June view 2009

June view 2009
View of rose and herb garden, June 2009

Small Garden Story

Over some 15 + years, I have been photographing the evolution of my small (85 x 15 foot) garden and it seems a waste not to put these records into some sort of context. Beginning here in April 2010 this Blog is intended to both act as a diary and to share past and present successes (and some failures), pleasures and disappointments with fellow garden-lovers. In due course, I intend to fill in some of the background and early days but that will have to wait until the winter months!

Saturday 16 January 2016

Very late tulip planting

A shameful gap in my posting! In part I'm using the seemingly-endless wet weekends as an excuse. It is brilliant to have a sunny frosty Saturday morning at last, especially as it was only last weekend that I dodged the showers to plant the last of the tulips bulbs.
This year I've gone for Curly Sue, Coleur Cardinal, Havran, Grand Perfection, Ronaldo, Jimmy, Irene Parrot, Burgundy and Ballerina - all purchased from J Parker's along with Sarah Raven's Venetian Tulip collection of National Velvet, Havran and Prinses Irene. I have to say the Sarah Raven bulbs were substantially bigger and healthier-looking than Parker's.
Some of the Parker's bulbs were affected by mould which was a concern as I knew I wouldn't be able to plant them immediately so I took advice from the web. I washed affected bulbs in a very mild bleach solution, cutting off mouldy and rotted sections with sharp knife, then dried them all very carefully. Apparently a small amount of this mould is dispersed and neutralised once bulbs are planted by the natural bacterial actions in the soil (not a reliably technical explanation!).
With regard to planting, having managed to muddle up the parrot tulips with another pack I decided to put the whole lot in a box together and plant at random. It will be exciting to see what happens!
The latest on the grass front is a sad tale. In spite of Greensleeves' tender care, I now have weed and moss-free area which is quite bald in patches. Having researched grass alternatives I am going to have one last attempt at re-seeding with tough shade-tolerant grass seed throughout 2016 and see what else I can cut back to reduce shade. If that fails I think it will be a major re-design. We will see what 2016 brings!
Happy gardening to those of you who've been kind enough to keep reading - I will do my best to post some nice pictures this year!

2 comments:

  1. Hi Sue, I kept reading :-) and I wish you a wonderful new year and also a happy garden year. It has been snowing here lately and everything is covered in white. For me a garden doesn't have to have grass (especially when it causes problems), I like gravel pathes and areas. Doris

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  2. Thank you Doris. It finally turned very cold here - hopefully killing off some of the less-desirable pests and diseases. Your garden looks lovely in the snow! Best wishes Sue

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