July Update

I can't believe it's over a month since I last posted. I have been musing about the success or otherwise of the garden, and it might be useful to write some of the musings down - not least for future reference when I am thinking about what to do next year.

The roses did well, despite some greenfly, and were all gorgeous for several weeks. The arbour is still in bits in the garage (too much rain, too little time) and so the climbing rose and the honeysuckle are still in their pots on the patio awaiting developments. The scent was amazing - every bit as good as promised in the David Austin catalogue.

Tomatoes needed more effort than I have been able to provide this year, although they are not dead yet and the Tiny Tim does have some fruits. Next year - start the toms off later, in a mini-greenhouse, and pot them up into larger pots earlier to improve water retention.

My back and shoulder problems have been a major issue this summer, and as a result nowhere near as much weeding, tidying and general maintenance has been done as should have been. If it hadn't been for the raised beds, this would probably have scuppered veg production, but fortunately the raised beds are easier to weed, and also don't seem to get weedy in the same way as traditional beds. The patio badly needs weeding between the paviours, but it doesn't help that it has been raining pretty much solidly for 2-3 weeks now, and also weeding with the gas wand is Matthew's job and he 'hasn't got round to it'. The grass needs mowing too, but there it's a combination of apathy, rain and the drudgery of first clearing molehills off it - fewer than before the ultrasonic gadget, but still an occasional irritating feature.

For next year I will definitely buy a mini-greenhouse - one of those jobs with shelves and a plastic zip-up tent. Veg and flowers I started off indoors just got leggy and pale and keeled over - too little light in this house. The veg I sowed direct into the raised beds has all performed well, although very slowly (I think everyone is finding their timings out this year). We have had the first few meals of broad beans (tender and fresh and lovely), but the pak choi has been less successful as it proved very popular with the slugs - we don't have many in this garden, but they all converged on the only brassica crop! We did get a few stir-fries out of the crop, but it was a bit disappointing. I think I did sow them too thickly, which helped make it easy for the slugs to hide. For next year - rotate to the next raised bed, and sow more thinly. The broad beans have done well, and staggering the sowing has proved to be a good idea - it looks like we will have a long supply, although not in huge quantities because I only have 1.5 square metres of them! (which actually is half of the active beds - the fourth bed is Matthew's asparagus) The chard has done well - will sow more in a few weeks, to last into the autumn. It's delicious! I should have sown successional salad leaves - the first lot were great, but then my back went, and I just didn't keep up with it, so that has been a pity - we have bought a lot more bags of salad leaves this summer than I had wanted to.

The sweet peas were not a success - poor germination, and suffering from the lack of light indoors. Next year will sow later and in situ outdoors, or at least in mini-greenhouse. Have really missed them this summer. The ordinary peas did badly indoors too, so next year will try them in situ as I did with the broad beans.

The dwarf buddleia are finally in bud, one plant proved to be much more vigorous than the other, but both now have evidence of impending bloom, which the butterflies will like. Generally, though, ornamentals haven't really happened this year, because of my back it just hasn't been possible to do any planting and I haven't liked to sow things I won't be able to plant out. Fortunately all the seeds I have will still be in date next year, so I will give it a better shot then. Just waiting for the bulb catalogues to appear to order some tulips and daffs for pots, so at least we have some spring colour to look forward to.

The Wild Bank is in need of a cut, but this will be a bit problematic with my back/shoulder in the condition it's in, and Matthew can't be safely let loose on it or he'll cut down everything, including what I want to keep! He did mutter about getting a strimmer for the job, which made me pale somewhat...the dogwoods have all but vanished into the long grass, and I do need to liberate them and clear the ground around them again, and maybe put some bark down this time.

The trees are all doing ok, and survived the storms - it was worrying, watching them whipping around in the wind, but they seem to have come through it and not loosened noticeably. The new foliage is lovely.

So, next year - mini-greenhouse, more salad veg, sweet peas and other ornamentals, keep on top of the maintenance. More widely spaced pak choi, more chard if poss, peas in situ. Toms, with more dedication! Broad beans as per this year. And try not to have my back go on me at a critical time in the gardening year in 2011...

Benign neglect

A few days holiday, and continued fine weather, has been a bit of a challenge - I lost some little tomato plants while we were away, and have resorted to buying a couple of plants of the same varieties from the garden centre. The threat of thunderstorms (which, in the end, went round us) made me rush out and build cane supports for the broad beans, which are now very tall and sturdy and flowering prodigiously - and the bumblebees are doing their stuff. The brambles which I failed to root out in the spring have started growing all over the place, and we are going to have to have another assault on them before they render parts of the garden out of bounds without armour!

