A TYPICAL GARDENING YEAR
Ruth looks back at the past 12 months in her garden
HOW has 2017 been for you? Cutting back some lateflowering Shasta daisies last week, I started to mull over the past 12 months in our garden.
And I wondered whether the articles I have written in this year’s issues of AG have been an accurate reflection of what has actually happened on our plot.
The truthful answer is ‘not quite’! I usually focus on the start of projects and report back on those that have been successful, so here is a more rounded idea of what has been happening.
While nothing has been quite as catastrophic as the day last year when I dropped a completed hanging basket onto a glass garden table, annihilating both, some projects have failed and mistakes have been made.
I lost all our lilies and crown imperials to a voracious colony of lily beetles (probably because I find it almost impossible to squash their beautiful gem-like little bodies). Rampant ivy caused a few problems
This is the second year they caused a problem, and while I’m loath to concede defeat, I’m seriously considering replacing the lilies.
Other pests I’m not so bothered about, because I’m happy to squidge aphids between my fingers and chuck slugs and snails into the road. We’ve also had issues with ivy growing up our walls and fences.
A little is good, because it can mask unsightly brickwork and provide shelter for insects, but when it starts to annoy the neighbours it needs to be dealt with.
On the plus side, it’s a good addition to the compost heap. This year we have made bags and bags of glorious crumbly compost, and managed to rake up all the autumn leaves. They have been stowed in two wire pens and will slowly rot down into wonderful leaf mould – one of the gardener’s best friends.
These pages are a brief summary of the past year, good and bad. On the whole it has been good, and the garden
has looked beautiful and been bountiful much of the time. Now I can learn from the things that didn’t go to plan and look forward to a fruitful 2018. And that’s the great thing about gardening – it’s an inexact science with generous wiggle room that lets you mess things up yet try again next time.