Maggies Last Ever Blog December 2011

This time last year we were shivering under a blanket of thick snow. This year I still have hollyhocks and summer bedding still in flower in the back garden! It has been a strange year altogether with unseasonal weather throughout. This Autumn has been the driest and warmest for many years - lovely for us but i wonder how it will effect the trees next year. Time will tell.

There is very little in my vegetable plot at this time of the year, other than the leeks. (as I do not grow Brussels or cabbage) The rest of the garden has been dug over and the soil left in large lumps for the winter frosts to break down. Next spring I will again dig a trench and fill it with well rotten compost where I am going to grow the runner beans. The winter raspberries have been wonderful this year but are just about at an end now. They need to be chopped down to ground level in the spring and now is a good time to give the canes a good feed to help with fruiting next year.



As we look forward to Christmas, you might be looking for a present for a child which is a little different. The children's garden tool set from Planto makes an ideal gift, especially when accompanied by a few packets of easy to grow seeds to promote an early interest in gardening. The tools can also be useful in a sandpit as well as the soil.


The borders are losing their colour as the Summer bedding fades and dies but this year I have added colour by planting some Heucheras. Their neat, close-growing habit makes good ground cover and they are available in all sorts of colours and the purple varieties look particularly spectacular when planted with grey leaved Senecio. They are evergreen and will produce pretty flower stalks in the summer.


Now is the time of year to get next years seed catalogues, make a pot of tea and dream of next year's planting schemes. I would like to wish you all a very merry Christmas and a healthy, happy New Year!!


Happy Gardening!

Maggies Blog November 2011

As you put the clocks back, and the plants start to go dormant, it is a good time to reflect on what has done well this year, and what was not so successful so that you can plan next year's garden. As the days shorten it is a good time to flick through the seed catalogues with a cup of tea and dream about next summer!

I keep a notebook to jot down tops and reminders so that I (hopefully) don't make any planting errors twice. For example, if a plant grows larger that I expect, or if I plant something out too early, I can refer to my notebook to jog my memory next year.

If you are tidying up the borders, don't be too enthusiastic because the dying foliage gives protection to the new buds at the base of the plants, as well as giving shelter to garden wildlife. Although the weather is still very mild I feel sure that before long we will be felling the chill of winter frosts.

I have taken the pots in which my hostas are growing into the cold greenhouse as they have died back now. Next spring I will take them out of the pots, split the roots and return them to the posts with fresh compost. It keeps them at their best and ensures the posts are not overcrowded. Before putting them out a smear of Vaseline around the rim of the posts - it helps keep the slugs and snails at bay.

Do not let the falling leaves lie for too long on the lawn. A good way of collecting them up is to do it with the lawn mower. This chops them into small pieces which helps them to rot down. Do not put them into your composter with the usual kitchen waste etc. because they rot down at a much slower rate. Place them in a container made from chicken wire, or even in a large garden plastic waste bag which has had holes punched in it. Make sure they are damp as dry leaves take even longer to decompose. Give them a good stir every few weeks to introduce air to the mixture and check moisture level. You will eventually finish up with a wonderful leaf mould ideal for mulching.

Happy Gardening!

August 2011

The vegetable plot is in full swing at the moment. All the hard work earlier in the year is now paying off an I am picking lots of fruit and vegetables including, French beans, courgettes, tomatoes, raspberries and peas.

This is the first year I have picked my own cherries had lots of fruit on this season. Because it is a miniature and therefore not very tall, I was able to cover it with the Planto Tomato Fleece (which has so many uses!) The birds have been unable to get at the cherries and they have ripened in the fleece.

The runner beans seem slow to set this year. As in other years, I have sprayed the flowers with sugar water to encourage the bees, so hopefully I will be picking very soon. Because it have been dry this last couple of weeks I have given them a few good watering's to help the beans swell.

Every so often I like to walk round the garden with secateurs, a rubbish bag and a pencil and paper. I tidy up with the secateurs- an odd branch here and a dead branch there, but if something need more attention I note in down on the paper and return to the job when I have more time. It is a good way of keeping everything neat and tidy but not overlooking the bigger jobs.

Following on from last month when I wrote about the seemingly dead bushes and plants re sprouting, this month the Eucalyptus tree, which seemed to have dies during the severe winter, has started sprouting from ground level around the trunk. The tree will still need to be chopped down as there is no growth on it but it is nice to know that there is still life in the roots. I will probably prune the new growth hard back each year and keep it as a shrub, rather than letting it grow into a tree again.

I am still planting salad leaves at regular intervals in the greenhouse (although they will do equally well on a windowsill). They are a very quick crop to mature (only taking about two weeks) and are delicious when served straight from the greenhouse to the plate.

Happy Gardening!

Maggies Blog July 2011

We keep hearing on the television that everything is going up in price and food is costing us more and more. All the more reason to grow your own vegetables and salad crops. You do not need a large patch, a patio planter would be fine for a few radish, onions and lettuce. Another idea is to grow vegetables in amongst the flowers in the borders- some dwarf beans have very pretty scarlet flowers. Why not give it a go? The act of picking home grown vegetables and eating them whilst still fresh from the soil is very satisfying.

