Tomorrow, readers, I have something very exciting to share with you.  Well I think it’s exciting, I hope you will too.  I will be looking for feedback.  You have been warned!

In the meantime, Ma Yogini’s back and this month she’s planting bulbs!

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Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness

Yes, we have had some mellow days (the walls came into their own then, sheltering us from one or two autumnal blasts and enabling a few al fresco lunches) and the proliferation of plums, gages and other autumn fruits on the market stalls suggests fruitfulness too.  Other things have not done so well.  A Guardian (UK Newspaper) staffer thought ‘season of unripe tomatoes, bitter blackberries and tiny conkers’ better described this year and there was some concern about a suitable supply of nuts for the World Conker Championships.  I have heard no more about this ridiculous event!  With shorter days and colder weather, it is time to tidy up the garden, clear away dead matter and sweep leaves.  All go to make excellent compost if you have space; into the green bin if not.

Yes, well all that horticultural house- keeping is a bit dull so let us proceed at once to providing some cheerful colour to lift our spirits in the winter months. A recent visit to Wakehurst in West Sussex inspired the first idea. (Wakehurst, by the way, is an offshoot of the famous Kew Gardens and where the seed bank is stored – well worth visiting.) Swathes of tiny hardy cyclamen were planted beneath trees in a spectacularly extravagant display of pink.  Here is a more modest effort but just as pretty.

Cyclamen hederefolium – good in pots (stunning in black containers) or in the ground where they will self-seed and spread if space allows.

I also planted a pot of pansies

For this you need a nice container with some broken crocks at the bottom for drainage…

and some good quality potting compost.  This one ticks all the boxes….

(OK, you see a plastic bag.  Well show me compost not in a bag and I’ll show you a hen’s tooth.  Anyway, I plan a useful afterlife for that bag.)

If the roots of the plants, as here, are a bit compacted, shake them out a bit and plant firmly into the compost.

Where are the songs of spring?

Well here, actually, for these little brown bags of promise will, come April, sing loud and long with their wonderfully vibrant colour.  Plant them as above, following packet instructions, cover the tips with 15 cms of compost and wait!  Remember to water and protect your pot from very severe weather if it comes.

Botanical Tulip Red Riding Hood – height 11 cms

Now is also a good time to plant bulbs for indoors.  The method is the same but leave just the tip of the bulb showing. They need to be kept in a cool dark place covered with a sheet of brown paper for about six weeks to get a good root structure.  When you bring them out they still need to be kept cool until about to flower.  Check regularly to see they do not dry out. Bowls of hyacinths, the smaller narcissi, snowdrops and crocus make lovely Christmas presents but remember this is an amateur operation and Christmas flowering cannot be guaranteed!! Possibly plant a bit later for January flowering – no-one wants a pot of fading leaves.

If winter comes, can spring be far behind?

with thanks to Pa Yogini for the photos which he took on his Blackberry, which I suppose explains why some of them were so much smaller than others.  Gone are the days of one item for one purpose.

I digress – go outside, plant things, have fun!

(if you live in the UK you might want to plant the bulbs in pots inside as the rain it raineth.  STILL)

One of the best things about moving back to Cambridge has been having a garden again.  We have a pretty large garden and it is mostly overgrown.  This is partly due to laziness on our part and partly due to the fact I wanted a wilderness garden to attract birds and insects and butterflies, which has worked.

But there is another garden in Cambridge that I love to spend time in and that is Ma Yogini’s beautiful walled garden.  Ma and Pa are more urban than suburban, living as they do right in the centre of Cambridge.  You’d think that in itself was lucky, but the cherry on top is this beautiful suntrap of a garden that they have as well.

Over the summer I’ve posted several pictures of Ma and Pa’s garden all of which have been met by rapturous comments from you lot.  So I asked Ma if she would like to do a monthly guest post on having a garden in a city, using walls and balconies to your advantage, that kind of thing.

So here it is post number one.  September!

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A garden is essentially a private space, the creation of those who work in it, and we mark off this space by erecting boundaries. Trees, fences, hedges, walls indicate the areas where gardeners set out , with often limited success, to control nature. The word garden derives from the ancient Indo-European ghordus which means enclosure and whose roots can be found in both yard and orchard. Most suburban gardens are fenced or hedged but for a garden in the centre of a town, surrounded by roads, shops and even a car park, a wall is an essential element and without which this particular garden could scarcely exist.  Not only do the walls protect the space from urban rush and noise but they are wonderful for growing things UP!

In the past the gardens of the rich and influential always contained a walled area for growing exotic plants particularly fruit and vegetables, producing peaches and apricots against warm, south facing brick walls and early vegetables in a sheltered environment. Such ambitions do not run here but these walls are precious, excluding noise, providing privacy and supporting ivy, wild pea, clematis and a passion flower – which dismally failed to flower this year, but no matter. There is always another time.

There has also been some limited success with runner beans but these are the beginnings of a project for next year – an experiment in growing vegetables among flowers in a limited space thus fulfilling the original concept of a walled garden as a verdant mixture of all things that grow.

Plants of the moment
So what is happening here at the moment? Early September sees the end of the rich flowering of summer but there are still some nice things to be found. Impatiens or Busy Lizzies are still providing colour along with their big sister from New Guinea and the fuschias will last until well into autumn but spectacular at the moment is this fern

Shuttlecock Fern

The fronds will turn golden brown quite soon but will remain in place until they are cut off in the spring to allow new growth. Ferns grow quite happily in pots if you want to grow on a balcony or patio but they do need water and a certain amount of shade. They were very popular in Victorian times when everyone with pretensions to a garden of any size had a fernery in a cool and shady spot and they do well where sometimes other plants are unhappy. They also make a cool background for more colourful plants.

Hosta ‘Halcyon’

There is also this lovely Hosta, a plant grown mainly for its beautiful leaves but which has in autumn spikes of lavender-grey flowers that particularly compliment these silvery blue-green leaves. These too can be grown in pots in a small space but choose the variety carefully since some can grow rather large!

Jobs of the moment
Oh yes, there are always plenty of jobs! There is plenty of dead-heading to be done and generally clearing of dead matter and composting if you have the space, but not here since space does not permit and the council have their own composting scheme which makes life easier for the small gardener. In both senses of the word small – composting can be hard work!

If you want to do something more positive you can plant some parsley for winter soups and stews. Be quick as it is getting rather late. Parsley seeds are slow to germinate and need to be soaked for 24 hours before planting and ideally would go in a cold frame or under cloches. However if you want a pot by the kitchen door or on the balcony plant them now and invert a large jar or glass bowl over them and remember to water.

Until next time!

MY

(photos courtesy of Himself – it’s like I barely need to do anything! – Rachel)