• About,  Life,  Planting

    PodCast

    If you don’t listen to Let’s Grow Girls podcast you really should – but the new seasons start with David Hall talking about Dahlias is truly fantastic. ( I have to say most if not all of the podcasts from them are / is fantastic).

  • Flowers,  Planting

    Hellebores

    Hellebores have become a firm favourite of mine especially a winter flower and I am going to try and start a collection of these winter beauties. I am trailing keeping them in pots and see how I get on and I am also considering trying growing them from seed… The photo below is from some flowers I cut from the garden and brought in to enjoy in the house. They make a wonderful bunches to bring indoors so I now have a growing list of ones I am hoping to get and now consistently on the look out to buy… these are more uncommon ones I am finding out… Sun…

  • About,  Allotment,  Annuals,  Bulbs,  Life,  Planting,  Seeds

    September update

    Well the end of September is coming crashing in – on a personal level September has been an odd month – yes another odd month, it seems to be a recurring theme this year, hopefully it will be the last odd month and Oct /Nov /Dec will be lovely relaxing and a fun run up to Christmas and then the new year. To be honest I hate the fact people are talking about Christmas already and the shops are getting items in – but it is what it is. I haven’t done as much seed sowing as I wished – but I have started off some Sweet Peas – I…

  • About,  Annuals,  Flowers,  Planting,  Seeds

    Autumn Jump Starter ’22

    I have catalogued my seeds that I already have – I have invested in the new jump starter Zoe Woodward Gardening and I am now going to make the decision on what to sow this autumn, how many and aim to keep them alive until such time as to plant them out next spring. I need to think and plan how many seeds to sow and think about where I am going plant them up. Ammi Majus Cerinthe CornFlowers Nigella Orlaya Snapdragons Sweet Peas Sweet Rocket – sow early in September – in the greenhouse – no lid – until Jan / Feb time then – 22 cm apart (flowering…

  • About,  Allotment,  Annuals,  Biennials,  Bulbs,  Corms,  Flowers,  life,  Me,  Month,  Perennials,  Planting,  Seeds

    September 2022

    As Summer comes to an end and Autumn looms and September usually brings the feeling of new beginnings for me I am beginning to take stock of the year so far and look ahead at what I would like to achieve for next year. I didn’t really join in the Autumn seed sowing in 2021 – I just had way to much over whelm and I had just started a new job (turned out to be 2 new jobs as the 1st didn’t work out!). I didn’t stress I just decided that I didn’t need the pressure and that I would sow seeds in the spring time.

  • Biennials,  Flowers,  July,  Seeds

    July Sowing 1

    Today I sowed my first Biennials for this year… Foxgloves, Echinacea, Verbascum Phoeniceum. I just sowed them up in a mix of compost and coir compost and in plastic fruit trays that I keep, the trays already have drainage holes in the bottom and I fill with the compost mix and water from underneath. I have put these 3 containers into the greenhouse and I will cover with a mesh to allow sunlight through but to stop the birds from eating seeds and then seedlings. Where I live at the moment we have a HUGE amount of wild birds and while this is absolutely fantastic and an honour that they…

  • Biennials,  Planting,  Seeds

    Mid June

    My plants, garden and allotment are in a weird place – not at all where I wanted them to be… I seem very behind on the blooming of flowers and I am beginning to doubt if they will flower at all TBH. Well not a lot I can do about it now – but I need to make a note to be more prepared 2023. I am tending to only sow seeds of plants that I love – for me at the moment they are too tricky to grow if I don’t really like the flower or plant I just don’t enjoy it. I am sowing my biennial seeds this…

  • Allotment,  Bouquets,  Flowers,  Life,  life,  Me,  Month,  Planting,  Seeds

    Ideas For Planting Biennials 22

    Pencilled in to my seed planting diary June 21st Summer Solstice – Biennials are sown usually end of June-ish and should flower the following year. I am going to try sowing these in the soil blockers and Lupins I just love Lupins and I have too many seeds already really but I am going to order more – what is they say to plant a seed is to believe in tomorrow… So I have PinkFairy Sunrise (these are annual so I will not sow these now but spring to flower in the summer) I am going to order and sow in June The Governor (Navy Blue) Mixture of all the…

  • About,  Allotment,  life,  Planting

    Allotment Update

    So as the weather warms up I feel like I can finally spend more time down at the allotment – its not that you can’t go in the cold! HA or wet! HA its just that I really really can’t do cold mainly – wet is ok if its warm (doesn’t happen really in the UK, warm rain… ummm). In the bed below I have nigella and delphiniums Here I have Carnations and statice white in the small cell tray and then apricot in the round pots. The beds are wooden sided – made from dismantled pallets – they are 1m wide by 2m long the base is cardboard in…

  • Flowers,  Planting,  Seeds

    Geums

    Yet another flower I adore! This year (2022) is the first year I have grown them from seed and I am very impressed I have sown Lady Stratheden seeds from here. Also sown Blazing Sunset seeds from Chiltern Seeds . Many of the other variety seem particularly difficult to find seeds for – I have now found out that this is because some can only be propagated so I will need to invest in a few plants, or get some more plugs when they come back in stock – keep them healthy and then propagate like a crazy lady so I have plenty and also back ups for frost and…