My gardening diary
MONDAY
Inspired by a visit to John Massey’s garden at Ashwood Nurseries, near Wolverhampton, I’m a empting to bring a bit of pizzazz to the raised bed here. There are several areas of Eryngium bourgatii that have made substantial clumps to which we’re adding some smaller plants grown from seed. It’s a start!
TUESDAY
Last chance to lay parts of the hedge that separates the garden from the field. The principle is to bend down vertical branches and persuade them to become horizontals. This in turn forces the lateral buds to grow upwards, thus thickening the hedge.
WEDNESDAY
It’s a satisfying feeling when a half tray of seedlings is turned into a couple of module trays of small plants, another step on the journey to adulthood in the garden. First on the list is a cosmos that’s new to me …
THURSDAY
Mixing a new batch of compost to a recipe consisting of sterilised loam, multi-purpose compost, grit, lime and fertiliser. You can adapt this by adding other ingredients, for example leaf mould if you’re po ing up woodlanders or just by adjusting quantities, perhaps adding extra grit for alpines.
FRIDAY
The new shoots of eremurus sometimes get chewed by slugs and snails. What they do at Great Dixter and Gravetye Manor, two of the gardens we’ve visited for a new TV show, is pile up sharp grit around the crowns.
SATURDAY
Pots of Tulipa clusiana are just beginning to show colour. This is one of the daintiest with refined, elongated flowers. The type plant has pink and white flowers, a particularly good selection being
T. clusiana ‘Peppermintstick’. There are others too, a favourite here being ‘Cynthia’, a subtle pink and pale yellow.
SUNDAY
Hoping that really was a swallow flying past! We’ve awaited their arrival with sharpened anticipation after this prolonged winter. Often you can hear them before you see them. I yearn for that reassuring sound. Welcome home!