Having to water every night now - but as it's light until 10 that's not too much of a burden. The great delight at the moment is the roses - Munstead Wood is in flower, and its claret gorgeousness is amazing - but the scent is even more amazing! Crocus Rose is not far behind, the first buds are breaking, and The Generous Gardener will be next - it's supposed to be growing up an arbour, but we haven't actually got round to building it yet, so the rose is still in a large container on the patio, pending planting out in its final location, together with a honeysuckle.

Something is eating the chard, and the pak choi (which has emerged at at galloping rate), so have put out beer baths the last couple of nights - which have caught a dozen or so slugs, but I suspect it's not slugs that are doing the chomping. Must sow some more salad leaves as we have eaten most of what came up so far, and the rocket has bolted. The Little Gem lettuces haven't germinated well in the raised bed, suspect the local wildlife made off with most of the seeds! And the spring onions aren't looking too bright either - don't think they enjoyed being un-watered for 5 days while we were away in Devon. And there evidently isn't enough light in the house to successfully grow things from seeds indoors - most things are spindly and pale, a marked contrast to what I sowed straight into pots or beds outdoors. The sweet peas have been a write-off, which is a pity. Overall, though, the veg isn't doing too badly, and the roses are a great success so far.

Followers of this blog may recall that a mole moved in under cover of snow - things came to a head while we were away - we returned to find 8 new molehills, and Matthew ran out of patience with the wholesale destruction of the lawn. I am very determined that I don't want the mole-catcher brought in, as I don't want it killed, so we have installed an ultrasonic mole deterrent instead - a tenner from eBay, solar powered, and so far we have had only one little hill in 3 days, which is huge progress. Watch this space...

HEAT WAVE

The weather has been truly sweltering the last few days (approaching 30C in the afternoons) which has made watering a priority. Given the absence of frosts I have also taken the opportunity to plant out the peas, and have also been sowing the next round of veg - more broad beans, pak choi, spring onions and Little Gem lettuces. Not much evidence of slugs yet, but no doubt if there are any around, that will bring them out! The first broad beans are about 8 inches tall now and very sturdy. The salad leaves in pots are not far off their first cut, and the asparagus is now over 2 ft tall and going wild! All the 12 crowns have put forth shoots, which is very satisfactory.

I built the first cane supports this evening, for the newly transplanted peas - it was a bit of a technical challenge as I could not put bracing canes in slantwise at the ends as I would normally as these would be outside the raised bed and would present problems with mowing the grass - eventually realised that I could put two internal bracing canes in, braced against the inside of the raised bed - it's now a very sturdy construction, which I will replicate in the two beds that already have broad beans in over the next few evenings.

The roses have lots of foliage but no signs of flowers yet, but it's early days. The buddleia aren't galloping away as I thought they might, but at least they are still alive. The new trees are all looking healthy and happy, and the quince even has a few blossoms!

Fortunately the row of trees along the neighbour's boundary, although a little depleted since they thinned them out to make way for their impending garage, is now in full leaf and is offering a bit of shade in the late afternoon and evening. It has been wonderful to go out into the garden with a G&T, and sit on the bench on the patio of an evening listening to the birds and playing with the little cat from next door (I think she's bored - she always appears the moment either of us goes out into the garden!). It is so good to be able to get the use and enjoyment out of a garden, which we never really have been able to before. We even bought a little tiny table, just big enough for two glasses and some nibbles, last time we were in Ikea! So civilised...

Even Matthew is getting a bit interested in the garden - he voluntarily waters the raised beds a couple of times a week, and is entranced by the wayward behaviour of the asparagus! I have to admit, it is pretty impressive.

Cooler weather promised for tomorrow, and I will not be sorry - it's just been a bit too much - more like a really hot August than May. I have been very grateful for the aircon in the car, as it's like a furnace otherwise especially if it's been parked in the sun. And sadly it's actually too fierce to have the top down on the convertible...

We have asparagus!

I went away from Monday morning to Wednesday afternoon (doing creative stuff with Val in Dorset) and in the time I was away, not only did all 21 broad bean plants germinate, but on inspecting the raised beds I discovered the first spears of asparagus! Cue much rejoicing, especially from Matthew. As of this morning, 9 of the 12 crowns have sprouted, which is pretty amazing as they'd only been in just over a week. Keeping Matthew from harvesting them could be more of a challenge...

All three baby trees now in leaf, the quince is looking especially attractive. I acquired a handsome Euphorbia while in Dorset, along with a cowslip from Val, and both are going into the bank as soon as a) it stops raining and b) my back starts behaving a bit better. The up-side of the rain, of course, is that I don't need to water every day! The salad leaves are doing well in their pots - it won't be long now before we are eating our first home-grown salad of the season. Very little evidence of slugs in this garden so far, which is a welcome change from the last garden which was infested with them. A few in the composter, which is to be expected, but the chard has been left alone, as have the salad leaves in pots.

