Plants By Post

Back in June, my husband gave me a gift voucher for a company called Rocket Gardens.  The voucher entitled me to a compact herb garden mini plant pack.  I didn't really know what it was all about, so just followed the instructions to redeem the voucher on their website and thought no more of it.

A couple of days later, I arrived home to find a cardboard box on the doorstep which said "Plant me, grow me, eat me" on the side.  There's nothing quite like coming home to a parcel, it's a bit like your birthday or Christmas, you can't wait to open it and see what's inside.  Quickly opening the box, I was met by a whole array of baby plants, all neatly  packed for transit.

As I carefully unpacked the plants, I could not believe the variety I had been sent.  I had expected some herbs and herbs I got, rosemary, chives, thyme, parsley, mint, sage, basil and marjoram to be precise.  Not only that, I got various types of lettuce, calabrese, cabbages and rainbow chard.  It was an absolute feast!  Well it would be when they had all grown.

I have to admit it did take a while to plant them all.  As there was far more than I was expecting, I had quite a job scouring the garden shed for pots.  The lettuces ended up sharing but I don't think they were bothered.  As well as the plants, which were all clearly labelled, there was also clear instructions for planting and care of the various plants.  You couldn't really go wrong.

I did wonder how well the plants would do, particularly with my tendency to forget to water for days on end in the summer.  The plants were really healthy though and all thrived, in spite of me.  The only problems I encountered were with the caterpillars which I have already mentioned in a previous blog entry.  Even now in the depths of winter, with a foot of snow recently, the herbs, cabbages and rainbow chard are all still flourishing in there pots on the patio.  The cabbages have made an amazing comeback having been stripped bare by the caterpillars.  Even the calabrese managed a small head despite having hardly any leaves.  I haven't had the heart to eat it!

Looking on Rocket Garden's website, www.rocketgardens.co.uk, you will see that they offer a whole range of plant packs suitable for the window box gardener to allotment gardeners.  All of the packs clearly show the number and variety of plants in the pack, as well as the space required for planting.

The pricing seems to me to be very reasonable for the number of plants and the quality.  Obviously it would be cheaper to by packets of seeds and grow your own from scratch but if you don't have the time or a greenhouse, Rocket Gardens offer the perfect solution.  I will certainly be using them again next year, so roll on the spring!

Christmas Wreaths

During the festive season, like lots of other people, I like to hang a wreath on my front door.  For years , I have been buying a holly wreath and spending £6-£10 each time.  A couple of years ago, having just bought one, it suddenly struck me that I could probably make my own pretty easily and save myself some money.  In the New Year, I simply took the wreath I had bought apart and kept the wire ring base for future use.

Last year, I took the plunge and couldn't believe how easy it actually was to make.  This year, I have done the same again.  Besides the wire ring, which you can easily buy from a garden centre, recycle from an old wreath or make yourself, the main material is foliage.  If you have a garden, you can simply raid the shrubbery, if not, there is plenty of free holly and ivy in the countryside.  You don't even need very much.

I used the shrubbery in my garden and decided to use mainly honeysuckle and mulberry. The honeysuckle is really useful as it is in long, flexible tendrils.  I'm sure someone somewhere will tell me that they are not traditional or have the wrong connotation in Victorian flower language but it's my wreath and I will use whatever comes to hand.  That's the joy of making your own, you can use whatever you like!

When I had stripped the wreath in January this year, I left all of the wires in place, together with the bow and pine cones which were on the wreath when I originally bought it.  Leaving them on not only saved time but also offered anchor points for me to thread the honeysuckle into.  I only roughly secured each piece as I planned to tie it all in more securely at the end.

Having covered most of the base in honeysuckle, I then added the mulberry.  I quite like the speckled leaves as well as the different leaf size and shape, I think it adds more interest.  It is worth remembering that if you do decided to use holly, wear gloves so you don't get prickled.  That's another good reason to raid the shrubbery!

