Aster Little CarlowThe soil is finally beginning to dry out a little and I am hoping to start digging the allotment this week. I have usually made a start by now, but it has been far too wet to contemplate any cultivation so I have lots of catching up to do if I am to start planting in April!
For now, I am concentrating on the cutting garden, which is a piece of ground where we grow plants especially for Mrs McGregor’s flower arrangements. Because of the sunny, sheltered location this area fizzes with insects and butterflies through the summer months and I love to spend time there watching the different butterflies – guide book in hand! As well as clumps of perennials such as Asters (Michaelmas Daisies)and Solidago (Golden Rod) there are Dahlia tubers and summer corms to plant at the end of the month. We have visited Notcutts and chosen some Gladiolus corms along with more Dahlias and Lilies. The Gladiolus and Lilies will be planted in soil that has been enriched with blended stable manure and I will dig in some coarse grit so that the bulbs do not rot.
I like to start the Dahlia tubers off in the greenhouse by putting them in seed trays or wooden boxes covered with compost. Once the tubers are shooting, I pot them up and grow them on to a size where they will withstand attacks from slugs and snails before planting them out in rows. This usually happens towards the end of May when risk of frost is past.
We have also purchased some new Pink (Dianthus) varieties. Pinks are easy to grow in well drained soil but dislike extreme wet weather so our plants are all looking very sad after the winter. I didn’t take cuttings last spring and they are such good doers in a vase and in the garden, that we had to buy some more! I have prepared the soil well by digging in plenty of grit and adding some garden lime – Dianthus need alkaline soil to do well. Needless to say that all of the varieties that we have purchased are scented! I am always amazed by the power of the clove-like scent of the miniature varieties and have planted several on sunny path edges where they will form a thick mat of spiky gray leaves and be smothered in flowers in early summer.
There are plenty of annuals which make beautiful bunches in vases around the house through summer and I am very fond of Cornflowers. The royal blue flowers teamed with the acid yellow of Alchemilla mollis are very elegant and easy to put together.
I have grown dried flowers since I was a child and they fascinate me with the way that they dry on the plants. Straw Flowers, which I know as Helichrysum are a favorite with their brightly coloured, pointed edged flowers that are equally attractive as they just open and when they have ‘gone too far’ for drying and the center has erupted into a fluffy mass!
Signs of spring are everywhere in the garden now and I hope this weather continues into the summer so that the cutting garden produces plenty of blooms unblemished by too much rain!
