September

I cannot believe I haven't written on here since MAY!

SO much has happened in the gardens I work in and time just flies during the Summer months. I have also handed in my notice at Heale gardens. Not an easy decision to make, after all Heale was where it all began. My allotment alongside my WRAGS and RHS training and this is where I am today.

I will continue to get my gardening fix in my Tuesday garden (soon to become Tues and Fri) and also in a new venture for me; a cut flower garden which happily requires some of my input to help it on its way. What a way to spend your days? Growing cut flowers and making folks happy in the process!

I am excited about the future but sad to leave my amazing, creative, inspiring, HG Michael Maltby, who will continue to care for Heale garden as he has done since circa 2002. Michael has implemented so much of the garden as we see it today and has dedicated his time to making sure it is tip top to visitors who can not only enjoy what they see today but be informed as to what the gardens were like in the past.

Today, Michael and I had an outing to another special private garden in Hampshire; Malverleys. We were lucky enough to be allowed access to explore the gardens which are new (past 9 years work) and have been developed by Mat Reese. We were a little overwhelmed with the plant variety and work that is ongoing in the gardens. Of course, my favourite part was the veg garden, set within walls complete with a beautiful greenhouse. My kinda heaven!

It is always good to get out and see other gardens. A vital part of learning. Not forgetting a time to meet fellow Gardeners and learn about their job and how they do it. Important stuff!

Malverleys has plans for the future. Perhaps you can grab your own piece of it from a proposed  nursery or maybe one day it will open for all? Watch this space......

Month of May

It's all getting a bit like a jungle out there at the moment. The month of May. Sunshine and warmth suddenly kicks off growing in earnest and EVERYTHING needs doing right now!

This week I have been doing extra hours and it has been hot work. Much planting to do. In my Tuesday garden, my client likes to plant Dahlias in her borders and mix and match it up with Verbena, ornamental grasses and Crocosmia. There is really no point in rushing this part of the year. Months have been spent nurturing, over wintering, sowing, hardening off. Now is the time to give enough space to the plant, depth, a good watering and settling in. The plant will after all give you months of joy.

At Heale the veg garden is calling on all of me as I only work two days and it must all get done. I have been planting plants we have sown from seed months earlier. Ornamental Gourds mixed up with Ipomoea. Dill and Gladioli. Module sown Beetroot (colours vary), Rocket and Agretti.

Now Agretti is a new one on me. Apparently difficult to germinate successfully and requiring full sun once you have got that far. I sowed the seed in March and have only a handful of 10cm high seedlings to show for it. So surely it cannot wait any longer and requires planting out? I have gone for it! Watch this space.

Many tasks to finish in the veg garden and sprinkling is an ongoing one. It does all get done. Like Magic!

Around the garden it is all kicking off. Long meadow grasses full of our bulbs, which we planted on our freezing cold knees in the Autumn. Magnolias in bud and/or flowering their socks off. The Laburnum has a constant hum of bees about it, mixed in with Wisteria along the Pergola in the veg garden.

Many visitors are reporting that the gardens look good. They love the relaxed feel (which we tell them is a result of not enough time but happily it sits well with the river setting!) and the variety of plants on offer.

Onwards into the season. A gorgeous time of year to really get out and stretch your wings.

New season

Heale garden is once more open to the public and we are seeing visitors drifting through the garden, enjoying the early blossom of Magnolia and bulbs such as Scilla and Fritileria (on their way!).

For me, I am always energised by the moving forward of the veg garden. I have sown most veg that I can for March. We are preparing supports for sweet peas and have been collecting pea sticks for the Broadies and Peas to cling to. Radishes will soon go out and Parsnips have been direct sown, Gladiator F1. Gladiator are reportedly less likely to develop canker which can ruin a crop. Seeing as you wait months for a Parsnip to mature, I like the sound of one that will be good after that long wait free of disease! Growing is not for the impatient! What better than homemade Parsnip soup topped with almonds in the Winter?

Mixed salad leaves are coming up in modules, looking tantalisingly fresh and tasty already in their micro form. This is a good time to sow annual cut flowers too. We collect seed as we can such as Tithonia, Daucus Carota and Antirhhinum. The Sweet Peas are in the cold frames, one set sown in January, the next in February and I just hope we will have enough and avoid rodents or slugs which can dessimate seedlings.

I am very happy with this time of year, so much hope is held amongst the leaves unfurling and the buds about to burst.

The new year

I realise I haven't been on here for a while. Today was a snow day which made me realise how much I just love being out doors whatever the weather. I grew up in the country but left for London at 18. When I came back to the country in my thirties and began gardening, I really began to NEED the outdoors. Today was just perfect, silent falling snow, empty garden, beauty all around.

So, you might ask, what does a Gardener DO in the snow? Well, HG leads the way and shows me exactly what you can do. Leaf blowing plants to remove snow is great fun. The snow makes the plant heavy and could potentially break limbs or stems so it is a worthwhile task. You could of course just use a rake but when you can pretend you are exploding things in the air why wouldn't you go for the machine?!

We have also been sowing in the warm greenhouse, with snow coming down outside, could it get any better for a lover of plants on a Winters day? This week we have started sowing Sweet peas for the single cordons and some other annuals too. I love the process.

The veg garden still has Kale and Leeks but they must soon go to make way for preparing the ground for 2019 plantings. Digging is well underway and we are now almost half no dig so simply composting and covering takes less time. I will however miss digging if we go all out, no dig! It is a lovely job to do and cyclical so you feel where you are in the season.

In my Tuesday garden it has been weeks of Rose pruning which I really love to do. I love the challenge of taming the beast. As I do quite I lot, I have also gained in confidence and reckon I could tackle most roses now except one on a roof 20 feet up! Not my most comfortable thing to do, heights.

Soon the pruning will be complete and we will be well under way for the new season.

Snowdrop week begins at Heale in one weeks time so if this is your thing and you are itching to get out and about you can check the Heale website for dates and times. We have a lovely Nursery run by Ian who will be on hand to buy from too. Ian is knowledgable and very approachable so do say Hi!