The Garden - Update

Things have moved on slightly since the last pic on the 'Starting Point' blog post from April. I've marked out the shape of the new bit of lawn I want to put in. Not sure if I want to use that log roll as edging, I think it'll sit too high up and create too much of a shadow at the edge of the lawn. On the other hand, I like the look of the log edge around the woodland garden, so I'll have to come up with a plan to make sure the lawn doesn't get shaded out at the edges. I've bought some more plants......

Now I've named my garden areas, I know what plants I need. It really does help to focus you. But I'm not one to go out hunting for particular plants, then buying 3's and 5's of them, as suggested by most garden designers. I'll just pick up one cheap one. What I plan to do is, plant it, and split it when it gets bigger. So I've got a load of single pots of various size plants, depending when they were bought, around.

I went to Homebase to pick up a few things to mosaic onto for my craft shop, and ended up getting sucked into the plant sale section. I got two plants for £2 (reduced from  £3 so not exactly the bargain of the century). But they are great for my bee and butterfly border. I've now got a fairly decent size Verbena Bonariensis, which I think is in the top ten of bee friendly plants, and an in-flower  Centaurea Montana (It's this brilliant electric blue flower that caught my eye and drew me to the sale section). I did better in Morrisons on the weekly shop last week, I picked up a large Primula Denticulata for £1 that I reckon I can split into 3 plants. Morrisons is brilliant for getting cheap plants because as soon as the plant stops flowering, they drop the price to get rid of them. Plus they also sell-off small shrubs for under £2, so if you are willing to wait a bit, it's a very economical way of getting them.

So the bee and butterfly border collection grows. I am trying to grow some things for the border from seed. Obviously that's the most economical way of growing any plants, but I seem to be the original 'blackfingers' when it comes to flower seeds. The larger seeds I do ok with. I've got some Pot Marigolds on the go for around the veg bed and they are doing fine. I've tried to grow some native primrose which are really fine seeds and nothing's happened. I tried to grow some strawberries by seed. They are teeny seeds. Some germinated, then died. I'm just not good with small seeds. I have got a minor success on the go, I've got some Iceland Poppies in a seed tray (they are supposed to be sown where they are to flower, but I haven't got the bed sorted yet), they are still alive and are growing bigger. I am stunned. We'll see if I can get them to flowering size. Blackfingers crossed.

What I do much better with when growing from seed is my veg. The veg bed is slowly filling up as things can get planted out, weather permitting, and after they've been hardened off. I've got some fabulous purple colours in the bed at the moment. That's one of the criteria for what I grow. The main one is that we like eating the vegetable, but if I can find an interesting flowered, or leaved, plant of that veg then that's the one I'll grow. I got some seeds at the start of the year from a seed company that was doing an offer which meant I got 4 packs of good quality veg seeds for around £3.50. One pack of which was a crimson flowered broad bean. I think we'll just about get a couple of meals worth of beans out of the amount I've planted, but the flowers look great at the moment. Let's face it, with a veg bed the size of mine, we're not going to go self-sufficient, so it may as well be nice to look at.

The broad bean flowers look especially good with the crimson veins of the beetroot plants in front of them. And my Nike Warsaw clematis that I bought as a tiny plant from Morrisons last year has shot up the fence this year and the first flower is out. As it's planted on the fence behind the veg bed all the colours tie in really well. I'm very pleased. Not that it was designed, it's a happy accident.

The woodland bed, I've planted up with a few plants out of my pot collection, and they seem to be doing well down there in the gloom. In fairness, the path side of the bed does get a bit of sun, so things should do ok there. It's right in the corner that I need the totally shade tolerant plants. I'm going to try and grow some foxglove plants from seed for that bit (I must be high on the relative success of my poppy seeds so far). I've got one of my 50p, garden centre, end-of-season-sale, clematis, that was about 10cm tall when I bought it, planted on the nearside of the pic. As you can see it's shot up this year, so patience has been a virtue with that one. There's a honeysuckle growing up the fence further into the bed. That was a cutting I took from one my mum has got, it's a fab orange colour when it flowers. I've also got a geranium that got as a division from one of mum's plants in this bed too. There's a really nice Heuchera Green Spice which does really, really well in the shade. I've got one in my front garden which gets no sun at all and it's quite happy and growing really well. I got that from Homebase a few years ago in another end of season sale. I've now managed to split the original plant because it's grown on so well and put a plant in the woodland bed. I've also stuck in a couple of  ferns that I've had in pots for years. One got attacked by the dreaded vine weevil grubs (a real pest around here), so it's recovering in the open soil. The other fern I've put in is loving it (it's the really fresh lime green one in the above pic). I'm not sure what type of fern it is. The label that came with it says it's a Hard Fern. But, it's not evergreen, new fronds unfurl every year after the old ones have died off. And the fronds are soft and stay soft, so I think it's been mislabeled. Another supermarket buy. Tesco this time, so not somewhere well known for their plant selling. It's probably a general fern label that they used.

Are you getting the drift about where I pick up my plants from? I do occasionally get plants from garden centres, or plant nurseries, but I do find them really expensive. You get what you pay for though. I buy very small plants, or ones that have stopped flowering. If you buy from a garden centre you get a nice big plant on the verge of a really good flower show. I will buy from garden centres if it's a really big plant that can be split into more. Like I once bought a Primula Vialii which was £4 but I split it into 4 plants, so it worked out very cheap. I bought one large plant to this garden in a pot. But, unfortunately, that was the plant that I found out we had vine weevils with. It didn't come up one spring and I tipped the pot out to find it full of grubs. I now keep a very close eye on emerging plants.

One more plant to show off. I acquired a 2cm cutting of this plant last year. Wasn't sure what it was at first. I now think it's a rock rose - possibly Fire Dragon. Whatever it is, I love this flower colour. And it's persuading me to a colour scheme in the bee border. I think I'll be having orange, purple, and blue. The blue will tie in with my Moroccan mosaic things and my ceramic ornaments, the orange goes with the terracotta pots, and the purple just looks good with both of those.

So that's the garden at the start of May. I will update again soon as things change, which is quite quick at this time of year. And hopefully it'll have rained by then too. We've had no rain for 2 months now and I've had to water everything every couple of days like I do in midsummer. Who would have thought it? The gardeners of England wanting rain.

P.S. If you've been keeping up with the walking blogs, the other half finished his 16-mile charity walk in 5 hours, raising around £700. Not too many ill-effects after it either, only a couple of small heel blisters, so he was happy. And he is now calling himself a walker, which is good news for more walking blogs. Also, if you were wondering what the other 50p aquillegia flower that I picked up on the Skidby Mill walk looks like, here it is. A bit pink and frilly for me. I might put it in the front garden though. The bees will still like it whatever colour and shape it is.