Putting the rye to bed...

Woke up to quite abit of sunshine this morning so my plans to get some work done in the vegetable garden were favoured upon. Powered by the bacon and egg (free range of our own hens of course) sandwich I had for breakfast I set to work on one of the beds which had a crop of grazing rye growing in it.

Obviously, as i'm operating a no-dig approach this year I cannot simply dig the rye in. So to that end, I began by cutting it down to ground level with a pair of shears:

I then put a layer of shredded paper and old paper sacks that we buy the poultry food in:

Then finally I top it all off with spent hops and garden compost. The idea is to put as much organic matter on the cut rye as possible because it regrows very quickly. By blocking out the light it should rot down nicely and be incorporated into the soil.

 

It's best to get this done now as, once the rye is cut, it takes a good two months before you can plant on that ground. Well this bed is destined for brassicas which shan't be planted out until the end of March/beginning of April so we're easy on.

Just a quick thing- signs its mild for the time of the year- found this guy basking by the compost heaps when I get there:

Wont be long before we start to see frogspawn in the ponds? A sure sign that spring is only round the corner!

 

A long time...Old friends... It's been a while.

Well, we're here again- another New year. It has been some time since my last post due to commitments with one thing and another! A lot has happened since the last time I wrote- the big one was I was rushed in to have major bowel surgery which left me almost useless for at least 6 months. Fortunately i'm more or less back to normal now and back gardening so things are returning back to the way they were. I'm now Secretary to the new district association of the NVS (national vegetable society) based here in the West Midlands. I have let the position of allotment letting officer go as I was finding it hard to get round all the sites and meet the new tenants. This year I feel is going to be a busy one- i'm booked to give my very first gardening talk, I have another allotment open day to organise, I have decided to take the NVS judging exam later in the year and I also have our mini show to judge (Phewww... busy? extremely busy me thinks...)
Not a lot happening in the garden at the moment. Have been redesigning some parts of the garden- the jewel garden has now become the tuxedo garden and we now have the makings of a small shell grotto (sounds exciting doesn't it- I can't wait to see it either!)


The veg garden has been turned over to no-dig beds so I spent a couple of days over Christmas fetching lots of well rotted manure to mulch the beds. The majority of beds are 8ft square with several beds on the edge measuring slightly larger at 19x 10ft. The bigger beds are destined to take maincrop spuds and legumes. It will be interesting to see how the no-dig methods compare with the more tradition approach that we have always taken. (Will keep you posted on that one!)

A view across some of the beds...

Beds covered over to encourage the worms to do their business!

Beds topped with manure or garden compost

Then a dressing of biochar fertiliser

 

 

Those of you that regularly followed this blog will have met our old girl Cassy. Unfortunately she has gone to a better place and we naturally miss her very much. We spent 18 very happy years together and she was my very first gardening 'buddy'.

Cassy

We decided to have another dog and now have a cracking little fella called Monty (after Monty Don of course!). He's is mainly border terrier with a little Lakeland in him. We fetched him when he was 7 weeks old from Stone which is around 30 miles from here. When we got there he was on a farm, amongst many other dogs in kennels caked in mud- he looked a sorry little chap- a little on the bloated and muddy side. Now he's 8 months and turning out to be a right little gardener! I can see many more happy years to come with this new gardening 'buddy'.

Monty aged 8 months

about 4-5 months I think here...

7 weeks ahhhhh...

Feeling his teeth!

 

 

The flowers to see May out...

Returning from five days away from the garden, its incredible how things have come on with the recent heatwave we've had. We've come back to be greeted by alliums in full throttle and aquilegias pacing it out. Everything is greener, fresher and healthier. Its something i see every year yet it never ceases to excite me as though its the first time ever. Rather like christmas; you know it comes on an annual basis but you still get the same excitment when it does. So i'll now share some photos of some of the stars of this month:-

Rhododendron

Aquilegia clematiflora

Today sees the end of Chelsea week which culminates with the great plant sell-off. I've always wanted to go to Chelsea but never got round to it due to various factors such as work and the cost. I.m not sure how much it costs but i would imagine it's expensive. However, for now i shall continue to attend the Malvern show which, for me, is a fantastic show and has everything to offer and doesn't cost an arm and a leg in entrance fees!

Melittus

Part of the Jewel garden

Allium hollandicum 'Purple Sensation'

Clematis 'Vivyan Pennel'

Holiday snaps from Somerset...



The water at Cheddar

Grabbing a cuppa at the cafe!

Some even grabbed a cream tea!

Looking down the gorge

They even had my porch here!

Tower steps at Wells Cathedral

The entrance to the Bishop's palace and gardens

Part of the Bishop's palace, Wells Somerset.

