Gardening Lessons I’ve Learned This Year

One of the joys of gardening is that there’s always something to be learned isn’t there? Even when a plan seems to have broadly been a success, there are some new insights you can take away. And when you’ve had a disaster, well there’s masses to learn! So, as the leaves are falling and the garden is snuggling up for Winter, I thought it was the perfect moment to look back at the major gardening moments (good and bad) I’ve had this year. To spot the gardening lessons I can take from them.

As there have been rather a lot of trials (and a few triumphs) this year I’m devoting my next two blogs to this topic.

Here’s my first batch of lessons…

Gardening Lessons

This week I’m focusing on my raised tulip bed, planting my stone trough and my main patio.

1. Raised Tulip Bed

The absolute highlight of my year for me is my new tulip bed. I created it from a previously rather abandoned, raised dumping ground type area of the garden. I spent many evenings measuring up, considering the conditions, planning the planting and imagining the possibilities. Often with a gin and tonic in hand. I so love doing this!

Anyway, I came up with the idea for a succession of bulbs – tulips, irises and alliums – all rising through a layer of lambs ear (Stachys). You can see more about the creation of this tulip bed here. I planted hundreds and hundreds of bulbs. I really committed to my vision. And thank goodness I did! The bed was jaw-droppingly beautiful for months. Not thanks to me, but thanks to the gorgeous tulips (too many varieties to name here but which you’ll find in the blog) Irises Carmen, (which looked phenomenal with the Stachys) and Alliums Purple Sensation.

The Problems

But… there’s always a but isn’t there… while the bulbs in the bed worked a treat, not everything in it was perfect.

For instance, I planted a line of grasses at the back of the bed. I love grasses and thought they’d be a good backdrop to everything else in the raised bed. They did look lovely, but the grasses kept spreading/seeding. And one of the key considerations with this bed is access. It’s not easy to get at, so I didn’t want to have to weed it a lot.

If I left those grasses unchecked they’d spread. So this Autumn I took the grasses out and put them in pots. I planted a heap more tulips where the grasses were.

In my original scheme I also had the Sedum Autumn Joy in the front of the bed to extend the period of flowering. But when I planted it I knew it was a risk. That’s because bed is under a canopy of trees. These prove no problem to the bulbs as the trees are deciduous. The light can get through when the bulbs are developing. But by the time we get to July, the trees are in leaf and the area is semi-shaded. And sedum likes full sun.

The sedum I planted did grow, and produced some flowers, but it was lack-lustre. So I will need to go back to the drawing board. I need to find something else that flowers from July – October, but which likes semi-shade.

So what are the key gardening lessons from this bed?

Gardening Lessons

• Go for it 100%, don’t be half hearted when it comes to an idea
• For impact you need a lot of bulbs (70 tulips per sq metre isn’t too many!)
• You can do something beautiful with even the most unpromising of spaces
• The conditions a plant prefers matter. You can’t fight that
• Grasses will spread – I’m have lots already in containers, and that’s probably, for me, the best way to use them

2. Stone Trough

Another of my gardening projects for this year has been the stone trough. I was given this for my birthday by Mr F-W and again spent ages planning the planting for it. The trough is huge and is positioned in a shaded spot, under a tree, at the end of our driveway (this makes my house sound grand – it so isn’t!)

Anyway, you can see what plants I went for here and a heap of other suggestions of good container plants for shade. The planting has been a success and the trough, now we’re at the end of November, still looks fantastic.

The leaves of the plum coloured Heucheras, (Wildberry and Silver Scrolls) combined the bright acid green Heuchera Lime Marmalade and ferns, have real impact. While to trail and soften the edges, the Geranium Dusky Crug and a simple ivy have work a treat. The Dusky Crug, is only meant to flower from June – August, but mine still has some flowers in November!!

When planting it up in March, I popped some snowdrops into the container. These were ‘in the green’. I don’t know whether they are going to come up or not. But if they do the container could potentially look brilliant 12 months of the year – a miracle!

