Weeds and Deeds

A man of words and not of deeds

Is like a garden full of weeds

And when the weeds begin to grow

It's like a garden full of snow

I know, I know, I'm a bad blogger. Its not that I've  been lounging on the sofa being fed peeled grapes my my daughters. (I've tried, they just sqwish them up my nose). 

there really are fairies at the bottom of my garden

I've mostly been dealing with sleepless nights from teething babies and toddler nightmares.   I have managed prop my eyelids open with matchsticks, drag my weary body into in the garden and have started and re-written this blog four times.  It's been so long now that i cant remember where to begin.  

Ah yes there was a hosepipe ban.  Drought and disaster looming while at the same time, water water everywhere, well definitely in my three water butts.  Then Thames water finally  lifted the hose pipe ban after some of the heaviest rain fall in May and June.   Being on a water metre means that I am still hoping that I don't have to use the hose pipe too much. 

With all the rain I'm tried to stay off the soil as much as possible, so as not to compact it and destroy the structure.  I managed to do some weeding, though it's a constant battle as they are growing ..... Well ...... like weeds!

I haven't cut the hedge yet as it was too wet and i cant find the hedge trimmer since we moved.  I haven't cut the grass, you guessed it, to wet. (though i probably could now) .  

So I thought its about time to get those reluctant gardeners back on track.  

I followed my own earlier advice and cheated. I didn't buy tomatoes as I had already sown some, I bought some pumpkin seedling and some chilli seedling. For the pumpkins I formed three little mounds, apparently they like to trail down little hills. To stop the slugs I put tumble dryer fluff round one, oats round another and the last had to fend for itself as the sheeps wool is in the post???  Now whether it was the high winds or the slugs the porridge oats lost. Slugs 1- Mum in wellies 0. (I now have two flowers on my pumpkins, so excited!).   The slimy ones have also been chomping their way through my lettuce and my strawberries.  So I went mad with the slug pellets all around the strawbs as I don't have enough tumble dryer fluff. (the td fluff seems to be working as my beans have remained intact). 

I digress. Reluctant gardeners I have a task for you. A simple and inexpensive was to increase the amount of plants in your garden, presents for friends or to get in the good books of the church/school/village fete committee. 

Soft wood cuttings. 

There are loads of plants that you can take soft wood cuttings from both perennials and shrubs. Too many to mention so here are just a few. 

Perennials

Erigeron - evergreen ground cover big blouse daisy flowers 

Penstemon - classic cottage garden plant comes in an array of colours

Nepeta - catmint I love it but do does my cat so I can't grow it in my gardened he eats it, rolls in it and goes nuts. 

Shrubs

Lavendula - what can I say, everyone know this one and it's a great way to get tons of it!

Buxus - only if you have the time and patience,  it's slow to propagate. 

Buddlejia - don't knock this train line plant it has some lovely cultivars and is great for wildlife.  Black knight is beautiful, deep purple flowers with orange centres

Hydrangea - aborescens Annabelle is my favorite big white pompoms

The soft new shoots on plants is what you are looking for. Preferably non flowering shoots as they will root more easily. 

from left: lavender, sage, ceanothus, flowering currant

Take off up to 10cm of a shoot just above a bud on the parent plant.

feeling a little cold: stripped of their lower leaves

Strip the lower few leaves so you have a decent length of stem to plant in the soil. 

I've used John innes seed and potting compost, but you probably could you a good multi purpose compost. 

please ignore my bad manicure!

Dip the cutting in some rooting powder or liquid then make a hole in the compost (fingers, dibbers, a pencil what ever suits). Then put in the cutting and firm it into the compost. 

Water well. 

now wait

I put two to three cuttings per pot (just because I'm tight!). 

Mine are in a sunny sheltered area in my garden as my greenhouse isn't up yet. But a window sill would do of you haven't got the space outside

Leave them for 6-10 weeks. Remembering to keep the compost moist. 

Then your only problem is finding places in your garden to plant them. 

I have cuttings of

Lavendula  Hidcote

Salvia officinalis

Rosmarinus officinalis

Ceanothus Concha

Cistus Sunset

Buxus semirvirens

Ribes sanguineum

I do get quite carried away taking cuttings as its SO easy!

just a few strawberries, red currants and sticks of rhubarb

my little star

I've also been collecting the strawbs and red currants which, even though we've been sharing them with the slugs and bird population of Newbury, seem to be an unending harvest.  Lottie like Holly before her has acquired a taste for red currants straight from the bush so it's a battle between them as to who will get there first, all fear of spiders and other crawlies banished. 

no spider can stop the intrepid strawberry hunter

Unwelcome Visitors

When I first got back into gardening as an adult I'd just moved into a basement flat in Camberwell which had a garden. It was mostly paving but had some borders and an enormous elder tree at the back.  As I was pretty poor I decided to grow all of my plants from seed. With no greenhouse and much to the annoyance of my boyfriend I had seed trays all over the kitchen floor. I had cleared the borders of weeds and just planted out some of the seedlings when I had to go on a two week tour with the dance company I was working with.   I was welcomed back by my very proud boyfriend who said he had been looking after my garden, watering and weeding. He took me outside to view his work, when I looked out in the garden I found a lot of bare earth. He'd weeded all of my seedlings. What could I say.......... 