Cassy seemed to be enjoying herslef too.

Oo argh... and a bit of Cheddar...

Well folks, we are blogging from the leafy lanes of Somerset this week, as the sun shines and the temperatures soar we've left Duck pools for a few days to let her do her thing.
Today we ended up at Cheddar, a beautiful little village where an enchanting little stream flows down from the Gorge, where one can sit and watch the baby trout, and where cheese has dominated, yet has been the making of the village.
We pic-nicked there before heading back, stopping at the local farm shop to pick up the first English-grown strawberries of this year! We did also stop of at Sanders Garden World- a huge garden centre just out of Burnham-on-sea which was tempting fate as, surprise, surprise, i did end up making a purchase however, i do hasten to add i managed to limit myself to only three plants: Cerastium, corsican mint and a delightful plant in the busy lizzy family (Impatiens) called Impatien velvetea 'Secret Love'. I already have some idea of where each one will go, the cerastium will warrant a sunny spot with good drainage so should thrive in the rockery. The corsican mint can be planted on th edge of the pool to gradually mask the sides and the impatiens can go in the jungle garden in a fairly shady position. There's three jobs for my return!
Without a doubt, all you avid gardeners will be watching Chelsea flower show this week as are we. Already we have seen some lovely show gardens (i especially took a liking to Joe Swifts first ever chelsea garden) however each and every year i fail to see any point in the gardens of Diarmud Gavin. Perhaps its just acquired taste that i dont have but they just seem so way out! Last year we had a garden where you were raised god-knows how many feet of the ground by crane wire and this year he's gone and designed a glorified multi-storey block of flats, each storey with its own unique asset such as shower, cafe or car! Despite this, its lovely to see abit of sunshine for Chelsea and we wish all those exhibiting the best of luck as they find out today what medals have been awarded!
I did intend to post some photos but the server is very slow down here so i'll hang on to them and post them when we're back at HQ.

A few snapshots of the month of May...

The month of May always holds so much promise. It offers a taste of things to come yet it still hangs on to things that were. For instance, in the rockery here at Duck pools, we still have narcissus in flower and the Iberis sempervirens which started flowering back in March, just as spring was thinking of rearing its beautiful head, is still with us and boasting its brilliant white frothiness.
As we approach the middle of May i thought it would be nice to take a few snaps of various plants and features which are looking especially good at the moment...

Lady in the Japanese Garden, welcoming people to the garden

The sleeping lady in the green man garden

One of our collection auriculas

Solomons seal which we have in the japanese garden and in the green man garden. Looks wonderful at the moment. No saw fly yet!

An old favourite of many; Euphorbia polychroma

We have possibly 50 or more alliums waiting to burst their buds at the moment. Another fortnight and they should all be at their best.

Euphorbia grifithii 'Fireglow'

Smilacena racemosa growing on the edge of the stumpery. This has an intoxicating scent.

The mouse plant growing in the stumpery. A wonderful curiosity.

Centaura montana. This is the first one of the year- the bees will be happy.

Thalictrum 'Black Stockings' With a name like that who can resist!

Narissu 'Sundisc' in the rockery.

The alpine geraniums in the rockery have just started flowering.



The painted fern growing in the rockery. I would like to add this to the stumpery

Nemo, rather fittingly situated next to our pond.

This beautiful baby-pink rhododendron belongs in the japanese garden.

As regular readers may realise; there are no photos of the Jewel garden purely because it does not come into its own well into summer. At this time of the year the Jewel garden is building up steam with perennials such as penstemons, verbena, monarda and heleniums surging throughg the ground and building up momentum. These are to be joined by half hardy annuals such as cosmos, rudbeckias and zinnias. And then it shall all come to a magnificent crescendo when bulbs such as gladioli, dahlia, lillies and crocosmia join the floral chorus. So you will have to wait for photos of that...

Lords and ladies...

A clipped and shampooed Cookie

We took Cookie for another walk tonight. We took a route which took us through grassland and nice houin estates until we reached a large lake where a menagerie of ducks and geese reside, a really lovely place. Cookie had been taken for a shampoo and trim today and she did look lovely. I especially liked her bushy eyebrows!

Lakeside

On the way back i just happened to catch a glimpse of something in the hedgerow which, at this time, shootsup in abundance. The plant is Lords and Ladies (Arum) and throws up pale green/white spathes which, in autumn, are followed by bright brilliant red berries that the birds find irresistable.

We have a similar plant in the garden (Arum italicum) whose foliage is a lovely glossy dark green with white marbling. It grows best in moist shade but we have it growing in dry shade beneath a dense thicket of bamboo which just goes to show it can cope with any extreme.