The Problems

However…here it comes…there were a couple of mistakes, or should I say gardening lessons, which I’ll hopefully take on board. Firstly I popped a teeny tiny little grass in the container. This was slow growing and so quickly became swamped. I had to move it elsewhere.

Also I planted some primroses into the scheme. Like my snowdrops, I divided up a clump from my garden to put in the trough. However, we have a colony of sparrows nesting nearby. They removed every primrose flower overnight!!

Annoyed but equally fascinated to know why they did this, I Googled. Apparently, sparrows will eat the yellow heads off crocuses; the pigment in the yellow flowers helps add oomph to their plumage, making them more attractive to mates! My hunch is they eat primroses for the same reason. Clever old Sparrows! Anyway, I’m never going to compete with a randy bird’s sex life so I’ve removed the primroses!

Gardening Lessons

• For impact focus on a few colours
• Plum, pale pink and bright green is a brilliant colour combination for shade
• Geranium Dusky Crug is an absolute find
• Take note of the speed at which something grows, especially if the plant is small to start with
• If you’ve a colony of sparrows be careful with yellow planting

The Patio

As you will know, my patio forms a big bit of my gardening and I’ve had some hits and misses in this part of the garden this year.

I created a red corner using a mix of grasses such as Japanese Blood Grass, Heuchera Fire Chief and an Ensete Ventricosum. The last plant is exotic, and can’t cope with our Winters. So I’ve just followed Monty’s Don’s advice, cut it back (which felt brutal) and put it in our shed, all wrapped up until the warm weather returns. I’ve never grown a plant like this before so time will tell whether the Ensete is a proper hit or miss. But while it was on the patio it really added to the effect and was a hit!

I got the inspiration for this colour scheme by using the colour wheel. This has definitely helped me focus more confidently on colour this year. If you want to know more, I’ve blogged about how to use the colour wheel to create colour combinations.

Dahlias and Canna Lily

Another hit (so far) on the patio was my Dahlias called Mexican Star. I’ve never been a fan, so haven’t grown dahlias before. But I saw these chocolate red coloured dahlias and couldn’t resist. I thought they’d look good in pot by my shed and they did. They came up easy peasy and I dead headed them regularly and they rewarded me with flowers for months and months. ‘Why haven’t I grown them before?’ I kept asking myself.

However, I can’t call them a complete success until I replant them next year and they return. I’ve just lifted them for the Winter, dried off the tubers and stored them on newspaper. I’ve no idea if I’m doing it right as I’m a dahlia novice. But fingers crossed they work again next year. If they do I’ll be a complete convert.

One thing which was an absolute disaster on my patio was an orange Canna lily. I planted it in the pot in the middle of the dahlias tubers. On paper the combination was going to be electrifying. However, I’m not sure whether I planted it too early – as I was impatient, and the Canna was hit by a frost. If so, the dahlias coped with it fine. Perhaps the lily couldn’t compete with the hungry dahlias. Or maybe it didn’t get enough light early on. Whatever the problem, (I think it was all three) it barely grew.

Heuchera Fire Chief

This year I managed to pluck a monumental hit from an equally massive gardening miss. Through neglect, I hadn’t realised that my magnificent Heuchera Fire Chief was on his last legs. He’d always been so robust and smothered in leaves that I didn’t notice how leggy he had become underneath all the finery! I felt so guilty when I realised.

I quickly took cuttings from him, but didn’t hold out too much hope as he was truly on death’s door, a pot full of dry old bits. But he was so huge that I could take masses of cuttings from him – and they all survived! You can see how I did it here. I’m so pleased I did as many of the old Fire Chief’s babies are in the red corner on the patio, looking wonderful.

So what are the gardening lessons from all this patio palaver?

Gardening Lessons

• Use a colour wheel to experiment with new combinations
• Don’t be tempted to rush, wait until all risk of frost has passed with cannas
• If you’re growing cannas in pots they probably need one of their own
• Grow dahlias, you will like them
• Check your heucheras aren’t getting leggy
• Take heuchera cuttings they’re so easy

That’s my first batch of gardening lessons, I’ll share some more next week. Meanwhile you’ll find me in the garden, raking up endless leaves! Happy gardening x