Dahlias amongst other things........

Time to plant Dahlia's out in two gardens last week. Some potted up and some just stored. They are such funny little shriveled things. How a new 4-5 foot prolific flowering plant comes out of the bundle of tubers is beyond me. What a wonderful thing.

In one garden I was planting 'hot' colours to compliment planting in a very sunny border which also includes Verbena, Kniphofia, Bergenia. Some of the varieties have delightful names.

At Heale, I was splitting old tubers and planting amongst Peonies in an open bed.

I love the size and variety of the Dahlia flower and have also been putting a few in at home. Great for picking. The National Dahlia Society have an interesting page on the history of this beautiful flower, originating in Mexico : http://www.dahlia-nds.co.uk/about_dahlias/Dahlia_History.htm

My main job at Heale now is in veg and I am very happy in that role. The rest of the main gardens require a lot of mowing and strimming and this continues around me, whilst I remain within the walls of the veg garden. I have been weeding like mad, trying to win the battle. I have been planting out more cut flowers in cutting rows - Cosmos 'Sweet Sixteen', Zinnia 'Starburst' and Stocks.

Most veg is off now, on its way. Still to plant our Courgettes. Cropping of Asparagus, Salad and herbs continues. I planted out Cucamelons last week (Melothria scabra), which we have raised from seed. I am excited about these as they are new to me. They sound really delicious, cross between a melon and an olive, stripy little fellas, also known as the Mouse Melon!

We will continue to succession sow Radish, Beets and Salads. The Potatoes are very happy growing taller by the day and the Beans that I planted with Harry (our Workie) are now showing their heads above the soil.

Ying and yang this week. I worked with Andrew one day and hardly saw a soul the next. Very hot one day which meant spending all day moving a sprinkler around and heavy rain the next. Sticky boots and wet sleeves.

May has come to an end, my favorite month of the year. The Wisterias are in full flow and the visitors are full of excitement about the gardens at Heale. I love this time when all the worry about little seedlings starts to dissipate and we get to begin to enjoy the results.

Filling in the gaps

Things are getting busy. I have been in four gardens and the growth and change I see in a week is quite amazing, beautiful and a little alarming. So much to do.

With my client in her private garden, we have been successional sowing more veg, hoeing, keeping the greenhouse going and watering. Her numerous Clematis have been tied in and they are going crackers with new growth, reaching for the skies.

In another small garden I tend to, I am really pleased with the way the veg plot is shaping up. Only a few spaces left to fill and those plants are coming on nicely being hardened off.

At Heale, the veg garden is looking great. The gaps are being filled. All that planning, double digging, sowing, watering, pricking out, potting on. It all culminates in a full lush veg patch. Heale is almost there.

HG and Harry (our Workie form Sparsholt) and I worked solidly in the veg garden last week. We had cut flowers to plant out, Zinnia, Cosmos (mixture of varieties), Tithonia and Stock. We had Sage to plant amongst the Box parterres. Cropping has begun every other day (or whenever is required) of the fast growing Asparagus and there is plenty of Salad/Rhubarb/herbs to go round.

We have to tend to our single cordon Sweetpeas twice a week. Nipping off tendrils and side shoots, tying in the main shoot.

When you pop your head up and take a look, the rest of the garden is in full flow. A walk to the Greenhouses affords you a moment to take it in. The Wisterias are full on, scent filled and creeping up the arches alongside Laburnum.

The Cow Parsley is looking gorgeous. A plant which can divide people, some loving, some hating. When I went online to find its Latin name I found a headline from The Independent entitled 'Cow Parsley: The countryside killer'. Steady on now. Yes our verges are changing and it is an invasive plant but I'm not sure we require the headline. I also learnt the Latin name, a new one on me: Anthriscus sylvestris. A member of the Carrot family. I, of course, love the stuff, my childhood would not be the same without it, filling the hedgerows on my country lane.

HG said he nearly crashed the mower when he spotted this delicate dark beauty: Calycanthus florid us. A rich deep red/brown flower. If I am to believe the WWW, the leaves are aromatic when bruised and the flowers smell of a mix of Strawberry, Banana and Pineapple. Wow.

Many Tree Peonies are showing off at the mo. Not to mention the Gunnera and Ferns in the Japanese garden. 

The star of the gardens for me may not be a plant this week. I think I have fallen for the MOST beautiful black lambs in the field across the river! Bleating away madly in conversation with their Mothers, they are just gorgeous. Since having children, I am hopelessly nurturing and just want to feed them and care for them! 

A great working week. The variety of my work nowadays continues to interest me, no two days are the same. 

