Penstemons are top of next years plant list!

I have overlooked them for too long. Plants that flower for so long deserve space in every plantsmans garden. I put a couple in as gap fillers last year. These two became six all on their own and have divided with ease again this year, making twenty or so.

Most penstemons are herbaceous perennials. They are very easy to propagate now with semi ripe cuttings. Most of mine have an abundance of cutting material right now. In fact, most have air layered, with early stems having roots on the bottom few inches of stem.

I'm going to look for some interesting varieties for next year to go with my Sour Grapes (pictured) and Etna.

Love gardening.........making the most of that room outside. My favourite room in the house!

Good for mind, body and wallet.

I’ve been banging on for years at how great gardening is. My friends groan at me sometimes. A few people listen, most don’t I guess. It’s the plus points that people miss that saddens me. Ok, so we get pretty flowers and provide habitat for wildlife in a concrete suburbia. We grow our own fruit and vegetables and have a great outdoor entertainment area. But what else you ask?

We all seem to either love or hate gardening. But the bonus plus points to it are missed, even by the ones that love it.

All winter, echoes of “I’m so cold” and “I need to get to the gym” ring alongside “I’m skint” and ”gas bills gone up again”. Well, gardening answers some of it! Ten minutes digging a vegetable patch, in even the coldest of temperatures, will have you peeling off those layers of clothing due to the unbearable heat your body is generating. Then, when you get back into the house, the last thing you will want is the heating on! You will be glowing like a beacon and happy to sit and cool off.

So here we have my big missed plus to gardening. You just prepared some ground ready for growing vegetables, with just pence invested in seed. The pounds you will save in grocery shopping eh? You have less demand on your central heating as you get used to ‘real cold’ and are happy to have the house a few degrees lower. Gym membership becomes something your friends waste their money on trying to get ‘abs’, and your digging generated leaner physique.

So there we have it. Gardening can bless us with lower grocery bills, a healthier lifestyle, and a much fatter wallet. Not to mention the eco benefit of the ‘lower carbon footprint’ thingy due to saving food miles and gas energy.

I have had this on my mind for weeks now. It’s not my imagination running away with me. It’s a fact that I just wanted to put across to make a point. So many people miss understand the ways gardening can have a positive effect on life. Not to mention the pride it gives. Gardening, good for mind, body and wallet!!!

Still here. Been busy. Still busy!!

Shame on me. It has been twelve months since my last blog post. My initial idea of a post each week failed on a grand scale. Therefore, I am left with the need to update a whole years progress. I must dedicate one night a week to blog!

First failure was getting a lawn down! I ended up so busy at work my spare time required me to concentrate on growing things. Food and flowers dominated my year. My love hate relationship with bedding plants turned into a love love one! The garden was transformed with ease (I’m thinking here I should learn to input a photo onto blog). Zinnias, Cosmos, Petunia, Marigold, Verbena, Lobelia in all colours and sizes transformed the drab extremities of the garden, as well as the rockery I created.

A full complement of typical allotment veg managed to bless the vegetable patch too. I filled my allotment at the old house with potatoes saving the new veg patch at Blackgates for the brassicas, beans, onions, squashes, sweetcorn, pea, celery, lettuce, leeks and greenhouses with tomatoes, peppers and cucumber. The soft fruit harvest was bountiful too. Black, red and white currants. Strawberries, raspberries and gooseberries to name most. The apple trees were generous; the pear had great blossom but failed to be pollinated (more pear bought this year).

The garden is to get 12 new fruit trees planted this year, plum, apple and pear. I need to lose some vegetable garden to do this so will keep the allotment on as well. Not the intention but my little boy loves picking and eating fruit so have to plant more trees! I intend to fence off the orchard area and let some chickens roam underneath the trees.

Off to try and figure out my seed sowing plan now. Nearly seventy packets to wade through! Seed compost mixed, pots cleaned and ready to go. Dahlias started and on their way. So all in all, off to a good start.
Take care, and make the most of that room outside.

P.s. The compost tumbler was not as good as I had hoped. Will stick to traditional method.

So, a first Blog.

I really did think this would be easy! After all, my mind is so full of things to write and share with others. But where do you start?

So, I figured a feed on my days activities, however interesting would be a good method. This would serve me as a 'diary log' for looking back on my year and would also help others by either learning from my mistakes or sharing my successes. I expect as I get more used to Blogging I might change my format but for now I'll just stick to something simple and try to update every few days.

Today was the first day in 2010 that I felt spring is not that far away. There is a smell in the air that I seem to pick up on, the smell of growth? The Iris and Narcissus are an inch out of the ground or pot, making that important mental picture of the display seem more real. It's no longer in my minds eye, it real now! I have started to get the Dahlias ready for starting into growth and have purchased the seeds for this garden year. Its all in gear now for a great year.

Looking forward, I have a great deal of design work to do at Blackgates. There is good mature planting to work around but the garden as it stands is just not me. It needs my design eye casting over it and more flow to the garden. There is a big lack of herbaceous border due to the previous owner prefering the gravel look. This also means the lawn was removed. A garden without lawn just isn't a garden to me. Lawns are less maintenance than gravel. If you have ever weeded 50 square metres of gravel you will be nodding with me on this! Therefore, the lawn situation needs immediate consideration.

Anyway, I feel like I'm babbling on a bit now so I'll leave it at that for my first Blog. I hope the weather is kind to me tomorrow!
Take care, and make the most of that room outside.