Through the Garden Gate--January 2023

We've had some bad weather during January.  At the beginning of the month it was very rainy, I was longing for it to stop so I could get out in the garden to do some tidying up jobs. That was not to be because after the rain came snow again. It was very cold and the the snow took some time to melt. How glad I was when finally it cleared away. It was still very cold but I could wander around the garden and I was so pleased to see bulbs coming through especially the snowdrops. The snowdrops are flowering now and seem to look better every day.

Down in the woodland bed the Witch Hazel is in flower. The variety is 'Jelena'--a bronze colour, but I'm a bit disappointed with it as it's quite a dull colour.  It was one of the first shrubs I planted when we moved here 5 years ago and I'm wondering now if I should have chosen a yellow variety which might have been brighter. 

Also in the woodland bed there are primroses just trying to flower and a few little pink cyclamen. I noticed too that the Hellebores have buds so will be flowering soon.

In the border near the kitchen door there is a Sarcococca (Sweet Box) which is flowering with pretty white flowers and a lovely delicate scent which wafts around the garden.

Some of the container plants have perked up, this little trough with white hellebores was planted up just before Christmas and didn't look too great at the time but it's looking quite pretty now.

We've been doing a lot of catching up work on the allotment now the weather has improved so not much has been done in the garden. There's a lot of dead plant material which is now brown and soggy and not very attractive looking. 

So the garden isn't looking great at the moment, I have to search around for little spots of colour. But I'm sure the weather will improve soon and I will be able to get out and tidy up. 

I am linking this post  to Sarah's blog at 'Down By the Sea' for her monthly 'Through the Garden Gate' post.

Wet, windy weather and time to make plans

Last weekend we made our first visit of 2023 to the allotment.  We haven't done any work on the plot since the middle of November but we went down a couple of times after that, once to cut greenery for Christmas and again to dig up some leeks, parsnips and swede. 

The weather has been very wet this month with some very strong winds and I've been wondering when we will ever get down to the allotment. But we had a short break in the rain one afternoon at the weekend so we thought we would go to check if there was any damage from the winds. I was hoping that the greenhouses would still be standing and thinking that the membrane sheets which we had put over the beds in November might have blown away. 

                                                 

Well fortunately everything was ok apart from the garden chairs and one or two other things blown over, but no damage.   

Lottie the allotment cat came to say hello.  She always pops round to see us when we are there and we give her some food. She looks very healthy,  I know she gets food and has a nice warm shed with a bed on another plot.

As we walked around the plot I was pleased to see that the rhubarb is showing signs of new growth. This is the variety 'Timperley Early' and it always lives up to its name of starting off early. 

                                                 

The leeks are still growing although they are a bit small yet.

While we were there we assessed what work needs to be done when we eventually get some better weather and there are lots. The first and most important job is to take off all the membrane from the beds. If there are any weeds underneath they will be removed and then we will start mulching the beds with manure or compost.  

                                     

We also need to clear the greenhouses of the dead vegetation from the tomatoes and cucumbers and then give them a good clean. Other jobs which I can do at home are to sort through my seed boxes and buy what I need for this year. I also need to work out my growing plan for the beds.

The plot looks really damp and dreary and I'm longing for the weather to improve so that we can get started on all the jobs which need doing. At the moment as I write this blog there is snow outside, so no chance yet.

Through the Garden Gate--December 2022

Not much work gets done in the garden during December, Christmas preparations take over my time, although some of them are garden related. I've spent a lot of time looking out of the windows thinking about what needs doing, admiring areas which look good and watching the birds feasting on the crab apples and anything else they can find.

At the beginning of the month I cut greenery from the allotment and the garden to make Christmas wreaths and flower arrangements. I managed to get conifer and berried ivy from the allotment, box and rosemary from my daughter's garden and Pittosporum, Brachyglottis and dried hydrangea heads from my own garden.  I had a few busy days making the wreaths--one for the front of the house and the other for the side. We bought the Christmas tree from our local garden centre and this provided me with a bit more greenery.