Peas and dwarf beans are growing well in their pots in the utility room, and will be ready to go out soon - the peas to the raised beds, and the beans to large pots on the patio. Everything else will take a while yet...

More Spring

Yay! The chard looks like it is germinating - lots of little bright red stems with the most delicate pale green leaves. Now all we need is for the broad beans to come up - I'll give them another week, and if there's no signs of them I will sow some more in pots indoors. Sowing outside was always a bit of a risk, but everything else has come up now - I was rather amazed by the salad leaves, as we have had some very cold nights here recently and I wasn't holding out much hope for them! Another few weeks and we'll be having baby leaf salad - so much nicer, cheaper and greener than the stuff in bags from the supermarket. Everything indoors has now germinated to some degree, although some of the sweet pea varieties have been disappointing. The tomatoes were up quickly, and even the cayenne chilli peppers are now growing, though they look very small and delicate.

Last night and today we have had the first rain for several weeks, so no need to water the garden this evening. I am quite relieved as I had planted two dozen bluebells which arrived 'in the green' the other day, together with a couple of the snow-in-summer, on the bank, and it was so dry that I was actually watering up there as well as the beds and the patio pots, which was all getting a bit tedious. All three of the new trees now have leaves, I am hoping that the quince will blossom, but maybe it's too young?

Wildlife notes - the first butterfly today, some sort of small white jobbie (not good on butterflies!). Lots of finches (gold and green) around the feeders today, they are eating me out of house and home again! Yesterday I was up at Builth Wells, at the Royal Welsh Show Ground, and spotted my first swallow of the season - then noticed there were lots of them around the buildings. Beautiful. Nothing so exotic here, just all the usual suspects - collared doves, wood pigeon, misc finches, sparrows, dunnocks, robins, blackbirds, thrushes, misc tits, and of course the jackdaws, although they usually sit in the high trees of the garden behind us and rarely come down into the garden. Lots of bumblebees around - big plump ones. Interestingly, since I started the 'messy area' behind the raised beds, the blackbirds and thrushes are now mostly foraging there, rather than elsewhere in the garden, suggesting that even this small change has increased invertebrate numbers in that part of the garden.

Now that his beloved Asparagus has arrived and been planted, Matthew is getting impatient to see some results! If he's lucky, he may get a couple of spears this summer just to keep him happy - about a month's worth next year, then full production the year after. He will just have to learn to be patient!

As I write this, there is a heavy shower coming down and the sun is shining brightly at the same time - how very stereotypical April weather!

Signs of Spring

Another lovely sunny day, and I took my camera for a walk around the garden to look for signs of new life. The sunlight on the rhubarb made some interesting textures when taken as a close-up. The buds and beginnings of new leaves on the quince tree are particularly appealing. The two little pierises are doing well, one is flowering and there is new growth which looks like it will turn red very shortly. And the rocket has germinated despite the cold nights, which is very satisfactory.

The two dwarf Buddleias which I had on order (special offer from Thompson and Morgan in one of the gardening mags) arrived a couple of days ago, and I have potted them up into a pair of sludge-green glazed pots about 35cm across. They are quite big already, and look like they will flower later this year, which will be good for bees and butterflies!

Lots of firsts...

It's been another busy day - the first mow of the year, with a brand new lawnmower which Matthew (mower in chief) is very pleased with. It has revealed just how many holes and molehills there are in the lawn, so I hastily purchased a lawn repair kit to attempt to fix it! Also, the first time we have ever installed our rotary dryer, despite having had it in two previous houses - the first one had a very public garden and I never felt comfortable hanging my laundry out, so the dryer stayed in the shed - and the last house was between three building sites for most of the time we were there, so there was no point hanging clothes out to get dirty again. So the dryer stayed in the garage. Now it is finally installed outside the kitchen window, in a sunny and fairly windy location, and it has already had its first load of laundry, which dried in record time.

I went down to Blackwood Garden Centre this afternoon to get some more compost, and finally got round to buying a water butt, together with its attachment to capture water from a downpipe. They were out of stock of stands, so that will come later in the week, at which point we'll have a shot at following the instructions, complete with hacksaw...I only have room for a small butt near to the downpipe, so have bought a slimline one which holds 100 litres. By my reckoning, that's about a dozen watering cans-worth.

I also bought four large and healthy snow-in-summer plants (see previous post for my problems with these), so I am going to grow them on a little and then excavate large holes for them in the bank, fill with compost to counteract the clay, and hope for the best!

