#27 - HAED Mini Bouquet finished project

Not the only thing growing in my garden, this delight finally has the gird lines removed, and smells divinely floral after the spa treatment.

Full details on my main blog Sussex Stitcher.

Hugs

Kay xx

#26 - Sweet violets

 … I love them and this beauty was snapped up Some weeks ago from Thorpe’s Nursery … and no, I am not sponsored by them!

This is Viola ‘Rebecca’ and she is and two of her sisters are filling my whole garden with delicious scent that is mailing with the scent from the roses.  Our garden is so open that this is quite a task considering how tiny they are. Four to eight inches 4 by 8 inches in height and spread, and flowering in later Spring to early Autumn.  They like moist, but well drained soil.  Their beautiful creamy-white, mauve-streaked pansy like flowers with clumps of dar green, heart-shaped leaves make me imagine it would be a perfect outfit for any tiny fairies in the garden.

An alpine, they are suitable for borders and path edging, rockeries, gravel gardens and containers, which is where they are planted in an old Butler sink that we un-earned from the top Hebe Garden covered in mud, weeds and junk.  It’s heavy it took two burly men and me to move it the 30 feet to sit in the raised brick patio.

I need more Viola in my life.

Hugs

Kay xx

#25 - 613 seeds of hope

Why that title?  

Well, the Pomegranate has 613 seeds.

Even though I have not been hunting Unicorns, I have finally got around to planting the one we bought months ago from Thorpe Nursery in Horam.  I am pretty sure they had one or two left when I was in there last weekend.

Punica granatum ‘Dente di Cavallo’ is her Latin name, and she has been planted  in one of a pair of blue glazed pots that the darling one won in a raffle shot he year we married , so they have lasted a longtime and look as good as new.Apart from a small white label that I cannot get off, and had never noticed until today.

Self-pollinating edible super fruit, and delicious to boot in August/September, and pruned in March/April.  It can be planted in full sun or partial shade and should be reasonably hardy in Winter, although we will move her to a sheltered position and wrap in fleece just in case I think.

This variety is a container one, and I do not think it is fast growing.  There is no height or spread on the label, but Pomegranates in the Mediterranean grow into fabulous and attractive trees.

They are a truly blessed thing that we are incredibly lucky to have picked.

Hugs

Kay xx

#24 - Reflecting on the new side fence

 

I was just flicking through my stored photos and realised that I had not shred the progress on the side gate/fence area … so here we are.

I obviously have more work to do, but the post holes have been filled in.  They will no doubt settle a bit, but there’s sufficient spoil to deal with that on the plot.

The screening on the back of the trellis was a bit thin one side, so we re-purposed an old mirror from the upper hall that was moved in - the darling one painted it in the Valspar Afternoon Nap green.  The other three shaped mirrors were a random inexpensive purchase from The Range years ago that had never been utilised anywhere, and so we includ3 them (they are plastic frames).

The plan is to re-use an old bird bath in this area, which is a work in progress:

It is certainly not what one would class as a looker, but will do just fine in that corner.  Since taking this photo I’ve added further high and low lights with eco ink, and the bowl portion has been sealed with clear varnish.  I am now going to go over both the bird path and the concrete paving slab with further paint mixed it’s compost for texture.  In the end it shouldn’t look too bad when the planting goes around it, plus it has avoided landfill and will the bids somewhere to drink.  For a little bit of sweat equity is will be a win all around.

My next post will be another area with the same ethos.

Hugs

Kay xx

#23 - Random Seed Casting in the Hebe Garden

This post should be avoided if you are a traditionalist, or of a nervous disposition.  I highly recommend that you do you, and take no notice of the madcap things that I do like the following.  There is no guarantee that it will work, but I like to live on the edge.

I have so many packets of seeds, and not enough time, or indeed places to sow them all that I decided to take a different approach and view in that it was kinder to give them a chance of life if I simply broad cast the seed and see what Mother Gaia gifted me.

So to the Hebe Garden (it is the bed top right of the garden in which I planted a Hebe hedge hence the name)  I trotted with my folder and threw out the contents of the following packets.

; 

Larkspur (Delphinim Consolida) 'Cannes White' - Hardy Annual - Seeds from Plants of Distinction - Cutting flower but attractive to slugs though; makes good confetti when the flowers are dried - Sow in January/April and August/September (clearly, I am ignoring that!)

