A Cutting Patch

The day I fill a vase of flowers from my garden will be a very happy day indeed.

I remember saying, at Christmas, that I wanted to put plants in my garden that would give me flowers to decorate my home.

Well, not that long ago, I bought a book; The Cut Flower Patch by Louise Curley, see her blog and book details here, and how amazing and inspiring it is. Louise describes her flower patch as a dedicated area of her allotment to provide her with cut flowers all year round. She then goes on to describe how you can achieve this using only a small part of your garden or a raised bed.

This had me gripped, I spent most of a weekend reading and planning how I can incorporate my own cut flower patch into my garden. I already had two decent size spaces, either side of the climbing rose, which I could transform.

After studying the book with numerous cups of tea (and cake) I made some notes and lists and headed off to the local nursery to see if I could get some of the plants recommended as plugs, to put straight into my small plot. I bought a small tray of Cosmos and a small tray of Dianthus – I’ve no idea what varieties they are, as the labels were very vague. I didn’t see any other plants that I had on my list, but I was pleased with what I had, to give me a start.

More reading with more tea (and a bit more cake) gained me some knowledge on a few seed packets that I had gained as freebies with magazines – cornflower and wild carrot could be sewn in the ground now (it was still May when I did this).

As soon as the weather allowed, I was out in the garden planting my small nursery of plug plants in the top section and sewing seeds in the bottom section of my now dedicated cut flower patch.

I still have a little space left for something, not sure what yet, but I find it all very exciting. My only problem is that I’m impatient to see the seedlings breaking the surface and the first flowers on the plug plants.

Ahh well, there’s time for more tea (and cake) then.

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It wasn’t that long after, that I got my first pot of loveliness.

A pot of Cosmos with a few stems of Lavender took pride of place on my hearth, making me very happy.

Till next time…

How Does The Garden Grow...

With the 'pond' completed, my attention turned back to the main part of the garden again.

I've added a light coloured, iron, trellis to the very end of the left-hand bed. I'd have liked a statue of some sort, but I'm not that grand and nor is my pocket, so an iron trellis which was on offer suited my needs and my pocket very well. The reason for the trellis was so that your eye has something to finish on once you've followed the plants up the bed, all from the comfort of the sofa in the lounge. It was far better than looking at a blank piece of fencing.

In this same bed I've added a Euphorbia 'Ascott Rainbow' which gives a cloud of yellow flowers and looks great with all the greenery.

I've also moved a Berberis, 'Rosy Rocket', to be it's next door neighbour. This was to clear a patch in the right-hand bed that will become my cut flower patch (more about this in a later post).

Mum and Dad came over and we built and installed a wooden, pergola style, arch together. The hardest job was thumping in the steel 'cups' (for the legs to stand in) into the ground and then leveling the whole thing up. We had completed the task by lunch time, so I rewarded my workers with tea and bacon butties.

I'm really pleased with the result. The arch frames the bird bath, tree stump and gives height just where I needed it, to stop your eyes from travelling over the back fence and into the garden behind. My next job will be to find some suitable plants to grow up and over it.

Other Notes:

One of the Digitalis has started to flower. a lovely purple/magenta colour, although its label said it was going to have primrose yellow flowers!

And, the climbing rose has some lovely buds on it just ready to start opening up with a bit of sunshine.

Till next time...

Project Pond

I wanted to make a small pond, on a tight budget and without digging any holes!

The perfect place for this is on the patio, at the back of the garage. The only problem with this space is a lack of sunshine, so any plants here will need to be fine in the shade.

I wanted my ‘pond’ to be big enough to have a few plants and a water pump providing a small fountain. My next step was to find a suitable container. Initially I thought a modern faux-lead looking planter made from fibreclay would look good and be ideal. I didn’t realize just how expensive these were and I was going to have to fill-in the drainage holes…somehow!

My next thought was an old metal water tank out of a loft, I could pick one up from a salvage yard for next to nothing. How wrong I was! These are desired items, and there was no guarantee they could still hold water, either.

This brought me round to my final idea – a galvanized drinking trough for cattle. Bingo! I sourced one from farm supplies, which measured 3ft long by 1.5ft wide and 1.5ft deep and for far less money than any of the other options.

Pleased as punch, I picked up my cattle trough, bought a few bricks and some slate chips and headed home to build my ‘pond’.

 The worst, and most time consuming part was rinsing the slate chips before adding them to the bottom of the pond. Once this was done I filled it up with water. Ta Daa!

After leaving it overnight to settle, I headed off, excitedly, to a local aquatics place for a pump and a few plants. My Mum had also donated some variegated grasses and flag irises from her garden to add to my pond collection.

With the addition of some potted plants around the pond, my project was finished.

…although…

I was tempted…

In having a couple of gold fish swimming around, but came to the conclusion that they poop too much for my liking.

Instead, I found Trixi – a lady in a stripy swimming costume, meant to be an ornament in an aquarium, but looked great in the pond, adding a little bit of fun, and the perfect finishing touch.

Till next time...