The robin and the cock blackbird were very excited about the mown grass, it has obviously churned up all sorts of tasty titbits. Cue much excavation of the clippings! Visitors to the house often comment about the range of birds visiting the garden feeders - I think it's 19 species so far, almost all daily visitors. The sunflower hearts have proved a great success, especially with the goldfinches, who ironically take no notice at all of the nyger seed thoughtfully provided for them. The sparrows were the 'early adopters' when I first started feeding sunflower hearts, which I am pleased about as they are in such decline nationally that anything I can do to help has got to be a good thing. Have even put up a nest box with the right size hole for them.

An awful lot of seeds are in various stages of germination around the house. The utility room looks like a greenhouse. I am mostly going for salad leaves, broad beans/peas/dwarf French beans, chard, spring onions, pak choi and my beloved sweet peas. Have bravely sown the broad beans straight into the lovely new raised bed - normally I grown them indoors in pots, but I thought I would risk it. If there's no signs of them in a couple of weeks I will revert to plan B with a very late sowing indoors. Have also decided to try tomatoes, which (like roses) I have always avoided as there is so much gardeners' mystique about them - but for goodness' sake, how hard can it be? As well as the traditional Moneymaker, which needs support, I have gone for two varieties designed for patio pots - Tiny Tim and Garden Pearl. Both sort of cherry types, and look reasonably idiot-proof. Watch this space...

Update

After yesterday's exertions I spent some time today pottering around and looking at progress elsewhere in the garden. The trees are thriving, as is everything in pots (apart from the eucalyptus which is failing to come back after its severe cut back in the autumn - but I'm not giving up on it yet!). The roses are getting new leaves, the honeysuckle which is destined for the arbour is up and running, and the trees, especially the quince, are looking very promising. It has been a strange spring without bulbs, but I was too late last autumn, after we moved in October, and by the time I got round to thinking about it the garden centres were all out of bulbs. Better luck this year! But some primulas have appeared along the bank, which is nice. And the dead looking clump of grass is starting to come to life again, looks like it could be quite large when it gets going.

The main casualty is the snow-in-summer, which all seems to have curled up and died. I wonder if it would have been better to pot on the little plants into larger pots of compost, and then transplant them later, rather than putting them straight into heavy clay soil, especially as we then had several weeks of heavy rain. Might try that again, as I am really keen to grow this plant - it just looks so good on sunny banks.

I still await the arrival of the bluebells in the green, the two dwarf buddleias for the patio, and the asparagus crowns, but at least the bed is ready for the latter now!

Apart from dealing with the seedlings etc, the main garden tasks for the next few months are dealing with the last of the brambles, tidying up the patio area, and building the arbour and planting it up. Emlyn and Barry kindly left me a bag of sand when they finished the patio extension, for me to use when laying the paving slabs which the arbour is to stand on, so all I need is some paving slabs, a bag of gravel, a spirit level, and a willing Matthew! Once it is assembled and in place, and before I plant, I think I will paint it with the same stuff I used on the garden bench last year, as it is attractive and apparently hardwearing, easy to apply and didn't make me feel sick! It would be wonderful to be sitting in my arbour by midsummer...

Wildlife note - lots of bumblebees around already. And I think the collared doves and the woodpigeons might be nesting, as they are now coming to feed singly where before they would come in pairs. And the mole seems to have emigrated - for now, anyway.

Spring appears to have sprung!

It's ages since I posted anything, because my attention has been pretty much all on my art assignment which was due mid-March, and on work, which has been a bit overwhelming during the last couple of months. However, having determinedly taken the week after Easter off, and with the next few weeks not looking quite so manic, I am able to think more about the garden - and it has even stopped raining for a while!!! There are buds and new leaves on everything, including the newly planted trees and the roses on the patio, which is very encouraging.

I shall be attempting to load some pictures today - we spent an energetic morning in the garden, finally getting the raised beds finished. Each one had its turf cut, then was filled with four bags of topsoil, four bags of John Innes No 2, and a large bag of manure. Additionally, the asparagus bed (close up picture) had a bagful of sharp sand incorporated at the bottom to help with drainage on our very heavy clay soil, and the other three beds had a quantity of very good garden compost forked in - this precious material was transported from the previous house in Tubtrugs in the boot of Matthew's car - he was very skeptical at the time, but was today waxing lyrical about what wonderful stuff it is, which amused me...

The rhubarb is a bit of a surprise - it had been cut down to ground level by the workmen who cleared the jungle late last summer, and I had not expected to see it again - but over the last couple of weeks, it has reappeared, phoenix-like - which is a bit of a pest as neither of us is that keen on rhubarb, but I haven't the heart to dig it up when it's been so persistent!

The other photo shows the new section of patio, and its accompanying gravel trench, which is Emlyn and Barry's attempt to deal with the flooding corner of the lawn. The whole thing is sat on a bed of gravel about 2 feet deep. It certainly seems to be working - in the recent heavy rain, the bottom corner of the lawn was a bit damp, but there was no standing water spilling across the path and lapping at the house as before. This is definitely progress.