Once I was happy with the foliage, I wound a long piece of gold tinsel around the wreath.  Not only does it give a bit of sparkle, it is also really useful for tying in the foliage securely to the wreath and also hides a multitude of sins if you have stalks and gaps showing.  Finally, I jiggled the bow and pine cones into more prominent positions and it was ready to hang on the door.

Winter Wonderland - Again!

I can't believe the garden is completely covered in snow - again!  It only seems a couple of months ago since the last lot.  To be fair it was 10 months ago but still, so soon?
 
I have to admit the garden does look lovely when the snow is undisturbed and a thick carpet.  Not very practical though.  The cats peer out the door and don't want to go out.  They seem to develop bladders of steel.  We end up digging paths for them from the door to the bushes which they then happily trot up and down.

As for the poor birds, who knows what they make of it all.  It really makes you realise how important it is to leave food for them.  My garden was a veritable bird buffet this morning.  Pigeons were lined up on the fence, a whole flock of blue tits were feasting on the peanuts and seed.  They were swiftly joined by a robin, dunnock and even a magpie pecking at the fat filled coconut shell hanging from the shed roof. 

Desert Forests

I have just got back from another trip to Las Vegas and am immediately struck again by how green England is in comparison.   Hardly surprising as Las Vegas, despite meaning "the meadows", is very arid due to its location in the Mojave Desert.  The trees tend to be palm trees and much of the green grass is heavily watered every night to keep it green or is astroturf!

On our first trip we went on a trip to the Grand Canyon which is absolutely spectacular.  On the way we passed through a Joshua Tree forest.  Say the word forest and you immediately imagine tall, lush trees, densely packed and maybe a hint of pine.  As the Joshua Trees manage to sustain life in the most inhospitable of terrains with very little water, they have adapted to survive and even thrive.  The resulting forest is slightly eerie but also has an intriguing quality all of its own.  In some respects you feel it wouldn't look out of place on another planet.

Mostly found in the Mohave Desert, the Joshua Tree is a member of the Yukka plant family and got its name from the Mormons who travelled across the Mohave Desert during the mid 1800's.  The plants survive the harsh conditions by growing extremely slowly once established.  The largest trees can be hundreds of years old but still relatively small in tree terms.  Whilst areas of the desert are densely populated with trees, the size of the trees actually makes the forest seem quite sparse.

Whilst I can't see me ever growing a Joshua Tree in my English garden, I do find them very intriguing.  I have to admit, I do quite like the name, which was even used as the title of a U2 album.

Sculpture In The Garden

I am a real lover of sculpture, with no particular preference for media or form.  Whilst I am happy to wander around a gallery, I am more happy viewing sculpture outside in a natual landscape.  Somehow, if placed correctly, sculpture just works really well with nature.  The surrounding planting, or lack of, has huge bearing though it has to be said.

Yesterday, I visited the Beaulieu Estate in Hampshire, which is home to the National Motor Museum, as well as having the house, abbey and gardens open to the public.  The organic kitchen and Victorian flower garden are well worth a walk around, even in the rain! 

Unbeknown to me, the Surrey Sculpture Society were holding an exhibition in the gardens from 25 June to 22 August 2010, with 85 sculptures in a variety of media, from steel and bronze resin to clay.  I'm sure I didn't see all of the sculptures but some of them were really fabulous.

Natural Pest Control

By complete chance, I have found a solution to my caterpillar problem.  I was quite happy to sacrifice the calabrese to the caterpillars as I couldn't kill the furry monsters.  However, I have found a plant they like even more - watercress!

I bought a growing pot of watercress at the supermarket and decided to put it out on the patio next to the pots of cabbage and calabrese.  The caterpillars migrated to the watercress on their own.  One morning when I went outside, I looked over at the watercress and spotted it had been completely stripped of leaves, on closer inspection, I found it heaving with caterpillars.

It actually makes perfect sense, watercress is in the same family at cabbage.  As watercress has a strong, peppery taste, I guess it must have certain chemicals which caterpillars are attracted to in greater quantities than the cabbage and calabrese.  The caterpillars are certainly happy anyway.

