Garden Cadet's Blog

Long overdue update

2006-09-30T15:17:00.000+01:00

Well I thought it was high time i started blogging again. It seems despite the best of intentions I just dont seem to have found any time to keep the blog more up to date.

Now with a new season ahead i shall endeavor to keep you posted on developments in my garden, and perhaps provide a summary of the past few months since i last posted to the blog.

They do say that in gardens and for gardeners New Years Day is not January 1st but October 1st. Its the true start of autumn, summer (and its drought) is over and its time to start sorting the garden out, to ensure it looks its best over the coming seasons. This is the ideal time to plant anew and make changes to existing plantings, while the soil is warm and moist. I for one will be busy over the next few weeks doing just that, sorting out all the planting problems that have manifested themselves over the summer, and refreshing areas that have become rather tired. It will also enable me to plant out some of the new plants i grew from seed last spring, and have been caring for over the summer.

When possible i shall try to post a weekly update, adding photos where appropriate.

Thats all for now. Be back soon.

Garden Update

2006-04-10T21:29:00.000+01:00

Well its been a long time since I last updated this blog, however as i shall explain below i have been very busy of late. Apologies to those of you who were expecting more regular contributions.

A little late perhaps but its finaly that time of year when all of us gardeners are busy in our gardens, tidying up cutting back, planting and generaly putting the winter season behind us and preparing for the seasons ahead. I have been no exception and the prolonged cold weather in March has meant that these tasks have become more condensed and seemingly more hectic than normal.

There have been times recently when I thought that the garden would never start to look tidy and nice in time for summer. There seemed to be things needing doing everywhere I looked and it was a job to know where to start. Worst of all I think was the great pile of prunings that had accumulated in recent weeks as a result of late winter and early spring pruning.

Starting with the Buddleias and late flowering Spirea japonicas, and on through dogwoods (Cornus alba) and hardy fuschias (Fuschia magelanica cultivars) later on a considerable pile had developed. Added to this was a pile of pine prunings, the result of a crown lifting exercise on a couple of our big pine trees back in January. I'd managed to burn some of it at the time it was cut but there was still some left that wouldnt burn. There was also the results of a one off pruning of 4 large Hebe 'Great Orme' that had become too large. All this had resulted in 3 large piles filling the area of the garden reserved for such waste.

So last weekend I resolved to deal with some if not all of it. The pine was taken to the local tip as it could not be recycled within the garden. The hebe prunings were rather sappy and 'green' still whils being a little too woody to go straight on the compost heap. To deal with this I 'mowed' them to break it all up and make it compostable. This is a technique I use frequently with hedge clippings in the summer and involves laying out the material on the grass and running the mower over it until it is well chopped up and is drawn up into the grass collection box. The by product is then stored and added to the compost heap over a period of time.

This left me with the very woody shrub prunings. These were dealt with by a proper shredder machine, which after some maintainace on the blades soon made light work of a vast majority of the material. I say the majority because some of the prunings could not go through the shredder, being either too small or too 'twiggy' to fit and was primarily prunings from my goosebery bushes. These I now plan to burn once get favourable conditions for doing so (I live in a suburban environment, so I must be carefull not to upset the neighbours with inconsiderate bonfires).

So from several large piles I was left with little more than a large bag of shredded material suitable for composting or turning into a mulch for other plants. In addition I now have a tidy and spacious area where once there was chaos! Now thats what I call a good days work!

Of course there is still plenty to be doing but I can at least start to move forward now.

Well thats all for now (thank goodness! i hear you cry ;-) ). I will try not to leave it so long next time and maybe tell you about some of the other things i have been doing in my garden.

A Different Garden - Pictures

2006-03-21T09:46:00.000Z

Here are some pictures showing the garden in March over 3 years (2004 -2006), showing the effects different winter weather can have on a garden. Click on the photos to see a larger image

The Main Border

2004 (top left) 2005 (top right) 2006 (above)

The Front Garden 2005 (left) 2006 (right)

Please also see the article I have written on this subject.

A Different Garden - March

2006-03-18T17:28:00.000Z

A Month in the Garden

The Effects of a Cold Winter

Well what a difference a year (or 2) makes!This winter has by far been the coldest for many years, particularly in terms of sustained cold, rather than short sharp cold spells. These have lasted between 10 days and 2 and a half weeks, interspersed by quite short mild spells. This is in contrast to previous winters when the mild spells lasted longer and the cold spells quite brief (if quite intense). This has had quite an effect on the garden as you can imagine.

