Little helpers

 

 We've had a bit of help at the allotment recently from the grandchildren. It's not often it happens so we make the most of it--enjoy it and hope they do too.

 I have found that with my own children and now my grandchildren that as they got older they lost that interest in gardening which in the early years was so full of enthusiasm, everything was new and interesting to them.  Now there are other things to interest them and a visit to the allotment is not always welcome. We have found that we need to really work at stimulating some interest whether it is den building, sowing seeds or watering the plants. And although they might moan and groan about having to go to the allotment, they usually enjoy themselves once they are there. Sometimes they just want to run around and play, but other times they like to help, it might slow us down a bit with our work, but it's worth it knowing that they have probably learnt something by being involved.

On their most recent visits to the allotment they have been sowing purple sprouting broccolli and beetroot seeds, planting cabbages, sweet corn, french beans and sunflowers. It helps to talk about what they are planting and explain how it will grow. For example, beetroot grows below the ground, sweetcorn above and beans wind themselves around a post and some things need more space to grow than others. These things might be obvious to us who've been growing vegetables for years, but not to children who are still learning.

My own children who lost interest in gardening as they got older, I am pleased to say, rekindled this interest when they got gardens of their own so there's hope for the grandchildren yet.

Getting the jobs done

Here we are in June and still waiting for summer, will it ever arrive? This week we've had some lovely warm days and maybe summer has finally arrived. But we've had some strong winds recently which have tested the stability of our allotment plastic grow house. Fortunately Richard secured it well to a strong base. This is its second year and probably its last. The zip has broken down one side and although we could probably buy a new cover I don't think it's worth it. It's served its purpose and Richard is making a base for another grow house or poly tunnel type of structure which he will build himself and will be much more stable. We don't buy things for the allotment if we can make them.

Things are starting to grow and it's looking nice and green with rows of broad beans, peas, salad leaves, onions, garlic cabbages and Brussels sprouts. The pea and bean frames are in place and so is the brassica frame.

This week I have planted out celeriac. I love celeriac but haven't quite mastered the technique of growing it.  Last year's crop was very small, but I will keep trying. I have also sown fennel, swede, more peas and more climbing french beans.  It always seems a mad rush at this time of year to get everything in the ground at the right time.  I don't want to miss out on any vegetables because I forgot to sow the seed at the right time.  But I feel I am getting on top of things and ticking off the jobs on the list in my allotment journal.

The strawberries are looking healthy.  They have had some lovely flowers and are now starting to form the fruit.  I have put some straw underneath the strawberries in the bath and still have to do the ones in the fruit bed. This year I must remember to net them before it's too late and the birds eat them all!

Beacon Fell

We were looking after  two of our grandchildren for a couple of days during the Spring Bank Holiday week. I know they would have been quite happy to stay in and play on their ipads or watch TV but I like to get them outside for fresh air, exercise and something  a bit different to do or see. Besides which I don't like staying in and it's a good excuse for me to have a day or two out somewhere.

We decided to go to Beacon Fell Country Park, where we could have a walk, a picnic and look at the visitor centre. We hadn't been there since our daughters were young and that's a long time ago. When we arrived at the visitor centre car park, the first thing we spotted was a falconry and owl display. The children are always fascinated by these birds so we spent some time watching them.

We then headed off to the visitor centre which was quite small but had plenty of interesting wildlife information and activity tables where the children could get involved. There were word searches, colouring in sheets and an origami frog to make. We took the word searches and colouring sheets home, but our granddaughter managed to make several frogs before we dragged her away.

After a picnic lunch we set off walking along one of the trails. The children spotted some things to climb on in the woods so we took a detour. It was lovely in the woods.  There were lots of tree branches lying around, loads of pine cones and other bits of nature things. Fortunately I had remembered to bring a couple of carrier bags to collect 'nature treasures'. There were big tree trunks lying on the ground which were great for climbing on and we found a tree trunk snake which was one of several sculptures to spot around the park.