I have now relocated the watercress plant to the end of the garden, together with the caterpillars.  The few stragglers still on the calabrese have been rounded up and moved to the watercress with the rest.  I have even bought another plant for the caterpillars to eat, as I can't let them go hungry!

Hungry Caterpillars!

I am growing a whole host of new crops this year, including cabbages and calabrese (like broccoli).  Things were going very well until a cabbage white butterfly tracked my plants down.  I have a vague feeling that the plants give off an odour which the butterflies pick up on.

It's tricky really, every since I was a child, I have loved butterflies.  My Grandad used to have collections of exotic butterflies pinned under glass which I used to like looking at.  When I was four or five, I used to try and add to his collection.  I would catch Red Admirals in my shrimping net and take them around to his house, as he lived two doors down from us.  My Grandad used to carefully take the butterflies out of the net and pop them under an upturned jar.

I have a funny feeling as soon as I was gone he used to let them go again in the garden.  I sincerely hope he did anyway!

When I was a bit older, I collected caterpillars in the garden and kept them in a large jar with holes in the lid.  I fed them up and watched as they became chrysalis.  I remember going down one morning weeks later to find butterflies testing their wings in the jar, the transformation complete.  I had such pleasure releasing them into the garden.

So here I am, years later, still enjoying watching the butterflies in my garden.  But then it struck me, butterflies lay eggs which hatch into caterpillars, which eat my cabbages and calabrese!   Nightmare!  I didn't have the heart to destroy the eggs so carefully laid or the caterpillars happily feasting.

When I thought about it, sometimes you just have to garden for wildlife.  If you want butterflies, you need to grow plants that attract them.  Caterpillars are eaten by the birds who I also want to attract, so I guess sometimes you just need to sacrifice a little to attract much richer rewards.

Who wants to eat cabbage anyway?

Bizarre Fruit

A few days ago, I popped out to water my potatoes and was really surprised to notice some tomato style fruits growing.  The plants had recently flowered and the "tomatoes" had appeared from the flower buds.  As this is only the second year I have grown potatoes, I still don't have much idea about them.

The more I looked at them, I suddenly remembered my growing attempts last year.  Having brushed against the plants a bit too much, I developed a really bad, itchy rash on my arms.  When I went to the chemist, the pharmacist told me that potatoes belong to the nightshade family which also includes, amongst others, tomatoes, aubergine and deadly nightshade.  Obviously, some are more toxic than others!

Suddenly the fact that my potatoes were growing tomatoes made perfect sense.  Obviously we view the bulbous root of potatoes as the vegetable but the plant also sometimes produces small green, tomato like fruit as well.  Having investigated further, apparently the potato fruit has quite high concentrations of poisonous solanine, so best avoided.

The Blackbird

Out of all the visitors to my garden,  the blackbird has always been one of my favourites.  With dark brown plumage for the females or black for the males, they aren't the most eye catching birds and they certainly can't compete with the finches, blue tits and great tits.  I just like them though.

At my old house, I had a pair of blackbirds nesting in my jasmine.  In the spring I would hear the cheeping of chicks in the nest and see the mother flying in and out to feed them.  Now I like watching them in the autumn flying up and down, stripping the honeysuckle of its berries.

Whenever I see a blackbird, I always remember evenings spent in a village pub near Winchester where the landlady would sit at an old piano and lead the assembled drinkers in a raucous singing session.  My favourite song, which was a regular in her repertoire, was "The Blackbird" by the West Country band The Wurzels.  I will never forget the rousing chorus with the landlady singing at the top of her lungs.  Happy days!

