My new prickly friends

My biggest excitement this last week or so has been the discovery that we seem to have a couple of hedgehogs residing in, or very close to, our garden. Martin made the discovery while I was away, I'd just been speaking to him on the phone where he'd been sat in the garden at dusk, then he sent me this photo.

Two hedgehogs wandering round the garden, I was very jealous of Martin seeing them, its been years since I've seen one, they really seem to have been struggling. Martin said that he was a bit worried at first, all he could hear was a loud snuffling and rustling in the bushes at the bottom of the garden. He didn't know what was going to pop out. But what a treat.
Obviously with this gorgeous weather I've been making the most of being in the garden and on Saturday night around 10pm as it was going dark. I was sat at my table with a beer and my feet up on a chair, when I heard some rustling near the shed, I kept very quiet and out popped a hedgehog. I have a large tray which I fill with water to water my trays and pots from below and this nearly always has some water in it and the hedgehog went straight for that. It then carried on oblivious to me sniffing around and under my chair, unfortunately then I moved to see where it had gone to and the security light came on and it scuttled off down the path onto the grass. Its lovely to watch but I don't want to scare them off. I'm not certain but they could be living under the shed, they seem to come out from there, though our garden could just be on their evening circuit, I've read that they do visit many gardens and can cover quite a distance each night. I've now seen them most nights, they come just as its going dusk.
I've just looked on the Hedgehog Preservation society website and they are recommending that everyone should leave water out for our prickly friends in this dry weather. Maybe thats why my garden is so attractive to them (and the slugs). There is some advice on encouraging hedgehogs to stay in your garden and that is to make sure there is water and to feed them with meaty dog food?! I've put out some of Bob's dried cat food, the first night I put it out the hedgehog went straight for it and was crunching away, so I've been putting a little bit out each night. I worry a little bit about doing this as you don't want them to depend on it but reading on the website it suggests that it will just help supplement their diet.
I think my slovenly garden habits may also be good here as there are lots of overgrown bits in my garden, leaves piled up near the shed and watering at night may encourage slugs, so I think I'm helping them a bit there.
So honoured that they want to visit my garden and happy for them to keep visiting and eat as many slugs as they'd like.

Scorchio!

I can't believe its been 2 weeks since I last posted, I've got so much to blog about I'm not sure where to start. I apologise for not commenting on my favourite blogs, I've been away and with this weather.... I just want to spend every spare moment in the garden or at the allotment! So as I say, I've got lots to write about including my trip to River Cottage, the fabulous weather, Dunham Massey's gorgeous Rose Garden in all its glory and my resident hedgehogs. I won't get that all in one post so I'd better get going.

Well can you believe this amazing weather what a difference to last year. It started here, I guess, on Friday the 5th, the day my sister and I travelled down to Devon for our trip to River Cottage. I keep checking the weather forecast and its here until at least next week, they say the end of July, some even say August. Who knows, I just hope we don't get a hosepipe ban. I'm trying to be very careful with my watering I always use a hose with a on-off switch so its controllable, I'm not watering everything and when I do I make sure I give a really good soaking right at the roots. Some people on my allotment site just get the sprinkler out and have that going for an hour. Seems such a waste to me. I even had to give strict instructions to my other half, Martin, for watering the allotment while I was down in Devon. I think he ended up with more water on him than on the plants. But everything survived and things are growing well. What a star.

Bob, my cat, has turned nocturnal, staying inside in the cool asleep all day and then out at night when its a nice temperature.

 Or else he's keeping an eye on the neighbourhood from the top of the shed.

Its all go at the allotment harvesting, weeding and watering. I've picked tons of peas, mangetout and broad beans. I've picked my first courgettes, first of many, I always plant too many in case of slug devastation and this year they have all come through. I've even now got some small fruits on my squash plants.

My first early potatoes have been dug up, My lettuces have been fab though too many all at once, but my first successful growing of hearting lettuces at my allotment so very pleased. I had some Iceberg, some Little Gem and another Cos type lettuce called Freckles which is very pretty.

I'm getting my first fruits setting on the cucumber and also on my cucamelon, can you spot it. I'm intrigued to find out what they taste like.

The first heads are developing on my calabrese. They seem to be growing so quickly.

 Very pleased with my beetroot on the whole, I posted in one of my blogs earlier in the year that I had often struggled with beetroot in the past, but I seem to have a technique now, I have to sow in modules, they don't seem to germinate or the slugs get them if I sow them direct, then once a reasonable size I plant them out and they seem to have grown on well. My first planting are just cropping now. I've just planted another batch and I'm going to sow some more this weekend. So hopefully that will keep me going I love beetroot.

Another crop that I often struggle with are Spring onions, many people on the blogs seem to grow them in pots and I have had some success with that, but I've also managed to grow a small row on the plot.

My strawberries have been amazing, it is their 3rd year so they should be at their peak and they certainly are. I've had many punnets full off them, one batch went to make some Strawberry and Gooseberry jam. I've also had a good crop of redcurrants though I have lost some to the birds.

My apples are growing well, very excited about my first crop of James Grieve.

