Let the sunshine in!

You can see in the above photo the newest leaves on the Tetrapanex Rex unfurling- the reason why the sun is shining so nicely through them is that I have cut down some of the branches of the Sycamore tree that you can see behind it.

The tree is on our boundary on the south side of the plot so casts quite a lot of shade at the back of the garden. The branch actually was about 20ft tall! So when it fell there was a real danger of it it flattening alot of plants in my garden! Luckily while i was on next doors shed roof sawing the branch P was down in the garden to catch the huge branch!

Luckily the branch fell slowly and a Bamboo and Arundo donex took the brunt of the branch.

Now something i didnt see happening after the cutting down the branch was that along with the branch fell literally thousands of Greenfly that covered all the plants and pots below in the garden- however the chickens got a welcome snack of greenfly from the pots- and despite the insects small size the hens were easily able to pick them from the pots.



The mini greenhouse is full of baby vegetables ready for being planted out on the allotment in a few weeks time.


The Persicaria Red Dragon has been moved from the sunny border into the shade and seems to be doing well so far- also in this photo is the Mouse plant, Astillboides tabularis, Bugle and a Schleffera impressa.


The Maiden Hair Spleenwort has pushed up its new leaves- and really glad i chose to plant it up in a pot rather than plant it out. Hopefully it will fill out much more over the summer.

This is one of my Dicksonia antarcticas- this is a potted plant- and sends up a larger set of fronds than any of my treeferns which have been planted out. It is also grown in full sun- its a lovely plant.

The Cyathea cooperii I got from Fibrex has been potted up- and become the central plant in the garden. You can also see to the left of the fern in the blue pot the flowers of the Sarracenia flava var Maxima.

Here is the large Aloe I bought from CGF, and also the Purple Aeonium, Echeveria and Agave attenuata from the plant swap. Now when i bought the Aloe it had a label but its disappeared since getting it home- any ideas what type it is?

The beautiful Adiantum aleuticum 'imbricatum' I got from Fibrex nursery. Trying to decide whether to grow it in a pot or plant it in the fern bed under the Dicksonia antarctica. Im thinking it might be a bit dry in the fern bed.

These Asarum europaeum will be planted out in the shade borders. Ive been looking for the plants for ages after seeing them in the Natural History museum wildlife garden! I love the shiny evergreen leaves.

Allotment update!

I wanted to share with you the very first sneaky glimpse of our new Allotment plot!!

We have been given a definite date of when we can have our allotment- it is ours from the 16th May!

The plot is as you look at the photo- all from the left handside with all the blue forget me nots- down to the shed (yes thats ours too) then along to the right to the old apple tree, and then back up towards us. I think this is half a normal size plot- but should be more than big enough to start with! In fact its bigger than our garden at home!

Really looking forward to it- as our seedling veggies are getting a little large now in the mini greenhouse!

Me and P are both taking a week off work around this time to be able to start the digging!

Next door really kindly offered us his old decking from his garden- which means we don't have to buy the gravel boards we were going to use to create the raised beds- so the front of our house looks like a builders merchant at the moment!

The asparagus crowns we bought a couple of months ago are shooting and some are about 6” tall at the moment- I don't expect much growth from them this year as they are only newly planted- but its very promising!

A Hedge in a Box!

So I was up at 6:45 this morning so walk round to my local Post Office depot to pick up my native hedge that I ordered online last week.

It actually arrived yesterday but the postman didn't knock, and when I left for work all I found was the red note on the doormat indicating he had been- how infuriating!! As my bare root trees would now have to sit in the depot for a whole day extra without water- just because the postman didn't knock on the door! I was in!

So I picked up the box about 7 this morning – it was pretty heavy (its times like this i wish i had a car) and took it home to pot up the plants before I headed off to work.

They were very well packaged and no major damage at all to the plants only 1 snapped side branch- even better i dont think i knocked off any buds when unpacking or potting up the plants- which I thought was amazing considering they were all tied together and i manage to knock off my Japanese Acers buds reckless abandon when walking past the pot as im so clumsy! (speaking of Japanese Acers- of my potted plants my autropurpureum on the side of the pond i discovered to my horror is covered in scale insect on its stems and trunk- i must do something baout it this weekend). This hedge is destined to be put up on the allotment- so they would have to be potted up for a few weeks before they can be planted up there. I only had half a bag of compost- so I ended up putting the 33 plants together in 6 pots.

I bought the plants from Danny from Botanica (http://www.botanica.org.uk/), who are based in Suffolk. Was very impressed with the quality of the plants and the customer service received.

So onto the good stuff- what did I get?????

Note the 30 pots of Asparagus to be planted out on the allotment!

Well I figured rather than buy a Hawthorn or Blackthorn based hedge- go for a complete mix of species which should encourage a broader range of wildlife.

So I got:
Field Maple (Acer campestre)
Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna)
Blackthorn (Prunus spinosa)
Common Crab Apple (Malus sylvestris)
Guelder Rose (Viburnum opulus)
Spindle Tree (Euonymus europaeus)
Wayfairing Tree (Viburnum lantana)
Dog Rose (Rosa canina)
Field Rose (Rosa arvensis)
Hazel (Corylus avallana)
Common Buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica)
Wild Pear (Pyrus communis)
Wild service tree (Sorbus torminalis)
Scots Rose (Rosa spinosissima)
Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris)
Silver Birch Tree (Betula pendula)
Rowan (Sorbus acuparia)

That's 17 species in total and 2 of each species- I think I will let the birch grow into trees but the rest will be grown in the hedge.

Im trying to decide how high the hedge should be- I think I will let it grow to about 4 feet- this should provide some privacy from neighbouring plots but not too tall to block out the light.

Anyhow- am very pleased so far with the delivery and cant wait to get them planted out! Roll on the 4 day weekend!

Its seed sowing time...

We were given a free plastic mini greenhouse last weekend (thanks Rachel!)- which meant we could start our new vegetables from seed and baby plants to be put on the allotment (when we eventually get it).

Gosh what didnt we sow seeds for? Leeks, Peas, Courgettes (Yellow and Green), Spring Onions, Cabbage, Purple Sprouting Broccoli, Chillis, Onions, Shallots, Jerusalem Artichokes and 30 crowns of Asparagus (not in the photo)

We just need the go ahead on the allotment and we can start planting them out! (We are just waiting for the current plot holders to take all the plants they want from the site!) Now to find the cheapest source of gravel boards to create our raised beds.

Breaking News!

There is a possibility we may be able to get an allotment this year! Am incredibly excited about this as we try each year to grow veggies in our garden- but I never let P plant them out in the garden as I don't want to give up the space. And they never seem to do very well. (apart form our tomatoes in the hanging basket last year- they were great!) So if we get an allotment we can grow exactly what we want- and pretty much as much as we like!

The only solution was to get an allotment!

Will let you know if we are successful- but allotments are like gold dust around here- but this has been in the pipeline for some years.

Hmm will we be self sufficient in veggies too by the end of the year??- first eggs now veggies and fruit!

Wheres the goat and the bees?!

This could be the start of something beautiful! (and back breaking!)