[Chorus]Where be it Blackbird to? I know where he be,
He be up yon Wurzel tree, And I be after he!
Now I sees he, And he sees I,
Bugger’d if I don’t get ‘en
Wit a girt big stick I’ll knock ‘im down
Blackbird I’ll ‘ave he!
La la la la la la
La la la la la la
‘Ow’s ‘E Father?
(Audience Answer) Allright!
All me life I’m on the farm, Workin’ for me keep
Tendin’ pigs and chickens, and they cows and sheep
But everywhere I’m workin’, there’s one who always mocks me
He hidin' somewhere in the trees, blackbird I’ll ‘ave he!
[Chorus]
Underneath the open sky in spring we loves to dine
We likes to ‘ear the flappin’ of the missus washin’ line
We listens to a tuneful song, a blackbird or a tit,
But on me vest and underpants he scored a direct hit!
[Chorus]
If I goes out poachin’, a creepin’ through the fields,
With me old retriever, a followin’ at me heels.
If I aim me shotgun at a pheasant in the hay
That bloody blackbird starts his row and frightens him away!
[Chorus]
No longer can I sleep at night, get peace of any kind,
That bird’ll be the death of me, he’s prayin’ on me mind!
If I chase him long enough, I’ll get ‘en by and by,
And celebrate me vict’ry with a girt big blackbird pie!
[Chorus]

Share and Share Alike

I love browsing the aisles of the local garden centres.  We are lucky enough to have a few really good ones near us which not only have a huge selection of plants and gardening equipment but also really good gifts and cafes too.  I could quite happily spend hundreds of pounds on all sorts of fabulous pots and plants.  Needless to say sense and the budget manage to keep a tight rein on me though!

It is surprising how much a few plants add up to.  I needed to restock a few items in my garden following the long winter and heavy snow.  Sadly a few plants in pots didn't make it, neither did the pots for that matter, suffering frost damage.  I was quite restrained and bought 6 geraniums, 3 Moneymaker tomato plants, 12 lobelia, a yellow flowering plant (I need to go and look at label!), a small tray of bedding plants and a bag of compost.  That little lot set me back £33!

I also wanted to get another half barrel as the metal band running around my current one has rusted and snapped causing the sides of the barrel to move outwards and apart.  A new on in the same size was £35 though, so I decided to leave that for now.

A cheap way to add variety to your garden is swapping cuttings with other gardeners.  A couple of the shrubs in my garden were cuttings from my mother-in-law and sister.  This year, I gave some of my surplus red onion sets to my mother-in-law and got a courgette plant, some runner bean seed, some basil seedlings and teasel seedlings in return.

Even if you don't get around to swapping cuttings or seeds, you can share your produce.  It is a great way to deal with gluts of fruit and vegetables, or if you have a small garden, a good way to increase your variety of home grown produce.  Let's not forget either that sharing just makes you feel good!

Does My Bum Look Big In This?

Watching the pigeons trying to squeeze themselves onto the bird table does amuse me. They land in the garden, waddle across the lawn and then somehow manage to fly up and into the bird table.  It is quite a haphazard affair to say the least!

The other day, I took pity on the pigeons and threw a load of stale bread onto the lawn for them.  Sadly my good deed didn't really do one poor pigeon a favour though.  One minute I looked out the back door at my two cats sunbathing on the lawn debating the origins of the saying "Never look a gift horse in the mouth" and literally the next minute I heard a squawk.  I went back to the door and was confronted by one cat mauling a very dead pigeon whilst the other cat was looking on with glee.

The poor pigeon had obviously flown into the garden and quite literally landed on two unsuspecting cats!  I can't begin to tell you how guilty I felt.  I definitely won't be throwing bread on the ground for the birds anymore. 

Potatoes & Plant Pots

No matter how small, or large for that matter, your garden, you can always add interesting features using different planters.  As long as it has drainage, you can use pretty much anything you like to put plants in.  Obviously the size of the planter will dictate the plants that it can accomodate but otherwise, the possibilities are endless.  As well as various shapes and sizes of pot, I have used a pair of old work boots in the past and even had a small pond in a half barrel on my patio.  It was so successful, a frog moved in!

Two of my favourite planters at the moment are a pair of chimney pots and my woven witch hat hanging baskets.  I like hanging baskets but I find the usual half sphere ones a bit traditional.  I found a pair of witch hats at the local dump a few years ago, so recycled them into my garden.  Salvage yards are a perfect place for finding unusual planters too, such as old kitchen sinks.