A couple of weeks into December we woke up one morning to see snow had fallen overnight. It was the weekend our daughter Sarah and family came up for a pre Christmas visit. Cars were sliding about, wheels spinning, so we decided to cancel our plans to go out and about that weekend and stayed indoors in the warm. We had a lovely weekend with our family together and I made a big Christmas meal. It took a week for the snow to go from the paths and garden and was very slippy out.

Now at the end of the month we are getting a lot of rainy, windy weather and the garden is looking quite bedraggled. I'm looking forward to some better weather so I can get out and do some work again. In the meantime, I received some lovely garden books for Christmas so I am doing quite a bit of reading.

Hope you all had a lovely Christmas and I wish you a happy and healthy New year.

I am linking this blogpost to Sarah's blog at 'Down by the Sea' for her monthly 'Through the Garden Gate' post.

Through the Garden Gate--November 2022

The garden is still looking autumnal, with the grasses putting on a show now. The only flower still going is the Salvia Amistad, looking very untidy in the raised bed. The crab apple has an amazing amount of fruit and the colour is lovely. There is a blackbird which has discovered it and we often watch him balancing on the branches pecking at the fruit. It will take it some time to get through it all, I think. I am eyeing it up myself to use for Christmas decorations.

The hydrangea in the front garden has started to take over and spread its branches over the path near the front door, making it seem quite gloomy. It was also making access difficult for the postman.  As it's an area in shade most of the time I decided it needed to be brightened up and made more welcoming. I have been reluctant to cut the shrub back too much in case it stopped flowering, but I decided something had to be done. I cut the branches on the side near to the door to clear the path, then I made up some winter pots to put on the step outside the door. Cyclamens, ferns and heuchera, which I hope will grow ok in the shade. I love the different shades of pink which you can get with the cyclamens. I put some pots of them outside the side door too.

We went to RHS Harlow Carr early in November. We always like to do an autumn visit, the colours are beautiful at this time of year.

Even the seed heads give colour and interest.

These were by the streamside, I'm not sure what they are, maybe Gunnera seed heads.

I have been gathering evergreen foliage as I will be making my Christmas wreaths soon. I love doing them, but the preparation takes longer than the making of them.

I am linking this post to Sarah's blog at 'Down by the Sea' for her monthly 'Through the Garden Gate' post.

Through the Garden Gate--October 2022

 

Throughout October I have watched the garden gradually change colour, it now has a lovely mellow look to it. The Rowan has been lovely, its leaves changed colour from green to red quite quickly and I looked out the window the other day and there were no leaves left, just the yellow berries. When did that happen, I wondered. The berries are still there and show up quite well on their own, but I'm sure the birds will soon discover them. The Crab Apple is heavy with red fruit and the silver Birch leaves which were completely green at the start of October are now yellow.

 

The grasses which are turning yellow and bronze are brightening up the borders now most of the flowers have finished. It's always good not to be too hasty in cutting back as many of the perennial border plants although finished flowering and starting to wilt take on some lovely autumn tints.  The sedums are still dark pink and I will leave their seed heads on through the winter for interest and as a home for insects.

The Liquidamber tree has been slow to get growing since it was planted five years ago, but this year it has decided to grow and has shot up. It looks beautiful now in autumn with green, yellow, red and maroon leaves.  I am enjoying watching it change colour.

I emptied all the summer bedding plants from their containers and have bought some autumn bedding, mainly cyclamen and violas. I will probably buy more, they do brighten the place up.

Last week it was my birthday and we had a day out to RHS Bridgewater. This was the third visit since it opened last year. 

The herbaceous borders in the Welcome Garden were colourful with grasses, dahlias and asters. 

The walled garden is quite a big place with a community garden, vegetable garden and The Paradise Garden. It takes some walking around.

The Paradise Garden is quite relaxing with the water features.

The Chinese Streamside Garden is a favourite with us.  This area is to be developed further with Chinese influences; we're looking forward to seeing the garden develop more with all the future plans.

