For some reason, weeding before 8am seems to suit me best.
The morning routine runs thus: boil kettle, let Puppy out, prepare Puppy breakfast, take coffee into garden and start weeding grass seeds and tiny split leaf clover things. These are quite pretty but as I didn't personally plant them I'm deeming them Damn Interloping Weeds.
I love my weeding time but thank goodness the garden isn't really overlooked as neighbours might see a woman in a white dressing gown and slippers crouching over the borders, accompanied a black furry sniffing helper at 7.33am!
November 27, 2008
November 26, 2008
Shrub # 4 - Phototina x Fraseri
Latin name : Phototina x Fraseri 'Red Robin'
Common Name: Christmas Berry
Dear Husband's name: Frazar's bush
Shrub # 2 - Amelanchier Lamarckii
Next in line at 8pm on the clockwise planting compass and 2nd from the front when looking at the left border, I planted one of the few deciduous plants, Amelanchier Lamarckii - or Snowy Mespilus. A very beautiful, small, North American tree.
When I planted it, it had pink edged leaves, and currently it leafless with the fine shoots making a satisfying, dense shape.
I'm told that Autumn is the perfect time for container grown trees to thrive. So I dug a wide hole, twice the size of the pot and slightly deeper. The soil was nice and loose with all my digging. After putting the tree in the centre, I made sure the top of the rootball was level with topsoil. I then filled the hole with a compost and soil mixture. I should have pressed more firmly, as when i watered it, the spil level dropped so I had to clear away the mulch bark chipping from the top and add more soil, and cover with bark mulch once again.
All good so far.
A few weeks later, Dear Husband started to worry that Puppy had chewed off all the leaves but I reassured him that this was meant to happen in November. It's still standing, so Spring will show how well it likes the soil, position and my planting techniques. I'm looking forward to its white star-shaped flowers unfolding and its summer berries.
When I planted it, it had pink edged leaves, and currently it leafless with the fine shoots making a satisfying, dense shape.
I'm told that Autumn is the perfect time for container grown trees to thrive. So I dug a wide hole, twice the size of the pot and slightly deeper. The soil was nice and loose with all my digging. After putting the tree in the centre, I made sure the top of the rootball was level with topsoil. I then filled the hole with a compost and soil mixture. I should have pressed more firmly, as when i watered it, the spil level dropped so I had to clear away the mulch bark chipping from the top and add more soil, and cover with bark mulch once again.
All good so far.
A few weeks later, Dear Husband started to worry that Puppy had chewed off all the leaves but I reassured him that this was meant to happen in November. It's still standing, so Spring will show how well it likes the soil, position and my planting techniques. I'm looking forward to its white star-shaped flowers unfolding and its summer berries.
Shrub # 1 - Choisya Ternata Sundance
Cycling through the garden (metaphorically - it's not THAT big), clockwise from bottom left, I have planted a Choisya Sundance for its glossy yellow evergreen leaves, almost lime coloured new growth, and soft prolific divided 3 leaflets.
Apparently also known as 'Mexican Orange Blossom', it has fragrant, showy clusters of white flowers later on.
This is the first plant we can see out of the upstairs window along the line of the left border. It's also quite a shady spot due the nieghbour's high fence but the Choisya looks quite low maintenance to me.
Apparently also known as 'Mexican Orange Blossom', it has fragrant, showy clusters of white flowers later on.
This is the first plant we can see out of the upstairs window along the line of the left border. It's also quite a shady spot due the nieghbour's high fence but the Choisya looks quite low maintenance to me.
November 25, 2008
Onto shrubs, the shrubbery.
(Question - is Monty Python so deeply ingrained in the English pysche that I can only say this with a speech impediment, as in Shwubwery!)
I've chosen 10 different shrubs and trees for a medium and long-term effect, autumn and winter colour and summer flowers.