The chimney pots were a great find.  I have always hankered after a couple but they are really expensive and much sought after.  You can imagine my absolute joy when I found a couple for sale in a local charity shop.  They look fabulous planted up with the purple and white Senetti.  Notice anything odd though?  Well, if you look really closely, you might just notice that the chimney pots are moulded plastic and not terracotta!

The potatoes and onions I planted a few weeks ago are really starting to take off.  Both varieties of potato have come up and true to form I have no idea which is which!  I think the ones at the top of the photo are the salad potatoes.  I'll find out when they are harvested, so no worries.  I was going to plant another batch but I think it is too late.  The seed potatoes in the shed seem a bit soft and I am not sure I can be bothered to be honest.

The onions have also all come up.  I planted them deeper that last year and earlier I think, so I have high hopes for them.  I will definitely plant some more in pots on the patio in a few weeks. 

Really need to crack on with the salads too now that the weather has perked up.  Hopefully I will have a bumper harvest!

Container Vegetable Gardens

No matter how small your garden, even if you just have a window box, you can have a vegetable garden.  You can grow so many vegetables, particularly salads in containers.  I quite like growing mustard & cress, alfalfa and mung beans in dishes in my kitchen, as well as herbs on the window ledge.  They are all so easy to grow.  You just need to scatter the seed onto some wet kitchen towel in a shallow dish and leave them to it.  As long as you keep the tissue moist, you will have a harvest in a week or so.

Last weekend, I finally managed to get my potatoes in.  I am definitely a fair weather gardener.  The potoatoes could have gone in between February and April but it was too cold, wet and windy for my liking until last weekend.

Having bought the seed potatoes weeks ago, they have been sitting patiently in my kitchen, happily sprouting.  I think this may have been good though as someone told me you are supposed to let them sprout before planting.  Needless to say, I have no idea.

I grew some potatoes for the first time last year.  I always thought you needed a large vegetable patch to grow potatoes and then discovered by chance you could grow them in barrels.  I found a polypropylene barrel was available which seemed ideal as it could be easily stored when not in use.   The barrels have handles at the top so that you can shift them around and a flap on each side at towards the bottom which you can open to harvest your potatoes without disturbing the plant at the top.  The flap simply stays closed with Velcro.  I ran a copper band around each barrel to stop slugs crawling up to the plants.

Planting is so easy, you simply fill the bottom half with compost, pop in your seed potatoes with the sprouts upwards and then cover with more compost until the barrel is about 3/4 full.  One barrel can take 3-4 seed potatoes but I put 6 of the salad variety in as I figured the potatoes are smaller and will take up less room.

I was quite surprised at how well my potatoes did last year, despite me forgetting to water them half the time!  I don't even know what I grew last year, they were red ones, that's all I know.  One important thing I did discover last year though is that I am really allergic to potato plants!  Having spent an afternoon brushing past them on the way to the shed, I came out in a really itchy rash that nearly drove me mad.  When I went to the chemist for some cream, I was told that potatoes are related to Deadly Nightshade and can cause highly allergic reactions.

This year, despite the late planting, I am trying to be a bit more organised with the potatoes.  I have bought two varieties, Red Duke of York and Charlotte salad potatoes.  I can't remember which barrel is which but I will find out when I harvest them.  I don't think I need to know - hope not anyway!

I also tried my hand at growing some onions in plant pots last year too, which were quite successful.  For Christmas my parents-in-law gave me a wicker planter which I have decided to use for my Red Baron onions this year.  The wicker surround is partly decorative and also helps to keep the polypropylene liner in shape.  The liner is split into two sections, so you could grow a couple of vegetables in them.  Again, when not in use, the planter just folds down flat for easy storage.  Each section measures about 45cm square, so it does not take up a huge amount of space.  You could easily place it on a balcony or on a patio.

As the weather improves, I will be planting more vegetables in containers.  I will put some tomatoes in a grow bag, salad leaves in a hanging basket (away from the slugs!) and I may try some runner beans in a large pot too.