In the Garden

Last year, I spent a day at the Real Cut Flower Garden and came away inspired to create my own cutting patch.  As our garden is not all that large and we have two young children who need space to play, a cutting patch at home wasn’t going to be feasible but we were lucky enough to secure half an allotment plot in our village.

Ten months later and we’re still battling the weeds but we’re also busy harvesting lots of fresh fruit, veggies and beautiful blooms.  It has been lots of hard work and if I’m honest, there have been times when it’s felt like just another thing on our seemingly endless ‘to do’ list.

Mostly though it has become a bit of a haven, somewhere to get away from it all and enjoy some peace and quiet. There’s a great sense of community and even the kids, who were sceptical at first, have enjoyed making new friends, building dens and of course filling their little tummies full of fruit.

National Allotments Week runs from 8-14 August and aims to highlight the allotment movement and raise awareness of growing your own.

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With spring just around the corner it’s time to spare a thought for the birds who will soon be getting busy building their nests.

National Nest Box Week is organised by the British Trust for Ornithology and encourages us to put up nest boxes in our garden in time for the nesting season.  There has been a huge decline in the number of natural nesting sites available to birds in recent years so putting up nesting boxes provides homes for birds who may otherwise struggle to find a suitable site to rear their young. The NNBW website has lots of interesting information about the different species of bird that use nest boxes as well as detailed instructions if you fancy having a go at building your own.

Another great idea I came across recently on the Living Homegrown Fresh blog was to provide a supply of natural nest making materials out in the garden for wild birds to find – scraps of natural fibres such as wool, silk, fabric and ribbon left over from craft projects make perfect nesting materials entwined with twigs. My kids and I have had fun collecting lots of colourful bits and pieces together and will be looking out for the best dressed nest later in the season.

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Last Friday I spent a wonderful, if slightly damp day on the picturesque Herefordshire/Wales border learning how to plan a cutting garden.

The course was run by Charlie Ryrie from
The Real Cut Flower Garden – a fabulous mail order company supplying traditional English country bouquets from March  through to November.

The Real Cut Flower Garden offers a beautiful and much greener alternative to the high street florist and it was great to see that there is a growing demand for more sustainable flowers.

Charlie shared what she had learnt from setting up her own business very openly and her passion and energy were infectious – I came away thinking what an amazing way to make a living and pondering how I might go about buying a large field!  On reflection, and having got a sense of just how hard Charlie works I know that the time isn’t right for me at the moment – certainly not on a large scale anyway, plus I already have two little people that get me up at silly hours in the morning.

That isn’t to say that one day I might fulfill a dream of having a real live shop filled with vintage goodies and gorgeous home-grown blooms. In the meantime, I will certainly be applying what I’ve learnt on a much smaller scale in my own garden so that I can enjoy flowers indoors for the majority of the year.

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When I was growing up in rural Hampshire, there was a hurdle-maker who lived at the end of the lane. Like his father, and his grandfather before him, ‘Lit’ Westbrook would work all week making traditional sheep hurdles from hazel coppiced from woods in the local estate.

I used to watch the hurdle-maker, hypnotised by his calm, steady movements and efficiently repeated actions. The tool he held most commonly was an old billhook which he used to expertly split the hazel rods before weaving them into hurdles.

This billhook looked like it had been passed down through generations of Hampshire hurdle makers – its blade was worn but still sharp, its handle polished to a smooth satin patina by decades of use.

Nowadays when I use a vintage garden tool with a similar hand-worn grip I can’t help wondering how many generations of gardeners have held this same old fork or spade. It’s easy to imagine that the tool itself has inherited some wisdom and skill from its masters over the years -  and that in turn the vintage tool passes on this knowledge and expertise to anyone using them in the garden.

Do you have a favourite vintage tool you use in the garden, or a garden implement that has been handed down through your family? We’d love to hear about them.

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This week gardeners are being encouraged to support Britain’s coppiced woodland by choosing locally-grown beanpoles over imported bamboo canes. As well as being good for the environment, hazel beanpoles and peasticks look really natural and some gardeners believe that their plants prefer them too.

