Gardening Calendars

You may not realise but as well as writing blogs, Martyn and I have some websites that we author (doesn't that sound grand).

Martyn has a blog and a website devoted to one of his other interests - steam locomotives (I call them trains and am usually corrected so I am being very careful here). I even help out by taking some of the train (oops locomotive)photographs for him whilst he is busy filming. Quite a responsibility as the thing rushes past offering a few seconds window in which to get a shot!

If you have ever followed a link from the top of this blog you will have visited one of or two of our sites without realising it.

The top batch of tabs all take you to areas on my gardening website.

The bottom row of links takes you to areas that are regularly updated and change monthly. Martyn keeps a list of what is planted and sown each month and also a complete list of what is harvested each month as well as a full list of the seeds and plants we have bought for the year. These areas help us 'remember' how things fare each year and what we did when.

As well as his gardening and weather blog, Martyn keeps a record of the weather conditions recorded by the weather station in our garden. His records go back to 2009 

My gardening website includes a gardening diary section that goes back to 2007 and has undergone several metamorphoses over the years and is currently a picture diary as I felt I was just repeating blog content. 

The blog tends to sample things that we do on the plot and in the garden whereas I try to make the picture diary into a more complete account. 

Each month I also link to all the relevant posts in both of our blogs. If you are interested September's page is here. I'd be really interested in thoughts about how this could be improved.

My other website came about as a result of my having been a primary teacher and also being a gardener at a time when many schools in my area were starting gardening projects. Often people with no gardening experience found themselves leading these projects so I created The School Vegetable Patch website to help them along. Although some parts of the site are aimed at school gardening the site is generally suitable for anyone new to gardening and has Gardening Calendar section with lists of month appropriate tasks. The October page is here if you are interested as it is equally applicable to grown-up gardeners.

Copyright: Original post from Our Plot at Green Lane Allotments http://glallotments.blogspot.co.uk/ author S Garrett

A year in the life of a flower bed.

About three years ago we planted up a new bed in the front of the house with perennials and spring bulbs. As the bed is the only garden area at the front of the house I wanted it to have all year round interest and so the perennials were chosen for their long flowering period.

I achieved my aim but now it's time to take stock.

The bed starts to spring back into life in February after a brief winter rest. The Katherine Hodgson irises are the first to flower and the spring bulbs start to nose through the soil. 

This is my signal to cut all the perennials down to ground level and give the bulbs breathing space.

The different varieties of miniature daffodils are at their peak in February and March. The species tulips and crocuses produce splashes of colour but haven't bulked up as I expected. When adding new bulbs I first grow them in pots and plant them out once the existing ones come through so that I  know where there are gaps and don't inadvertently dig up established clumps.

At an early stage I planted seed raised aquilegias and antirrhinums to fill gaps and these still freely self seed and pop up throughout the bed as well as in the gaps in the paving blocks. Unwanted seedlings are easily removed.

Last year I added some Dutch irises although I was sure that I had planted more than appeared. I planned to add more this year but haven't seen any bulbs for sale in the garden centres.

The campanula - Pritchards - announces the approach of summer with a dramatic statement. Cutting back spent flower stems encourages a second flush of flowers in August/September. A white campanula persicifolia is less dominant, so much so that I haven't a photo of it.

The crocosmia adds a much needed touch of yellow and the penstemons start their long blooming period. I dead head  these to keep them going.

The hardy geraniums also start to flower. Some have self-seeded throughout the bed and gaps in the paving blocks. Some of the varieties seed a bit too prolifically and will need some control. After the first flush these throw out flowers throughout summer.

The bees love the  tiny heuchera flowers but to stop the plants over dominating these are given a severe chop after flowering.

Verbena bonariensis also self seeds and pops up between the other plants. 

There are to be winners and losers amongst the flower population. The hardy salvias have disappeared under the other foliage. They never grew strongly but until this year held their own.

The rudbeckias also seem to be struggling and produce nothing like the display they produced when first planted. I may try collecting some seed and trying to start off some new plants. I wonder whether, if the seeds actually produce anything, they will be true to the parent plant. 

Another statement plant that takes over once the campanula has become more subdued is Aster frikartii Monch. This variety is very early flowering for a Michaelmas daisy. It is certainly well before Michaelmas.

The penstemons are definitely winners and have bulked up so much that I need to think about dividing them. Having a really long flowering period, they are well worth their space in the bed. The problem is how to divide without damaging neighbouring plants or digging up bulbs.

The other aster - Purple Dome is much more reluctant to flower than Monch, so much so that I have considered removing it. Sometimes it is so late to get started that it fails to open all its buds before winter weather seems to shut it down. This one doesn't make Michaelmas either.

As you can see from the photos below the penstemson and geraniums were still flowering in December last year

This year I planted some phlox and erysimums in what at the time were gaps. Most have disappeared under the foliage of the more established plants. I wonder if they are surviving somewhere?

Copyright: Original post from Our Plot at Green Lane Allotments http://glallotments.blogspot.co.uk/ author S Garrett

The dragons have landed,

Copyright: Original post from Our Plot at Green Lane Allotments http://glallotments.blogspot.co.uk/ author S Garrett