Late winter flowering plants such as snowdrops (Galanthus nivalis) in particular have lasted longer this year. The cold has apparently preserved the flowers for longer and with fewer insects about to pollinate the flowers, they have not run to seed so quickly. Winter flowering heathers (Erica carnea and Erica x darleyensis) have also had a good flowering season for similar reasons, and the lack of other flowering plants has allowed them a more prominent flowering role.

More noticable has been the effect on the early spring flowering plants. In my garden these include; Daffodils (Narcissus), Forsythia, Helleborus x hybridus and in a very mild year Clematis armandii and Camelia japonica. At this point in March for the past two years, all of these have been in flower to a greater or lesser degree. The hellebores in particular had been out for at least a month, and the same could be said of the Forsythia and Daffodils.

This year of the plants described above, only the hellebores are currently in flower, having come out only in the past few days as I write this. The rest remain tightly in bud, if in bud at all. A similar story story could be told of the majority of the deciduous leaved shrubs in the garden. There is litle sign of life at this point. The only rare exceptions are a handfull of miniature daffodils in pots that have started to flower, and on the shrub front, a shrubby potentila (Potentilla fruticosa) in a sheltered part of the garden. A sign perhaps that, despite the continuing cold, spring is not THAT far away!

Favorite Links

2006-03-15T11:01:00.000Z

My favorite links. More to follow

http://duckdinnerdash.blogspot.com/

http://allotmentnews.blogspot.com/

http://www.allotments4all.co.uk

http://allotmentsnstuff.forumup.co.uk/

Garden Diary Update

2006-03-12T18:21:00.000Z

Wednesday 1st March 2006

Weather: Cold and cloudy with sunney spells. Snow showers late afternoon.

Daytime Temperatures: Maximum +7.4. Minimum -0.9c

In Flower: See entry for 27/02/06

Observations: A day of all weathers. We had Sun, rain, wind, snow and even hail! Still there appears to be an end in sight, as the forecast is to get milder next week.

Thursday 2nd March

Weather: Sunny and clear, but cold.

Daytime temperatures: Maximum +7.9c . Minimum +3.2c

In Flower: See Entry 27/02/06

Observations: Still cold, but sunshine today made it feel a lot better to be outside.

Friday 3rd March 2006

Weather: Sunny and dry, but still cold.

Daytime Temperatures: Maximum: 8.4c . Minimum: 3.5c .

In Flower: See entry 27/02/06

Observations: Still cold but not unpleasant to be out in. Hopefully not many more days until it gets a bit warmer!

Garden Diary 28th February 2006

2006-02-28T17:39:00.000Z

Weather: Sunny but cold AM with a northerly wind. PM Cloudier with snow showers from 1600hrs. Maximum Daytine temperature: 8.8c; Minimum Daytime temperature: -0.8c;

In Flower: See posting for 27th February.

Observations: So much for it being 1st of March tomorrow. We are still firmly in the grips of winter, with no end in sight as yet. Managed to get into the garden this afternoon and had the bizarre experience of gardening in the snow! So many jobs to do yet so far the weather has allowed precious few to be done. Will let you know later in the week what i have managed to do in the garden this week.

Garden Tour Part 3

2006-02-28T12:00:00.000Z

The Terrace

Once a sloping lawn, this area was landscaped in the winter of 2002/3 to create a level seating area and a place for displaying pots and containers. The surrounding beds are planted in a 'mediteranean' style suited to the hot sunny conditions this area receives in summer. The first picture shows the area in July 2005

The second picture shows the same area in late autumn (November 2005)

Garden Diary

2006-02-27T17:57:00.000Z

Garden Diary 27/02/2006

Weather: Cold and overcast. Dry with light breeze. Max temperature: 5.3c Minimum recorded daytime temperature: 2.5c.

In flower: Erica carnea, Erica darleyensis, Jasminium nudiflorum, Galanthus nivalis, Crocus, Helleborus foetidus, Primula vulgaris. Plus the odd flower on Hebe 'Great Orme', Cerinthe and pansies (Viola cvs). 2 Helleborus x hybridus (orientalis) flowers in bud.

