I often take a wander through our little gate in the low picket fence that forms the border between our back garden and the farmland beyond. From here we can appreciate views of Pontesford and Pontesbury Hills through the changing light of the seasons. In the paddock adjoining our garden a magnificent old oak proudly stands awaiting our daily appreciation. I have taken so many photos of “our oak” in all weathers and in all the variations of light. It has been pruned to cattle reach height and looks like a perfect illustration from a book.
Today in the final hour of daylight the sun was so low it lit the tree like a spotlight lights the star of a show. These low-level rays of the winter sun gave the fields leading up to the hills a wonderful quality. Bright green streaks and dark shadow lines. Misty highlights closed in around the hedgerows.
What a crazy day to be on the lottie with gale force icy cold winds howling across and freezing fingers, toes and cheeks. But when the sun burst through the clouds – very short but bright bursts – it acted as a spotlight that featured wonderful coloured leaves. Salad leaves provide the real stars of the show like these ruby leaved radicchio. They enjoy being in the spotlight, being the centre of attraction, glowing with pride.
The brassica family are not to be outdone with their contribution coming from kales. The final shot is of a bunch of chard leaves that I plucked for the chickens. The light shows the glossiness and rich red-purple colouring of the leaves and stems.
The wonderful thing about these dark colourful leaves especially those with red and purple featured in their make-up is that in addition to being good to look and tasty to eat they are also better for us than their green-leaved relatives.
After putting away our tools and closing up our shed we took a few moments to wander around the site and see what was happening. we found surprise bonus flashes of colour. Flowers blooming out of seasons calendula and violas in the Winter Garden and a catanache the last bloom in the wildflower meadow.
In the small orchard the yellow of the crab apple, Malus “Evereste”, glowed like beacons hanging on defying the sharp cold and strong winds. In the turf spiral maze clumps of fungi take advantage of the protection form the turves They emerge from the bark chips we use as the walkway through the maze. They begin their life a colouful yellow but as they age their edges turn chocolate brown and they look like burnt buns until they begin to go over and dry. Then their caps split and let yellow cracks appear giving them the appearance of flowers.
We spent today on the lottie catching up on a few jobs and taking advantage of some sun and warmth, a December treat. We popped up for half an hour to plant 3 rose bushes owed to us from our big delivery of David Austin roses last year. So we added three Wenlock roses to our site’s community Summer Garden. The half hour became an afternoon as we planted whips of native trees and shrubs in the native hedge and “Edible Hedge”, rowan, elder, dogwood, wild cherry, cherry plum etc.
Then we turned our attention to our own lottie where the blackberry and tayberry were crying out for attention. The blackberry had put on masses of growth last year so I set to pruning out the brambles that had fruited this year and thinned out some of the new growth. Luckily it is a thornless variety. Once tied back in it all looked much more tidy and we looked at it willing it to be productive for us next year. The tayberry, although not thornless, is still a young bramble so took less work.
The Blackberry prior to pruning.And after pruning.
Meanwhile as I tackled the brambles, Jude the undergardener hoed between the rows of overwintering crops. This is the most efficient way of keeping an allotment plot looking tidy as well as killing any tiny seedlings even those yet to emerge from the soil.
The fresh growth of garlic, onions and shallots spear the soil and its compost topping with bright green freshness, a real treat in the winter cold. The broad beans planted in early autumn and the mooli sown in late summer add a welcome lushness of growth.
Broad bean plants patiently waiting out winter.Moolii, the radish with white icicle roots for winter enjoyment.
Ground left bare through the winter would be thrashed by winter rains and its goodness leached out so we cover such patches with green manure such as winter tares. This year when we sowed it in early autumn the weather was so dry that germination was delayed and growth of the seedlings has been so slow that they are still small. We are hoping they will catch up if the weather allows. The Phacelia in the photo below however germinated well and has grown on healthily. It was self-sown from a patch of wildflowers sown as a bug bank.
So as we are now officially in winter and temperatures are dropping to nearer seasonal norms, the plot is looking good. Next year’s seeds are ordered as are the seed potatoes so we are well ahead of ourselves. The photo below looks through the newly pruned tayberry at the rows of leeks, mooli and broad beans.
