Some great examples of how you can re/upcycle all manner of objects and materials to create fun and beautiful planters! (courtesy of 1001 Pallets and some other places).
Category: Gardening techniques
It’s the time of year when colourful stems come into their own. I especially love Dogwoods (Cornus). For some ideas about winter interest in your garden take a look at ‘7 Plants for Winter Wonder’
Old School Gardener
It’s early January and a perfect time to think about what you’re going to grow in the coming year, putting this down on paper (especially for food crops) look through your seed collection, and plugging any gaps. With not much to do in the garden at present, this is just what I’ve been up to in the last couple of days.
I’ve done what I usually do- slotted the packs of seeds I’m going to use into a weekly organiser so that I know when to sow them (always being prepared to adjust this if the weather doesn’t quite go to expectations where outdoor sowings are concerned), adding in a few more things where I want to grow more succession crops (e.g. carrots) or widen the range (e.g. squashes).
I’ve also bought some additional asparagus crowns to add to the bed I started last year (only a couple of plants came through their first season). As last year, I’ve been collecting seed from some plants and adding to my collection through purchases, including taking advantage of the RHS Members’ Seed Scheme where I can buy packs of 12 different seeds for just £8.50. I placed my order yesterday and look forward to receiving some interesting ornamentals to add to Old School Garden.
As far as food is concerned I’ve prepared a new plan for the Kitchen Garden and showed both early and follow on crops…
Changes for this year include:
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Relocating the three large pots of blueberries – I’m planning to partly sink these into the ground in a spot where I can more easily erect a bird proof cage over them and at the same time release some gravelled space next to the Greenhouse and Cold Frame where I can store pots and trays for ‘hardening off’ new plants.
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Growing more carrots and parsnips in plastic dustbins, as my experiment last year worked quite well and provides some extra growing space when the rest of the garden is pretty well full.
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I’ve substituted one Blackcurrant bush with a White currant to improve the balance of the fruit we have and bought ten raspberry canes (two varieties of summer fruiting to plug some gaps in the rows and hopefully improve fruiting).
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I’m also continuing to install plastic hoops (I’ve used plumbing pipe available from DIY stores) over some more beds to enable me to use plastic/ enviromesh/netting to provide a warm micro climate and protection from pests.
Let’s hope for a productive year!
Old School Gardener
Old School Garden- 31st December 2014
To Walter Degrasse
Dear Walter,
It was great seeing you and Lise just before Christmas, and thanks for the Christmas card, which was a pleasant surprise! I was grateful for your advice about the raspberries, too; I shall be looking out for some new saplings to plug the gaps and hope for a more consistent crop next year.
The mild weather we had just before Christmas has now been replaced by rather colder, though mixed conditions. It’s been quite frosty here in the last few days; I’m glad that I managed, earlier in the month, to get the greenhouse insulated and heated and the tender plants inside.
Apart from that, it’ s been a relatively quiet time doing the usual winter chores; leaf collecting, mole hill clearing (don’t they ever pack up their tunneling?) and tidying away spent stems and foliage where these have flopped or offer nothing to wildlife or the winter garden.
Viburnums in flower
Winter colour- Dogwoods and Mahonia in the background
Cyclamen on the Terrace
Spring planting on the terrace
The colourful stems of the Dogwoods are now looking good, as are the Mahonia and (surprisingly) flowers on some of the Viburnums- a hang over from the mild autumn, I guess. We’ve also got some winter and spring colour in pots on the Terrace.
I pulled my (small) crop of parsnips just before Christmas and we’ve been enjoying these over the holiday – the harvest was pretty good, though I noticed a couple of the roots had been eaten out (I had this problem last year), and one or two of the biggest specimens were a little woody inside. Still they were very tasty!
I did manage to clear one mixed border and replant this using the remaining Box balls from the Terrace planters. You recall seeing these? I had three large balls left after removing three that had Box Blight. The remainders were getting a bit too large for the planters anyway.
The balls now form a neat row that reflects the three large pots we have at the other end of the terrace lawn, and I’ve planted around them with a mix of Allium bulbs and some of the plugs of Canterbury Bells I grew on earlier in the year. I’ve also rearranged the selection of other herbaceous plants that were in this bed and – hopefully – removed all of the Ground Elder and Periwinkle that between them were making the bed a nightmare to keep tidy.
The replanted mixed border with Box Balls- with a frosty sheen!
You remember I told you that the local Vicar had asked me to produce a Management Plan for the churchyard? Well Deborah and I went over earlier in the month and measured up to see what scale the ground plan he’d given me was; luckily it was almost exactly 1:100, so that meant the transfer of information was a straightforward tracing job- it would have been a real hassle if I’d have had to scale off and position every grave and stone! Well, the base plan is done and I’m now thinking about the design and Management Plan. I think this will involve some selective cutting down and cutting back of some of the trees around (and in) the churchyard to allow more light and space, and the gradual cultivation of a wildflower meadow environment across much of the rest of the site- but keeping more recent graves clear and ensuring some mown paths to allow access. As it’s management will almost entirely depend on voluntary labour I’ll need to keep things relatively simple, but perhaps there is limited scope for introducing some greater plant interest in one or two spots.
