Cuttings

There have been a lack of postings recently...everything is in hibernation - awaiting spring. I have managed to put a few raised beds in to the allotment and am hoping to make another one this weekend; we shall see how cold it remains as to whether or not I manage it.

I have been studying for my RHS qualification and reading a lot too.

The rather lovely Cuttings I found in a charity shop and contains the writings of Christopher Lloyd at his lovely home of Great Dixter. It is a month by month blow of the ups and downs of gardening and so I am reading along month by month. About to start February...lovely...

Summer in September

Well it has been glorious this past week; temperatures hitting 28 degress celsius - which is very uncommon for September here in the UK.

I took this opportunity to have a day off from work and head out to my allotment (with having a cold and it being a bit damp weather-wise of late I hadn't been there for a couple of weeks) and it was a super day.

First thing though I grabbed some topsoil from a guy I met on Freecycle and filled up various tubs to take around to load up the raised beds already in situ.

It was lovely and warm on the plot, the light was beautiful and leaves fluttered down off the trees. I had the chance to finish removing grass and weeds from the right hand side - ready for the 2nd raised bed to go in, and to weed around my leeks and fuschias (pics below). I also made a start on setting my stone path in place.

A break at lunch resulted in having a pastie and a small cake from the local bakers and I then took a stroll around Harpers Lane perimeter and took some pictures with my husband Sal's fabulous Canon digital SLR. Loving this camera! Some allotment holders are getting ready for Halloween by all accounts too...

Here are some pics of the day...back soon!

Bev
x

Isle of Wight

Back in July we had a lovely week's holiday on the Isle of Wight.

There were lots of lovely gardens to visit, most notably the stunning walled garden at Osborne House.

It was so inspiring. I couldn't wait to get back to get some serious allotment time in. More of which will follow soon as I plan on going tomorrow to do some more work on it...

Summer

Well, haven't we have had a mixed bag of weather so far...blisteringly hot, chucking it down. But I have been tending to the allotment and planting things out in the back garden when I can.

I got a call from Margaret at the allotments asking how I was doing as she hadn't seen me for a few weeks. The weather had been bad and I had pulled a muscle so had missed some allotmenting action. So we decided that having half the plot would be more of a manageable size for me.

The potatoes are doing well; flowering and getting nice and tall. Can't wait to reveal their bounty soon.

My garden is also looking neat and tidy and the lawn is looking good. More seed will go down in September I think...

Also had a lovely ride out to the South Lakes last weekend and Sal drove me to Halecat , which is a lovely husband-and-wife-ran nursery. Check out the pictures.

See you all soon
B x

Allotment Alert

Lordy! Less than a year on the waiting list and I get the call, 'we got a plot for you'. Woo hoo. So work has begun on turning over all the soil, removing the odd brick and carpet(!) and lots of roots, weeds etc. Oh it so exciting.

Also Josie and I are busy sowing seedlings for our gardens (I am managing to sauna most of mine - fool), so some pics here of sweet pea and various veg in J's greenhouse. Also a pic of Erin's Fairy Garden...(J's daughter) Enjoy...

B
x

Spring on its Way

Oh joy, spring is in the air - I can smell it.

The front garden is looking good after I tidied up a few weeds and I have scattered around the bulbs and plants some rockery style flower seeds I got from the local supermarket. Hopefully things will start to blossom very soon...

Come Back Peter, Come Back Paul

Ok, so the bird table wasn't a huge success - not a single bird landed on it, that I was aware of anyway. So my dad said I needed to hang feeders from it...as it wasn't that secure in the ground I thought it best that I invest in feeder station.

This one was £10 bargain from Aldi the other week and I finally got around to putting it up today.

Bring on the birds!

Big Garden Birdwatch

At last, it is a nice dry day, though the ground is still quite hard from the frost at least I got out there today and had a chance to tidy up and cut back a few plants.

I feel spring is just around the corner and can't wait to decide which seeds to sow and pop in the greenhouse so by summer the garden will be full of colour and beautiful flowers.

The free seeds are being given away again with Amateur Gardening magazine after their winter hiatus so I have a nice collection now to choose from.

