Starting a new garden is always exciting; daunting too. And our particular garden, being a hundred years old, had traces of many a planting disaster venture. More recently, though, all had been overgrown, and invaded by rampant phygelius (Cape fuchsia), ground elder, vagrant raspberries, bindweed and Spanish bluebells. The two front garden beds (south-east facing) were covered with concrete slabs and Spanish bluebells.
Most of it had to go.
1: Because we’d had to rent between selling one house and buying another, I’d brought only a handful of plants from our Much Wenlock garden. Among them was yellow toadflax (Linaria vulgaris), a favourite flower since childhood when I’d first seen it lighting up the verges of the Shropshire Hills. I’d grown it from seed, bought on-line from Jekka’s Herbs. Now, by some pleasing accident, it seems to have grown up with some purple toadflax.
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When we moved into The Gables, just under a year ago, my most pressing concern was vegetable growing. I knew we would miss the produce from my allotment plots of 16 years (if not the heavy labour), so tackling the most weed-infested areas to make beds for food crops was my first priority. My thinking here was that these beds would be cleared every year, so repeat ground elder and bluebells wouldn’t be quite the same bother they would be in shrub or herbaceous borders.
I made a start last summer, but then the following months were mostly too wet and cold for gardening. And then in spring the house roof had to be taken off and rebuilt. And then the building work on the rear extension began, all of which saw parts of my territory invaded, first by a mountain of broken roof tiles and battens and then by piles of construction materials. There were times, too, when I couldn’t reach the projected vegetable plots in the back garden, it being uphill from the house, other than by climbing a ladder. All of which means that bed making efforts were piecemeal and, in the end, things (vegetables, herbaceous perennials, herbs, developing shrubs) were planted out wherever there was a space at the time.
2: But it’s all alright. Everything is growing all over the place. I have yellow courgettes at the front door, which is actually quite handy…
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3: The front garden bed is also yielding some very nice Charlotte potatoes (despite going in very late). The building debris and old mortar from the lifted slabs seem to have provided some good drainage in our heavy-ish soil:
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4: In the spring I’d sown some marigold (calendula) seeds, obtained from the Bishop’s Castle seed bank (local growers’ donations) and they’d germinated prolifically. So I planted them out all over the garden, front and back, because you can’t beat marigolds for their spirit-lifting qualities. And now we have masses of golden heads, which of course are edible too:
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5: And on the eating front, since spring we’ve done rather well with all manner of greens, but most particularly the Romanesco cauliflowers, which I haven’t grown before. They are much sweeter than white caulis, and if you cut them and leave the stalk, they sometimes produce more sprouts. They don’t need much cooking either.
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6: But best of all, are signs that the runner beans are thriving. I have three varieties growing together: Emergo (white flowers), Painted Lady (red and white as in featured photo), and St. George (red):
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I mean to say, what could be lovelier than this Painted Lady bean flower. And then to think: there will be beans!
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Six on Saturday Jim at Garden Ruminations is the host. Please pay him and his splendid garden a visit.
To say I’m impressed would be an understatement.
Thanks, Beverly.
Stunning. Nothing like home grown produce.
Well done, Miss Tish.
Must look up that Romanseco cauli.
Cheers, Ark. It’s very delicious. If you’ve not grown caulis before, when you plant them out, you need to make sure they are very firmly heeled in otherwise they don’t make a good flower.
I have grown a few regular caulis but not that successful.
Apart from stomping them in the ground to start with, I think they don’t like getting too hot. Much mulching perhaps.
Ah, you do have the greenest of fingers Tish. I can’t believe how much you have done so far and of course the veg are the stars. Nice to see you join in with the sixers. Hope to see you here more often.
I followed your lead so the sixers, Jude. I always enjoy your posts, and can’t think why I didn’t sooner. Such good spot for one’s garden pix.
Wonderful work Tish! Now you can enjoy the veges from your garden and appreciate that your hard work was worth it.
Indeed we can enjoy the end result, Anne. Tomatoes just coming ‘on stream’ 🙂
Well, I’m super impressed by your amazing productivity, Tish!
