I can only apologise that weekends are likely to involve garden-related posts for a while, though rest-assured books will be involved too, because having found my way around the garden again, it was obvious I would head to the shelves and see just what was there and of relevance. It was en route to the Gardening Shelf that I remembered I had given it a serious prune in the recent clearout. Geoff Hamilton's Cottage Gardens seems to have survived, along with the huge RHS Encyclopaedia of Plants and Flowers, Hardy Geraniums, The Lost Gardens of Heligan and The Victorian Kitchen Garden. Thankfully I had kept Katherine Swift's Morville books too.
I have therefore been forced to add in a few new titles including diaries from Christopher Lloyd and Anna Pavord, Four Hedges by Clare Leighton and a lovely copy of Flora Britannica by Richard Mabey found in the Oxfam shop. I am currently reading A Gentle Plea for Chaos - Reflections from an English Garden by Mirabel Osler. More of all this soon, the garden reading is chiming very harmoniously with me right now.
But remember The Victorian Kitchen Garden TV series back in the 1980s?
We were acutely addicted and videoed every single one before attempting to grow cardoons and realising we didn't have the Victorian manpower required to pick off the slugs one at a time, or the kittens tied to string and encouraged to play up and down the rows to keep the birds at bay.
And what exactly do you use cardoons for anyway.
Tucked inside the RHS book I came across my planting plan (implemented) for this garden when we moved here nineteen years ago. We had left behind our first 'bought' home with a beautiful little cottage garden containing an even more beautiful greenhouse that Bookhound had built...
...and if I am honest, though the move was the right one, it is little wonder I grieved for so much about that cottage and its environs, though I hadn't expected to.
It therefore seemed like a plan when we arrived here, and finding not a single plant growing in the garden bar a solitary Lenten Rose (still going strong) and a whole lot of grass, to quickly re-create what we had left behind. Silly me because I know now that it was an impulse reaction and the need for colour and replacing what was 'lost', rather than taking the sensible route and biding time.
I had completely forgotten in the mists of time that I had planted a rose garden back in 1995, now long gone.
Knowing nothing about the soil, or the weather conditions, or what happens when a sou'westerly hits, or giving any thought to the destruction a new puppy might wreak, or how busy we would be with building works and the damage they would do , I set about planting this lot as well. I don't know when I thought I was going to have time to tend it either, we were both working full time and ferrying children hither and thither every evening.
As far as I can tell all that remains is the Spirea 'Bridal Wreath' and one or two of the more prolific geraniums (now acres of them) which just drowned the more delicate ones. As for the herb garden, it was where my new seed bed is and we came across one or two of the bricks as we dug, but no sign of anything but the comfrey, which, with a ten foot tap root is going nowhere.
As I plan the garden's renaissance I have given a lot of thought, sitting in my potting shed, to what happened to it all, and how not to make the same expensive mistakes again.
For a start we think we have slightly acidic soil (one day we'll test it...have you all tested yours?)
After nineteen years we think we know our garden enemies... mostly weeds, weather, wind and wildlife and must work around them rather than hope they won't happen, because they will.
No throwing money at uber-expensive plants and then weeping when the dog mows them down or the frost demolishes them, or a herd of sheep invade, start small and see what happens. To this end Morrisons (supermarket) have supplied an amazing selection of young shrubs at 2 for £3, their pop-up outside nursery is good value for money. I have done this before, a £1 wisteria from Woolworths was covering the front of our little cottage and blooming for England by the time we moved. The £16 one we put in here has never thrived in quite the same way. Mind you that might be because I have only just read how to prune it properly (thank you Katherine Swift The Morville Year) ...whippy bits back to five buds in August and then back to two buds in February. Watch this space.
I have added in a few special purchases like lavender and am building up the herbs again... a little Physic Garden in the making.
I am thinking ahead, long term and sowing lots of seeds to create more seeds for collection, as well as bringing on plants for next spring.
I am taking cuttings.
I am raiding the hedgerows for supporting sticks. They look like mini sculptures but offer scaffolding against the wind, and the plants are starting to weave around them.
I have so much to learn it actually feels quite exciting, and I am realising that as I empty the space in my head that had to be kept topped up with work-related information, (please don't ask me how much milk to feed a baby ...haven't the first clue any more) there is now space for something new. I will be teaching myself as usual, and have a pile of books to hand (more of which soon) but I have all of you to call on too... that is if you wouldn't mind sharing your wisdom now and again.
In fact first question tomorrow and it will be about ...oh let's keep it a surprise.
And if anyone has any more gardening reading to recommend please do.
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