As this dear boyfriend is now my dear husband, I thought I'd do a run down of the weeds in my garden, just in case. 

There are two main types of weeds, annual (grow, flower and die in one year) and perennial (the buggers that keep coming back). The former and quite easy to get rid of if you get them before their flower, the latter are a pain in the arse. 

(I'm using botanical paintings just to make them look nicer)

Perennials pains

Brambles

Mixed feelings on this one as blackberries are so yummy. But I think on the whole I'd prefer to forage them elsewhere .

Broad leaved willow herb

Quite easy to clear with a fork but can tear, leaving the roots behind for another year. 

Wood Avens

Annoying as it does look like a it's cultivated cousin until it flowers but quite easy to  lift.

Bindweed

is there any garden that doesn't have this strangulating pernicious pain! if there is I'd like to move in!  it seems that I have two types.  hedge bindweed Convolvulus arvensis, the white flowering one that most gardens seem to have, and field bindweed it travels along the ground pulling things down rather than twining up and strangling everything.  Both are as bad as each other. But I only seem to have them in a small patch so operation strangulation has begun.

Annuals

Goose grass

One of my favourite weeds on that it is fun to play with and quite easy to clear.

Common field speedwell

spreading suffocating, but pretty blue flowers.

Chickweed

Easy to clear with hoeing.

A tip I remember from Bunny Guinness off gardeners world was, if you don't have time to weed the garden properly deadhead the weeds to stop them flowering. That way you are at least stopping them from spreading.   But do go back and clear the weeds at a later date, otherwise you'll never get rid of them.

I must say that Bjorn is very proud that he can now discern many different types of plants, but he does steer clear of doing the weeding.

So I'm sitting here trying to stay calm, waiting for the dentist to fill my life with pain.  (2 fillings, I blame all that Ribena).  So I'm thinking of the lovely week I've just had filled with beautiful walks in stunning landscapes with friends and family. 

mown path through the orchard at The Vyne

On Friday I thought it was a out time I used that national trust membership that I got for Christmas. (thanks mum). So I packed a picnic, sun cream and picnic blanket(thanks again mum) and of we drove to The Vyne near basingstoke. Half an hour of windy roads and a dozen "are we there yet"s we arrived, bumping over the cattle grid.  I was slightly condemned that although I would love ambling through the beautiful gardens Holly might get bored.   In true jubilee/Olympic spirit they had a scarecrow trail through the garden so Holly had the time of her life searching for scarecrows and choosing her favourite. In fact she enjoyed it so much we had to take her Daddy there again in the Monday and we will be making our own scarecrow for the garden. 

Holly wasn't impressed with his cycling style

My second venture into sublime landscapes was a wonderful  surprise.  While visiting  my friend Marneta in Oxfordshire, not only did I get to while away the hours in her beautifully serene garden, but she took me to a capability brown landscaped garden just down the lane.  What a fabulous surprise that was.  

Grecian temple in the gardens

Immaculately restored with formal gardens around the house, spreading out into acres of landscaped views out into the Oxfordshire countryside. It never ceases to amaze me how Capability Brown had such vision. 

While out on our stroll with Ronnie Barker, a dog with special privileges. We came across some lemon sorrel, great in salads and other dishes too.  

Ronnie was quite taken with the Wedding Cake tree,
Cornus controversa Variegata

And so a mini wild forage began. We also collected some hedge garlic and by the time we go back we had enough for a small bowl of salad to accompany a beautifully healthy vegetarian lunch. 

my new friend

Back home in Newbury the wild foraging inspire me to get out into the garden and see what was on offer.  All my life I have. Even convinced that I don't like rhubarb, now it's in my garden I've been converted. Thanks to a simple recipe for rhubarb syrup. Holly drinks it as a cordial but we've also had it on ice cream and I'm waiting for a garden  party to try it with gin!

there may be a small child lost in there

Having spent so long in the back garden I have been ignoring the front which has turned into a bit of a wild meadow. So one evening Bjorn mowed as I edged. Though after it was finished it looked more like a moss lawn than a grass one. Ah well. Maybe that will be inspiration for my Japanese garden. 

short back and sides please