I have always loved cut flowers in the house and try to have at least one vase of flowers from the garden on show round the year. I realised that my ‘seasonal displays’ on the coffee table in our living room were like a sort of ‘shrine’ to the house and I feel much less happy when the space is bare, or doesn’t reflect the season outside. However,  I am often struggling for what to pick from the garden as there is sometimes little there – or at least very little variety.

I have therefore decided next year to dedicate at least two of the vegetable garden beds to cut flowers. I figured that my veg patch has been much less productive than I had anticipated for various reasons to do with the shallow soil and poor position and that, as we already get a vegetable box ordered each week from local growers, the need for seasonal veg in the kitchen is much less than it was. Lastly, local organic vegetables from the box cost relatively little compared to cut flowers and, vegetables are often harder to grow, especially in less than optimal conditions whereas flowers often put up with less than ideal.

I now subscribe to a Facebook group called Grow Your Own Cut Flowers and am full of ideas- watch this space!

When me and Ben went to the Beth Chatto garden, he very sweetly bought me yet another Birthday present; here is Jenny Wren inviting you to the vegetable garden…

She makes me smile every time I go there- which at this time of year is very often.

My brother came with his chainsaw and cleared so many small conifers and other underbrush from the middle of the garden, near to the wisteria walkway. Now there is so much more space and light, which is great for my vegetable garden and also the wisteria, which after it’s spring pruning is growing away well. Now I just need to have several massive bonfires to clear the rubbish and make a plan for what to plant and where.

I would love a sort of meditative ‘peace garden’ in this space but am unsure where to start. I think I will leave it and mull it over for a couple of years. The priority area at present is the drive and the front garden ( one step at a time Juliet!).

So the new drive is done, complete with a new raised bed at the foot of the south facing wall. I plan to plant a fig tree against the wall and perhaps an oriental quince for winter colour . I am also planning shrubs against the front of the house and lavender to edge the front curves up to the drain. One day it will look very classy indeed.

I dug this new border the winter before last. Here are the changing seasons. I am looking forward to the shrubs and magnolia tree getting bigger so I don’t have to rely so much on the perennials which are harder work. This year in May there were many self-seeded foxgloves, which were lovely, but took a lot of removing once they were over and left the bed looking rather empty and bedraggled. As the border gets more mature I hope to avoid these ‘flashes in the pan’ and have border that works better all year ’round.

Just as the wisteria had become over-grown, so had the grape vine on the pergola. So much so that, like the wisteria, it was invading nearby trees and shrubs. It needed decisive action and now the pergola may be a nicer place to sit. Sadly I left it at least a month too late and the sap was rising so that I got dripped on as I worked- sorry grape-vine, I hope that you recover OK!

It’s looking very yellow in the garden now with a multitude of daffodils everywhere and many different types. Those with orange centres near to the house and some lighter, almost white ones that I prefer further down the garden. The daffodils that I planted in the orchard a couple of years ago ( and wasn’t sure were deep enough ) have come up strongly again.

I sowed my first seed of the year yesterday. In the propagator;  four types of tomatoes, basil, chilis and perennial sunflower. In modules in the greenhouse two types of globe artichoke ( I aim to grow a few of them up in the hot dry bed in front of the garage) and in a ‘window box’ in the greenhouse salad leaves.  It is exciting to  get the first crops underway.

It was a little warmer yesterday and I saw my first honey bee of the year, in the crocuses near to the pond. I love crocuses and I love bees. One day I will have a hive, just as my grandad did. I shall put it near to the orchard at the bottom of the garden and I shall underplant the orchard with flowering herbs.

In October I planted 100 mixed crocus bulbs under the silver birch. I think about a dozen have come up. I think the digging animals didn’t help- or perhaps I am being impatient. My only hope is that they spread by themselves over the years. Or I could always plant some more. A carpet of crocuses in February would be lovely.

Even less inspiring in the photograph than in real life !!