Through the garden gate--planting alpines and herbs

 

 It's been a busy month in the garden. I've had a couple of projects on my to do list which I've managed to complete this month. The first one was to plant up an alpine sink garden. I bought the old sink from a second hand shop a couple of years ago and since then it's been stored in the garage. There's been the occasional comment from my husband about it lying around doing nothing, so I finally I decided to get a move on and do something with it.  A visit to the RHS garden Harlow Carr inspired me. The alpine house there is something quite special and there are lots of stone troughs planted up with alpines which gave me some planting ideas.

Alpine house at RHS Harlow Carr

Alpine troughs at RHS Harlow Carr

I got carried away when I was buying plants and bought too many! That was no problem though as I have a couple of little stone alpine troughs which were looking a bit untidy so I replanted them with some of the new plants.

The sink was very heavy to move but we got it in place outside the back door. I used a mixture of John Innes compost, sharp sand and grit as a planting medium and after planting I covered the top with a layer of grit. I also put some slates on end in between the plants which finished it off nicely.

The next project was to plant up a herb bed. My herbs have always been dotted around the garden, some in pots, some in the ground and I have often thought I would like a specific area for them. We have three raised beds at the top of the garden which have become redundant since we took on the allotment and stopped growing vegetables in the garden. So I decided to use one of these as a herb bed. There was already a clump of sorrel in one of them which had seeded from a nearby pot, so it seemed an obvious place to start the herb bed. I planted chives, lemon balm, French tarragon, three sorts of sage, bronze fennel, oregano and a golden marjoram. There is room for more, so I will add to them over the next few weeks. I have a variety of mint plants growing in pots which will be left as they are to contain the roots.

As usual I have joined with Sarah at Down by the Sea for her monthly 'Through the garden Gate' slot. Have a look at her blog it's really good. I hope you have enjoyed coming through my garden gate this month. Maybe you would like to join us and let us come through your garden gate to view your garden.

Summer salad growing

I don't think I've had so much salad growing in my garden as I have this summer. I think that's partly due to the  52 Week Salad Challenge which has given me some interest and motivation. I've also had more space to grow salad crops this year because now the allotment is more established I've gradually stopped growing veg in the raised beds at the top of the garden.  I like to grow salad at home rather than the allotment, it's so easy to just pop outside to pick a few leaves or herbs for our meals.

At the moment I have red mizuna, red salad bowl leaves, little gem lettuce and watercress which I am picking regularly. There are seedlings of mustard, rocket and lollo rosso just getting going. So far there is no slug damage, I keep a close eye on them, they can disappear overnight when the slugs are about.
 

In the cold frame I planted out some cucumber (marketmore) .  Last year's attempt at growing these at the allotment produced two tiny cucumbers. I don't like to be defeated so I'm having another go. My attempts at growing tomatoes are also a bit hit and miss as they usually get affected by blight. But I keep on trying so I've planted three tumbler tomato plants in tubs.

Around the garden the herbs are growing in pots. There are several types of mint, sage, sorrel, thymes, marjoram, oregano and parsley. I've also sown borage seeds. I've been  surprised at how quickly they have grown into big plants and the flowers are so lovely.

Down at the allotment there is radish, spring onion (red and white varieties) and beetroot.  I've also sown fennel seeds at home which will be planted out at the allotment when they are ready.

I was pleased to receive two packets of Sarah Raven salad mixes from the Veg Plotting giveaway. There's a summer mix and a winter mix, I'll be sowing these soon.

Well there's plenty to keep us going for the summer, but my next challenge will be to continue to sow and grow for autumn and winter.

Loads of lettuce

I've had a few ups and downs with my salad growing this month. The wet weather has brought out all the slugs. Well you'll know that of course, everyone is complaining about the slugs. So I am beginning to see holes appearing in my salad leaves.

We went away for the weekend and I came back to find all the mizuna tops nibbled at. The lollo rossa seedlings have disappeared and so has the watercress.

However I am still pleased with the progress of the rocket, red salad bowl, tom thumb and little gem lettuce which were further on than the other stuff so could cope with a bit of slug damage. At the time of planting I thought I may have put too many in for our needs, but at least now I have enough leaves to be able to pick around the slug damaged ones. When I look back on last month's photos of my salad bed I can see how well everything has grown.  I'm still growing pea shoots, those are in a tub by the back door.