I was late getting the first seeds in this year, but will report further in due course. I have found in previous years that late sown plants more than make up for their delayed start with the extra light and warmth later on, so I am not too worried. The utility room has been transformed into a greenhouse!

Snowdrops...

A short lull in the arrival of plants for the garden ended with the arrival of some 'in the green' snowdrops, which have now been planted along the bank. The idea is that they (and the bluebells when they arrive) will come through the snow-in-summer when it gets established as ground cover on the bank. With luck there will be foxgloves , euphorbia and knautia in due course too. Maybe some vinca if the snow-in-summer doesn't provide dense enough ground cover to keep the grass at bay. I will be glad when the weather warms up a bit and working in the garden doesn't involve creating mud and freezing fingers! It's too cold to contemplate making the arbour yet, which is frustrating.

So far everything that has gone in is still alive, as far as one can tell given that some of it is dormant. The only casualty was the 'Red Baron' ornamental grass which looked pretty dead when it arrived through the post.

The fluffy little cinnamon-coloured cat from one of the neighbouring houses (we have dubbed her Peaches for some unknown reason) has become my companion when I am gardening - she hears I am there and comes crashing through the hedge to keep me company. Actually, she is quite a hindrance, as she wanders around silently and appears behind me just as I am stepping back off the bank, which is rather hazardous to both of us! Fortunately she isn't digging anything up, but I'm afraid she is an efficient hunter (of mice, anyway) and I am concerned for the safety of my growing bird population, especially if they have babies in the spring.

Must get on and prepare the raised beds, especially the top one which needs to be ready for when the asparagus arrives!

Trees and roses

After a couple of strenuous afternoons, definite progress has been made in the garden. The roses went into their handsome green pots, and are looking very healthy. I followed the David Austin instructions to the letter, so hopefully they will grow well - I am very much looking forward to the flowers, and Matthew is even managing to get vaguely enthusiastic about them!

This afternoon we planted the trees - very hard going as the ground in the right hand side of the garden is very heavy, alluvial clay - the left hand side is much more manageable, presumably because it used to be a veg patch and therefore has been dug more recently. After much digging we ended up with three fine holes, and planted the rowan, silver birch and quince. We also decided to use the hole for the silver birch for another purpose too - when our previous cat, Gus, died back in 2006, we were a little taken aback on collecting his ashes from the vet to discover that they were in a very fine wooden casket with a brass name plaque! We had intended to scatter his ashes, but when confronted with this very handsome casket we didn't know what to do with it - so we didn't do anything! It didn't seem quite right to bury him in the garden in Dorset when we were about to move away - anyway, the upshot was that we have been wondering what on earth to do with him ever since, including through two house moves - and now that we were planting trees it seemed like a good idea to bury his ashes while we were about it. All the more appropriate, of course, because of his love of climbing trees (although he wasn't very good at coming back down in a dignified manner!). So the lovely silver birch is now Gus' tree, which all seems very seemly and fitting.

The garden looks very different now that the trees are planted - even though they have been in position in their pots for a few days while I worked out where they needed to be. It will be lovely to see them developing - as I bought quite mature trees, in the case of the birch and quince anyway, we should see them getting to adulthood before we leave this house.

Yesterday's post brought the latest consignment of plants (snow-in-summer, Spindles, and some more ornamental grasses) which I will plant out tomorrow (back too sore today after digging holes for the trees!). They all look quite healthy, which is good. So far mail order has been quite successful!

More pics of garden early Feb 2010

Pics of garden early Feb 2010

She wheeled her wheelbarrow...

Well, that's most of the budget spent! Yesterday I went to Blackwood Garden Centre and bought some very large pots for the roses and the dwarf buddleia, and also ordered industrial quantities of topsoil, John Innes Nos 2 and 3, peat free compost, and bark chippings - they are all to be delivered some time next week. Many thanks to Tony for the generous discount! There was also a catalogue with a lovely pedestal sundial which Matthew and I both fancied - a possibility for later this year maybe, if I haven't entirely blown the budget...I then came home and stripped a whole lot of brambles from the back boundary, and cut back some of the suckers which have come up from the trees in the plot that we back onto - I decided not to cut them all down as they do provide some privacy in the summer, if and when a solid fence is put in I can re-think that. The grass is very poor along that boundary, because of the overhanging trees, so if the suckers do eventually go it is going to mean either digging a border or else re-turfing. In any event, that's a problem for another year! I also marked out where I think I want the trees, and have moved them into position in their pots so that I can see if they are in the 'right' places.

