In a vase on Monday - Winter green

I'm very surprised by this vase. I did not hold out much hope of finding anything colourful at all.
The I found this winter flowering Jasmine was in bloom. It's draped over a wire fence under a tree. I think it needs some care and coaxing into shape and it could be very lovely. 
I picked a few twigs, there is not much to it really, and thought that might be it for the vase. Wandering around I remembered we are lucky enough to have a huge bay tree. Most of it is too high for me but I can reach the lower branches. I think it needs some attention too. It's tucked away behind our oil tank so not very accessible. 

 

 
The effect of the yellow and green is very fresh and bright and looks cheerful on our dining room table. Unlike the weather which is grey and very often foggy.

For more beautiful vases visit Rambling in the Garden - In a vase on Monday. These were in a vase on Monday and now I've found time to share on Tuesday.

In a Vase on Monday - Graceful in decay

I'm resurrecting my gardening blog. If I'm going to do the odd post about my garden exploits, I may as well do it here. 
I stopped posting as I wasn't finding time to keep it up but I do like the reminder of what has happened and how it all looked in a previous season.
I was scouting round looking for things to go in a vase.  There is precious little about that looks at all good just now. 
I noticed the leaves were dropping  off this Cotoneaster so I collected a few twigs to bring in before it's too late. 

I was determined to  use this vase, as it gives a nice fan shape to the leaves, but it was vary hard to get them to stay put. In fact the clock is helping to hold them up! The vase is one of my favourites more usually holding sweet peas.
The photograph does not really show the wonderful colours. It was too dark and I didn't have an available lamp. 
I'm linking this to Rambling in the Garden - In a Vase on Monday. 

So what's going on in the garden just now?
As this purports to be a blog a bout compost , I'll tell you about the compost heaps. We (the Royal We) built these in this corner which is tucked away behind my poly tunnel and out of  sight of the road. 

You can see the day was sunny but very cold. The wind was pretty chilly and some of the frost lasted all day. However it got up to 20∘C in the poly tunnel. Yesterday it was -2. No sun.

Now I've decided to get some ducks. Ducks eat slugs. Say no more. 
After some discussion it was agreed that the best place for the ducks would be in this corner so that means moving the compost heaps. As you see they are only made of pallets, we are lucky enough to have a steady supply, so not too difficult to move. Though it does mean digging out the contents.

I've moved most of this heap. It is very well rotted with just a few twigs which I pick out as I go, along with plant labels and bits of plastic.  The one on the right is also quite well rotted but the contents of the one on the left will have to be moved into a new bin and left for a few more months. Moving it will do it good, and me - I need the excercise. 
They have been built with no real thought to the compostion. I just pile things on when I have them - kitchen waste, soft prunings, some grass, annual plants and cuttings from perennials, some cardboard and paper. We probably built them in the spring so it has rotted down very well, I must have got the mix right. 
 
Here is the pineapple sage I mentioned in my last post. ( Which confusingly was not on this blog - it's here).

We've had a week of hard frosts so it looks much worse than last week and the flowers are mostly shrivelled. I've cut it down now and tucked it into a cold frame I've just put inside the tunnel.
Luckily I remembered to take some cuttings last month. I just put them in a glass of water and look:

Roots! So easy. I'll pot these up now and keep them in the house until spring.  

Blighted pototoes

The potatoes have got blight.
I noticed this one evening.

Not all the plants were affected yet. I have inherited these potatoes with the house and, having just moved here this year, I don't know the history and whether they always get blight. We have had a wet spell though, so I'm not surprised.

The next day, as soon as I had time, I cut the tops off and dug up some of the potatoes. They are fine as I had spotted it early. I've burnt the affected haulms.
Soon after, I was struck down with blight and when I next made it outside all the rest of the plants were affected.

I'm sorry about the awful pictures today. So I did the same and cut the tops off everything. 
Today I had time to go and dig up some more. They were probably ready anyway but I was hoping to dig up a few now and then, when I wanted them. They are not a bad size though. Almost all of them usable. I can't take any credit as all I have done is watch them!

 I particularly like this one!

A few pretty things to finish...
 

Dianthus deltoides

Scabious

Echinacea. These came with me in pots. They are rather leggy but are filling out.

I am slowly filling up my new bed. My mum brings something every time she visits and I've taken to buying the sad dejected plants which are reduced in garden centres. Some of them only need some TLC to flower next year and I've got several bargains at £1 and £2. I've sown lots of seed and am taking cuttings so this time next year, I hope it will look great.

My Viridor Compost delivery

Very early on Thursday morning a delivery driver appeared at my back door. Luckily I was up and about even though I wasn't expecting him until 8am and I though that was early. 
This is what he was delivering:

 This is around 2 tonnes of recycled garden compost from the Viridor recycling centre. (By the way - this is marketed as a soil conditioner,not a potting compost.) I was lucky enough to visit when I went on my Compost Champion training day. They have huge windrows of garden waste which is shredded and turned very regularly and made into compost quite quickly. Then we are able to buy it back! (We've already paid to have it taken away if we have a garden waste bin). I stupidly forgot to take a camera but you can be sure I'll remember if I go again. It was compost heaven.
It you are local you can have it delivered or buy it from local waste recycling centres. I'm going to be creating lots of beds from scratch and am planning to have a poly tunnel so I decided that a large amount of compost would be a help.

 My husband has access to these rather large pallets so had quickly made a bay the night before. These are at least twice the size of a normal pallet.

 Luckily it was just the right size for the pick-up to reverse into. The driver was very amenable about dropping it just where I wanted it, which saved many trips across the field with a very small wheelbarrow. There will still be plenty of trips but I can take my time as it is not deposited on the drive.

