Building a Flower Bed

My masterplan for 2016 largely includes making an effort to build up the garden's display of decorative plants. Up to now my floral efforts have been sporadic and ill-thought out, with not much thought given to plant placement and year round display. My motivations are not primarily aesthetic, although as I progress my mind is becoming more design sensitive, but to introduce biodiversity to the garden.

There are many great reasons to grow flowers and vegetables together. Complimentary plants can help pest management. The nasturtium, which is a flower common to many gardens, is said to reduce aphids, cabbage worms and whiteflies, so grow it among your brussels sprouts and broccoli. As well as looking great, it provides ground cover like a mulch and as a bonus, the leaves, flowers and seeds are edible. I've planted it in a few areas this year and cannot wait to see the effect of the creeping orange and red flowers among my vegetables.

The area of the garden in which I am currently concentrating my efforts is a patch near the patio that was cleared when a huge bush of box honeysuckle was removed. This is how overgrown the area at the back of the house had gotten (blame a new baby):





I can't believe we let it get so bad, and look at the ivy eating one of the bedroom windows:





A few days work in the good weather and we removed the ivy, all the brambles by the back door and the huge bush. After this photo was taken, the big spiky plant was cut back (I don't know what it's called but I know it's common enough).





Here's how the area looked a few weeks ago. The box honeysuckle has proven vigorous and has grown back but I am keeping it trimmed. Wood chips were laid down months ago but they are thin on the ground at this stage. In the foreground you can see pansies, wallflowers and a purple sprouting broccoli. Under the spiky bush are nice creeping plants that will release tiny flowers in many colours later in the year. I'm hoping they will have spread by then. In the pots are lupins, some of which have been moved into the ground now.





Vacant space around the big spiky bush:




And the area where the brambles once roamed:





To get my flower patch off to a good start, a very generous neighbour gave me a load of flower divisions from her garden. Look at all this:




There were at least twenty varieties in the pile, of all shapes and textures. I got to work immediately planting them, continuing even as a massive hailstone shower hit. When everything was in the ground, the result was unimpressive at first as many of the plants are small slips, but even after just a few weeks of sun and rain, they are already beginning to fill out and flower.


I'm slowly building up a rockery around the base of the spiky plant to hide the huge ugly root:

Little scraps of creeping plants are positioned around the base of the root and hopefully these will spread like crazy:

In the open area, I've planted out garlic that I had over-wintered in modules, in my efforts to mix flowers and veg. Beetroot seeds have also been planted and I am looking forward to seeing the effect of the purple leaves among the flowers.

Nice textures are filling up the blank spaces but I've still a bit of weeding to do:




Forget-me-nots are flowering:





A few shells are added to the rockery and lots more decoration needed. Another good excuse to go to the beach:




So far the flower bed has cost me next to nothing. Now I have to give it my time and allow the plants time to grow. If you don't need the instant effect, growing from seed and cuttings is a really cheap way to garden. I cannot wait to update this post with photos in a few months and I guarantee my patience will have paid off.

*Update 15th June*

Look at the difference a month made in my other veg, flower and herb bed: 

June is a wonderful month!

My Garden: 14th April 2015

If you look at the back of your seed packets you'll find that March planting is suggested for most spring sown vegetables. Except for a few hardy plants (peas and beans) and those who have to get a headstart indoors (tomatoes and peppers), I've given up on March planting. I now prefer to wait until April, when it has warmed up, and put my seedlings outdoors. I find it a delicate operation keeping young seedlings adequately watered without drowning or droughting (did I make that word up?) them, and having them outdoors is a much more natural environment that, unless the weather is extreme, has a good balance of rain and sun. Of course you must keep an eye on the weather because frost can still strike, and put the seedlings under cover on a particularly cold night.

Some lonely looking coriander and dill seedlings:



I've used the shelves from a redundant cheap greenhouse as support for my broad beans but burying them in the ground. You can see my brussels sprouts in the background:



Here are some plants, two of which I raised from my own seed saved from last years crop. A few days later they were eaten by my pet rabbit! I covered them with net and they are sprouting again.

My lavender is beginning to form flowers. I bought it as a plant from a garden centre last summer so this year will be a real test of the quality of the blooms. I've given it some comfrey feed. Lavender loves full sun and this plant gets the morning sun, up until around 2pm so I hope it is enough. I must look into dividing the plant so I can relocate some of it to the opposite wall, which gets the afternoon sun. It will be interesting to see the difference. Listening to an episode of Gardener's Question Time (BBC 4 Radio) I hear one of the panel members suggesting that I snip off the early flower buds as it will lead to twice as many blooms.

Below are a selection of cuttings given to me by my kind auntie. There are a selection of heathers with, what I think is, Elaeagnus Gilt Edge is in the back. I am keeping them watered in the greenhouse until I decide what to do with them.

My comfrey plant which dies back to nothing every winter has bounded back. I must start pulling leaves off and making some homemade fertiliser. I will also add some to the compost bin as it speeds up the decomposition process. 

These are two pear trees. The one in the foreground is a Williams which I planted as a year old tree about three or four years ago. It needed a pollinator and I didn't get around to getting it a mate until last winter, namely the Conference in the back ground. The older tree has gotten unkempt so I must prune it. I've been reading up on summer and winter pruning. I think I will do nothing until next winter, incase I affect my chances of getting any fruit this year. I have really ignored the possibilities of growing fruit in my garden and it is time to set that right.

A few pak choi seedlings:

My father has kindly built me this clever bench using only few pieces of wood. It is supposed to be for my plant pots but it may become a reading seat as it is positioned perfectly to receive that rich evening sunshine:

Purple sprouting broccoli is still going strong. I have started blanching and freezing it into bags as the temperatures are rising and it will go to seed soon:

And thus concludes the highlights of my garden as it stands!

My Garden: 24th April 2014

I massacred my brassica seedlings. I planted a mix of purple sprouting broccoli, calabrese and cabbage indoors in early March and they were looking well for a while:

Unfortunately even though indoor sowing is great for sprouting seeds, it is quite difficult to maintain seedling health as the soil dries out quickly. The only window sill I had available was the sitting room, and it was still stove lighting weather so my seedlings perished in the dry heat:

Doh.

But there is still time! Not deterred by my failures, I planted a new batch of seedlings, even better than the first! They remain outside in boxes that I can cover at night. I am making an effort to shade them when the sun is strong. Honestly sometimes I think it works better when seeds are sown outside and you just leave the rain and sun do their work. In the words of Queen, too much love will kill you[r brassica seedlings].

In other news I took a shovel to the compost bin and what started off as disgusting bits of rotting food, egg cartons, toilet rolls and leaves, is now more attractive and usable:

My comfrey plant which had died back for the winter is full of growth so I've started a batch of fertiliser:

My broad beans have gone out to the big bad world, and I've planted mange tout around them, plus some sweet pea flowers to attract the pollinators.