And today I braved B&Q in Caerphilly (which was mercifully deserted as everyone was watching the rugby at Twickenham!) and bought a nice little border spade which is manageably small and light for me (I can't lift a full size spade, on account of the dodgy shoulder, let alone acually dig with it!) and a wheelbarrow (which will be needed when the topsoil etc is delivered as it will all need to be trundled down the path beside the house to the veg plot at the back).

The spade has now been inaugurated as I promptly went and planted the dogwoods which have been sat in temporary pots on the patio. The soil is pretty heavy and sticky - I think Matthew is not going to enjoy digging the holes for the trees:( and my shoulder is protesting somewhat. I am ever more convinced that raised beds are the way forward!

Trees!!!

My trees have arrived! A slightly bemused-looking young man delivered them this afternoon. Matthew took them round to the patio, and I set to with scissors to liberate them from the industrial quantities of bubblewrap and parcel tape in which they had been mummified for the journey. Result - one rowan about 3 ft tall, one quince about 6 ft tall, and a very substantial silver birch about 7 or 8 ft tall (pretty bark, although it won't be properly white for a couple of years yet). If it stops raining long enough, we will plant them at the weekend.

I am ridiculously pleased about these trees - I have never actually planted one before, and it's so exciting!

Finally, some decisions...

After much indecision, and picking the brains of various kind and patient people in nurseries and garden centres across the UK, I have finally ordered both my roses and my trees. Pixie will be pleased to read that I have after all managed to source a silver birch which is not too big! Betula jacquemontii 'Snow Queen' has amazingly white bark and only grows to about 7 metres, apparently, which should fit nicely in our garden. A native variety would have been nice, but just not viable in the space available, so this is definitely better than nothing. Thanks to John Ridgewell (Independent Green Space Adviser) of Wattsville for putting me wise to the properties of Betula jacquemontii! In the end I ordered my trees (a quince and a rowan as well) from Lodge Farm Plants in Warwickshire, they do lots of native species and wildflowers, and really know their stuff – and they have no minimum orders and reasonable delivery costs, which made all the difference compared to the one I thought about in Devon. Hopefully my trees should be here by the end of the week!

I have also made a decision about roses, and have ordered three from David Austin Roses – again, great help from the ever-patient Ann Hilse. They should be here some time in Feb or March, which should just about give me time to drag Matthew down to the garden centre and choose a pair of pots for them. Crocus Rose, Munstead Wood, and also climbing Generous Gardener (for the arbour, when we get round to building it) should look good. And more importantly, smell good...

The lure of the plant catalogues proved too much for me again this week and I ordered some more from J Parkers – some ‘Snow in summer’ to blanket the bank, and some Euonymous alatus (a kind of spindle which produces strange corky twists in winter, and amazing autumn colour) to plant along the back between the arbour and the corner which will eventually have the pondlet in it. There were special readers’ offers in two gardening magazines this month, as a result of which I have ordered some ‘free’ (i.e. pay for postage) snowdrops ‘in the green’, and a couple of dozen British bluebells, and also two buddleia bushes which are a dwarf variety which bloom heavily (butterflies and bees!) but can be grown in 40cm pots. Blackwood Garden Centre has lots of BOGOF offers on large pots at the moment. At this rate there won’t be room to sit on the patio for all the pot plants!

I have calculated the amount of topsoil, John Innes No 2 and manure which I shall need for the raised beds, and have entered negotiations with the garden centre – including delivery, I shall see quite a lot of change out of £150, which as set up costs isn’t too horrendous. But I think that, once I have bought a border spade, a wheelbarrow and a hand hoe, I really ought to stop buying things, as the budget is pretty much all gone! I got stacks of plastic pots, planters and seed trays through Freecycle from a local firm who recycle plastics, so that has not cost me a penny.
Meanwhile, it has stopped freezing, and although the forecast is for rain this is preferable to trying to dig holes for the trees in frozen ground!

I really hope we get a decent summer this year, so that we can enjoy the garden now that we finally have a nice one...

Mole...

...when the thaw came, it became apparent that, under cover of snow, we had been joined by a new inhabitant in the garden - a mole! That first molehill has now been joined by several more. Negatives - the poor lawn has already suffered this winter - before the snow there was a layer of wet leaves. And molehills are not pretty. Positives - I am not a houseproud (gardenproud?) gardener, and anyway moleheaps consist of lovely friable soil which can go on the raised beds. And moles have to live somewhere!

The wildlife is doing well - the squirrel is an occasional visitor, but generally the bird clientele is expanding - as well as the gorgeous pair of collared doves, and the two nuthatches whose visits give me so much pleasure, we now have a pair of loved-up woodpigeons. Also, a pair of robins, ditto blackbirds, and (to my great delight) a beautiful male bullfinch, who occasionally brings his dowdy olive-coloured mate along too. There is a proliferation of tits of various sorts (blue, great and coal) and most days a marauding troupe of long-tailed tits, like miniature animated feather dusters with mohican haircuts! Lots of sparrows, too, which is good as they are getting scarce, and some dunnocks and chaffinches. Every couple of days there is a single goldfinch, but despite the supply of nyger seed he hasn't brought any friends yet. I live in hopes of lots of baby birds in the spring, although I worry about the presence of magpies and jackdaws. I need to enthuse Matthew about fixing a nest box to the eaves for the benefit of the sparrows!