I'm so enjoying going out into the garden with a bowl to collect a few salad leaves to go with our lunch or dinner. And I haven't bought any lettuce for weeks now.

I don't seem to be very good at growing radish. I notice every year, that I get some pathetic looking radish, so I think it must be me who can't grow them. I've sown some at the allotment to see if they do any better there.

The herbs I planted in pots are romping away too, I've used the red veined sorrell in salads.

The second lot of outdoor cucumbers seem to be doing fine (the first lot died). I shall pot them into bigger pots before finally planting out into the cold frame

So now I just need to sow more seeds to replace all those slug eaten seedlings.

Salad growing

As I  review my salad growing  for this month for the salad challenge, I'm feeling that I'm making progress. I have a raised bed which I am using for growing salad and there are some neat rows of crops coming along nicely. I'm also using the cold frame to grow salad.

There are some  radish  now  ready to pick from the first sowings I made. The tom thumb and little gem lettuce which I transplanted into the raised bed have taken well.  I had so many of the little gem lettuce that I also planted some in between the broad beans and peas. In the cold frame I have some tantan lettuce which is a little gem type. I have planted out the watercress which has been a bit slow to grow, but hopefully the warmer weather will bring it along now.

I have been sowing more crops this week. I sowed  watercress,                              mizuna, and lollo rossa.  I also planted some beetroot seedlings.  We had planted most of them at the allotment and these were left over. Couldn't bear to throw them away.

I bought some herb plants a few weeks ago. There are ginger mint, basil mint and lemon mint, sorrel, hyssop and three sorts of sage. I potted them up into terracotta pots and left them next to the raised bed whilst I decided where to put them. I the end I left them there because I thought they looked quite good. I have other herbs around the garden, different types of mint, thyme, oregano, marjoram and chives. Today I sowed seeds of borage and dill. I have parsley and basil seedlings too.

I've been trying to grow outdoor cucumbers, the seeds germinated but the seedlings eventually died off. I've sown more seeds and if these don't work then I might buy a couple of plants from the garden centre to grow in the cold frame.

There's lots of salad growing, I just can't wait to eat it!

  

     

http://vegplotting.blogspot.co.uk/p/52-week-salad-challenge.html

Salad update

It's a busy month in the garden and there are so many seeds need to be sown for the vegetable plot that it's easy to get behind with things. Being an avid list maker, I'm constantly making lists of things I need to be doing in the garden and sowing a variety of seeds is a priority at the moment.

 I'm determined to be better organised this year and have more continuity with my salad crops.  In the last few days I have sown outside in a raised bed:  spring onions, lettuce--red salad bowl and a second row of radish,

radish seedlings

I'm pleased to see that the rocket and radish I sowed last month is now growing and in the last week the spring onions have germinated. In the cold frame there are trays of Tom Thumb, Little Gem and Tantan lettuce which look ready to be planted out in the raised bed, but as it's been a bit cold recently I have delayed doing that.

Watercress seedlings

In the grow house the watercress is looking good, although has been quite slow to get going. The seed packet says wait until there is no danger of frost before planting out, so I'll nurture it for a while, but must remember to sow some more seeds for continuity. I love watercress, I grew some last year for the first time. I also have some Pak Choi in the grow house which  I sowed a week ago and hasn't germinated yet. I tried growing this last year in the open ground but it didn't grow. I don't like to be defeated so I'm trying again.

I have also sown some herb seeds, Russian tarragon, flat leaved parsley, and curly parsley and the basil I started off last month has now been transplanted into bigger trays. I've tried a couple of year's running to grow french tarragon which I bought in pots but they never survived the winter. I read somewhere that French tarragon can only be grown from cuttings, not seed. So I'll try the Russian tarragon this year which I can grow from seed. I think the flavour is stronger.

Indoors I have sown some mixed salad leaves and some more of the gourmet micro greens which I grew last month and which were delicious. The pea shoots are still growing and we have been eating these.

