April 12, 2010, Multiply, The gardening starts no 8

Gardening No 8
Today has been warm and sunny with virtually no wind and a clear blue sky;

It’s so very nice to be out in the garden.

Most of the daffodils are in bloom with lots of buds still waiting to flower.

The containers of pink bedding plants I bought a couple of weeks ago are all looking good

 and the primula is popping up every where.
Several of the plants I thought I had lost are still alive. I was convinced the lovage would never grow again but here is its distinctive feathery leaf, bright apple green on a red stalk.

 This pot of chocolate mint looked like a pot of frozen dead earth a month or so ago

 and now it’s bursting into life again, spreading its gorgeous scent all over the garden.

The rhubarb which I was sure I would never see again has shot up and already has two new deeply veined leaves both bigger than my hand.
My privet hedge has not fared so well. I don’t know why but I had to spend a couple of hours pulling out lots of dead wood. I lost about 4 privet bushes, they were dead down to their roots and the whole bush lifted out of the ground.

I am left with a hedge full of holes which offers virtually no privacy and a huge pile of dead wood and rubbish left by passers by which will take me a while to dispose of. 
I guess I’ll have to live with the holes for most of this growing season but in place of the dead privet I’ve planted a variety of native hedgerow bushes. I think I’ve planted Holly, Dog Rose, Dog Wood, Rowan, Silver Birch and even Hawthorn. I’m hoping that in a couple of years the native hedgerow takes over from the privet which will maybe even attract nesting birds.

Tags: garden, plants

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delete reply nemo4sun wrote on Apr 13, '10 my tulips are close to blooming :)

edit delete reply forgetmenot525 wrote on Apr 13, '10 brendainmad said Too bad about the hedge that you lost because it did protect your privacy. yes.............its a shame because now I have no privacy and the new shrubs will take one or two seasons to grow. I'm beginning to think it was just a very old hedge. Much of it turned out to be rotten at the base and just lift out of the ground. I also think my radical hedge trim last year exposed a whole lot of dead wood that was previously hidden by new growth. I don't think privet is native to this country which is why i'm replacing it with native hedgerow plants. I'm hoping they will be hardier and encourage the native wildlife into the garden.

delete reply brendainmad wrote on Apr 13, '10 I think you have had a better start at spring then we've had here in the centre of Spain although flowers are finally coming out.We had a beautiful day on Sunday and today bad weather again. Can't wait to see your garden as it advances. Too bad about the hedge that you lost because it did protect your privacy.

delete reply djdx wrote on Apr 13, '10 I did some trimming and found nests in what I cut. I have a topiary shaped like a bird and just let the tail go wild, but it needed trimmed. I got a good laugh at finding bird nests in a bird's tail. Lovely photos, it looks like your garden is on about the same schedule as here.

delete reply hadenough1 wrote on Apr 12, '10 Sp pretty -sure puts you in that Spring mood.

delete reply bennett1 wrote on Apr 12, '10 Nothing will kill chocolate mint. I love your plants; my daffodils are up as well, they were when we came home. The late blooming ones are up now.

delete reply greenwytch wrote on Apr 12, '10 life cycles and the seasons....and all things considered, it all looks great to me, Loretta. i am positively MAD for those primula! ; D

forgetmenot525

loretta xxxx

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March 5, 2009, Multiply, School Herb Garden

The School Herb Garden and more.

This week I've started taking some of the pupils outside to continue our gardening projects we began last year. We have acquired two new plant containers, one for either side of the main entrance. The pupils have already filled them with compost and tomorrow we will go to the garden centre to choose plants for them.

The herb garden we planted last year has survived its first winter and is looking good.
This year, now  herb garden is established, I hope the pupils will be picking the herbs to use in their cooking classes.
Toward the end of last year we planted hundreds of spring bulbs. They are all native wild flowers, bluebells, snowdrops and others.
These are now popping up all over the place, so far we only have the leaves but I’m sure we will get our first flowers soon.
We also planted about 50 small wild hedgerow bushes. Most of these seem to have survived the winter but it will take a couple of years for them to become established.
We planted Holly, Hawthorn, Dog-rose and Dogwood.