So here's the thing I was surprised to learn: new gardeners have to learn a whole new language. Latin plants names. I obviously knew about Latin garden names and even remember genus, phyllum, species, family name, colliquial names sub divisions from school but I genuinely thought that this was just for tweed and pearl wearing stately home owning gardeners. But in order to look up the needs of the plants, the soil type preferences, it's sun habits, and planting months and so on, I need to know the Latin names.
Que sera sera. Qui veux peux.
I didn't think gardening would stray into the intellectual but I'm glad it has, being the eternal student type. (A bit more about me: I enjoy setting myself little goals, in the last 4 years, redundancy led to learning Thai cookery and making biscuits, offset with getting into running , which led to meeting Dear Husband! Working again, the year after was about painting walls, woodwork and other DIY for the first time. Then came a 3 month massage course with 9 months consumed by wedding arrangements. Then Pitch Puppy came along who needed a garden to play in.
So the next few posts will include all the latin and common names for the shrubs, Cornus Alba Elegantissima sounds much better than Dogwood, doesn't it? I'll try to include Dear Husband's clever little names too - just because they make me laugh. Dogwood to him are the sticks we throw that Puppy doesn't bring back (yet), and the Cornus in the garden are 'The Ones With Red Twigs'
(Question - is Monty Python so deeply ingrained in the English pysche that I can only say this with a speech impediment, as in Shwubwery!)
I've chosen 10 different shrubs and trees for a medium and long-term effect, autumn and winter colour and summer flowers.
So here's the thing I was surprised to learn: new gardeners have to learn a whole new language. Latin plants names. I obviously knew about Latin garden names and even remember genus, phyllum, species, family name, colliquial names sub divisions from school but I genuinely thought that this was just for tweed and pearl wearing stately home owning gardeners. But in order to look up the needs of the plants, the soil type preferences, it's sun habits, and planting months and so on, I need to know the Latin names.
Que sera sera. Qui veux peux.
I didn't think gardening would stray into the intellectual but I'm glad it has, being the eternal student type. (A bit more about me: I enjoy setting myself little goals, in the last 4 years, redundancy led to learning Thai cookery and making biscuits, offset with getting into running , which led to meeting Dear Husband! Working again, the year after was about painting walls, woodwork and other DIY for the first time. Then came a 3 month massage course with 9 months consumed by wedding arrangements. Then Pitch Puppy came along who needed a garden to play in.
So the next few posts will include all the latin and common names for the shrubs, Cornus Alba Elegantissima sounds much better than Dogwood, doesn't it? I'll try to include Dear Husband's clever little names too - just because they make me laugh. Dogwood to him are the sticks we throw that Puppy doesn't bring back (yet), and the Cornus in the garden are 'The Ones With Red Twigs'
November 24, 2008
First baby steps into the world of gardening
What do you do with a space at the back of an English city terraced house?
Deck the lot? How nineties. No, all-wood deck, pots and spiky tropicals are not my style one bit.
Grass and Borders is the way forward - Grass for the puppy to sit on and chew his beef knuckle bones, and wide borders crammed with evergreen shrubs and flowers planted in a sensuous cottage-garden-style, for my soul.
(This is Pitch Puppy, our 16 month old Labrador in a rare still moment on the lawn.)
Due to space limitations and the extra cost, I ignored Dear Husband's request for a shed. My fear that he'd simply stuff it full due to his hoarding tendencies, and the fact he may wa nt to actually live it, had nothing to do with it, Nothing at all.
Deck the lot? How nineties. No, all-wood deck, pots and spiky tropicals are not my style one bit.
Grass and Borders is the way forward - Grass for the puppy to sit on and chew his beef knuckle bones, and wide borders crammed with evergreen shrubs and flowers planted in a sensuous cottage-garden-style, for my soul.
(This is Pitch Puppy, our 16 month old Labrador in a rare still moment on the lawn.)
Due to space limitations and the extra cost, I ignored Dear Husband's request for a shed. My fear that he'd simply stuff it full due to his hoarding tendencies, and the fact he may wa nt to actually live it, had nothing to do with it, Nothing at all.
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