The leaves continue to fall and we’ve had some torrential rain over the last month. However, it has been lovely to enjoy the crisp dry days we’ve had over the weekend, even if I do need to get out the thermal gardening gloves whilst doing so. I have purchased a pair of the Skytech Argon thermal gloves and they are brilliant. Leaf clearing continues on a weekly basis and looking at the old oak in the garden we’ve still got a few weeks of leaf clearing to go.
This month my 12 year old daughter asked if she could expand her garden area from a small flowerbed outside the back door to the herb bed. It is wonderful to see her taking an interest in the garden and with the pressures put on children at school now, if she can engage with nature and switch off from school I’m all for it. She has started doing her research and has started a planting plan along with a soil test to find out if the soil is acid or alkaline. The herb bed is currently a haven for bees being full of lavender, marjoram, oregano and rosemary so we will look at relocating those plants in the garden rather than lose them and working together over the next few months we will need to increase the nutrients in the soil. Having been used as a herb bed I haven’t ever added manure or compost as herbs prefer poor soil so we will need to rectify this and add some bulk to the light sandy soil.
This is a great opportunity to start using peat free compost and do our part in helping the environment and help protect the peatlands. In 2011, the Government pledged to phase out the use of peat in garden products by 2020 and in commercial use by 2030. They are currently nowhere near reaching this target and it is down to customers to stop buying compost with peat and drive up demand for peat free compost. The National Trust have been using only peat free compost for years so that gives me some motivation that it can be done and I decided to look at alternatives to buying compost that contains peat. This started with purchasing Miracle-Gro Peat Free All purpose enriched compost and Westland New Horizon All plant Compost.
I have used them to pot up some Erysimum ‘Bowles’s Mauve’ cuttings and will use these as a trial to see which fares best over the growing season next year. In the meantime I have added a bag of peat free compost and manure to the flowerbed to start the process of increasing nutrient levels and nearer spring we will move the existing plants and dig in and add more compost. Then the fun can really start.
Now December is here we can start officially gearing up for Christmas, not too early for the Christmas songs and the real Christmas trees can start to go up, knowing they will last until Christmas. Every year we get a real tree from Longacres and I’ve purchased a beautiful holly wreath from there as well. They have some stunning hanging ivy balls and flower arrangements which I also would have bought, but we have nowhere to hang them, such a shame as they were beautiful.
As much as I love Christmas there is always a part of me that can’t wait for Spring to arrive and the garden centres to start filling back up with plants, it won’t be long now. I get my fix by finding a great selection of planters in the polytunnel instead. Some lovely ideas for gifts and planters to brighten up friends and family’s doorsteps.
On a recent trip to Longacres I went looking for inspiration for a Christmas decoration, I thought we’d have a perfect spot for a tree, but I just can’t bring myself to buy an artificial one and add to the mountain of plastic plants out there so I found this stunning 1m x 1m Copper light star instead. I’m not actually sure it will be coming down after Christmas, we all love it.
Aww lovely to read. Like you I really want my children to enjoy gardening. It’s so important these days.
Agreed the ivy balls look stunning. I also have no hanging space for them.
Look forward to your next blog.
Loved the update on your garden. I miss Longacres… and you, too!
I agree, the star stays!