Herb Pots

As promised, I was very busy over the long weekend catching up with the gardening jobs that had been playing on my mind for a few weeks. 

I seem to have developed a herb garden in containers on the patio.  I didn't aim for this as is the case with most things in this garden!  But it's looking good if I do say so myself.  I got all my herbs at Dobbies and B&Q.

I'll go through them from left to right.

In the first pot is Lemon Balm and Oregano 

The scent from the Lemon Balm is really strong and summery!  I may have done the wrong thing putting it in a pot with another plant since it's from the mint family and tends to take over.  I'll just have to keep an eye on it and cut it back if it starts to get too boisterous!  Oregano seems like a good herb for beginners too as it doesn't need much looking after.  Once it has established in it's pot it'll cope pretty well with anything.
I got my information for these herbs from the following sites:
http://bonnieplants.com/growing/growing-lemon-balm/
http://www.herbexpert.co.uk/growingoregano.html



In the second pot is Chives, Parsley and a random Lobellia.
I planted these guys in early April so they are well established and much further on than the other herbs.  The Parsley is a bit naughty as he tries to take over the pot (which I wasn't expecting... the parsley plants from the supermarket never look that bushy!).  I have loads of dried Parsley from this plant alone and always have a fresh garnish when I'm cooking for visitors.  The Chives are holding their own though.  At the beginning they were going yellowy brown at the tips and some stalks were dying off entirely.  I did a wee Google search to see what I was doing wrong but came to the conclusion that they may have been a wee bit stressed with the re-potting and would bounce back slowly by themselves.  This does seem to be the case.   I even gave them a haircut during the weekend and took some chopped Chive stalks to a friends house who was cooking dinner for us.  It's nice to take something different when going to someone's house for dinner - they were pleasantly impressed with a bottle of wine and fresh cut herbs!
I got advice for Chives and Parsley from the following sites:
http://www.herbexpert.co.uk/GrowingChives.html
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/herbs/msg0405010918747.html
http://www.herbexpert.co.uk/GrowingParsley.html

The third pot has Thyme Silver and Curry Plant

I love the look of these plants.  The eye is drawn to them amid all the green of the other herbs.  I'm not entirely convinced that either of them will survive as they like full sun and not much water.  In Scotland we have the opposite!  But we'll see.  The Curry Plant has a really strong smell of curry when you rub the leaves but apparently it doesn't taste as strong as it's scent which is a shame.  I just like the idea that I have a curry plant though!  And I love making curries so maybe I'll be able to use the plant for something if it survives.  A Google search doesn't come up with much for the Curry Plant unfortunately, especially for the UK.  It's often confused with Curry Leaves which is different.  The link below should help a wee bit.
http://www.herbexpert.co.uk/GrowingThyme.html
http://myfolia.com/plants/56-thyme-thymus-vulgaris/varieties/10414-silver
http://theherbgardener.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/how-to-grow-curry-plant.html


In the fourth pot is Rosemary
This is a lovely big plant and is doing well.  Advice is to look out for Rosemary Beetle but I'm not sure if that would come up this far north.  I look for pests regularly though.
http://www.herbexpert.co.uk/GrowingRosemary.html

The big pot is a Blueberry Bush
There's more to this Blueberry Bush (affectionately known in my family as "The Stick") than meets the eye.  I will blog about this another day.

The small blue pot is mint
I'm particularly proud of my mint plant.  I know it doesn't take much for it to grow well but as a beginner gardener, the fact that it survived at all is an achievement!  It looked a bit spindly when I first got it and I was sure it was on it's way out.  However, its now roaring!  
http://www.herbexpert.co.uk/GrowingMint.html

The pot after the watering can is Lavender and Lobellia

I love the smell of lavender.  I got the little lavender plant as part of a special offer at the garden centre and it'll be good to attract bees and butterflies.  I'm saving a corner of the garden for a proper lavender plant though.  I remember the expanse of the Norfolk lavender fields when I was a child.  My mum used to get her lavender from there when we lived in Lincolnshire (nigh on 20 years ago) and I would love to take her back next year for her 60th birthday.  Then it'll be my turn to buy lavender for my own garden!

