My Office Today

I'm writing this on Wednesday the 22nd February and today my office is dull, dank, and dreary but Tuesday was a very different matter, all these photos are from one garden taken yesterday. Far from February being a dead month in the garden there's lots to be getting on with. So far this month I have pruned roses, pruned fruit trees, cut back herbaceous perennials, tidied up ferns, and of course cleared a lot of tree litter etc.

As you may be able to tell, I am very fond of hellebores, to enjoy the flowers at their best it helps to be able to get low, (these are in a raised terrace), it always helps to cut back the old dying or dead leaves before the flowers come out.

I think this is a good time to be moving hellebores, and planting snowdrops. I think it not only helps with laying the garden out, it also seems to help the plants settle. Also, if you still have any bulbs you didn't get round to planting  in the autumn get them in the ground now before they rot or totally dry out.

Here in the South East it has been quite mild so it won't be long before I start cutting grass!

Little Things ~ My Office Today

 

Well more strictly speaking these were all taken on Monday.

Lets Face it a snow duck is always going to cheer us up!

Winter Aconites

I was especially pleased too see these snowdrops, I planted them in the green a couple of years ago, last year they did come up but didn't flower. I always feel as though snowdrops are reassuring me that spring is on it's way, and that I should feel encouraged.

Hellebores!

Tuesday's Top Tips ~ Paula's Pointers

A lot of lavender bushes are now beginning to look a bit tired, the flowers have died and with the long stems and dead flowers they are looking a bit straggly

If you read gardening books, or watch much of the TV gardening shows you will be advised to prune your lavender in the spring. The dead flower heads can offer a little bit of frost protection and some people like to see them on the bushes through the winter.

I don't do this! I always trim back lavender, especially English Lavender in the late summer or early autumn as the flowers die. I'm not a great fan of dead lavender flowers, and I am convinced that trimming them back now helps keep the bush tight and tidy. Leaving the pruning later can allow them to become a bit woody and leggy. Traditionally commercial lavender bushes would have been replaced every five or six years but with my system they stay tidy for a lot longer.

These are all something like fifteen years old or more, the ones below I replaced not long after I started my business back in 2005, the others were already planted when I started with the customer in 2004. I will admit that I have not always been quite as assiduous with my pruning routine as I should be, but I do try to get them done before winter, not least because any weight of snow can just destroy an open lavender.

So remember not to cut into the woody growth just trim off the flowers and the top leaf growth and you will have a nice tight tidy bush ~ and lets face it we all want that don't we!

If you like you can also separate the dried flowers and use the in potpourri, or sow into muslin bags for your great aunt or indeed your own knicker draw! 

Baby it's Hot Outside

Well it seems as though summer has come in with a real bang here in the UK, I hear that temperatures may reach 30 degrees in Scotland today, IN SCOTLAND!   Certainly as I look out my window this morning I can only see blue sky and sunshine.  I shall shortly be going out to work and this week that has meant shorts, it is truly liberating getting out my shorts and sun tops again, but I am constantly aware that I need to avoid burning or over exposure.

Of the only trouble with showing so much flesh is that as my work can be a bit dirty I do find all the dust sticks to the sweat and by the time I get home I truly need that shower.

After photo from 6th May

It's not just the gardener who is feeling the heat, the plants will be as well. We haven't had that much rain, although last week's was welcome, so many of you plants will be needing so water, my tip is not to water every day, but give them a good soaking every three or four days.   If you have a sprinkler and are not on a water meter now is the time to use, a couple of hours in the evening will keep your garden green and healthy, just remember, again more water less often is better than little and frequent.

The exception will be in the productive garden, I planted some runner beans for one of my customers two weeks ago, that's the photo here, I am going back there this morning and half expect them to be withering ~ lets hope!

Mahonia

 Departing from my recent apparent obsession with Sunday's Band Festival  today I am considering one aspect of another of my passions, gardens and gardening.   Even for the keenest amateurs and most proficient professionals there are always going to be difficult areas.   Those places where the sun doesn't shine as much as we would like, the ground is too dry, or too moist, difficult to get to north facing slopes, or dark corners between garage and fence.   I am a regular listener to Gardener's Question Time where questions about these difficult places are often asked, but rarely have I ever heard my stock answer come out as a suggestion from the team.