Throughout the woods there were dens made out of tree branches. These had been made to show people how to make a den or tipee. Visitors were allowed to have a go at making their own den with all the woody material lying around. We watched a family making their own den, we didn't make one ourselves because we have made one at the allotment and know how to do it.  But it would be a good fun activity.

 

We walked back onto the trail path and walked up to the summit where we had beautiful views of the surrounding countryside.  Then we headed back down through the woods again, stopping to look at one or two ponds on the way.

 

We timed our walk well as we got back to the car park just as it started to rain. I had a carrier bag full of twigs, branches and interesting things which the children had collected. We had great plans to make things with them when we got home. I wasn't sure if we were allowed to take things home with us, but when I saw other families loading tree branches and such stuff into their cars I decided it must be ok. What are we going to do with these things you might ask.  Well that might be a subject for another blog post.

Greening up

Clematis 'Guernsey Cream'

It seems like only a few weeks ago that I was looking at the garden and thinking how messy and unattractive  it looked. The borders needed weeding and winter debris needed clearing away. That was Easter. But now here we are at the end of May and it's amazing how quickly everything has grown. The garden looks completely different. Plants have filled out and are jostling for space. The main thing is that it all looks so green and fresh.The colour at the moment is from aquilegias, mainly blue, but some pink, yellow euphorbias, more blue from bluebells, forget me not, brunnera and centurea.  The lupins have lots of buds and will soon be in flower. The flowers that I am enjoying the most this week are the alliums which I bought at a plant sale a few weeks ago and are now in flower and towering above the other plants in the border.

I have a clematis which I love called 'Guernsey Cream'. I'm not good with clematis and this one took a few years to get established. It's a little bit squashed between two shrubs but it scrambles amongst them quite happily. My star plant is a peony which I found when I took on my allotment 2 years ago. It was growing in a pot and I recognised it by the leaves, I brought it home and planted it in the front garden. It has flowered for the first time this year and I am enjoying watching it gradually unfurl its petals.

Warton Hall

 Last week Richard and I went out to visit  Warton Hall an NGS garden  a couple of miles out of Lytham and on the edge of  the village of Warton. This is the first year it's been opened for the NGS. I'd seen it in the booklet and heard the owner being interviewed on local radio a few days earlier and thought it sounded interesting.

We entered through a little gate and followed the path through a woodland area carpeted with bluebells. It was a feast for the eyes, a haze of purple blue and creamy white flower heads and  feathery foliage of cow parsley. There was a sculpture trail through the woodland walk with pieces of art displayed by various artists. Some of the sculptures were easy to see, but others were not and we kept pointing them out to each other.  The sculptures were made of different materials.  The first ones we came across were some ceramic glass flowers arranged under trees, a big ornate metal circle structure and a group of white parasols high up in the trees.

 

 Then there were items which the owner had found on her travels, like a metal bedstead placed amongst the trees or a wooden window frame fixed between two trees to frame a view.

 

 But there were also natural sculptures made out of twigs, branches, grass etc.We had to keep our eyes open to spot some things, like the twig mobiles with hanging ceramic glass icicles, or the ceramic ladybirds fixed onto tree trunks.

 

 I loved the fairy house--the hole in the tree trunk reached by a tiny, delicate ceramic glass ladder and the 'do not disturb' sign.

We found a stick man made out of a big branch, I thought the grandchildren would have loved it. In the centre of the woods was a big tipi with straw bales inside for children to sit on at story telling times.

We came a cross a big orange metal crab which looked like it was made out of some sort of agricultural machinery, a bright blue boat, a wheelbarrow wearing wellingtons and many more strange and interesting things.

As we wandered along the path we occasionally caught a glimpse of the hall through the trees and we could see that the woods skirted the massive lawn in front of the house.  In the centre of the lawn was a huge 400 year old weeping hornbeam tree. Under the hornbeam was a life size metal horse sculpture.  On close inspection we could see that it was made out of horseshoes, spanners and all sorts of metal items--very impressive, especially the price of £11,000!

 Nearer to the house was a little garden with a pond and a vegetable garden. In the conservatory was the shop where you could buy the art work (if you could afford it!).

