More Happy Gardening Moments of 2022

It’s time for the second of my gardening round-ups for the year. This time my happy gardening moments (and not so happy ones) are away from the patio.

Can’t see the pictures? Click here: More Happy Gardening Moments of 2022

Happy Gardening Moments With Bulbs

I don’t know about you but I love early flowering bulbs which you plant in the autumn like snowdrops, crocuses, daffodils and bluebells. They provide early pollen for the insects and a definite early lift to me. That lovely sense of the fresh year ahead and the gardening joys to come. However, for me it’s always a big risk having bulbs in our borders. After they’ve finished doing their thing, I forget they’re there and accidentally dig them up while planting other things. I’m so dopey!

So while we have quite a lot of snowdrops in our borders, the bulk of our bulb planting is in our grass. Here I’ve had some real gardening hits this past year.

Bluebells

I’ve been trying to develop a sort of bluebell glade effect in a patch of grass which runs past our beech tree and slightly curves around to a dark corner where we keep our dustbins. It’s not a large area but I wanted to make something of it.

This year I really felt it was starting to get there. The bluebells which I’d planted as bulbs in the autumn, looked lovely.. I obviously needed to keep the grass they are growing in long, for quite a while. But I think this looked really natural and effective too.

The walk around the tree to the bins is now much more attractive! But note, if you are planning to do this and plant bluebells or indeed any bulbs in grass, be prepared to resist mowing until at least 6 weeks after the flowers have faded. Some people really struggle with this, as they like a tidy lawn. But it’s so important as that way the leaves can continue to use the sunlight to feed the bulb for next year.

Snowdrops

I also had another happy gardening moment with snowdrops this year. I planted some under a dear cherry tree which is near my patio. My friend, Liz, gave the tree to me when my dad died. Such a lovely thing to do for someone. So, although it gets leaf curl (cherry trees are very prone to it) and doesn’t produce many cherries (well none that I get to see as the birds get there first), it’s very special to me.

I thought it would look rather nice having a few snowdrops dotted around under the tree. So last year I lifted some from my beds and borders while they were in the green, and moved them to under the tree. This year they really looked lovely. At the moment the effect is a bit ‘dotty’ but I’m hoping in time it will become more naturalistic. But even if it doesn’t, I like it.

Happy Gardening with Crocuses

Talking of creating a more naturalistic look, another of my successes this year was softening the look of the crocuses which I have growing under an ash tree. I originally planted the crocuses using the turf lifting technique. This is where I cut three sides of a large oblong in the grass to a depth that’s at least three times the depth of the corms. I then lift the flap of turf and scatter the bulbs underneath, uprighting them to pointy side up, but otherwise leaving them where they’ve landed. Such scattering ensures a more natural look and is a reasonably quick way to plant quite a lot of bulbs. That’s a real bonus when you’ve loads to plant. However, if you aren’t careful, the bare gaps between the flaps of lifted turf can create an unnatural pixie-ring effect.

I worked hard to remedy this last year, planting in these blank areas. And I’m pleased to report it looked a lot more natural this year – that said, I’ve still a way to go.

Irises

It seems only fare and honest to share the rough with the smooth and one definite low point this year was my irises. In 2021 I had the most gorgeous display of the  Iris Carmen at the front of my raised tulip bed which also featured alliums. The delicately coloured white and pale lavender blooms of the iris looked exquisite in May and June rising (about 50cm tall) among the grey green Stachys (Lamb’s Ear) which covers the raised bed.

So I was looking forward to seeing the display again. But this year – nothing! Guttingly, almost no irises emerged. I don’t understand it. I didn’t cut the leaves back – so the bulbs could be fed by the sun. But maybe the trees nearby, at this crucial bulb-feeding point were in leaf and shading them too much. I’m not sure. I’ve planted some more. I want to see if I just had an unlucky experience or whether the trees were the problem. Fingers crossed!

Happy Gardening Without a Net

Another high point this year was the removal of our old cricket net. The net had been in the garden for years and was popular with my cricket mad boys when they were young. However, it took up a lot of space and together with two very ugly sheds at the bottom of my garden, was a major eyesore.

With the boys now older, this year we could revisit it. Indeed, (drum roll please) we took it down! When I say ‘we’ I of course mean Mr F-W took it down. We then turfed the area so that it would blend in with the rest of the garden. I’m chuffed with the result, it’s one of the year’s biggest hits.

Not only has the net removal made everything look a bit more attractive, but it also means we can look at the garden from new angles, without our view being interupted. For instance we can now stand and look at the line of Catalpa trees and Annabelle Hydrangeas from behind. It’s just lovely to be able to view the garden from this vantage point and not see an old tatty, enormous net!

Crocosmia Lucifer

I have a love hate relationship with my Crocosmia Lucifer which is in my semi-shaded border. It provides some late colour. But – and here’s a very big but – it’s the wrong colour. The semi-shaded border is meant to feature the colours purple, lime green and hot pink. So an orangey-red crocosmia is plain wrong!

I’ve left it there as I felt it was better than nothing. However, this year I finally decided that it’s not right for my garden, so after it had finished flowering in October, I dug it all up. I’m not sure if this qualifies as a happy gardening moment but for me it’s a positive step. As it’s going to give me the space, and the impetus to put a more appropriate, hot pink coloured plant in the border.

Dahlia Disasters

This year another low was my dahlias. While those in pots worked fine, the dahlias planted in my temporary border in front of an old shed just didn’t thrive. I had some blooms but nothing like as many as I’d like. I’m not sure if the spot just wasn’t sunny enough or whether our weather was a bit strange. A lot of others have reported it being a bit of a hit and miss year for dahlias. Having said that, those at Aston Pottery looked amazing!

I think the spot I have them planted in is wrong. It’s a temporary bed which will be reimagined together with the whole bottom of our garden once our old green shed comes down. (That’s a major exciting job for 2023!) So rather than leave them there, I’m going to dig the dahlias up and put them in pots next year.

Open Garden

Although there’s been a fair bit of gardening frustration this year – not helped by the drought – I must end on a positive note. The final happy gardening high point for me this year was opening my garden to the public. It was nerve-wracking, after all my lawn is terrible and my gardening style won’t suit everyone. But people were so kind. The weather was glorious and I felt very lucky indeed to have so many lovely people pass through my funny old garden. So I’ll end this post with a couple of the photos from that glorious sunny day. Happy gardening x