shrubs on this new border, which faces West, basically, and gets wind off the fields. I had taken cuttings from senecio laxifolius and ribes sanguineum some time ago, from friends’ shrubs, so the resulting young plants have cost me nothing at all. I have been growing them on in pots. They were getting a bit desperate for more leg room, so I thought I would put them to good use and plant them out as an ornamental hedge. The senecio will have bright yellow daisy flowers in June/July time. Ribes will flower with dark pink racemes (they look like raspberries to me) in March April and May. In the corner I have placed a young rowan tree a friend gave me, which should carry a good supply of berries when a bit older and have nice red autumn leaves. I have also planted at the other end of the border a crab apple tree I picked up for £2.50 as a fading supermarket bargain – it is now a lovely little tree. In front of these bargains in the new border I have put tansy, (a herb with small yellow flowers) verbena bonariensis, tall, slim feathery with purplish flowers) both from a local sale, (possibly will need protecting if we get a nasty winter) and daffodil bulbs (the orange and red and white types) sold off half price in supermarket. By taking cuttings, spotting bargains and using home made compost, my whole new border has cost me only £7.50, the cost of one good plant from a garden centre! Gardening can be done on next to no budget at all, with patience and work. I want to plant something more in the garden with lots of berries for helping to sustain bird life, possibly a contoneaster and/or pyracantha growing up my duck shed or garage, as these are things of beauty too. The new Ribes Sanguineum shrubs should also produce berries in future autumns.
Apart from making a good start on the new border, I have been reaping the rewards of a year’s diligent composting of everything that can possibly be composted. This home made stuff is lovely, and there is a real feeling of achievement, a bit like picking your own organic food, in digging out the beautiful dark crumbly stuff to use on your ground. I have filled my cleaned, empty pots today with home made compost to move some things into that are becoming too cramped to leave any longer. I meant to do it some weeks back, but didn’t manage in between other jobs. Some of my little trees that I have been growing for a while now from seed are looking as if they need more room, so I shall be moving on the ones that really need it. My small acers are now in a nursery bed in the garden rather than pots, as the ducks kept plucking at the compost in my pots, and were uprooting things. I moved them in desperation, and have had to install low fences and put my pots behind these fences, or raise them up on platforms. It works. The ducks were very excited by the compost and by the digging of the new border. One of them would not leave me alone and kept pecking at my wellies and digging around with her beak (or bill) for worms and slugs, etc. She had a great time!
Another job I did at the weekend was to prune my rose bushes down quite low. The garden is in a windy spot, as I mentioned, so I have taken the bushes down quite low, to avoid their being blown over and damaged in the coming winter. The pieces that I cut off the roses, I trimmed down into cuttings and planted into compost in a large pot to grow on into new rose bushes. They do take some months to root properly and I probably will not move them into the border (if they grow – I find them haphazard compared to other things, even if I dip the ends into hormone rooting powder) until next autumn. I also tidied up the sea holly that had gone a funny shape, and I shall collect some of the seed, leaving the rest for birds in a heap. I realise that I planted it in the wrong place, and it bent into funny shapes searching out the sunlight. I found some Acer seeds in my seed box – the platanoides dark purple leaved variety, which I collected up free from a pavement nearby. I grew a few of them, but now I shall plant the remainder of them to see if they have stayed ok in an ordinary tin in the cupboard. I think they will be fine. Additionally, I have moved a lot of my potted plants and trees around to more sheltered spots, such as the back porch (not an enclosed porch, just an open bit with a transparent roof on it), behind the duck shed, and in front of the garage. I move them around in winter according to how bad the weather gets. I can put some things in the garage if it gets really awful. I have two beautiful and expensive potted Acers that I really am fond of, and they have been in the garage a few times since I moved here. The car stays out! And I have taken down the hanging baskets, which would get battered up here on a windy day.
More next week, when I hope to be doing a major tidy up on the allotment.