This garden is not a plantsman's garden and anyone going to see interesting planting would be disappointed. The gardens were very natural with the bluebells, cow parsley and  ponds in the woods.  It was the bluebells and the sculptures which made the garden so interesting. There were things which made us smile or laugh and things which took our breath away.  It was nothing like I had imagined, but much better.

 The garden is open again in July for the Lytham Arts Festival. I'm sure it will be worth another visit.

Our pond and bog garden

Our wildlife pond and bog garden at the allotment is looking really good now. Over the last few weeks I have been gradually planting around the pond and in the boggy area next to it. It really is very squelchy around the pond, I think we chose the right place for it.

I spent some time looking up which plants would be good for growing in very moist conditions and realised that I had quite a few suitable plants in my own garden which I could lift and divide to take to the allotment.

I've planted some hostas around the edges of the pond. I'm not sure how much wet hostas like, but if they survive then they should look really good softening the edges where the stones are. The boggy ground is a sort of triangle shape and here I've planted a rodgersia in the corner with astilbes in front. The astilbes suffered a bit of frost damage when it was really cold last week but they seem to be recovering now. In another corner is a meadowsweet. Also planted are some blue irises and I salvaged some of the yellow flag irises which had completely taken over when we first moved on to the allotment. I shall have to keep them under control now. There are two types of grasses, a carex elata aurea and another which I have had in my garden for years but I don't know the name of. I found a ragged robin plant at my local garden centre which was described as a bog garden plant and at the plant fair last Sunday I bought a pale yellow trollius. The label said grow in soil which never dries out. That seemed to fit the description of our soil.

In the pond I put a marsh marigold, a blue iris, a grass and a water forget me not. There are also a couple of underwater plants. I would like to put a floating plant in, most water lilies would be too big for our little tin bath pond, but there are some varieties which I know are suitable for small ponds, so I will keep looking.

So that was a lot of plants but for very little cost as most of them came from my own garden. It's looking very good now and should be even better once the plants are established and in flower.

The good news is we have some tadpoles in the pond which we rescued after finding them in the drain at the top of the plot.  They must have come down the pipe which drains the water from the plot above us.  I hope they like their new home, it is a much safer place.  The duck you see in the photo, is a rescue duck, we  found it in the mud at the bottom of the old pond. It seems to be very happy in its new home.

 

Plant Fair and open gardens

At the weekend Richard and I took some time off from the allotment to visit a Plant and Garden Fair at Browsholme Hall near Clitheroe.  It's an annual event which Helen and I went to last year at this time but didn't get to see all of the gardens.  So this year we were determined to stay longer and see as much of the gardens as we could.

The first priority though was to look at the plant stalls outside and the artisan stalls in the barn. I bought a trollius plant for the bog garden at the allotment, a lovely coppery pink geum called Leonard's Variety and an allium. In the barn were various craft and food stalls, but the one which caught my attention was the lady selling her own British grown flowers.  There were some lovely hand tied bunches and I just had to have one.  It's given me ideas for my own flower growing  in the garden and allotment.

Having spent too much money, we left the plant stalls behind and started off along the garden path. There was a a lot of water  running through the grounds and our first area to look at was a stream area with a bridge, little waterfalls and a pond.  Any water features are of great interest to us at the moment as we have just built a wildlife pond and bog area on the allotment.  I was interested in the planting around the stream and pond. Although it is early in the year yet for much to be in flower, I could see new growth emerging and recognised rodgersia, irises, primula.

The stream went off across the fields and we continued along the path which led towards a woodland area and a big lake (more water).

We walked around the lake stopping to look in the boathouse. 

We didn't have time to wander into the woods, so after walking around the lake we headed back towards the house.  Next to the house is a formal garden area with box edged beds and a fish pond.

 Up some well worn steps and we came to a row of trees which had red bark and some interesting gnarled trunks and branches.  They looked very old.

Browsholme Hall is having another open garden day and plant fair on 5th July for the
National Gardens Scheme, so if you are in the area it's worth a visit.