Has Anybody Seen My Secateurs?

H IS FOR?

HEDGES!
Last September himself and I holidayed in North Wales. I hurt my knee not long before we went and was in horrible pain. As the week went on I had to use a stick to hurtle myself about. However we still managed to visit the highest garden open to the public in North Wales, which I wrote about here and homeward bound we made haste for Powis Castle and its gardens. Here I hopped about and imagined the work involved in maintaining these hedges to the highest standard!

Hurry over to ABC Wednesday now for more on the letter H!

With Thanks To The Patient Gardener And Monty Don

Fashionably late as usual here is my 'End of Month View' post - in real life I am one of those people who is completely neurotic about timekeeping. Despite not wearing a watch for the last quarter of a century or so, I arrive early for appointments and am terribly impatient of those who do not arrive on time. I am working at being more tolerant.

Well here we are at the end of another month and as you can see the border is shrieking out colour wise. My senses are offended and the occupants are going, going, gone! I have realised that apart from the colour combinations that most of the plants are too tall for where they have been planted. The chocolate cosmos, day lilies and osteospernum and geraniums are staying put but the penstemons and dahlias are headed elsewhere. The dwarf French beans are just a one season wonder - surplus to room at the allotment I was reluctant to consign them to the compost heap so stuck them in the border. I have some thyme and a white parahebe to plant as well as the purple campanula in a pot which has crept into the above photo. I am looking for not too tall grasses and as yet other unidentified companions to fill in the gaps.

What may not be obvious from these photos is that there is a four foot or so drop to the lawn below, where there is another border, so the dahlias and penstemons are either headed for the lower deck and/or to grace the allotment.

With a special thanks to Helen over at 'The Patient Gardener' who came up with the idea of a critical monthly review and also this month to Monty Don, who imparted some succinct but most useful advice on 'Gardeners' World' last Friday. Deadheading dahlias has always been a bit of a mystery to me but Monty has shed light on the matter. If the bud is round it is still to flower, if pointed time for the snip. I finally now know what I am doing and am pleased to report that I am no longer feeling spent, squelchy flowers.

Garden Bloggers Muse Day - September 2011

"Now thin mists temper the slow-ripening beams

Of the September sun: his golden gleams
On gaudy flowers shine, that prank the rows
Of high-grown hollyhocks, and all tall show
That Autumn flaunteth in his bushy bowers;
Where tomtits, hanging from the drooping heads
Of giant sunflowers, peck the nutty seeds;
An in the feathery aster bees on wing
Seize and set free the honied flowers,
Till thousand stars leap with their visiting:
While ever across the path mazily flit,
Unpiloted in the sun,
The dreamy butterflies
With dazzling colours powdered and soft glooms,
White, black and crimson stripes, and peacock eyes,
Or on change flowers sit,
With idle effort plundering one by one
The nectaries of deepest-throated blooms."

~ 'The Garden in September ' - Robert Bridges 

This post has been inspired by Carolyn Choi over at Sweet Home And Garden Chicago. Carolyn's blog is presently closed, as she has moved from Chicago to be nearer loved family members in Carolina. I hope that the move goes well for her and hope that we hear about her new garden in the future. In the meantime as I have derived so much pleasure from Garden Bloggers Muse Day I will be continuing with a monthly muse.

Sign Of The Times

G IS FOR?

ST. GREGORY THE GREAT!  ~ this sign grabbed my attention this spring whilst out on a glorious day garden visiting. Why? Firstly because himself is a Gregory. Secondly because of the wording when I took a closer gander. I gazed then gasped before wondering what signs had previously greeted church goers of the parish in times gone by.

Gracefully gallop over to ABC Wednesday now for more on the letter G.

'Out On The Streets' ~ At the Fire Station

Our local fire station is just down the road from us ~ near enough when we first moved here for me to jump out of my skin every time a fire engine sped by with sirens shrieking. I have become immune over the years and now take the noise in my stride. Although I have walked past the station many times, en route to the allotment, I had never visited it until last month. I had read about a project to establish a community and biodiversity garden there some time ago and an open afternoon at the fire station proved the ideal time to find out more.

The project was the concept of one of the fire fighters based at the station and was formally opened last year. On what was previously an uncultivated grassed over  area at the back of the fire station, there are now raised beds, a greenhouse, a wooden shed, a 'bug hotel' type bird feeder, wildflower garden area, compost heaps as well as decked seating and a meeting area. There is an interconnecting network of fully accessible pathways.

"The aim of the garden is twofold, to provide an access project for the general community and to act as an access and diversionary project for young people at risk of becoming involved with arson or anti -social behavior." The garden was constructed in partnership with a number of different community groups working alongside fire fighters. We have recently been overwhelmed with images and reports of young people caught up in the riots but here I saw a positive measurement of what young people can achieve given encouragement, support and the wherewithal. Having worked with disaffected young people for a long time, I know that sadly many of them, especially young men, leave our secondary school system with low self esteem and low expectations. Projects such as this are great ways of harnessing energy, providing invaluable work experience, developing team building and communication skills and in some cases completely transforming young lives.

Once the hard build was finished eight of the raised beds are now being cultivated by local primary schools. Each school has grown exactly the same crops in their beds so there is a element of healthy competition. When I visited the beds were filling out with their crops of runner beans, peas, carrots, beetroots, onions and spring onions. Regularly on hand to assist the project has the assistance of an experienced local allotmenteer as a 'Garden Manager'. Other groups including a local Mencap youth club are involved in the garden. After a good wander round and chat with those behind the concept, I left feeling really excited about this project and hope to pop down in the spring with spare seeds etc.