Exciting new stuff delivered!

Very exciting - yesterday a very heavy-laden courier arrived with my four raised bed kits, which are now in the garage pending Matthew helping to make them up. And today, the doorbell heralded the arrival of yet more treasures - a box of plants from J Parkers and a big parcel of seeds from Kings Seeds!

The plants were a bit of a self-indulgence - all ornamental, three dogwoods with lovely red stems for the back corner of the garden (a bit of winter colour), three ornamental grasses for pots for the patio, a honeysuckle to grow up the arbour (it flowers at a different time from the rose), and two little pieris plants (I already have a bigger one) again for pots. I spent a very therapeutic afternoon (especially as it was sunny and dry, and not too cold - a miracle!) potting up all the new arrivals - some only temporarily until I get round to digging holes for them. The pieris need ericaceous compost as it is lime intolerant, so while I had the compost bag open I also potted on the lovely camelia that Val gave me, which has doubled in size since we moved here 3 months ago, and is full of plump buds, as the poor thing has been toppling over because its pot was too small. It is now looking wonderful in a lovely blue glazed pot, which sets off its dark, glossy leaves beautifully. The crimson flowers will look good against it too, when they appear - which won't be too much longer, by the look of the buds!

This evening I have worked out a sowing calendar, from February to July - things like lettuce are pencilled in several times to ensure a continuous supply. Goodness knows what Matthew is going to make of all the pots and seed trays on the window sills - he complained enough last year with just a few! Maybe next year I might think about investing in a little grow house - can't justify a greenhouse, but that would be a compromise.

This is going to be fun!!!

Seed catalogues etc

As promised, a report of what I am actually ordering after my trawl through the catalogues. For some time now I have been buying Gardener's World magazine and Grow Your Own, and looking at the adverts and also which suppliers get mentioned in the articles. This narrowed my shopping down a bit! Together with some searching on the web, I ended up with Thornhayes Tree Nursery in Devon (they specialise in trees for the Wet West of the UK), David Austin Roses, King's Seeds (I have grown their sweet peas in the past), Dobies, and Thompson & Morgan.

Thompson & Morgan rapidly proved to be a waste of time. Although their catalogue is lovely, their customer service wasn't - I have emailed several times in the past few weeks with a specific enquiry about the dimensions of their raised bed kits, but apart from an automated reply demanding my order number (how can I provide one of those when I haven't ordered yet, as I am waiting for their reply before I decide whether their product is suitable for me?!) I have heard nothing. When the Dobies catalogue appeared, it turns out their raised bed kits (fully described, with all dimensions) are actually cheaper than T&M, so I have given up on T&M altogether.

Dobies seem to have the best in asparagus crowns - they have varieties that can be gently harvested from the first, rather than second, year, which is good as Matthew isn't the most patient gardener! So I will buy them, and the raised bed kits, from Dobies.

Pretty much everthing else in the way of veg and flowers will come from Kings Seeds, together with highly secented varieties of sweet pea in a range of colours. I love sweet peas. For many years I have grown them in pots, growing up a wigwam of canes - this year I will use part of the raised beds too, so there will be lots to cut for the house.

In terms of veg, I have gone for mixed lettuce, salad bowl (cut and come again leaves - I grew them in pots on the window sill last summer), chard (just like spinach but easier to grow), broad beans, dwarf beans, pak choi, peas, rocket, and a variety of tomato called Tiny Tim which is designed to grow in containers (will try them on the patio). I have generally gone for veg we really like, which is expensive to buy (those bags of leaves!), or which tastes so much better fresh (peas). I have tried broad beans before, with mixed success (slugs!), but other than that it's all new to me!

I got some 'pretties' too - I love alchemilla (Lady's Mantle) and although I have some in a pot (which originated in my friend Val' garden in Dorset) I would like it everwhere! So I will try that from seed and try to get it to naturalise under the hedges and on the bank. Also foxgloves and knautia for the bank at the back, and nasturtiums, nicotiana and nigella to grow in containers around the patio. And 5 varieties of sweet pea - Knee Hi (a dwarf variety in mixed colours) for the pots, and Ethel Grace (lilac), Gwendoline (pink/cream), Tara (salmon pink) and Alan Williams (blue) for the beds. Are are described as highly or very highly scented, so that is something to look forward to!