Jobs Done: N/A

Jobs to Do: N/A

Garden Tour Part 2

2006-02-27T12:44:00.000Z

Main Lawn and Borders

This is the very heart of the rear garden and has evolved over a number of years into what you see here (with the lawn growing smaller each time!)
The top photo shows the area in its prime in early July 2005

The second photo shows the area in early October 2005, looking almost as good i am sure you'll agree.

Garden Diary 27/02/2006

2006-02-27T12:35:00.000Z

Weather: Cold and overcast. Dry with light breeze. Max temperature: 5.3c Minimum recorded daytime temperature: 2.5c.

In flower: Erica carnea, Erica darleyensis, Jasminium nudiflorum, Galanthus nivalis, Crocus, Helleborus foetidus, Primula vulgaris. Plus the odd flower on Hebe 'Great Orme', Cerinthe and pansies (Viola cvs). 2 Helleborus x hybridus (orientalis) flowers in bud.

Jobs Done: N/A

Jobs to Do: N/A

Garden Tour Part 1A

2006-02-27T12:29:00.000Z

The Front Garden

The first picture shows the 'Driveway Border'. Little more than a small lawn witha tiny border by the fence when we first moved here, In the autumn of 2003 I removed the lawn and turned it into one big border. It has since been planted with a box hedge at the front and seasonal interest shrubs in behind. In front of the box hedge are planted daffodils for spring colour.
Once entirely covered by lawn. The main part of the front garden has had borders added in recent years to give interest. The soil here is poor and the southerly aspect make the garden hot and dry in summer. I have reflected this in the planting, concentrating on sun lovers and drought tollerant plants.

Garden Tour Part 1

2006-02-27T11:30:00.000Z

The Patio

The first area you come to in the rear garden, this is the largest truly flat space the garden has. It is here we have most of our summer containers (shown in the first photo) and where a lot of work is done, be it DIY , potting up or taking cuttings etc.
The second photo gives an idea of how large the area is and what it looks like in winter.

Introduction

2006-02-27T10:25:00.000Z

Hello

This is my first posting in my new blog. I have never done a 'blog' before so this is a new experience for me.

I am a keen gardener an in this blog i hope to share some of my gardening experiences through the seasons, hopefully with some photos too. At present though weather conditions are too cold to do any gardening so the log proper will not start until conditions improve. In the meantime I will offer some background and some thoughts on future plans.

Firstly some info on my garden. It is approximately 100 feet long and slopes uphill away from the house. The soil is chalk based but with some clay thanks to clay subsoil. The garden faces south east and is dominated by 9 very large pine trees at the top which cast some shade and create amini woodland area at the top of the garden.

The garden is divided into areas or 'rooms' with a flat patio area by the house, then moving up through a lawned area with traditional borders, a mediterranean terrace, large fruit and veg area incorporating a small greenhouse and finaly the woodland area under the trees and a utility area for compost bins etc. Recently a new 'wet' garden incorporating a bog garden and pond (still under construction as i write this) has been added between the patio and the main lawn area.

Now for a little history.

The house and garden are around 40 years old and owned for 20 of those years by my grandparents. When we inherited the property in 1996 we decided to move here and after some renovation work to the house moved in in May 1997. The garden itself was another matter. After around 10 years of neglect it was decidedly overgrown and in need of a 'masterplan'. Rather than be daunted i saw this as a challenge. After an inital clearance phase which included many trips to the local tip, I set about turing it into a pleasant place to be in. This is a process that is still going on.

I am now well into what i call the 'third phase', the 'design' phase of the garden's development. As my knowledge has grown I have sought to make the garden more than just 'neat and tidy' and am trying to bring a more unified, designed look to the space. As they say a garden is never 'finished'. There are always bits that could be improved and made nicer.

Finaly a few words on my gardening style. I suppose i am quite tradtional. I like plants and have a very 'planty' garden. That said am not adverse to new ideas and like to experiment from time to time to see if there is a better way of doing something. In time i may share some of these in this blog.

Well thats it for now, i think i have said more than enough for one posting! Hopefully next time i may have some gardening to talk about, but if not maybe I'll tell you a bit more about myself or maybe something about future plans in the garden. Who knows?

Bye for now!