Malvern Spring Show

I was lucky enough to be invited to Malvern last Friday by a client. I had never been so was unsure what to expect. The show was really good, lots of growers, nurseries, a few show gardens. It was so different to Chelsea which is always heaving and kind of tricky to access really. At Chelsea you are definitely just a punter. You are not special enough to enjoy the gardens at a leisurely pace and half the time you get pushed along with a crowd.

At Malvern, the show is set in the rolling hills, it is spacious and you get the sense that it is full of 'real' people! Such a breath of fresh air. Even the stalls sold actual gardening gear; brooms, mops, garden equipment (not pretend lifestyle garden stuff), greenhouses, sculptures. OK so some of it was tat but the plant sales most definitely were not. They were the growers, who grow the plants themselves. Who get excited by new varieties and cultivars and who know what Gardeners want.

At one point Joe Swift and James Alexander Sinclair gave a guided tour of the gardens whilst interviewing the actual Designers. A real insight into what the gardens were about from the people who made them and that was fascinating. A great day out.

My gardening week was mainly about keeping on top of new growth, namely weeds. Whilst doing this though, it is great to work with herbaceous borders and ramp up my plant knowledge. These borders are becoming more of a friend to me but I still do not know them well. Before my RHS course and my WRAGS, I was a veg girl. No experience of herbaceous at all. It became a bit of a mystery to me and if I am honest, a little bit scary and daunting.

Now I look back at my days work today and realize how far I have come. I spent a morning sowing seeds and planting out veg. Followed by weeding, tidying, cutting back a big border. I now feel confident that what I am pulling out is actually a weed and have a real understanding of how to go about the job and do it properly (including what tools are required and how long the job might take!). All of this is down to experience and I am gaining more confidence every week.

Heale gardens are looking really good right now. I love May. The blossoms are out, the garden is coming to life again. So many colours and new growth bursting out of the borders. We spent time weeding and clearing: Working with Tulips, Lavender, Tree Peonies, Nepeta, Macleaya, Astrantia, to name but a few.

The Japanese garden is superb when it comes back to life. The Ferns are standing proud now, looking really smart.

The veg garden is doing really well, we have lots of Salad leaves to crop and Asparagus. 

We have potted up Tomatoes, Aubergine and Chilli. 

More to sow in the coming weeks, successional sowing of Beets, Carrot etc. What a great time of year. The Trees are coming into their own as well. It is easy to ignore them. The Davidia involucrata or Handkerchief tree (which I remember far more easily!) is doing its thing. And of course the many Wisterias that are in the gardens.

I even found this little fella snuffling about in the grass. Lots to do and lots to see. Happy days.

Buongiorno

Well my week away in Italy certainly highlighted some different gardens and gardening practices to the ones we have/use here. What a treat to be in Southern Italy, the land of Olive, Lemon and Orange groves, wild flowers and rustic charm. Amongst all of this I spotted many amazing veg plots, clinging to cliffs, dry as dust and still producing Broad beans and Tomatoes.

The drive from Napoli to Sorrento passes the base of Mount Vesuvius and you pass Poly tunnel after Poly tunnel, for as far as the eye can see. Often when in restaurants, the Tomatoes are labelled as 'grown from the soil of Vesuvius' and it clearly has its own micro climate that the residents of Napoli are proud of.

On the island of Capri, we were surrounded by many wild flowers, little Orchids and Borage and many plants I did not know. I may well have known them as they look in the UK but they may look different in Italy; such as the Aloe, which I saw flowering in the warm Italian sunshine of Amalfi.

Being there in April meant lots of Wisteria at every turn and one I saw on Capri had the most enormous trunk with endless racemes hanging over a support.

One thing the gardens boast on the Amalfi coast of course is the Vista, the Panorama, the endless beauty of the mountains and sea. At Villa Rufolo in Ravello, high up the mountain, I snapped two Gardeners working in the most beautiful location where blue sky melts to blue sea.

What a breath of fresh air. Back to Blighty with a bump and back to work at Heale. The garden seems to have exploded in greens and buds and flowers (and maybe the ODD weed).

Much of my time was spent trying to control said Weeds in the veg garden. Also time to plant out the Leeks and earth up the Pots. The Sweet peas are trying to go and the Salad has gone crazy. Around the garden, blossoms are in full flow, the Apple Tunnels look wonderful. The Japanese garden is a joy to see and the long meadow grass of the triangle is really beautiful. 

Great to be back, lots of wildlife (the odd bank Vole), birds and the good old visitor to chat to. Much work ahead but starting to see it come together now.

HG introduced me to Mollie the witch and what a beauty she is too - Paeonia mlokosewitschii - surely that cannot be her true name. I think I will stick to Mollie.