Shake-Up Your Garden!
- Scones & Sunflowers
- Dec 26, 2020
- 6 min read
The gardening year is a forever cycle. Yet the with the passing of Christmas and the New Year upon us, the quiet dormancy of winter allows us gardeners to plan and prepare for the next growing season.
Do you have a fail safe plan for your veg patch, set must haves in your allotment or the ‘usual’ pots on the patio. Do you opt for the ‘same old’ as last year safe in the knowledge of the crop, the taste, the recipes you like to make.
January 2021 is the time to ‘shake it up’ as Taylor Swift is known to have said! You still may opt for the traditional species and crowd-pleasing favourites, however, make sure you consider all 10 points of my alternative planning guide to ensure 100% plant satisfaction.
1) Passers-by
The front garden, seen by yourselves everyday but also by those passers-by. The walkers, the canines, the postman! Do you need to be a contender within your ‘Village Blooms’ competition? Is your hanging basket a reflection of the home behind the door?
For me my front garden has a base of evergreen shrubs; spotted laurel, skimmia, cornus and an escallonia. Pops of pink throughout the year with the backdrop of green and white. With the passer-by in my mind it will be the hanging baskets that will be the talking point. I want everyone to look out for the ‘season change’. My current creation brings together a Heuchera, a Cyclamen and a couple of Ivys.
Looking ahead to Spring, I am going to opt for bulbs all the way, specifically Hyacinths and Daffodils. There are some already hidden and buried in the cone already but it remains to be seen if they make it through the winer with the soil and conditions. But I am aiming to continue the pink vibe with Narcissus 'Pink Pride’ and Hyacinth ‘Pink Pearl’, after all a pink Hyacinth in the meaning of flowers symbolises ‘Play’. Time to interact with your Passer-by participants.
2) From the Window
Every morning the curtains are opened, the shutters swung wide, perhaps windows opened to heighten the other senses, smell of the air, sounds of outdoor activity. Instantly the weather is known, during Winter the leafless trees allow extra light to fall on your face. So often we consider our flower beds and borders from the grass edge. Granted the smell is strong only as you brush against perhaps a Choisya Sundance but why awaken the virtual senses from the framed view of a window. From the window, marvel at the waving of the daffodils in the spring, the honeysuckle scent wafting through the open window on a balmy summer evening, the tepid warmth of a winter sunrise, jack frost fingers and ice floating on the pond.
3) Outside In
So often you hear the saying let the outside in or within house renovations the installation of large bi-folding doors to open up a room to become one with the garden. When considering what to grow in the garden think of the cut flower opportunities. Are your flowers in the garden grown for the vase or for the garden or a bit of both? Every season look for the gaps in the border and fill them with flowers. For me I was so into my Sunflower Teddy Bears during the Summer of 2020 that I forgot they would leave a gap once they had nodded their heads for the season. As my friend said to me recently look through the shrubs, consider the transient options of flowers that can be grown outside but can migrate to the inside. Autumn Asters, Spring Bulbs, Summer Annuals…just a thought.
An extract from 'Inside My Garden Gate'
'How I love my little garden, where I sit and contemplate.
My perfect piece of paradise inside my garden gate.'
4) Under Glass
The greenhouse? The cold frame? How do you use these areas? Just for encouraging the seedlings to germinate or to create fabulous displays of warm loving plants such as peppers and chillies. Don’t neglect as the weather turns chilly, throw in some lights to shine out through the garden.
5) Portability
One thing I found useful this year was to have some pots filled with flowers and shrubs, azalea, dwarf sunflowers, geraniums, ferns. With the portability of pots your garden rooms can be changed around to give a different feel, fill any gaps that do appear, create a backdrop for the summer zoom call or alfresco lunch! Move the herbs close to the BBQ in the summer then back to the back door come autumn.
6) Wildlife
Who would you like to welcome into your garden space? What is needed for the garden to be a haven for the wealth of wildlife we need to protect.
How to build a bug hotel - https://www.rspb.org.uk/get-involved/activities/give-nature-a-home-in-your-garden/garden-activities/build-a-bug-hotel/ .
Build a hedgehog home - https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/actions/how-build-hedgehog-home
Water options for the birds.
Plants for butterflies and bees…. Budhleia, lavender, hebes.. Check out Sarah Ravens 10 ten https://www.sarahraven.com/articles/top-10-plants-for-pollinators.htm
Sunflower seed food stations!
7) Waterworks
Pond life! So much activity and pleasure and a pond doesn’t have to be huge. Frogs, goldfish, plants, dragonflies. See the seasons within the water, frogsporn, zoom fish, water soldiers (Stratiotes aloides) rising from the bottom in spring.
We have four goldfish and quite a few frogs. Remember the oxygenators, a filter is essential to keep the water clear and algae free. Make sure to have a bench close by, it’s such a wellbeing moment to sit with a coffee, feeding the fish and watching them surface and swish!
8) Kitchen
You may have an allotment? Raised beds? Couple of pots? What do you want to cook? Do you wish to experiment with something new? Over the years I have realised that due to the size of my garden I can only grow the basics, after all the farm shop will always have the best seasonal veggies and always good to support the local economy.
My basic kitchen garden comprises of the following, but to keep it fresh each year I like to change the variety grown:
Courgettes - I opted for yellow ‘Gold Rush’ courgettes in 2020. Although great in scones to give a really good moist product, as a veggie in 2021 I think I will opt for the more traditional green - perhaps ‘Courgette Tuscany’.
Runner Beans - Often I go for the colour of the flowers as they are not always orange, white flowers make a change e.g. ‘White Lady’. For 2021 however, I will be going for a purple runner bean, possibly looking at Climbing Bean Blauhilde
Cucumbers - Burpless and seedless varieties essential! They can be grown outdoors aswell as indoors. I always grown mine in the greenhouse, love the way they go wild even growing out of the roof air vent!
Herbs - the musts for me are mint, thyme and rosemary oh and basil. Next year I am going to experiment with growing different varieties. So often we choose the ‘safe’ one but in the case of mint there are more than 600 varieties - spearmint, pineapple, orange, chocolate, lavender, grapefruit, ginger, liquorice, and more. I am going to major on herbs next year, looking at their medicinal qualities, my research during January!
9) Perimeter Gardening
My penultimate consideration in garden planning is that you don’t need to have EVERYTHING in your own garden. Plan walks around the local area. Finding a nearby garden where sunflowers pop up over their walls was one of the hi-lights for me this year. There is another garden in our village that grows amazing hollyhocks, such anticipation each year, hope the owners don’t move which may result in change! Then in Winter the Christmas Lights take over, especially this year of 2020, the light being the sign of hope for so many.
10) Extended Gardening
And finally always plan to visit your ‘extended’ gardens, those that you visit for inspiration and again for plants that simply won’t fit in your garden. I have fantastic memories this year of my extended gardening, as a minimum seasonal entered experiences:
Winter - Reflections and Lakes - Tylney Hall, Hampshire
Spring - Coastal Walks - Sussex
Summer - Hayling Island - Sunflower Fields; Basingstoke Canal - SSSI
Autumn - Aster and Pumpkin Heaven - RHS Wisley
Planning is so involved! The colours, the combinations, the varieties, type of soil, aspect to the sun, time available to tweak and tart, maintenance, mulching! I believe my 10 point plan covers most areas of who uses the garden, when to change it around, where to visit for inspiration, what to include. Ultimately remember the why YOU love your garden. The how comes down to the seasons, the desire to create, the excitement of the next month, the next year......
Sources
@tylneyhallhotel
@rhswisley
@basingstoke_canal_society
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