Hanging baskets come out on top!
A suburban garden in Surrey that uses every inch of space for year-round colour and interest.
We’ve had a constant supply of lovely fruit and veg, including wavy, climbing French and runner beans. I picked 3¼kg (7lb) of blueberries, which I froze – they’ll be yummy in my porridge, on cheesecakes and in apple crumbles. We’ve also had a good crop of onions and shallots, but the garlic was on the small side. One of the ‘Gigantomo’ tomatoes weighed in at 1kg (2lb 4oz) and made some lovely sandwiches and a sauce for some spinach and ricotta pancakes! The aubergines did well and the experiment of potting the chillies and peppers into slightly smaller pots worked, giving a good crop of both.
Plants looking good include myrtle, which is proving to be a bee magnet, the double hibiscus and thunbergias.
I’ve been pleased with the new border, but I do wish those sunflowers had chosen somewhere else to grow as they did rather take over – I just couldn’t pull them out, though!
The small areas by the arbour near the path need a sort out. They’ve looked too crowded, but the new arbour in the oval garden looks great.
The front garden has been a riot of colour and I must admit I’ve quite enjoyed the change! It amazes me how plants can grow differently from year to year – the cosmos have been a good example.
Last year I grew a few lemon-coloured ones in some pots – they were lovely but not overly strong-growing, so I thought they’d look really good with the white marguerites in the water feature and basket tree beds. Oh my goodness! The cosmos grew so well, they just wanted to take over the whole bed. They were very pretty, though.
Cosmos ‘Sonata White’ usually behaves itself at the back of the bedding, but not this year. I’ve never seen such big, beautiful, strong plants. They did swamp the red geraniums but they looked so gorgeous I forgave them.
The exotics in the Moles’ garden – eucomis, banana and colocasia – have loved the weather and looked great.
I’ve been taking cuttings for next year’s display from marguerites, trailing and scented geraniums, felicias, coleus and I’ll try some from fuchsia ‘Thalia’, as they’ve been stunning in pots in the front garden.
We were really pleased to get a letter saying we’d won first prize in the hanging basket section of Woking in Bloom. We’ve won £100 in vouchers, a silver salver and a certificate!