The next few containers are potatoes
I was a bit late getting the potatoes into their containers.  They were chitting in my mum's conservatory and we all forgot about them!  Hopefully I'll still get a couple of edible tatties...
There are lots of websites with information on how to grow potatoes but my main source of advice is my mum who's been growing potatoes for years!  Once I've been through the whole cycle I'll do a more detailed blog post on my experience and learning.
http://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/grow-your-own/vegetables/potatoes

Coriander

 I've kept the re-potted coriander plant on my doorstep to keep it sheltered.  I doubt this little guy will survive as he came from the supermarket and he'll have been grown under glass so the fact he's outside now means he won't be happy.  But there's method in my madness!  My dad managed to grow supermarket coriander outside so I did a bit of research.  My dad is a very experienced gardener so most things under his care do survive but by all intents and purposes, supermarket herbs are very difficult to grow in the garden.  Instead I'm hoping my coriander plant will run to seed then I can start from scratch so that I have a well weathered coriander plant from the beginning.  It's an experiment that's maybe a bit advanced for me yet but we'll see!


The Bay Trees

You can only see one tree in this picture but there are two.  The trees came from my mum's house (she couldn't find a place to keep them without forgetting about them and I have the perfect spot on my patio).  I really haven't had to do much with them so far.  The trees were bought in the lollipop style and have stayed that way without much effort from me.  The one you can see in the photo is looking healthier than the one you can't see.  I think this is because the one you can't see fell over during the winter and mum didn't notice till the end of February.  I've kept them both in a sheltered position and have pruned off all the unhealthy looking leaves (brown, chewed or discoloured).  Also, little stalks were popping up from the roots so I have cut these off so that the trees' energy goes to the lollipop at the top.  I got most of my information from this website:
http://www.gardenfocused.co.uk/herbs/bay-tree.php




I hope you enjoyed that wee tour of the herb pots.  I've got a lot to keep my eye on but trying not to fall into the new gardener trap of killing things with love!  It's very hard to just let them get on with it without me fussing around!

Plans for the weekend

This is a long weekend for me so I intend to get the wellies on!  I haven't been able to do much in the garden the past few weeks because I work full time and have been too busy sorting out the house at the weekends (putting up blinds and cleaning up after visitors!).  I have also been watching the Chelsea Flower Show programmes on TV which is a first for me.  I've been inspired by some of the relaxed look of the small gardens and the beautiful colours of the flowers.  One of the presenters said that he designs his garden based on the fact he likes to be IN it, not just look at it.  I like this ethos and will adopt it.  I not only like standing at an upstairs window admiring my own efforts (if i do say so myself!) but I also like working in the garden and sitting in it with a coffee.  However, I am no garden designer!  I intend to keep my "let's see what happens" gardening style as that's who I am.  I would carefully design something (badly) only to get frustrated when it doesn't go according to plan.  And I change my mind a lot so I would just annoy myself!  No, it will always be a "let's see what happens garden"!

I'm am learning though.  And, from watching the Chelsea Flower Show and reading people's blogs, I've come to realise that the garden I want to be in isn't just going to happen.  I need to have some sort of forward plan, especially if I would like to have some colour all the way through the year.  So these are my tasks for this weekend.  I've kept it realistic while in my head I've got water features, raised beds and colourful flowers in bloom!

Project Hedgehog: I'd like to create a Hedgehog Garden at the back of the garage.  I've called this Project Hedgehog. The grass up the back of the garden where we saw the hedgehog is very long and the dandelions are loving it!  It’s making the place look untidy so I’m going to trim it a bit this weekend and remove the dandelions.  I might try to use the dandelions instead of automatically binning them:
http://www.thekitchn.com/10-ways-to-use-those-dandelions-recipes-from-the-kitchn-188774
http://www.eatweeds.co.uk/dandelion-root-coffee-recipe
 
I’ll dig up the weeds at the back of the garage ready for some plants. I don’t know exactly what I’m going to put there but I have a list of plants that don’t mind shade (taken from blogs and the RHS website) so I’ll see what’s available in the garden centres.

Slug Warz: I’m losing this battle! As you can see in the last blog, the Salvias are all gone.  Now the slugs are attacking my Marguerite daisy plant which looks like a skeleton :( This is after I’ve put down crushed egg shells and used coffee granules.   I need a slug killer/repellant that won't make the hedgehog sick or worse, dead!  I read a blog the other day about Slug Off and someone else has also mentioned “Nemaslug”.   I’m not sure if any of the local garden centres stock these so I’ll have a wee look around. If I can’t get a natural/non-chemical slug repellent then I’ll have to have a think about how I’m going to grow plants in the flower bed because they’re not getting a chance at the moment!

