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    Six on Saturday from a London cottage garden


    November 25th, 2017 - Pots and containers

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    ONE

    I squeezed in the last of the tulips anywhere I could find a square inch to put them. Felt relief it was done, then panicked and ordered some more.  Then remembered I had already panicked two weeks ago and ordered some more then – now on their way.  So ordered black plastic pots from Sarah Raven to put the newly ordered bulbs in.  Now I need more compost and grit for the pots.  I MUST STOP THIS.

    TWO

    For the pure fun of it, I moved my beehive  compost bin a few inches to the left;  dismantling it tier by tier, building it up and filling as I went.  Extremely satisfying and lovely to see all the activity in there. You can probably see my mistake. The bottom tier which opens is now on the top and so I can’t get anything out of the bottom.  I shall just have to wait six months and then dismantle the whole thing, get the good stuff out and rebuild them properly.

    Compost in a London Cottage Garden

    Inadvertently inverted beehive compost bin

     

    THREE

    I was planning to discard the salvia Amistad when the frosts come and put tulips in their place but they are still flowering like mad.  So I’ve decided to leave them and cut them down for the winter and hope for the best that they will still be alive next year.   If they die, I will have nurtured dead sticks for six months but worth a try.  I’ll let you know how they do.

    Salvia in pot

    Two salvia Admistad still flowering in their pots, looking almost like a tree

     

    FOUR

    I still can’t resist collecting bags of leaves left on the pavements. I empty them into jute leaf mould bags but the problem is where to put them.  Where in a small garden can you pile up ten bags of leaves for a year or so waiting for leaf mould? Under the garden dining table of course. Yes, not a long term solution but all part of having to squeeze things in if you have a town garden.

     

    Leaf mould in a cottage garden

    Bags of leaves stuffed under the garden table 

    FIVE

    In Spring, I rashly dug out two overgrown shrubs which although ugly, gave us privacy from the street.  Now I realise there’s a big gap and we are goldfish in a bowl in our living room.  Thought long and hard how to break up the sight lines.  Solution – a few cheap big evergreen shrubs in big pots clustered together.   The Pittosporum tenuifolium “Coxhill Gold” and “Tandara Gold” will be lovely for flower arrangements and the Nandina domestic (a bamboo) has red berries right now.

    evergreen shrubs

    A few shrubs in their pots to create a screen from the street

    I haven’t planted them yet so it looks a dog’s breakfast – the bags of leaves all I have to stop them falling over in the wind.  But they do a great job of screening us from the street.  As they are sitting on paving I have to think of an imaginative way to permanently plant them.

    SIX

    This grass, hakonechloa macra Aureola looks good all year until I cut it to the base in February for new growth to come through.  They are thriving in the border and in a pot they look great but the second picture shows one which is struggling probably because I haven’t watered it enough.

    Japanese grasses in the garden border

    Hakonechloa macra looking lovely in the border

     

    Grasses in a London cottage garden

    This grass is suffering from lack of watering

    Thanks go to The Propagator for hosting this theme of Six on a Saturday.  Look at his blog to find other people’s contributions.

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    11 comments on "Six on Saturday from a London cottage garden"

    1. MrsDaffodil says:
      25th November 2017 at 4:17 pm

      How I laughed at your tulip ordering binge! It borders on OCD, doesn’t it? Yet, almost any gardener can relate to your experience. The salvia is gorgeous, and what a good idea to use jute bags to store those leaves. I’ve been using plastic garbage bags with airholes sliced in – not nearly so attractive. Actually, not attractive at all.

      Reply
      1. Julie Quinn says:
        25th November 2017 at 4:58 pm

        Hello Mrs D, yes the jute bags are lovely things, feel very rustic and don’t stick out like sore thumbs.I got them on Amazon. I have a feeling they disintegrate though, possibly long before the leaves have decomposed but I’ll cross that bridge………

        Reply
    2. Trädgård i Torslanda; Helene says:
      25th November 2017 at 9:55 pm

      How nice to find your blog. Your salvias are amazing. I share your admiration for Haconechloa macra. A really useful grass in a number of varieties.
      //Best regards Helene

      Reply
      1. Julie Quinn says:
        26th November 2017 at 8:24 am

        And how nice to hear from you Helene. Where in the world are you?? So glad you like my blog about our little garden here in North London. Best wishes, Julie

        Reply
    3. Lora Hughes says:
      26th November 2017 at 11:44 pm

      Your week had me in stitches, it’s so relatable – the bulb buying, the neglected pot plant, the ripping out something ugly only to find there was a reason it was there, the reversed compost bin, o stop! Were we all made this way or did gardening do this to us? It doesn’t matter because your salvias are indeed, truly amazing.

      Reply
      1. Julie Quinn says:
        27th November 2017 at 8:44 am

        thanks so much for your comments Lora, very glad to have made you laugh!!

        Reply
    4. Miranda says:
      28th November 2017 at 11:12 am

      I can definitely relate to the tulip planting. What is it about tulips?
      I really had finished for this year when I decided the huge container near my car (that a neighbour had given me for tomatoes) could now take 50 bulbs for bringing into the house…So now I have finished planting, only I noticed my B and Q has a bit of a sale to get room for the Christmas trees…Oh for goodness sake, come inside and give that trowel a rest!
      I mostly write short stories (sometimes about gardening) but this was a tulip blog post of mine:

      https://mjlstories.wordpress.com/2016/04/26/spring-at-last/

      Reply
      1. Julie Quinn says:
        28th November 2017 at 12:24 pm

        Great to hear my tulip behaviour is widespread – and as soon as their Sales start I just can’t resist getting a few more. I am glad to have found your own blog and will now follow you. Just got to pop out to plant some more…………

        Reply
    5. Karen says:
      28th November 2017 at 9:11 pm

      I’ve just taken some side shoot cuttings from my salvia. It’s a bit late but they look so healthy. Finger crossed they grow. Such a lovely blue. All the best with your garden. Karen

      Reply
      1. Julie Quinn says:
        29th November 2017 at 8:30 am

        Thankyou Karen for your comment. I wonder how much longer the salvia will flower – do you have to keep the cuttings under cover or indoors? All the best with your garden too. Julie

        Reply
    6. Neil says:
      6th December 2017 at 10:02 am

      This is a test comment

      Reply

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