papaver orientalis

 My garden in May, with the oriental poppies doing their thing, and the harlequin glorybower (really, or clerodendron trichotomum if you prefer), just coming into leaf. We are still referring to it as the little tree, because when I went to get it from my brother - he was moving to somewhere without a garden - he presented me with an unattractive stick. He had pruned it savagely root and branch. I had cleared the station wagon and prepared the roof rack just in case. To help it establish I watered it meticulously during every dry spell, and it grew. I was able to clear up that it was by no means Indian Bean Tree, or catalpa bignonioides to friends of Linnaeus. This little tree is classified as invasive in southern states of the USA, and judging by the suckers that I've pruned back over two yards away fron the tree, I understand what they mean. Still, it is a lovely addition if you're willing to take the risk, it doesn't grow very big, it's late to leaf, and early to fall. The leaves are a lovely heart shape and the blossoms carry a heady scent, released on warm afternoons once the sun has been on them. Once the flowers are spent the fruit develops, turning a wonderful bright blue and the leathery calyx a punchy pink. A bit like something thought up on Star Trek.

red and pink, a real treat

poppy with johnson's blue geranium

Blue waste

Every few months I get stuck in and do some weeding and trimming. Blue likes to join in, by becoming as one with the pile of detritus I gather. Sometimes she tries to lure me into playing with her by depositing a ball or other throwable amongst the waste, creaking enthusiastically to let me know she's ready to go. I think she likes the smell.

fruit from the garden

autumn has arrived

Five buttery leaves remain clinging to the ginkgo. The withering tomato plants look like they’ve been set up as a prop for Halloween, ready to belatedly join the liquefying sculpted pumpkins on the compost. Knotted black bin bags full of leaves are piled behind the cabin. Autumn is here.

The day starts of well dreich, and is not obviously suitable for excavating a path. Since it’s a matter of lifting the turves and excavating to about 10cm dreich turns to claggy. Of the myriad animals I have caused to live with me none has so far failed to leave an imprint within the house given gritty strength by their previously visiting the now claggy garden.

  

Despite my best attempts and most consistent neglect the plug plants are all still having a go in the tiny plastic-covered staging. Now I’ll actually have to plant them out. Talk amongst neighbouring friends has been of saving on food bills once I start harvesting. I’ve made it clear that is unlikely. Especially at the moment, with one 2m row of landcress and 1/3 row of ruby-stemmed spinach.

My veg plot is 6x3m, with two raised beds offering around 12m2 of growing space. And two rows of herbs. I’ve yet to order two plum trees, which will be fan-trained, in fact I’m hoping for a greengage and a plum, which are x-fertile. Together with the frame they’ll also enclose the plot. The cherry is established now, this year we must have had around 6kg of fruit, and the birds fed well too. I’ve pruned it again, so that next year the fruit will be more accessible to us and with luck less accessible to the birds. I haven’t noticed if the cherry crops well every other year – I don’t think so.

planted today - garden work

The garden is pretty full, but this month I've felled the birch and added an apple tree, and added semi evergreen honeysuckle Lonicera japonica (West facing bed near cabin), clematis Dorothy Walton (west facing bed near compost bin). I've pulled up loads of forget-me-nots, and resorted to some chemical (toxic) slug pellets.

clematis dorothy walton - planted today

clematis Dorothy Walton (group three, hard prune after first sign of growth

Initial pruning and training

If young clematis plants are left unpruned they often produce very long single stems with the flowers produced only at the very top.

Unless the plant already has three or four healthy stems growing from the base, all newly planted clematis should be pruned back hard the first spring after planting. Cut back to just above a strong pair of leaf buds about 30cm (12in) above soil level. This will encourage multiple stems which can be trained in to supports to give a good coverage.

During the spring and summer, tie in new growth, spacing stems evenly on the support.

Pruning established plants

• In February or March, cut back all the old stems to the lowest pair of healthy buds 15-30cm (6-12in) above soil level.
• Small-flowered clematis with attractive seed heads (such as C. ‘Bill MacKenzie’, C. ‘Helios’, C. orientalis, C. tangutica and C. tibetanasubsp. vernayi) can just be thinned out and trimmed back to the main framework of branches, leaving the seedheads to be enjoyed.

If left unpruned, this group will continue growing from where the growth ended the previous season, becoming top heavy, flowering well above eye level, and with a bare base. 

If desired, they can be left unpruned to scramble over pergolas where space is not limited.

cordon currants

I am trying to pack in a lot in my mini-allotment. I am working up to a semi-cordoned currant arrangement. Actually, what I'm looking for is a currant hedge. The bushes growing alongside the Greengage need to stay lower than the lowest branches of the fan. Well, it's going to be a fan, at the moment it is an upright with a branch each side at right angles and a couple of stubby attempts at a fan.

Back to the bushes. They are redcurrants, and are already fruiting. It won't be plentiful this year, but I'm working up to a bumper crop next year.