At the far end of the school grounds is an area planted with small trees and bushes to celebrate the centenary. These trees are quite established now and last year we planted lots of bluebells among them.
It’s so nice to be able to get out into the grounds again and the pupils seem enthusiastic about continuing the gardening projects. We even have our own compostor now sitting in the corner of our herb garden.
Just as I was pleased to be able to get out into my own garden last week...............I'm very pleased to be able to get the pupils back out into the grounds.......as always, I'll keep you updated, this is just the first installment of the year.

Tags: garden, herb thursday, plants, herbs, school, trees

Prev: Spring has Arrived in My Garden.
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delete reply djdx wrote on Mar 8, '09 Great post! I came home to find the first daffodils in bloom.

delete reply luckebabe wrote on Mar 7, '09 so fun to plant a seed and watch it grow. great work Loretta!

delete reply dianahopeless wrote on Mar 7, '09 The children are so lucky to have you teaching them about gardening. Not many have the pleasure of learning about it these days. Gardening was one of the first things I taught my children and grandchildren. Your projects look great. (I wouldn't mind finding some of those new planters. lol) In short order you will have glorious colored flowers. Don't you just love Spring?! Great post Loretta!!

delete reply acousticeagle wrote on Mar 6, '09 All this industry, excellent. It will be great to see the rewards of all that. Compost is great. I would like to have one of those composting bins. My Summer vege garden, sigh, mixed success. I'm still getting cucumbers, they've been good. The tomatoes, almost a dead loss, which I think was due to neighbourhood cats liking the smell of blood and bone too much. I'm getting zucchinis but they are hard to kill. I've got a very healthy rosemary growing and everytime I cook lamb I pick some. I'd rather fresh than dried. Yesterday I bought an indoor umbrella plant for my loungeroom. It's my first indoor plant since I've had this flat. I hope it grows high, I like them when they look like indoor trees.

delete reply esoterika713 wrote on Mar 6, '09, edited on Mar 6, '09 When my kids were in public school I helped to plant with the children of each class.. I had a friend who came to the school with sunflower seedlings to use as the foundation for the Sunflower and Morning Glory House. We had the children plant seeds in between the seedlings. The idea being that if the seeds and seedling were planted close together they wouldn't need stakes so the sunflowers would stay up. It worked perfectly. The Sunflower and Morning Glory House won a Community Blooms award. We were invited to attend the flower show at Allen Gardens green house. We felt very special because they had silver carafes with coffee and tons of food for everyone. Allen Gardens even gave us some cake to take home because we were the last to leave. The kids had a great time. The night blooming flowers were great because it was winter outside but a tropical haven inside. Our school garden went defunct unfortunately after I stopped participating in it. Now, I work in the Co-op garden and I get immense pleasure from working with nature to create a beautiful place to be in. Ta.

delete reply wulfshado wrote on Mar 6, '09 This is really awesome. Keep up the good work.

delete reply brendainmad wrote on Mar 6, '09 The composter was the first thing I noticed. The other day I saw some roses in bloom. However, with this horrible wind we've been having they're probably been blown off.

delete reply starfishred wrote on Mar 5, '09 looking good

delete reply veryfrank wrote on Mar 5, '09 I am as excited as a child - looking forward to spring and summer this year. For some reason, more so than usual. I'm hoping to get both of the grandchildren interested in their family garden when I start to work in it in a few weeks. They seem to enjoy the bulbs right now. Maybe it is the quick return, plant in November, bloom in March.

delete reply bennett1 wrote on Mar 5, '09 Oh how wonderful!! You have given the children such a gift - the soil, growing, green things renewing after a winter of dormancy!! I am so sad I could not fuss in my garden before I left. I did loosen the mulch a bit.