Pot Marigold (Calendula Officinalis) 'Calexis Mixed) - Hardy Annual - Plants of Distinction NB: link and photo are for 'Galaxy Mixed' as their code for my packet 1219B is no longer available on their website, so this is just to give you .. and me if they germinate ... a helping hand and guide to what to expect. Sow May/September likely to flower in May/October.  Fantastic for infusing in oil to make lotions and potions.

Antirrhinum 'Potomac Ivory White F1' - Half-hardy Annual - Plants of Distinction - Sow February/May - ignoring that and hoping for an Indian Summer - should usually be ready I think about 10 weeks after sowing for platting out.

Larkspur (Delphinium Elatum) 'Double Stars' - Plants of Distinction - Likely to be a slug magnet and dries well for confetti. - Hardy Perennial - Sow January/April, August/September flowering May to September.

Lupin (Lupinus Polyphyullus) 'Summer Carnival' - Plants of Distinction - I would love this to pay off, if not just for these beauties. - Perennial - Sow January/June and August/September. Flowers June to August.  If you do this properly, you would transplant in the garden when the pots are full of root.

As an aside, my 'Russell Mixed lupins sewn earlier in the year are doing very well.  Actually, so well that I have given some away to my darling mother-in-law and also to one of my lovely neighbours.  I am desperate to get the bed dug over by the new side fence - my son is hopefully going to fill in the post holes for me at the weekend to save me some heavy work).  My neighbour came over to pick up her Lupins as said she loved my garden.  Although, I am not sure if she had already hit the sherry bottle because there is to my eye so much wrong with it, with way too many areas yet to do, weed, blah blah blah.   Bless her for saying it, it gave me a boost.

Some seedlings labelled up Shasta Daisy were slung in the white butler sink late last summer after the temporary greenhouse was shaken up in a storm and the seedlings landed in a heap.  They have long been on my radar to move, but it only just dawned on Hebe Garden also.  Managed to finally get my potatoes in - will post about that struggle separately, and helped my son pot up his Torbay Palm (Cordyline Australis) that he rescued (with the permission of the garden owner of course) from a garden he was working on.

Ohh and just because I have zero to sub-zero control, I also have a purchase, and other things on my radar that are proving difficult to forget from the nursery trip yesterday.

Let's take a break there peeps, I threw more down, but will cover those in a further post, and then try to keep you updated as we do along.  I think if any of the Larkspur come through and I get to them before the slugs, I might dig them up and place in pots to keep an eye of them.

#22 - Two heavy days in the garden

 

For a long time we’ve been keen to have Blueberries in the garden, especially as we spend a small fortune buying frozen ones each week for porridge.

So this week the darling one built me a new two board high raised bed whilst I popped out to pick up the compost.  I stuck lucky too, as Thorepe’s had some decent looking  Blueberries in.

Whilst there I picked up some meterage of pest netting, and we knocked this up to house up from a re-purposed temporary greenhouse frame.

It’s difficult to see, but the mesh is in place and secured at each side, and we have to go back in tomorrow and close off the end nearest the fence, and devise an opening at the front that can be rolled up for weeding etc.

Cauliflower on either side of it is maximising the growing space ... hopefully, as we are not that sure how they will cope with the acidity of the bed ... so, its wait and see how fussy they are.

The battening will be painted once the mesh is in place.

I did make a bit of an error, and accidentally purchased two of the same variety, which has just meant that more will have to follow to maximise pollination.  Ideally, three varieties are ideal.

This one is Vaccinium Cor. ‘Brigitte Blue’.  Flowers in spring and crops in Summer/Autumn.  Grows to circa 200 cm height and spread. Pruning should take place November to February.  Full sun or part shad in a sheltered position.  If growing in a container protection over winter would be a good idea.  

We also have a small temporary greenhouse, which the darling one has started to build a frame for, as it tends to topple over, do more on that soon.

I’ve been painting the old bird bath, and am currently waiting for the clear sealer in the bowl to dry ready for a second coat, which is fine as I still have to fill in the fence posts holds and dig over the bed by the side gate bed before it can go in place.  So far this weekend, we’ve spent about seven hours each day working on projects.  Oh, and I finished emptying the Big Boy Hotbin, and Guy gave me a hand to re-site it.  Although, it has only moved about five feet.  The nice thing about its new position is that is is mostly screened by the apple tree and willow, and is now much higher up so that I can easily drain off the liquid without have to fiddle around with a garden scoop each time.

Last night we were too tired to eat dinner, but stopped today just short of exhaustion to have a rest before cooking dinner.

Now to make plans for jobs tomorrow ...

Hugs

Kay xx