04.11.2012
This has been a great day. I have been outside most of the day tidying up the allotment. I have been weeding and sorting out the different parts of the allotment. All the persistent weeds I dug out such as dandelions and knotweed have been put into the bin to go to the council tip. I am adopting a no-dig (basically) form of allotmenting, and today I have more or less emptied the big compost heap out onto the soil. It was quite a big heap that I had lovingly nurtured over the past year.. Anyone who hasn’t learned the art of composting, is missing out! It is really satisfying to dig out all the beautiful crumbly black goodness, knowing what has gone into it, and not having paid any extra for it, which is a bonus these days. My heap consisted of bits of paper, cardboard, hay from the duck shed (along with duck droppings), peelings, leaves, lawn cuttings, etc. It feels great to put it onto the earth in a nice thick mulch layer, knowing that the worms and the rain will take the goodness into the soil. I have other heaps, of course, not just that one, and will be doing similar on the garden later on at the end of winter. I really like composting. I might write a book entitled Diary of a Secret Composter.
Whilst on the allotment today I pulled up some beetroot, which is still tasting good. I use the leaves like spinach and just steam them for a couple of minutes at the end of cooking the rest of the veg. The artichoke leaves on my younger plants have been nibbled at, I see. My parsnips are not quite ready yet, and so will be left a while longer to grow larger.
The asparagus plants I grew from seed this summer are now out on the plot. I hope they will survive, as they have not been sheltered particularly at home, but are now in a fairly open spot. I have left the row of tree spinach standing at present, as it acts as a bit of a windbreak.
The garden looks rather colourless, with a lawn that is a bit mucky looking, having been tramped upon by ducks all day each day. Being a rented house, the garden is temporary, and this means lots of things are in pots. I have moved many of them into more sheltered spots, so pot-growing things proves to be an advantage in readiness for winter. My lovely Ceanothus is now starting to flower (some do at this time of year), but the bright things in the garden have now ceased, apart from some fuschias (Winston Churchill and Bealings mainly) and marigolds. I have some lovely golden marjoram growing in front of pyhysocarpus (the purple leaved variety) which is a good colour effect. I have planted young crab apple trees in this garden, mainly for future wildlife and hoping that future tenants will not dig them up. It has been good to take over a bare garden and then put some structure into it with trees and shrubs, then use potted Acers, etc. to introduce more interest. Annuals like poppies and marigolds are cheap to plant, as are pansies, and colour borders. I have used lemon coloured winter flowering pansies this year with dark purple, nearly black ones, as a combination for the small area of front garden, and it looks good. I saw some nice caramel coloured pansies this week, called Honey Bee, which I shall go and buy and add to the garden. I have purchased some beautiful daffodil bulbs, which are apricot and pale lemon or white combinations. I must plant them, as I haven’t got around to it yet! I inherited a rockery full of ground elder, which I have cut down again this autumn, but have recently been digging out again. It is a nuisance, but is actually edible and used to be grown as a vegetable.
You don't have to spend a fortune on seed either, to grow beautiful and useful plants. I have grown a splendid plant from kiwi seed scraped out of a supermarket kiwi fruit. See below; it is the plant in the first pot on the left of the picture. I have grown raspberry and tayberry plants from seeds out of the fruits, and strawberry plants by scraping the seed from the outside of a fruit. Anyone who thinks that gardening is boring and just hard work hasn't had the delight of experimenting with seeds! To get the kiwi or tomato seeds dry and clean to store away or plant into compost, just scrape some out onto kitchen roll (or loo roll!), let it dry out, then the seeds are easy to scrape off the tissue. If I want to store them they go in a tin in a cool dry place or a jar in the bottom of the fridge. Last year I used seed from a blackcurrant and made some new bushes which are small now, but big enough to pot on or plant out.
Tonight we tried my artichoke from the garden - the first I have ever grown! We had it steamed and then drizzled in butter. The taste is lovely, like asparagus, but there is not much to eat on them really. You pull each 'petal' off and eat the fleshy bit of it. Dinner was great but took me a while to eat!