Thanks, Sue. I think I’m a bit impressed too 🙂
Beautiful six…love the yellows…a favorite color…our shutters and front door are painted bright yellow on a white house.
Yellow door and windows sound very lovely. How cheering for passersby too.
We find it cheery. I think everyone was a bit aghast at first. It is very different from the usual color people choose of black, grey or maroon.
Marvellous. You’ve done so well in testing circumstances. I wonder if you’ll keep to this rather charming randomness next season?
Ah, now that is a very big question, Margaret. I do have a vague re-planting plan, with perhaps raised beds at the back, intermixed with a few fruit bushes and shrubs. We’ll see.
You’ve got quite a while to think about it.
I love Marigolds (or cempasúchil in Spanish). The Aztecs believed that the heavy scent of the cempasúchil is how, during the Dia de los Muertos celebrations, your ancestors could find their way back. There are always marigolds at my houses, even when I lived abroad. And, the produce – marvelous. I got no veggies this year, but the birds are leaving us a few grapes and the figs are doing well….
Trade you some greens for a few figs.
And as for cempasuchil, that is so touching and very fascinating, their scent leading the ancestors home. I shall regard mine with fresh eyes now. Many thanks, Thom, for that golden nugget.
So, will the beans all be different, Tish? They’re certainly pretty enough and it looks like your efforts will be rewarded 🤗💚
That’s a good question, Jo. It will be interesting to see if one can tell the difference.
I am so impressed with your super healthy looking produce Tish. What a pleasure to have them at your back door and not have to walk to the allotment now. Your 100 year old home must have so much history. Have you traced any of it?
Hello, Pauline. Appreciate the veggie praise.
As to the house, it was built by a prominent local builder, George Nicholas. Put up on a piece of ground belonging to the much older smithy and adjoining pub called the Hit or Miss, which he apparently owned. When the house was built the next door Union workhouse was still operating. It’s now a care home. We’re hoping to learn more from locals as we go along.
What an interesting history for you to research. Really amazing when I compare it to over here. Houses are considered to have reached their use by date by about 50 years and many are then demolished and the present trend is to then build enormous “Macmansions” that take up almost the whole section, leaving no room for a garden.
Here in Bishops Castle it’s our house that’s ‘young’ at 100. There’s one on the High Street with a 1400s date. Hard to credit.
Wow you have achieved a lot in your new garden. Those really are pretty runner bean flowers.
Thanks, Rosie. It’s easy to overlook bean flowers. They usually have a lovely scent too.
I love runner beans! You would be surprised how many people I meet who think they are an ornamental plant and that you can’t eat the beans! I love them in a curry. In the heat of the summer they won’t set pods, but we have had a coolish summer so I might just get lucky! I love a garden that is everywhere! Mine is a jungle.
Ah, a fellow ‘jungle’ gardener and bean lover. Nice to meet you 🙂
Loved the flow of your writing – a very enjoyable read 🌿
Thank you very much, Gary. Pleased you enjoyed this.
Your garden clearly repays all the hard work you put into it!
It is being very obliging, Sarah. I think the soil must be 100% better than the Sillurian clag on my old allotment plots, despite efforts to improve them.
I have runner bean envy. I can’t seem to grow them. Have you ever tried growing the spagetti means or metere beans?
No, I’ve not tried those beans. As for runner beans, they don’t care to be too hot, and can stand a bit of shade. My father always opened a big trench in winter and it was filled with all the kitchen waste. Well rotted manure/compost would be good too or anything to retain moisture and give the plants plenty to get their roots into. Mulching through the summer helps too.
I did make a trench first for my beans, but mostly I think they’ve really liked this year’s cool, wet weather.
It is probably too hot. I did have some success with Dwarf Frend beans but even those failed this year.
The trench sounds a good idea.
What a wonderful story of thriving. You have a green thumb, and your survival plants have bloomed!
Thanks, Jennie. I think it was a garden just waiting to be ‘gardened’. I’ve not had to coax it.
Your blog and garden looks fabulous – love the glasshouse.
Many thanks.
Gorgeous toadflax 💞🌼💛 worth taking on the move!
Somebody has a green thumb.
And very grubby knees! 🙂 🙂
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