There are some things that are struggling a bit, the shallots have not swelled as much as they could I don't think, though will get a reasonable crop from them, the spinach has all bolted now, there is some mildew on my peas, however I have managed to get a good crop off them, though I've just started spotting a few pea moth caterpillars in some of the peas which is a bit off-putting. I'm wondering whether to sow another batch of peas now. Some of the Beetroot and Chard is bolting but have still had some stems and leaves which are a good alternative to the spinach.

Its so dry on the plot there are big cracks in places.

I'm usually an evening allotment goer but this morning I had some time to head up there before it got too hot, you see a whole different set of people.

 

Its looking very colourful on my plot, I've got some lovely Iceland poppies.

 

Some echium 'Blue Bedder' which contrasts well with some Calendula on the plot .

My sunflowers are just starting to flower too, my favourite cheery flower.
All in all everything is growing well, what a change to last summer when all I seemed to do was complain about the weather. I've just been looking at my blog post from last July and things are much more advanced than last year. Hope you are all enjoying harvesting your crops.

Race for the strawberries

Its still light at 10 o'clock I love it, so spending long evenings up at the plot, its fabulous. The allotment glows in the evening light. These photos were taken last week, its a bit grey today but sunshine is planned for the weekend, good timing for my trip to River Cottage.

The allotment is flourishing at the moment, could do with it being a bit warmer at night still and the wind has been a bit annoying but I'm days away to harvesting some of the crops, the over-wintered onions are glistening, spinach is ready, strawberries ripening as we speak as are gooseberries and redcurrants, potatoes are flowering, suggesting that their starchy goodness is ready, broad bean and peapods are swelling and lettuce is hearting up nicely. Its a bit of a race to get the strawberries before the slugs, they seem to have become a bit more active again recently with the damp weather, I've had to lose some but overall I think I'm winning.

I'm growing some purple flowered broad beans this year which have done really well, and produce not only a lovely colourful flower which the bees are loving, but also have a lovely scent which wafts around as I work.

I've also got some things planted for future crops, I've some runner beans 'White Lady', some dwarf french beans, both green and yellow-bean varieties. There is some climbing french beans 'Cosse Violette' which were fabulous last year and I've just planted some Borlotti beans which have a lovely speckled pods and will be great to harvest for their beans which can be eaten fresh or dried for storing and can be used in soups and stews in the winter.

 There are some squashes, a bit of a mixture here, I've planted some 'Blue Hubbard' and 'Crown Prince', which I've had good success with in the past. 'Uchiki Kuri' and 'Patty Pan' the latter of which I'm going to try growing up a wigwam. There is also a pumpkin 'Jack O'Lantern', never grown a pumpkin before. These have taken a bit to get going, another reason why we need some warmth.

Here are my Brussel Sprout 'Titus', I'm determined that I'll have a few more winter crops this year so I've got some sprouts and I'm also soon to plant some red cabbage.

The leeks, another winter staple have now also gone in though admittedly a bit weedy looking at the moment I'm sure they will get going soon.

I've planted a few sunflowers which I've managed to get past the slugs this year and they are growing strongly now.

The Globe artichokes are starting to bud.

New for me this year is the Cucamelon, supposed to give you small sweet fruits. Not sure whether it will cope with being outside but will have to see, its starting to climb.

Anyway hope you are all busy harvesting the first delicious crops and enjoy the sunshine this weekend.

Bees a buzzin'

My front garden has been awash with alliums, its 'Purple Sensation' and is a real star for me at this time of the year. I feel like this garden has been getting better each year as its gets tweaked a little bit each time, its also got masses of purple and white aquilegia, white sweet rocket, Persicaria bistorta, the frothy pink 'London Pride' and alchemilla mollis. I've added some dark purple leaved shrubs which are getting bigger each year and add further contrast, I've a dark leaved elderflower, a weigela and a purple cotinus. It was originally dark pinks and purples and I was encouraging the orange variety of the welsh poppy to seed around as a contrast but the pale pinks of the London pride and the Persicaria are taking over a bit now and maybe the orange doesn't work so that may have to go or maybe I'm being too tasteful!

I was sat on the grass in my back garden in the sun the other day and it was all a buzz with bees. How fortunate that some of my favourite plants are also loved by bees. The bees were fighting over the pendulous bell-like flowers of the Nectaroscordum siculum. If you look closely you can see a bee just entering the flower.

I blogged about a self-seeded cotoneaster last year which has tiny really inconspicuous flowers but is completely covered in bees.

They also love the Persicaria bistorta.

Another plant that self-seeds in my garden is Phacelia, a delightful flower which looks like a big hairy caterpillar.

Other bee-loved flowers out at the moment are some foxgloves, perennial wallflower which never stops flowering and some Sweet William which I grew from small plugs.
 So my bouquet this week has been...

Finally a curiosity, why and more importantly how did these snails get up here (if you look closely there are 3 here), this is the top of a holly bush which is about a metre and a half high, the only thing I think is they could be after is the bird food which is close by in the apple tree. But very odd!