I also sat for an hour earlier to see how many birds I could spot for the RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch. It was very quiet in my garden but I did spot a few wood pigeons, a couple of blackbirds, a song thrush and believe it or not a heron! Hoping there is a space on their website for 'other' so I can log that.

Bev x

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Mini Gardens

Winter is not an ideal time to get stuck in to the garden.
It's frosty, cold, so you can't really do much...so why not have a go at making a teeny tiny garden.

Check out this Etsy video that shows you how.

Not sure I have giant light bulbs hanging around though...may have to get creative with something else. Scour those charity shops for exciting glass containers and get to it!

Bev
x

We Love Alys...

Josie and I both love Alys Fowler. It was her TV series 'The Edible Garden' that inspired me to turn my 'jungle' in to a pleasant area to sit and grow my own.

It has been really enjoyable learning about gardening and her books are inspiring, so check them out. You can see her in action here on this Guardian site too.

I am also amazed at how my sweet pea is still going strong and it is the 1st of November today! What a hardy plant.



Enjoy your autumnal tidyings fellow gardeners.

Bev
x

Year Round Gardening

Josie and I have been busy tidying up in our gardens.

I decided the front garden needed a good sorting out and have installed a rockery. 5 plants for a fiver from B&Q and a few from Morrisons, cheap value pebbles and et voila! One rockery.




Josie has been pruning away thanks to a demo we had at Myerscough the other week and hopes that will be the last time she has had to mow the lawn until spring.

Myerscough College

Josie and I went over to Myerscough today to do a 1 day course - 'Grown Your Own Fruit & Vegetables' and marvellous it was too.

We learnt a lot and will be putting a lot of ideas in to practice.

We discovered what to grow all year round, what to plant with what, how to store and collect our own seeds.

The grounds are lovely but we were a little disheartened to discover the allotment area was in a state of neglect. A real shame as Josie pointed out the vegetables could easily be used in the kitchen for the students.

But we did grab info on some more short courses, click here for more details.

Time to Tidy

At last, some dry weather and a chance to get out in the garden and tidy things up a bit. Lawn was trimmed down and some brambles dug up. Odd things in pots were popped in to the soil and zinnia's and cornflowers dead-headed. A few garlic cloves stuck in a pot; it was a lovely afternoon. Now looks much better, oh and check out my winter hanging basket. Fab!







Bev
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Amateur Gardening

New to gardening? Then this is a great magazine to subscribe to.
Weekly editions and you get free seeds; sometimes two packets. I have got quite a colletion now.
Looking forward to some early spring sowing.
Find out more here.



Bev
x

Heaton Fold

We escaped work at lunchtime for a short while today to whip over to Heaton Fold Horticultural Centre.

Read more about it here and to check opening times.

It is a lovely little garden centre and we hope, what with all the budget cuts hitting councils nationwide, that this little gem is unaffected.

I purchased a rather lovely winter hanging basket and some bulbs. Josie got a bargain-priced globe artichoke and some bulbs too. Here are some pics of our visit. Enjoy!
B&J
x

Josie's Plot

The giant pumpkin plant... before the mildew hit it!

Unfortunately it's neighbour, the Saint John's Wart, couldn't lift the pumpkin's depression...


Potatoes a plenty and they tasted good too!




The three sisters... corn, beans and courgette. Plenty of veg has been had from these lovely sisters.




My nasturtium have brightened the three sisters up. They are very good in a salad too!

Welcome!

Hi and welcome to Bev and Josie’s gardening blog - well, what did you think it was?! Over the next weeks and months we will be sharing our experiences of transforming our respective lady gardens into wonderful places to relax and also grow our own food. We’re both new to this lark so hopefully you’ll be able to learn with us and also share your advice.

Love Bev and Josie


As you can see from the first picture below my own garden has looked like a mess for quite a while but recently I thought that enough is enough and have begun to revamp it. It isn’t huge but nevertheless it took quite a number of hours of toil to get it up to the state it’s in at the moment (see second photo). I have to say that I have loved every minute of it though!