After the coldest April and wettest May, isn’t it wonderful to at last feel some warmth and sunshine on our backs whilst gardening. The garden is about 2-4 weeks behind where it normally is. This time last year I had peonies, roses, and the Philadelphus Belle Etoile in flower. They are all currently firm buds, but on the bright side, maybe they will be out for the Open Garden on the 16th and 19th June.
It is the time of year to yet again try and find something that will work on the flowerbed at the front of the house. A flowerbed full of fine beech tree roots, that gets bombarded by overflowing gutters when we do have a downpour, it takes a special plant to survive there. I recently purchased at Longacres some Hydrangea Annabelle, Liriope muscari, a digitalis purpurea, and a couple of hosta’s, to go with the existing hosta and foxglove in there. Whilst clearing the border, I removed a trug full of soil, which goes on the compost heap, and bulk up the bed with a combination of farmyard manure and peat free compost to give the plants some extra nutrients. I’m really pleased with the result this year, and always add in a few Cinderalla stocks for their scent to greet you as you walk in the door. In fact, I love the scent so much I even have them planted by the back door as well.
Out the back, the bluebells have gone over so the tidy up starts. As the leaves start to rot down, they will be added to the compost heap which is in desperate need to some work. I have been advised to add home made compost to my peat free compost to add extra nurtrients and to help it hold water for longer, so it is time to work the compost heap a bit harder and mix the two when planting on plants. With all of the rain we had in May I’m finding young plants in the peat free compost have run out of oomph and have stopped growing, so that’s a job to do whilst enjoying this sunshine. It is all part of learning how to garden with peat free compost which is something we all need to learn to do in order to help protect the peat bogs.
Adding further to the fact that due to the light sandy soil we have and the amount of rain we’ve had, it is time to feed the flowerbeds, and so I’ve started adding a seaweed feed when watering. I prefer to go down the organic route where I can for feeding so prefer fertilisers like seaweed, fish blood and bone, and chicken manure as well as the manure mulch that goes on the garden in spring.
I’ve recently rejuvenated an area of Veronica Spicata. This was planted up with the initial planting of the bed 7 years ago, so it was time to split the veronica and add some bulk to the soil with farmyard manure and some extra plants. Veronica prefers moist soil so can suffer from mildew with the sandy soil, so I am hoping by adding some bulk to the soil to help moisture retention this will help. I’ve added some Phlox Ka-Pow and the Agastache Blue Fortune which although seems a lot of purple will hopefully go well with the Echinacea Pallida that I saw at RHS Wisley last year, as pictured. I’ve been growing on small plants that have just been planted out now they are strong enough and with a mulch of Strulch, they should be safe from the slugs. I’m also loving using my Burgon and Ball transplanting spade which is perfect for digging in those tight spots amongst the plants.
The garden is now into its next phase of bulbs that were planted in the autumn with the alliums in full flower and the Gladiolus communis subsp. Byzantinus starting to open. I had to replant more alliums in the autumn as the numbers seemed to have reduced so greatly over the last few years, which has been a bit of a mystery as they in theory should multiply in the fine sandy soil we have. Anyway I’m glad to see the bulbs planted are flowering well this year. The gladiolus are a new introduction into the garden over the last few years after having seen them at Great Dixter Gardens and Sissinghurst. I am hoping they will self seed throughout the beds. Whilst planted on a much smaller scale, they bring a smile to my face bringing back memories of a great day out.