Whilst gardening today I was aware of so much wildlife around us even this late in the year. The bird feeding stations were unusually busy and birds moved though the borders searching for insects and seeds. Nuthatches have returned this year after a three-year absence and the blackcaps have arrived for the winter. The mixed titmice flocks lead by the Long Tails visit regularly and bring the garden to life. There are still insects around and the occasional bee and wasp. The Field Voles and Shrews make forays into the borders in search of their meals. It has not taken a great deal of effort to encourage our wildlife but certainly benefit from seeing and hearing it all around us whenever we are in the garden, so why are there not nature reserves on every spare patch of land in town and country? Look out for a future blog about our wildlife gardening efforts.
When on holiday in Dorset in the early autumn we were amazed by the RSPB reserve in Weymouth, Radipole, which is a true wildlife oasis in this busy seaside town. It is a wonderful place! So much nature just where you expect to see very little. We were treated to sightings of kingfisher, hobby, marsh harrier, little egret, snipe, reed bunting and warblers aplenty.
We found the walks around the reserve easy as they were flat and comfortable and refreshments were at hand via the bountiful blackberry bushes alongside the tracks. One section of the track is bordered with buddlejas specially planted for butterflies and wildflowers abound.
The reserve is home to rarities such as bittern, bearded tit and cettis warbler as well as many species of wader, duck and warblers such as sedge and grasshopper. As well as the birds otter are regularly spotted. The huge variety of species here is due to the variety of habitat which include lagoon and reedbed.
And all this is found alongside busy town roads, bustling junctions and retail parks. We thought we were lost when we found ourselves in a town car park until we spotted the thatched roof of the little visitors’ centre right at the far end. The welcome is so warm – all RSPB centres give a warm welcome to their visitors but the welcome here is warmer than the norm. The volunteers are full of useful information and will talk you through recent sightings and the best places to get good views. We arrived in a heavy downpour but enjoyed a good cup of coffee a chat with a volunteer and a view over the lagoon from the centre’s huge viewing window. We had a brilliant day and can recommend it to anyone visiting the South West.
Garden designers often talk about colour contrasts such as blues and yellows and about how important green is as a foil for other colours. but what about two shades of green working together. Just think of the fronds of vivid green ferns bursting out from the green paddle leaves of the hosta. in her book entitled “The Gardener’s Pallette” the American garden writer Sydney Ellison wrote “In nature, green is the colour of life” and “It is the colour that makes fewest demands on the human eye.” In most gardening books green is discussed as a foil for other colours and rarely considered as important in its own right.
I searched through photos I have taken this year that featured green for its own sake not merely acting as a foil. Here follows a selection. They prove how powerful greens are!
The grass, Hakanechloa macra , moves slowly like waves in the slightest breeze and here in Neil Lucas’ garden, look great as a sea of green for a specimen tree to burst out of. The plain green Hakanechloa often looks better than its variegated cousin but is rarely seen for sale. It deserves more recognition.
Neil’s use of the simple green sheet of grass under a tree displays brilliant design skills. This photo is the absolute opposite – an accidental paring of two contrasting greens – where a pure bright green apple has dropped onto a neatly clipped box hedge in a potager.
The first photo illustrated how a gardener used green so effectively, the second how an accident can produce beauty in greens and the above one shows how Mother Nature does it. Rather well methinks!
The above photo must illustrate the ultimate “green on green” border, gentle on the eye and so satisfying. Looking at green as a key colour in the garden now on the first day of winter makes you feel better. Just think of all the green we can look forward to!
We have been busy taking hardwood cuttings of dogwoods and willows this week, the sorts we grow for their coloured stems for winter colour. We have several different varieties of both at home and in the Winter Garden on the lotties. We hope to plant up the allotment’s car park border with the successful cuttings. The photo below shows just how varied the colours are from yellow and pale green through every shade of orange and red and on to black and violet.
The whispier stems of the willows provided cuttings to strike in a bucket of water – oh so simple.
For the dogwoods and the thicker willow stems we made 9 inch long cuttings of the ubiquitous “pencil thick” stems. These we have dealt with in two ways so it will be interesting to see which turns out the most successful. The first batch we put in compost in a pot.
