The picket fence in this picture is the picket fence behind the daffodils at the top of this blog. The daffs went in as there was precious little else. Six years on it’s a whole different story.
It’s all Bob Flowerdew’s fault. He was the one who said, and I paraphrase, “You don’t see big herbaceous Gertrude-Jeckyll-style borders because people don’t have 6ftx36ft pieces of land to spare any more”. Ooh, I thought. We do.
So I didn’t rush into it (I can’t dig, for a start). I broke it gently to Gareth. He rolled his eyes a bit but didn’t say no. I got the edging tool and marked a line along the lawn parallel with the picket fence between us and next door. It looked do-able.
I started collecting plants. We already have rosa mundi that’s not being shown off to its best in the back garden. I spoke to Sarah next door and suggested that the rambler rose (possibly Rambling Rector) that is constantly trying to escape its miniscule confines and attacks everyone that come through her garden gate might move to our side of the fence and scramble up the apple tree right on the perimeter. That way she can enjoy it in its full glory. And we have two Winchester Cathedrals, one of which is happy and one that doesn’t quite get enough sun and could move over.
As for perennials, we have phlox paniculata David, papaver orientalis Chequers, an unnamed shasta daisy, loads of geranium Johnson’s Blue, achillea ptarmica The Pearl, cephalaria gigantea and helianthus Lemon Queen all big clumps looking for a slightly less shady home. From the 75p per plant stall outside a house I got a Michaelmas daisy (yet to flower), something scarily like mare’s tail, a pink geranium with dark pink markings, a penstemon, a perennial cornflower and two pink aquilegias. These are all bulking up in the nursery bed along with stipa gigantica and perovskia from Great Dixter.
This trough comes in handy to stop all the pots drying out. The plug plants of lavender (“free” from Thompson & Morgan) are on the bench, visiting the trough only when showing signs of drying out completely.
Sitting in trough by the front door and bought from an alleyway nursery in Lewes are big examples of physostegia (obedient plant), pink sidalcea, red monarda and yellow sisyrinchium which are being divided and dotted around to bulk up over autumn. Oh and something with large heart shaped leaves and bottlebrush red flowers. The plants were healthy and cheap but didn’t come with labels, but I am assured they won’t mind our clay and a bit of shade.
Speaking of clay… there’s been a lot of digging. The soil itself doesn’t look bad, quite loamy but it’s what’s underneath that’s the problem. The road that fights its way up this steep slope is called Clayhill. Nuff said. Then there’s the problem of not one but two apple tree right on the perimeter divide. Luckily we have access to unlimited well rotted horse manure. Gareth is digging it to a spade’s depth, picking around the apple roots, but cutting back those of the shrubs that are staying (some sort of privet, elderly multi-self-layered-scrappy choisya ternata) and the remains of a dispatched field maple. Then trug after trug after trug of well rotted manure will be piled on top for the winter, forked over in the spring and then the planting will begin. Ideally tulips should be put in before winter starts, but I think they will have to come later, to be placed in a year’s time for the second spring.
Garden of Lettuce 