Naomi Slade’s cutting flowers are romping away
Flowers for cutting are romping away in the ‘Crater of Horticulture’
It’s close to the anniversary of my taking on this garden and, dear reader, I fear I may have misled you. When I arrived, I was reconciled to a dark, damp sort of gardening. And the bit near the house is indeed pretty shady. But, and this is the nub, there are also areas that are far hotter, drier and more sun-soaked than I had ever imagined.
They say that you should live with a garden for at least a year before making major changes so you can get the measure of it. In my case, ‘make a proper garden’ was the important change, so I don’t think it really counts. But, even so, there’s been a lot to learn.
Firstly, all those plants that I lined up at the outset, to make the most of dappled or deep shade, are more limited in their range than anticipated. No problem there, just opportunity! Secondly, all the sunny things I was a bit worried about – roses, succulents, dahlias and lavender – are doing very well.
But it also means that the new borders towards the sunny and sheltered end of the garden are decidedly dry, as are the raised beds. And it turns out that the smallest, narrowest, raised bed predominantly contains spent compost. So the new plants got going really slowly until I instigated a programme of serious feeding. And with a summer of scorching heat and dry roots it probably isn’t the right place for roses, sweet peas and peonies, so they’ll have to be moved come autumn.
On the plus side, in the ‘Crater of Horticulture’ the soil is relatively rich and deep and it retains the water because of its clay element, so the cut flowers that I so yearned for are romping away. Lashings of ammi and ridolfia; gorgeous Nigella hispanica (all www.sarahraven.com); sweet peas as good as I’ve ever grown in my life. Dahlias, cosmos and Verbena bonariensis are getting into their stride, along with feverfew, daisy things and all sorts of other bits and bobs.
It’s a first glorious, exciting wave of flowers to gather. Lots of happy little posies to pop into small, eclectic vases.
Sweet, gratifying and even better than I’d ever imagined!