This is what it looks like. Very dark and lovely.  It is very light and dry just now and will need to be mixed with soil or manure for most crops. The driver had grown potatoes in it, though, and then of course they are very easy to dig up.
I like to think there might be a little bit of my old garden here being incorporated into the new.  

A new bed - the long, hard way.

 As you may know we have moved to a new house. There is plenty of scope here for new beds and planting and I couldn't wait to get stuck in. 
There is a cultivated garden here at the back but it is quite well planted up already and the space left is mainly for low growing things. I brought quite a few plants with me in pots. I left plenty and only brought unusual plants or ones with sentimental value. I collected a lot of seeds too so need to have a sowing session soon. 
Some of these plants had been sitting in  pots since March as we had planned to move then but it was not to be. I was very keen to get them into the ground but it meant digging a bed to accommodate them. 
So out I went with my design consultant (who I happen to be married to) and explained where I wanted the new bed to be. I had planned to dig it myself but just wanted to run it by him. I thought a long, wide but straight traditional border. He had other ideas:

 You can just see the bed marked out in rope.

We just skimmed off all the turf (loose term to cover grass and assorted weeds) and removed it. Yes we did pile into the back of the land rover. It has to earn it's keep too. 
I decided to dig this over properly once to start with but then hopefully never again. I never dug my beds in Broadway. 
This soil has been compacted by having two ponies living on it and also sometimes vehicles driving on it and of course the grass. I hope it will be quite fertile. 

        We stupidly started it where a tree had once been and although it is long dead, some rather large roots are still there to be dug out.

   I thought I might attempt double digging but wimped out and instead dug one spit deep and forked under that. I've added manure to the trench and am then turned the next load over onto it. It has turned out to be good soil and not as compacted or clay like as I expected. 
It is taking a long time to dig over as other things crowd in and I have renewed respect for old gardeners (and current ones) who did this every year.
Now you can see the dandelions are taking hold. Proving the taking off their heads is not enough, as if we didn't know!

I've nearly finished now and the dandelions are really large - twice the size of this but it makes them easier to find. I've planted a few things but there is plenty more room. I hope the weeds don't take over before I do.
We really shouldn't have made it so big but to start with, I hadn't planned to but as you see we have the space and I know by this time next year it will be full.

Soon - the quick and easy way to make bed...

Swallow summer

Look at this fabulous picture: (the subject not the actual photo)

We have a building here which was previously used as a  stable. When we moved in we were told not to close the top of the door as swallows were nesting in there. 
We have watched the parents swooping in and out all day long for the last month. They have worked so hard and barely seem to stop. I suppose it is only a short time compared to the 18 years and beyond which we humans care for our young. 
We have kept out of their way as much as possible but I noticed that five little heads were peeping over the edge of the nest. I went back with my camera when the parents were out and quickly took a photo (no flash).
Can you believe how they fit in there? It reminds me of a saying - Little birds in their nest agree. I think it was my Grandad who used to say it to my sister and I as we were always fighting. I wonder if these birds squabble. It does look rather sqashed.

I think it was in the next couple of days that I took this:

 One little chap has braved it down to the shelf. I suspect actually, that they had all been out and back in a again by this time. I wondered how they would get out the door and if we needed to open it for them. But of course the parents knew what they were  doing and they all got out perfectly well without my help! We can see that they had been perched on botton half of the door.
The following day I was out and about but the parents were swooping around and warning me away so I hid in my greenhouse and kept away from them.  Later in the day the nest was empty and they were all flying. Imagine being able to fly like that as soon as you leave the nest!
We saw them swoop in and out a few times over the next few days, sometimes it seemed, for fun. But then sadly for us they seem to have gone and we rarely see them. I miss watching them and their amazingly fast and accurate flying. It was such a privilege to see them. 

Every girl's dream

Or maybe it's just me.
I have moved to a new home and this is what I have inherited...

Yes that is a large pile of manure!

I've hardly had a minute recently. Time has been taken cleaning and packing and then cleaning and unpacking so I have had no time for blogging. Then I had to go back to work after a week off so had even less free time. It is really getting in the way of things I want to do.


I have inherited some garden which is very well looked after and very fertile. The previous owners had two ponies so added copious amounts of manure. The soil in the cultivated beds is very good and there are some lovely plants.

This is the star at the moment. A philadelphus with a beautiful perfume. One of my favourites since childhood.
I also have a large area waiting to be transformed into vegetable and flower beds. There should be enough room to grow pretty much everything I fancy. This area is clayish soil which is typical of the conditions around here. It is probably quite compacted but I hope quite fertile, given that ponies have been on it! I have dug some of it and it was manageable.

So at the moment I am collecting vegetable peelings and grass clippings in one of these large bays. 

I'm planning to layer some of the unrotted manure on top of this waste as I have such a lot.
There are five bays. One is very well rotted manure which I am digging out to use and the others look quite un-rotted on the surface but it's difficult to tell what is underneath. Building new compost heaps is quite far down the list of things which need to be done, given that I'm still falling over a suitcase with half my clothes in, as the wardrobe isn't big enough. Some rather nice nettles are growing in the top which indicate fertility.

I've been digging out here as you can see. I am creating new beds and adding manure as I go. More of that later. I am slightly concerned that is is going to collapse on top of me so I think I need to did out the one at the side too.
So after develping a good system of composting which worked for me in our last garden, I am starting again. Working with what is here to start with, we'll see what happens. 
I hope to be back with some progress about the new beds soon. All I need is some spare time.