Mahonia is a very tough shrub that will grow almost anywhere, has lovely towers of bright yellow blooms (about now) gives year round interest as it is evergreen, the leaves are quite spicy so as well as looking interesting are good security additions around perimeters.   There are a number of varieties, from prostrate to tall and sculptural, I generally go for something in between, and as it is s easy to propagate I will often take cuttings, or layers from one garden to another (without being at all sure which variety it is)

Of course there are all sorts of interesting plants in the garden at the moment.   We are getting yellows from the last of the Daffs, Kerria Japonica, Forsythia, primroses, and in my garden dandelions! Pinks, whites, and mauves from Aubretia, Bergenia and Camellias, and tulios giving us the full rainbow!
 

Shrubs are all coming to life with Skimmias, Chaenomeles and Pieris all giving their best, and all the herbaceous plants and summer bulbs are showing above the soil.

Today I was out working this morning for the first time wearing shorts and enjoying the sun, I think it will only be a matter of days before I start to put out bedding.   I know the old saying about May being out, but round my way the May is now in flower so I feel safe.

All photos from my own gardens this morning

The turning of the Year

It's that time when one season morphs into the next, there is an almost imperceptible change in temperature and length of day.   More obvious is the debris at the foot of the Horse Chestnut trees as the conkers are scavenged by small boys and girls for their beauty and to play conkers with.

Yesterday I saw this Sumac tree in the front garden of one of my customers, in his back garden he has another, but the leaves are still all green on that one.   It is an odd season, some plants seem to be fully in autumn mode while others are hanging on to summer.   Some of the bedding is looking very tired while the pelargoniums are very much in their full pomp.   I have some cannas, one has been blooming well the others have put on lots of growth but have yet to start flowering, I still hope to get at least one bloom out of them.

Of course the main extra seasonal job is clearing up fallen leaves, I have got out my trusty old leaf blower, but most of the summer jobs continue as well, the grass is still growing and as long as we keep dead heading we keep getting flowers on our roses and many other plants.

This "Betty" will work as a wallpaper!

With all this it is easy to forget just how dry the last few weeks have been, indeed here in the UK the first half of September was the driest on record,   because of this it is particularly important to water you Camellias, Rhododendrons and Azaleas, they are currently setting the flower buds for next spring, if they dry out the buds will not develop and the flowers will be lost, just remember to use rainwater!

Paula's Pointers

Juliette left a comment on my "And the Best Laid Eggs" post asking if we going to have Paula's Gardening tips now, well in a way, but because I enjoy alliteration so much I prefer Paula's Pointers.   I actually spend much more of my time gardening and thinking about gardening than I do dressing, of course that is largely because that is the main source of income for the household so that does tend to concentrate the mind a bit.   I will also admit that I have long cherished the ambition to write a regular gardening column for a (local) paper or magazine, so this may just be a way of expressing that ambition, only without the pay!

At the moment the weather here in the UK is making it very difficult to know what to do for the best in the garden there are so many jobs that have been put off or delayed because it's been too cold or too wet that when we do get a bit of sunshine it is hard to know which are the highest priorities.   We have a good forecast for the weekend so I expect a lot of people will be heading out into their gardens to make a start.   My main Job on Saturday will be to try a make sure my van is suitably presented for it's MOT on Monday, but other than that I think I will be trying to sort out my vegetable beds and get my onion sets in, and sowing my lettuce, leeks beans and tomatoes.   This year I will be growing both white and red onions, as well as salad onions and chives.   I hope to be making Caramelised Red Onion Chutney come September.

So, Paula's Pointer for this weekend is to sow or plant anything that is waiting to in, this cannot wait any longer.   If you haven't started cutting your grass this weekend should be dry and a good tie to start, it will then need too be cut at a minimum once a fortnight, but I prefer to do mine at least once a week. Top tip is the more often your grass is cut the thicker it grows and the better it looks.   If you missed pruning earlier that can always be left till next year if needs be but sowing has to be done on time!