Chelsea Flower Show 2013 - The Show gardens

Like most of you who commented on my tour of the small gardens, its the small garden that I tend to get the most ideas from. But if you look carefully you can get some nice planting ideas or small design ideas from the bigger show gardens but they tend to be flamboyant and often seem a bit out of reach for the average gardener. These are also the gardens that get most of the focus from the media, though frustratingly every year the coverage seems to be focused on some gardens and not others. I can't say there were any really innovative gardens this year or any really bonkers one (maybe thats because Diarmuid Gavin didn't have a garden here this year). Some traditional ones, some highlighting important causes and some highlighting particular places.

The first one on our tour was the garden highlighting Stoke-on-Trent including a skeleton of a bottle kiln, once a familiar sight in the Potteries region.

 There was some interesting wall planting which is a common feature at flower shows this year. I like the colour scheme of peach, dark reds, terracotta, lime green and creams.

Kate Gould's garden showed how some former industrial waste ground can be transformed into a modern garden reusing concrete, old timber, crazy paving and steel panels. The quirky feature was the seat made out of an old bath.

The SeeAbility garden was designed to raise awareness on sight loss. It is split into segments by three slate paths with a large Robinia tree in the centre. The tree is shielded from the rest of the garden by what on closer inspection reveals it self as a nice water feature. A wall of metal balls which drip with water..There is a nice oak structure that also divides the garden and finally a copper feature with circles some containing some planting of that lovely daisy Erigeron. I really liked this, it added a sculptural feature to the garden, not sure how I could copy that one though. There are some contrasting planting colours such as the bright yellow grass nexzt to dark purple Heucheras and white Irises and alliums rising from the dark foliage.

Next to a garden which is sponsored by Arthritis Research UK, the charity which funds the research that I'm involved with at the University of Manchester. So always of interest to me and I had wanted to volunteer for the garden but with everything else that has been going on this year I didn't get chance to but maybe another year if they do a garden. This one was designed by one of my favourite designers, Chris Beardshaw who in making the garden has revealed himself to be an arthritis sufferer. Its good to highlight this disease, a disease of which there are many misconceptions, not least the difficulty in diagnosis.

 There are a number of aspects that I loved about this garden, the first were the inspiring sculptures, the divisions of the garden and the planting. This was a lovely flower and I need to find out what it was.

The amazing Echiums.

 The best view is from the front, though you have to be patient!

You then look across main avenue and another gorgeous garden, again not ground-breaking but just something that you can imagine having yourself in your own garden and thats the garden designed by Roger Platt. This garden represents gardening through the years the Chelsea Flower Show has been running. Some lovely planting with a bit for everyone.

The garden by royal appointment got lots of TV coverage, it was designed for Prince Harry and the charity Sentebale by Jinny Blom to highlight the African country of Lesotho which tragically is severely afflicted by both poverty and AIDS. A great cause but I didn't take to the garden, I could sort of see what she was trying to show but wasn't sure about the clay circle in the middle of the garden or patterned patio?

I was really pleased to see that one of my gardening heroes, Nigel Dunnett had at last won a gold medal, he always designs innovative wildlife gardens. This time he'd designed a roof garden with lots of habitats for wildlife.

I particularly liked the plant wall painting above. The dark purple Verbascum's were very striking.
The Laurent-Perrier Garden this year was designed by Ulf Nordfjell and was a very tasteful, but dare I say it a bit boring. I did like the Iris's though.

Next to this was a similar garden, the Telegraph Garden, this is more of a landscape piece rather than a garden and has inspiration from both Japanese gardens with their calm green gardens and also from the English landscape so lots of cow parsley.

The Olympic Games inspired Great Britain last year and I still have amazing memories of those few weeks and one of the gardens here was inspired by the Athletes village at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

I guess the most off the wall garden of the show was the Stockton Drilling's "As Nature Intended" garden featuring plants which have been proven to be extremely useful for man over the years, willow, yew, hornbeam and hazel.

Another of my favourite garden of the show was The Homebase Garden designed by Adam Frost, again its one I can see myself with, its a family garden helping to connect children with growing their own food and with nature, but still room to play and an ornamental garden.

 

 

The Brewin Dolphin Garden was a more modern garden I loved the bright pink wall, the pebbles were wonderful and the frothy planting.

 

 

 

The spread of plant diseases and alien pest invaders have been much in the press this last few years and was the focus of a thought-provoking garden designed by Jo Thompson, a garden of two halves, one with lush green natural planting and one side with a row of dead trees, with a seedling oak tree floating in an island.

 

 

The garden which won best in show was the show-stopping Trailfinders Australian garden by Flemings Nursery. Some lush native planting with a natural billabong and waterfall.Not really something that I can copy in Huddersfield!

 

 

The nursery owner, Wes Fleming, has been a strong presence at the last few Chelsea shows and he was obviously really proud of his gold medal and best in show award that he was showing off to everyone who passed the garden with a brief stand-up comedy routine that kept the audience enthralled.
So their is my tour of the show, its close but I think my favourite garden was the Roger Platt garden with Chris Beardshaw and Adam Frost's gardens close behind. I'm not apologising for being a traditional girl.