I am pleased with the colour in my garden at the moment. All the bedding plants are planted out an are establishing themselves and spreading out to fill the spaces. It is nice to try mixing plants together so they grow through each other- a combination I like is lavender teamed with Alchemilla Mollis. The lavender looks stunning growing through the lime green.

Last month I wrote that I had to accept that some of the shrubs in my garden had still not sprouted, and were not now going to. I was going to dig them up but had not got round to it yet. However, some of them have suddenly put up new shoots. My verbenum shrub, for instance, has started to grow back right down at ground level. I have now cut it off close to the ground, to give the shoots plenty of space. It shows that in gardening one must not be too hasty.

The dahlia plants I put out recently were being eaten by slugs and snails so I have sprinkled a ring of crushed up eggshells round the plants to keep the pest at bay. If you put the empty eggshells onto a baking tray and put it into the bottom of the oven next time you are cooking something, it dries them out and makes them easier to crumble. It is a very green way of protecting young plants.

The marrow and courgette plants are beginning to flower well, but they do need plenty of water so remember to keep the soil around them moist in dry spells. I always sink a plant pot into the soil beside each plant which makes sure the water goes directly to the roots and ensures a good crop. They also benefit from a general fertiliser once the fruits are formed.

Happy Gardening!!

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Maggies Blog June 2011

May has been disappointing month, and although Kent and the South have had dry weather, we in the Midlands are back to wet and cold weather. The delights of a British spring!! I have been hardening off my leeks, runner beans and summer bedding in the hope of getting it planted out during the bank holiday but it has been so cold this week I have left it all in the greenhouse for now.

Once I do plant the runner beans out I will again be Using a Burgon & Ball patio planter in my daughters back garden so that she can enjoy just-picked fresh green beans! Just a few plants, climbing up poles, are enough to give her a good supply through the summer. if I grew no other vegetables, I would always make room for runner beans. There is nothing quiet like the taste of freshly picked beans, the shop bought ones cannot compare with them.

The tomatoes in the greenhouse are growing well, and as the first trusses have formed, I have started to give them a weekly feed. The tumbler plant, as the name suggests 'tumbles' down from the pot, but the other upright varieties need the side shoots nipping out, and also need the support of sturdy cane.

The asparagus bed has continued to crop well, and I will continue to harvest all the spears until the longest day (21st June). I do not pick any more after that date, but leave the ferns to develop and the roots to recover. In the Autumn after the first frost has turned the ferns brown I will cut down them down at just above ground level and give the bed a good feed with a general fertilizer. This ensures a good crop the following year.

The berries are forming on my blueberry bush so i will be putting a Planto Fleece jacket over it soon. The birds just adore blueberries and if the bush is left as it is I will not get on berry off it as the birds will have stripped it as soon as the berries start to turn. I have found that outting on a fleece jacket prevents the birds from getting to the fruit, and another advantage is that it keeps the shrub warm, which ripens the fruit earlier.

I started the peas off this year by spreading them on damp kitchen paper, and leaving them in a light position in the kitchen. Once they were sprouting I planted them in rows in the garden. this gave them a good start and meant there were no gaps in the row where seeds have failed to germinate, They are now climbing up some garden netting which I have erected over the new plants. This will give them plenty of support and will make harvesting the pods easier.

Happy Gardening!!

May 2011

With such lovely weather over the Easter Weekend the gardens have been able to catch up on some of their growth after such a long, hard winter.

I have had to accept that some of my shrubs are not going to recover, and have started the sad job of cutting them down and disposing of them. My job has been made easier by the fact that the secateurs i am using at ultra-sharp and fit comfortably into my hand. They are made by a Germany firm called Berger. I can thoroughly recommend them.

After i had cut all but a small piece of the main stem off my Senecio shrub I discovered a small shoot just above ground level. I have watered this well and scattered some plant food round the stem to give it a good start. The original shrub had got quiet leggy so this has given me the chance to start again and keep it well trimmed as it grows.

Although i have not yet planted my Runner Beans I have already prepared the bean trench. I have dug a trench about 30'' wide and 30'' deep and have lined the bottom with the contents of the compost bins. (it doesn't matter if everything is not fully composted down because it will be buried and continue to compost in the ground). I have then filled the trench back in with the soil and will erect the bean poles over the trench. Once the beans are in situ the roots will find the compost and it helps produce healthy plants. It also helps with moisture retention. Even if you do not have any compost, just lining a trench with old newspaper will improve water retention.

The asparagus has started to crop, although the very first spears were attacked and eaten by pigeons. I have resorted to covering the asparagus bed with a fleece blanket, to prevent the pigeons getting at it. I think a good accompaniment to lovely, fresh asparagus spears may be Pigeon Pie!!

The broad beans which I planted out last month are continuing to grow well, and now have flowers on them. I have also planted out some dwarf french beans and they are under a Planto Bio Fleece until they get established. I have held off planting the salad crops such as spring onions, radish and beetroot until there is some moisture in the soil. The seeds just will not germinate if the ground is too dry.

Now is a good time to plant up hanging baskets and patio pots. Although they cannot go outside yet, but need to stay in the greenhouse in case of late frosts, if they are planted up now they can build up a good root stock and begin to form flower buds, so they are well established by the time they are hardened off an put out.

Happy Gardening!!