I also have some cabbage, cauliflower, purple sprouting broccoli and brussels sprout seedlings left over after having transplanted some into larger trays and pots for the allotment. I always hate having to throw away the weaker seedlings, but now I realise I can eat them with salads.
Waste not want not!

http://vegplotting.blogspot.co.uk/p/52-week-salad-challenge.html

A spiritual garden

This blog post is dedicated to 2 of my Twitter friends who are wanting to create a spiritual garden on the theme of love and peace. I believe it will be a paved garden with plants in containers. They want ideas for plants to grow. As I can't answer that question in 140 characters I decided to do a blog post with my thoughts!

 I  find a lot of relaxation, peace and spirituality in gardens, not just peace in the sense of being quiet, but bringing a feeling of inner peace. My own garden has developed over a period of 27 years. We  get a lot of traffic noise from the front of the garden. Sometimes in the back garden we have noise from neighbouring gardens, children playing, family barbecues etc. Despite this 'noise' we can still sit in our garden and feel 'peaceful'. My garden is large, has trees, shrubs and flowers. Lots of flowers because I do love my plants.

So what makes a spiritual garden?   Is it the planting scheme? Type of plants? Maybe that helps. I'm not a professional gardener or garden designer, I've just put plants together in my garden which I like. I spend time in my garden, because I love being there. I find it a good place to think, to pray, to play with my grandchildren, to relax, to read, to eat, drink, talk and work. For me it is a spiritual place.

In planning a new garden, I think you would need to look first at which way the garden faces, where there is sun or shade and buy plants to suit the right position. Most plants will grow in containers, even smaller trees, and different heights is another thing to think about. You would also need to have a mix of deciduous and evergreen plants for all year round interest, and variety of colour and leaf texture.  Then you might want to think about colour schemes. Green and white is very relaxing and need not be boring, there are many different shades of green from dark to pale,  variegated and even lime green.  You could bring another colour in, like yellow, or blue to create an effect. I like Euphorbias for their lime green colour. There are lots of different sizes, from a few inches tall to a couple of feet. The taller ones would look great in containers.


Even in a very small garden it's good to have an area where you can sit. That could be a table and chairs on a patio, a bench, or just a tiny corner with a small seat. I love secluded seating areas, somewhere you can take yourself off to sit and be quiet. An area like this could be surrounded by scented plants. I have one in my garden, with aromatic herbs like, rosemary, thyme, sage, mint, and lavender which can just be brushed with your hands as you're sitting there.  Other scented plants could be sweet peas, a climbing rose, honeysuckle or jasmine. Climbing plants could grow over an arbour, up a trellis or tripod, depending on space available. In May Lilac is lovely, later in the summer Buddleia is in bloom. Buddleia has lovely graceful arching branches. Both have white varieties as well as the different shades of purple and both smell divine.

Water is very relaxing to listen to in a garden, and you don't need a big garden for this. There are many water features available which could be used in smaller gardens. For plants to use around damp areas, you might consider, Astilbe (white, pale pink, dark pink).

Statues look good in a garden when they are surrounded by greenery. Something like a Buddha, an angel,a cherub even a bird bath depending on your taste. Hostas, ferns, Solomon's Seal ( Polygonatum) look good together for green planting if you have some shade in your garden. Grasses also look good in containers, there are many varieties available, deciduous and evergreen, tall and short, green, variegated, golden colours.  Some grasses also are good sensory plants, nice to brush your hands through, like Stipa tenuissima and some of the Carex varieties. Other grasses are just interesting like Miscanthus or Calamagrostis with tall flower spikes. I love grasses they bring gentle movement to the garden.

There are many  shrubs available at garden centres, deciduous and evergreen, with different leaf colours, some green, some variegated, some golden. Acers have been suggested, they have a lovely delicate leaf and there are a good range of colours to choose from. For evergreen shrubs, there are the Viburnums, which have white flowers, sometimes followed by berries. For spring colour,  Forsythia has yellow flowers, Deutsia, white flowers, flowering  late spring, early summer, I love this, have it in my garden. Then there's the Weigelas, with lovely pink flowers, late spring and early summer and arching branches. I have 2 of these in my garden, one of which is variegated. Hydrangeas are lovely shrubs, look good in containers and there is a wide range available, especially some lovely white ones. The Choisya,  has glossy evergreen leaves and white scented flowers in early summer.  There's a dark green and a yellow leaved variety.

I could go on forever thinking about plants. These are just a few of my thoughts, I hope they are helpful to my friends and can't wait to hear how their garden develops.

Does anyone else have any ideas for planting in a spiritual garden?