Herbs: I started a few herbs in containers on my patio which are doing really well! I know the herbs I have are not difficult to grow (obviously... otherwise I would have killed them all) but as a new gardener I’m very pleased they’ve managed to survive my inexperience!  I'd like to grow some more so I'll have a look in the garden centres to see what's good for beginners.

Chives and parsley


Mint - I'm particularly pleased with the mint as it was looking very sorry for itself when I potted it and I thought it would probably die in my care. Now it's looking great!



Privacy: The left side of my garden is closed off and even if people look out their bedroom windows it would be difficult for them to see anything in my back garden. However, the right side is open to all eyes and elements! My fence is ok but it’s low and the neighbours’ fences/trees were victims to Hurricane Bawbag back in December 2011 (and nobody has replaced them!). There are children 2 doors down who stand in their garden or bounce on their trampoline and stare right across at hubby and I as we (I) go about our (my) gardening tasks or even if we’re just sitting on our patio having a coffee and a chat.  Having lived in the city for 8 years before moving to the village I’m used to living my life with the eyes of the world on me but usually I don't have anyone blatantly stone cold staring at me! It’s very discomforting. So without offending my very nice elderly neighbour directly adjoining us, I’m having to think of some way to keep the staring eyes off my patio/herb garden at least. I’ve been researching trellises and screens to add to the fence that’s already there so now I need to go and have a proper look at them to see what would fit.  I'd like to take a moment to point out that, as a child, I would get into trouble if I was caught staring at anyone because it's rude.

Front garden: I’m still a bit stuck with the front garden as it’s all stone and no lawn. I do have pots but they’re all different so the garden looks very haphazard! I’d like to create some borders or even a flower bed in the middle but that’s a job for another day! This weekend, I need to replace the spring annuals in the wheelbarrow with summer ones.

Wheelbarrow (housewarming gift from dad) in the front garden


So that’s the task list for tomorrow and Saturday. I hope I manage to stick to it – by putting it in a blog I’m more likely to stay focused!  I'll hopefully have something to update by Monday...

Bugs, Slugs and Hedgehogs

Hubby was taking the bin out one night a couple of weeks ago when he spotted a hedgehog foraging under the hedge at the back of the garden.  It was dusk, so hedgehog (we've named him Sonic) was just visible as he made his way through the long grass that had escaped my mower.  Apparently hedgehogs eat slugs and snails so gardeners like them!

Speaking of slugs and snails, something has been eating the leaves of some of my plants!! Look at this poor Salvia:

At first I thought it was Mr Slug having a feast every night.  I've read that some slug pellets are fatal to hedgehogs so I needed to think of some other type of slug repellant.  I have trawled websites and discussion forums for the best non-chemical option and there have been many suggestions from gravel to copper feet.  I've opted for using stuff that I'd otherwise throw in the bin (as I don't have a budget in the "new home fund" for copper feet or gravel); crushed eggshells and used ground coffee beans. The sharp edges are too uncomfortable for Mr Slug to slither over.  Last weekend I covered the ground at the stalks of the remaining Salvias to see if that would deter the pests.  I also put the shell of an orange (dome side up) in the flower bed to see if anything would crawl under there.

Unfortunately whatever is eating the Salvias has not been deterred by the eggshells and coffee granules:
 







(Yes I know you can't see anything.  That's because all that's left is the crushed eggshells!)








Unfortunately I forgot to check the orange shell next morning to see if I'd caught anything.  By the time I got home in the evening, if anything had been there then it was long gone.  There are hardly any Salvias left now so I've given up trying to save them from whatever was eating them.  I'm not sure if it was slugs and snails... it just seemed too quick and calculated.  Unless slugs are more intelligent than I'm giving them credit for!  Hubby thinks it was Sonic the Hedgehog but I'm not convinced.  Why eat the Salvias and not the rest of the plants?  Dad says I planted the Salvias too early anyway.  Grandpa never planted his flowers till the second week in June and his dahlias used to win prizes.  With global warming, June might actually be a bit late nowadays so I'm going to plant my summer flowers during the late May bank holiday.  I don't think I'll promote myself to dahlias just yet although they're my favourite flower.