As you know, Deborah retired from teaching at the local Primary school this year and I took the opportunity of ending my school gardening work there too, especially as they had achieved ‘5 Star’ status with the RHS and are now getting regular advice and input from the RHS Regional Coordinator. However, at our recent Christmas Party the Teacher who coordinates ‘Outdoor Learning’ asked me to prepare a specification for maintenance of the grounds and also to help her prepare some design proposals for the playground, where there are ambitions to get more play and educational value from the space. I’m pleased about helping with both of these issues, as I’ve felt for some time a different, more considered approach to the grounds is needed, including one that is more wildlife-friendly, and also to take into account the maintenance needs of areas that I’ve helped to plant up over the years.
This ‘Desk work’ will be a nice project for the winter months, but I’m also excited about starting to garden at nearby Blickling Hall, where the National Trust is embarking on a project to regenerate its two acre Walled Garden as well as maintaining the extensive and varied gardens in this beautiful place. I met the Head Gardener and Project Manager a few weeks ago and had a tour of the site and explanation of their plans, which are about to kick off with new paths and irrigation systems being installed. I’ve agreed to begin work with them next week, so I’ll probably keep you up to date on this through future letters and other posts.
Oh, and just to finish off, a bit of news about Old School Garden (the blog, that is). As you know I’ve been producing this for two years and I recently had an annual review from the publishers, WordPress. So I thought I’d share a few key findings with you:
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During 2014 the blog had around 130,00 hits or page views.
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The most popular topic was recycling in the garden, especially projects using old pallets!
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The best day for hits was 15th September with nearly 15,000 views.
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82% of those viewing the site live in the USA, UK and Canada
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I now have 2647 followers, including all those via Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook etc.
Kitchen Garden cleared and ‘tucked up’ for the winter
Keeping the birds happy
I’m especially grateful to all those who took the time to comment or ‘like’ my posts. I wish you and them a successful 2015 and look forward to another productive year in Old School Garden- both blog and plot!
All the best for now,
Old School Gardener
Beckley Park topiary garden, Oxfordshire
‘I doe not like Images Cut out in Juniper or other Garden stuffes: They be for Children. Little low Hedges, Round, like Welts, with some Pretty Pyramides, I like well.’
Sir Francis Bacon
‘What right have we to deform things given us so perfect and lovely in form? No cramming of Chinese feet into impossible shoes is half so wicked as thwe wilful and brutal distortion of the beautiful forms of trees’
William Robinson- ‘The English Flower Garden’ 1898
Personally, I really enjoy topiary- growing it, trimming it and admiring others’ creativity and skill in producing the rather more fantastic forms it can take; oh, and they also make me smile!
OK, so you are cutting back natural growth, but aren’t we doing that when we prune things anyway? What do you think?
Cat by Tim Bushe
Could be me and the wife….
Old School Gardener
Park Royal Hotel, Singapore
Old School Gardener
Now is the perfect time to plant trees and shrubs. Recently, I’ve had a question from Charles Windsor, who lives near London:
“We have a small garden with little space, but would like a tree
to emphasise the vertical dimension. What would you suggest?”
It’s amazing what putting strong verticals into small spaces does- somehow it defines the space and it looks bigger! Trees that have a narrow profile- otherwise known as fastigiate– would be best in your garden, Charles. Some possibilites include:
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Prunus serrula ‘Amanogawa’– a flowering cherry with double pink flowers and good autumn colour
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the ‘Maidenhair Tree’ (Ginkgo biloba), in its fastigiate form, the leaves of which are larger versions of those of the maidenhair fern and which turn yellow in autumn
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Chamaecyparis lawsoniana ‘Alumii’– a blue-grey form of of the Lawson Cypress
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Taxus baccata ‘Fastigiata’– a narrowly growing Yew
Prunus serrula ‘Amanogawa’
Chamaecyparis lawsoniana’Alumii’i
Taxus baccata ‘Fastigiata’
If you have a garden which is a little bigger (it can take trees with a wider spread), for trees with good all year round interest, try:
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Arbutus unedo– the ‘Strawberry Tree’- shining evergreen folioage, clusters of white flowers in autumn and early winter, and red fruits which change colour slowly through the year until they mature the following autumn. It grows to around 4 metres tall and needs a mild climate, though it can withstand gales.
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Ornamental Crab apples (Malus) grow to between 3.5m and 6m tall, are hardy, easy to grow and attractive for most of the year, with crimson, red, pink or white spring flowers, yellow or red fruit and good autumn colour, wiht purple leave sin sowem varieties.
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Amelanchier lamarckii (‘Snowy Mespilus’)– white spring flowers followed by black berries and wonderful autumn leaf colour, this and other species/cultivars (we have Amelanchier canadensis here at Old School Garden) grow to a mature height of between 6 and 10 metres.
Arbutus unedo
Malus floribunda’Golden Hornet’
Amelanchier lamarckii
Further information:
Trees for smaller gardens- RHS
10 Best trees for smaller gardens- The Guardian
Trees for Small Gardens- Gardeners’ World
Old School Gardener
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Old School Gardener
Old School Garden 