The second batch we rolled up in a cut strip of an old compost bag with compost on which was then rolled into a swiss roll.
We arrived at Attingham Park, the closest National Trust property to home, for a coffee and wander in the woods, to discover a sign announcing that a new woodland walk was now open. We had to try it out even though it was a miserable looking day. But once in the wood it didn’t matter what the weather was up to as the sky was hidden by the towering trees. The local bird life however didn’t appreciate the weather for they were virtually absent and almost silent, bar Wood Pigeons flying over the tree tops and small flocks of tits moving rapidly through the branches. The one ornithological treat was being surprised by a Treecreeper that swooped down onto the bottom of the tree trunk alongside us and scuttled its way upwards. It seemed totally unaware of our presence.
An inviting sight.
Lovely rustic seats gave frequent and welcome resting places. The seats were made from logs and slabs of wood felled from the park. The path was soft and relaxing to walk on being surfaced with pine needles or just deep woodland debris. Our footsteps were thus quiet and did not disturb the woodland peace.
A carpet of leaves underfoot and tall trunks on all sides called us onwards deeper into the Attingham Park woods. Logs and branches of all sizes were left in piles to attract and give shelter to insects, including the Lesser Stag Beetle which frequent the understory.
As the colours were so muted under the greyness of the cloud cover, the most striking feature of our walk was the textures found in live and dead wood. Mosses and lichens carpeted stumps and felled trunks with silvers and greens, and the spent dried leaves had settled onto rough textured bark.
Sweet Chestnut leaf and bark.
This orange oak leaf rested on a fallen tree, its orange matching perfectly the spots of the Coral Spot fungus. Amazing juxtaposition!
The final working party of the year at the lottie site at the weekend. The hardy members worked hard under dull November skies stopping frequently for coffee and laughter. We cleared our list of jobs to be done so went home exhausted, aching but satisfied.
The first job was to weed the Summer Garden, collect up the fallen leaves, give the roses a good dose of good old-fashioned cow muck and finish off by mulching the surface with woodchip to protect the bed from the winter cold and rain. One of the Charles Darwin rose bushes was still in flower so gave a glimpse of yellow and a burst of scent as we worked.
We then treated the three Buddleja Beds and the sensory garden to a weed and mulch. So now all the beds on the site have been weeded and have a protective duvet of woodchip on them.
We then split up with Geoff giving the small meadow a haircut and weed. We were amazed by how many seedling of wildflowers decorated its surface. this job would normally be done much earlier in the year but this meadow has only just finished flowering. The rest of us planted bulbs in one of our orchards including Camassia and crocus, and took hardwood cuttings of coloured stemmed dogwoods and willows.
This must have been a near perfect day for any gardener – a morning spent in the garden under autumn sunshine, listening to a talk by Bob Brown in the afternoon and then buying one of his plants, a plant new to me.
Bob is a most entertaining speaker, full of information, humour and original thoughts and ideas. It was when we got our plant home I first noticed the wording on the bag that held our buddleja. At the top it said “I’ve found It! and below that “Bob Brown’s Nursery” and a nice clear map. If you have ever tries to find his Cotswold Cottage Flowers (www.cgf.net) you will understand the need for the map and the meaning of the comment.
Buddleja “Morning Mist” is a cross between Buddleja crispa and Buddleja loricata. Although these parents are not hardy the cross is reputed to be a good hardy little shrub. It grows into a neat metre high dome with silver foliage which is white on the underside, white soft furry stems and silver flowers with mustard centres. And it is scented with the aroma of honey! And it flowers most months of the year! A perfect plant?
Mustard yellow centres add a sparkle of colour to the beautifully scented flowers. Turn the silver leaves over and the undersides are pure white and covered in gentle white fur.
So, there it is, Buddleja “Morning Mist”. could it be the perfect garden plant. We look forward to finding out.
Whilst gardening today we were both amazed by how dominant the colour yellow seemed under a dark November sky – the yellow of foliage, late blooms and drying stalks. I’ll leave the photos to show what I mean.
Yellow CarpetThe perfect yellow jewel.Mahonia moment.Leaf Map.Roof Garden - lichen on Japanese stone lantern.Yellow grass stems.
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