The star of the customer service awards has to be David Austin Roses - I emailed a plaintive request for advice, as their extensive catalogue is so extensive as to be bewildering for the beginner, asking for varieties which would grow happily in a container and also for general advice on compost, size of pots etc as I have always been very daunted by roses - there is so much mistique about them, especially from elderly male gardeners! Ann Hilse, their garden design and landscape coordinator, emailed me back at lenght with lots of easy to follow advice, and a selection of suitable roses in the colours I had indicated, and in the end I am going for Crocus Rose (a cream - my choice) and Munstead Wood (a deep crimson - Matthew's choice). I will also buy The Generous Gardener (palest pink) which is a climber, to plant beside my arbour. I shall have no hesitation in contacting Ann again with any future queries.

The tree nursery were also helpful, but I don't think I will be ordering from them,simply because of cost - they have a minimum order of £100 net, for orders to be delivered, and I can't very well hire a van and trog down to Devon to collect them myself - and my modest order won't get anywhere near £100. Plus there is £30 plus VAT delivery charge. I could easily be paying £150+ for £50 worth of trees. However, I now have a clearer idea of what trees I want, so I will try more local nurseries and garden centres - Usk has quite a good selection, I think. I feel some trips to garden centres coming on when the snow melts!

I shall also need some hardware - I have a set of Felco secateurs on order (much cheaper at World of Felco online than anywhere else I have found), and will also need a wheelbarrow, and a border spade (I can't manage a full size one). The other major expense will be approx 800 litres in total of topsoil and compost, plus a few bags of manure, for the raised beds - still, all these are one-off expenses, subsequent years will just require some seeds and compost and the odd plant here or there.

Meanwhile, I had better get on and fill out those order forms!

So now I've got a blog, what do I do with it???

I really started this as an experiment to see whether I could actually work out how to do it - sad, is'nt it!? However, my friend Pixie suggested that I could record my progress on my new garden, especially as I am going to attempt my first proper veg garden; and I am doing an art foundation course with the Open College of the Arts and they are very encouraging of blogs as a means of getting your work online and to chronicle your progress - so, here goes!

This first post is mostly about the garden - it has been snowing a lot here on and off for the past 4 weeks or so, and I haven't even been able to get outside - but it has given me a chance to sit down and plan what I want to do, and then pore over the seed catalogues and work out exactly what I need to order.

At the moment the back garden is rectangular and almost all grass. The left-hand boundary is a delapidated fence which is the neighbours' responsibility, and which should get replaced at some point in the next year or so. The back boundary is an open chainlink fence, with a line of the neighbours' trees immediately behind it - mostly sycamores. The right hand side is a bank leading to a high hedge of something evergreen with large shiny leaves (as yet unidentified - you can tell I am not a gardener!) at the house end, and more open and scubby at the far end. About one third of the way across, nearer the left hand boundary, is a concrete path leading from the back door of the house to the back boundary.

The plans, roughly, are as follows:

To the left of the path will be the 'working' area of the garden. Here, there will be 4 raised beds of 1 metre square, alongside the path. There will be enough space between them to mow. The top one will be for Matthew's asparagus (he's been going on about growing asparagus for about a decade, but we have never been in the same place for long enough before - they take a couple of years to get going) and the other three will be for veg and my beloved sweet peas.

As it is possible that the neighbours will remove some of the trees if their plan to turn the area behind our garden into parking for their house comes off, I would like to plant some small trees - their height is very limited as they need to be more than 1 1/2 times their height away from the house, and the garden isn't very deep. I would love a silver birch, but even small varieties grow to 12+ metres, so that's not going to work, sadly. However, rowan (mountain ash) and spindle would work, and also I would love a quince tree (mmm, membrillo!) and as they are self-fertile you only need one, unlike apples etc.

Wildlife is a priority, and I want to turn the top left hand corner of the garden into an untidy area, with a log pile, perhaps a hedgehog house if I can persuade Matthew to build one, and some stones and leaf piles. In the top right hand corner I would like to make a small pond - my friend Val has a very successful and froggy half-barrel pond in her garden, so it really doesn't need to be big to attract wildlife.

I would like to plant the bank with sort of woodland species, and would start with foxgloves, and in a garden in Dorset last year I saw dark crimson Knautia (a kind of scabious) against lime green euphorbia (spurge) which was very effective, so we'll give that a go. Next autumn I will think about bulbs.

I have an arbour in pieces in the garage, ready to be built in the spring, and would like to grow a climbing rose and a honeysuckle up that. It is going to go at the end of the path, on the right hand side, facing diagonally back towards the house and patio. On the patio itself there is a bench and some chairs and a table, and already some pots which I brought from the last house, and I would like to have some more including two roses and some container veg.

So - that's the plans, and next time I will write about the catalogues, and what I have decided to order.