'Out on The Streets' is a regular feature over at 'Vegplotting', where if you would like to particpate Michelle advises that "All you need to do is post on your blog an example of public planting or use of outdoor public space which has taken your notice this month. It may be good or bad ; old or new, in your neighbourhood or something you've seen on your travels." Do make your way over there and join in the street party too!

"We Love Aphids!"

I went to the seaside last week but never saw the sea - instead I went to Southport to the annual Southport Flower Show. I was in the company of a good friend, the forecasted heavy rain never materialised and there was much to see so all in all a perfect recipe for a grand day out. Whilst Southport is primarily a flower show there plenty of other non - horticultural attractions and displays. This year though as I was in the company of a  keen gardener I did not get to see any of them but I am not complaining.  Instead we spent the day permabulating at a gentle and leisurely pace, spending the morning in the busy but uncrowded floral marquee, halting only to sit down at noon to listen to a most thought provoking talk by Matthew Wilson, who managed to persuade his audience that they loved aphids! We even stood up at one point to chant "We love aphids!" in unison. Matthew's logic being that if there were no aphids that there would be no goodies such as ladybirds etc, etc. Then onwards again, making a few purchases as we went along before a late but well deserved lunch. Onto the show gardens before rounding up the day with a reccie of the marquee which housed the plant, garden and horticultural societies in addition to the splendid entries from amateur growers.

Above you can see part of the stand from Bluebell Cottage Gardens . The display was awarded a silver medail. Sue Beesley has described her show experience here on her blog, but I think she is being rather modest about her achievement. Not only did she put some most attractive planting together but I thought that she interpreted the show's theme of vintage most thoughtfully. Sue's stand along with the display from the Hardy Plant Society were amongst my highlights of the show.

Below glimpses of the Hardy Plant Society stand which won a gold medal and best in show ~

and finally some of the contents of the most perfect basket of vegetables you could possibly imagine ~

Now why don't mine look like that ?

P.S. For those of you who do not know Southport actually seeing the sea there seems to be a rare occurence - the tide is usually out so vast expanses of beach instead.

Stop Press - I have just noticed that 'Gardeners Question Time' was recorded last Friday at the show. The programme will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on Friday 26th August at 3.00 pm and then again on Sunday 28th August at 2.00pm. Well worth a listen to.

Simply Scentsational

F IS FOR?

FRAGRANCE!
"Every two or three days though July and August the house has been refreshed with little pots and odd jars of sweet peas here and there on shelves, by stairs or bookcases, by doors. Their smell fades after a day or two but, of course, the more you cut the more they come, in this case the more you give away the more you get" ~ extract from 'Led By The Nose' by Jenny Joseph.

Well that was my flight of fancy back in February but it did not come to fruition this year. My sweet peas plants planted out in that dry April spell never flourished. So this year for the first times in years I am without one of my favourite flowers. However allotment friends have fared better than me and I have been invited to feel free to snip. This floriferous bunch is flooding my kitchen with their fabulous fragrance today. The fearful fencing installed by the council earlier this year, has provided the ideal framework for them to cling to and fare fantastically well.

Now with a fanfare here is a link to ABC Wednesday where you will find fun, fiction, fables and fantasy all featuring the letter F!

Warm Fuzzies

Whilst happily pruning this weekend I came across some little orange fuzzies nestling on an errant rose seedling which is destined for the chop. They are as soft to touch as they look. I have no idea what they are and what they might contain if anything but thought that they looked rather sweet. Would be delighted if anybody could shed light on the mystery.

Nesting Instincts

E IS FOR?

EGGS!
"And most I like the winter nests deep - hid
That leaves and berries fell into:
Once a dormouse dined there on hazel - nuts,
And grass and goose - grass seeds found soil and grew"
~ extract from the poem 'Bird's Nests' by Edward Thomas, 1878 - 1917.

Not edible and certainly not belonging to an emu ~  himself and I espied this exquisite clutch of eggs as we walked round Hampton Court Gardens, in Herefordshire earlier this year. All part of an exciting quiz for younger visitors - on examination the letters on the eggs unscrambled to reveal the identity of the bird. Rather easy in this paticular case and not quite esoteric enough for us adults but we still derived enormous enjoyment from this mental exercise.

Escape now to ABC Wednesday for even more on the evasive letter E.

Just Snacking

One of the greatest pleasures of growing fruit and vegetables are the little nibbles that you sample before any of your produce even reaches the plate. Be it a strawberry, pea, raspberry or tomato or herby bite there always seems to be something slightly illicit about such munchings but the taste is oh so sublime. I also tell myself that it is of course all in the name of quality control. This year's new discovery and a ready made allotment lunch, if I have remembered to take some bread and butter, has been the delicious 'Crystal Lemon' cucumber. Himself is not partial to cucumber so I decided this year to forsake my usual 'Burpless' for smaller outdoor grown cucumbers, namely the slightly exotic looking 'Crystal Lemon' and 'Iznik'. The jury is still out on the latter ~ it is described as producing cocktail sized cues but they are still too small to sample. The former though is definitely a hit and is already on next year's seed list.