The chilli plants were also looking a bit sorry for themselves.  I understand now that I've planted them in the wrong place as they need a greenhouse and I don't have one of those!  My patio can't exactly be described as a Mediterranean environment so I doubt I'll get any chillies.   Anyway, the I noticed a couple of weeks ago that the foliage was a bit chewed and had a few brown spots. A website (can't remember which one!) suggested a bug like blackfly could be the culprit. On checking the first time I couldn't see anything so put it down to the windy salty air of a garden near the coast.  However I regularly saw similar suggestions on other websites so went back for a closer look.  I just made out the tiniest of black flecks on the underside of the leaves. They reminded me of thunder flies which I've only ever experienced when I lived in Boston, Lincolnshire as a child.  I didn't think they ventured into the cold mists of Scotland!  Regardless, I used a bug spray that can be used on fruit and vegetable plants and that seems to have solved the issue for now.  The Scotch Bonnet chilli foliage is actually growing!

So I won the war against bugs, lost the slug battle and hopefully still have a hedgehog!

Super Rhubarb

My patch of rhubarb came with the garden and its not something I would otherwise have thought to grow mainly because I prefer apple pie to rhubarb pie!  But hubby loves rhubarb and this stuff seems to be well established in its corner.  With the house having been owned and lived in by my granny-in-law, over quite a few years the rhubarb has been left to its own devices so it can't need much looking after.

There's a lot of information in magazines, blogs and on the Internet about how to grow rhubarb.  I found these websites helpful:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/basics/techniques/growfruitandveg_growingrhubarb1.shtml

http://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=544

Rhubarb needs frost early in the year to encourage it to grow. I can't remember if we had frost this year but, judging by the size of the rhubarb patch, I think we must have!  Rhubarb is very hardy against the elements and pests although I did find a snail on one of the leaves yesterday and we're getting frost at the end of the week so I'll keep an eye on it.  One think I'll need to look out for is rot in the base of its stalks and that happens if the rain doesn't drain away easily. I have sandy soil so shouldn't have to worry about it.  We'll see!

The other day was beautifully sunny and I couldn't help taking a coffee and cream cake out to the patio and savouring both my home baking and my efforts in the garden!  I realised my rhubarb was even bigger than when I'd taken the photo 2 weeks ago and one of the leaves was covering my poor Marguerite Daisy plant (the one in the flower bed - not the one given to me as a gift which is now at the front door).  It was trying so hard to peek out from underneath the rhubarb to get some sunshine that I actually felt sorry for it!  So I decided to be brave and harvest some of the larger stalks.  I hope that taking out the larger stalks will give the smaller stalks some room to grow.  And give the daisy plant a chance of some sunshine! 

If you haven't harvested rhubarb before, the internet will give you step by step guidance.  I used this website:  http://www.wikihow.com/Harvest-Rhubarb

It really is quite easy to twist and pull from the base of the stalk.  I managed to correctly pull 4 out of 5 stalks with the first one not quite as low down as it should have been but after that I put on gardening gloves and got right in there!

Once I'd picked the stalks I got a chopping board and a large knife to start topping and tailing.  At this point hubby noted that I was doing it all wrong.  This proved that the rhubarb has indeed been around for a long time since he used to do the topping and tailing for his granny when he was a wee boy.  And so it was demonstrated to me, by the worst cook in the world, how to top and tail rhubarb:

1. hold the stem in mid-air at the end

2. place your knife just below the leaf

3. raise knife in the air and chop

4. repeat at the other end but chop just above the white bit

Easy as pie!  You end up with some lovely rhubarb stalks:

I then excitedly bounded into the kitchen to cook something.  Hubby mentioned rhubarb crumble and I'm quite good at the apple variety if I do say so myself so I decided Rhubarb Crumble it would be.  You'll find the recipe I used on the Kitchen Capers page.  Anyone who has used fresh produce from their garden will understand just how wonderful that Rhubarb Crumble was.  The fact the rhubarb stalks were 30 minutes old when they went into the pot meant the finished dish was heavenly.  

I don't have any more vegetables or fruits in the garden except the Pet Blueberry Stick (a blog entry for another day) and that's a shame as I'd love to try some more cooking/baking with home grown produce.  I wonder if I could transfer the flowers somewhere else next year and have a vegetable patch instead of a flower bed....