Traditionally managed coppiced woodlands are a really important part of our countryside – they supply us with sustainable wood, provide a rich habitat for wildlife, support rural jobs and help to keep ancient skills and traditions alive.

Last weekend I planted out my sweet peas in an old cast iron copper and used some peasticks that I carried home from the community woodland in our village – we’ll see whether the plants do better, but I definitely prefer the rustic look.

For a directory of where to find local coppice products try the Allotment Forestry website or www.coppice-products.co.uk . Details about the various events that are going on around the country to celebrate National Beanpole Week can  be found on their website.

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I am loving these pretty vintage teacups which I planted up last autumn – see Alys Fowler’s blog for excellent detailed instructions on how to do this.

Brighten up your windowsill or give as a unique Mother’s Day gift – these are a great project for anyone with a cupboard overflowing with mismatched vintage china ( if you can bear to drill holes in it that is).  Junk shops and charity shops are good places to find old teacups and bowls that can be given a new lease of life with a bit of creative planting.

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My sister lives in Painswick, home of the Rococo Garden which is famous for its display of snowdrops.  Yesterday we joined the throngs of ‘galanthaphiles’ – can’t believe there is actually a name for showdrop enthusiasts – for an afternoon in the sunshine and a good opportunity to get some practice in with my new camera.

For me, snowdrops are a welcome kind of snow – they mark the start of the gardening season and are a sign that spring is on its way. I read an interesting article recently about how snowdrops can be used in the treatment of Alzheimers and malaria, which is surely another good reason to celebrate these little beauties.

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The snow has meant a false start to the new year for many of us and with school closed and sub-zero temperatures meaning trips outside are pretty short-lived, (in fact it takes twice as long to get ready to go out than the amount of time we actually manage to stay outside) it’s been a pretty tough week.

Despite the cabin fever, bored children and my frustration at not being able to get on with the tonnes of things I need to be doing I am trying to stay positive……the upside of the snow is that it transforms my messy winter garden into a thing of beauty (no mean feat) and it has forced me to find more creative ways of entertaining the children.

One of the things we did this weekend was to make our own bird feeders out of pine cones – they’re easy to make, the kids enjoyed it and the birds were very grateful.

If you fancy having a go then here’s what you will need….

• Pine cones (large open ones work best but we just used ones we had to hand)

• String

• Vegetable shortening, lard or suet

• Oatmeal or cornmeal

• Bird seed

First tie the string to the pine cones, then mix 1/2 cup of vegetable shortening (or alternative) with 1/2 cup of oatmeal in bowl until blended. Spread the mixture over the cones with a butter knife or back of a spoon, then roll the pine cones in the seed until well covered.  Hang outside for the birds to enjoy.

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My brother and his wife had a joint 40th birthday party recently and we wanted to give them a gift that was a bit different. Claire suggested giving them one of our vintage tin bath planters for their garden so we drilled a few holes and planted it up with some colourful cyclamen, heather, ivy and some other winter greenery.  As an extra surprise we tucked in a few spring bulbs so it should look great right the way through until next summer – that is if their new puppy doesn’t get his grubby paws on it in the meantime.

For more inspiration on using vintage containers for planting you could check out the following:

Planted Junk by Adam Caplin
Practical advice on gardening with recycled containers and some stunning photos by Francesca Yorke.

The Green Home – Organic Crops in Pots by Deborah Schneebeli-Morrell
How to create your own organic garden in a small outdoor space using an imaginative array of containers.

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I’m always on the look out for unusual planting ideas and on a recent family day out to the Cotswold Wildlife Park, I spotted this old pair of wellies being used as a planter and looking fabulous overflowing with geraniums and fuchsias. What a great idea for reusing an old pair of wellies that might otherwise end up in landfill.

As well as the animals, which are the obvious attraction, the gardens at the Wildlife Park are absolutely stunning and well worth a visit.

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