I am linking this blogpost to Sarah's blog at 'Down by the Sea' for her monthly 

'Through the Garden Gate'   post

Through the Garden Gate--September 2022

 

Cooler weather has arrived now, which means get out the jumpers and scarves and wrap up warm when we're outside. We've also had rain--that's been very welcome. 

The garden is starting to look autumnal as leaves change colour. The Rowan is now full of yellow berries and the Crab apple tree is full of pink fruit which will turn darker over the next few weeks. We get a lot of big birds in the garden, crows, magpies, pigeons are regular visitors.  They come from the big trees which are just further down from the garden. The smaller birds seem to be happier in the front garden. But on a few mornings recently I have been so pleased to see lots of blue tits and long tailed tits flitting about the back garden, going from the Rowan to the Crab apple and the twisted Willow. It's been a lovely sight, perhaps the bigger birds are not such early risers.

In the flower borders many flowers have started to go over, but there is still lots of colour from the Rudbekias, Rogersia, Japanese Anemone, Cosmos and Sedum--all lovely Autumn colours.

The Sedum last for ages and the seedheads still look good when the flowers have gone over. These have flopped over, I should have put a plant support to help them stand up.

The Cosmos haven't been good this year, but there's still a bright flash of colour in this little corner.

Hydrangea 'limelight' is a good one for late summer and autumn. It really lives up to its name. There have been more flowerheads this year and I have been able to cut some for the house. It looks good with the yellow grass in front.

In the front garden the hydrangea by the door is heavy with blooms which are now turning a lovely dark pink.

Hostas have turned yellow, they will soon need to be cut back as the leaves will get very slimy.  They are very bright at the moment though. 

I've been struggling with arthritis pain recently, but fortunately there hasn't been much work to do in the garden. It's been a nice change to just potter around or sit and enjoy the changing colours. Richard has been cutting back some of the shrubs in the front garden which have got so big they were taking a lot of light away. This is a job which aggravates my arthritic hands so I just stood by and supervised!

I am linking this blog to Sarah's blog at 'Down by the Sea' for her monthly 'Through the Garden Gate'  post.

Through the Garden Gate -- July 2022

Where did July go? It seemed to fly by and I am late with this blog post. 

The weather has been very dry for ages and I seem to have been spending a lot of time watering. Obviously the tubs need regular watering, but normally I rarely water the flower beds. There have been a lot of plants which were wilting in the heat and I have been worried I might lose them. So extra watering has been done. We had a few days of extreme heat when it was too hot to do any gardening or even to just sit outside. The hot weather just drains me of energy and doesn't agree with my arthritis, so I spent a lot of time indoors resting. Our front garden is quite shady and we don't spend a lot of time there, but when it was really hot we were really glad to be able to sit out there in the shade.

It's that time of year when I find the main jobs in the garden are just deadheading and cutting back. But sometimes it can look a bit bedraggled as flowers go over and I wait for the late summer ones to come into bloom. There are a lot of gaps, where flowers have gone over and the soil has been so dry it has not been the right conditions for planting any new ones to fill the gaps. The astilbes which like a moist soil have been struggling and are now looking brown and shrivelled up, even though they are in the damp border. I'm wondering if they will come back next year.

You don't always need flowers to provide colour, this Hakonechloa grass is a lovely and bright, there are clumps of it around the garden.

This bright pink phlox flowers from July onwards, but its got  battered by the rain this year.

I love this white Lysimachia, but it does tend to flop over onto the grass. I've put a few extra plant supports in this year

Geranium Rosanne is a very reliable plant and keeps going throughout the summer.

I don't know the name of this rose--it's either 'Rachel' or 'Pride and Prejudice', I got the labels mixed up. I do like it though.

So the flower beds are not looking great. It's cooler now and thankfully we have had rain. Proper rain which has soaked the ground and refreshed everything. Perhaps the garden will start to look better now.

I am linking this blogpost with Sarah's blog at 'Down by the Sea' for her monthly 'Through the Garden Gate' post.