Typically, we think of July as Summertime in Britain. Hampton Court Flower Show, Wimbledon and The Proms all feature this month and are markers of a British Summer. Then picture the quintessentially British Summer Garden and I bet you see beds of jumbled up Cottage Garden favourites, jostling with each other for space and competing with their colour!
Actually, July in the garden can be somewhat different! It’s a bit of a green month; sometimes providing a bit of a lull between the fresh greens and colours of Spring and the more intense colours that come with those plants flowering in late Summer. So, if you’re feeling a bit jaded in this heat and your garden is too here are some ideas for planting to pick you up in this July gap!
Lavender – the colour seems more intense than usual this month and I wonder if the dry weather is helping to lock in the colour and scent! It typically likes dry conditions, not liking heavy clay soils and the potential for soggy roots! Shear off the flowers after they have flowered and then shear again in the Spring to keep the bushes compact as they are prone to getting leggy and woody.
Hibiscus – the flowers on Hibiscus look so tropical but love the conditions in Britain. It’s just getting going in July and will last into the Autumn. Prefers a well-drained soil too and a hard prune in Spring.
Roses – Is it just me or have they been spectacular this year? Whatever your favourite colour or scent you will find a Rose for you. Just keep deadheading or picking them and they will flower for you all Summer long, if not year long! Prune them over the Winter, removing anything that is dead, damaged or diseased and a 3rd of stems and they will thrive and flower for you.
Allium Sphaerocephalon – is the later flowering Allium and was all over the Flower Shows this year. It’s a dark purple and tear dropped shaped and looks great planted through a border. Remember to plant in groups of odd numbers for bigger visual impact but a great plant that even when the flowers have faded will leave a striking seedhead for you to enjoy for the rest of the year.
Yarrow (Achillea) can be spotted at this time if year with it’s flat topped umbels and feathery light green foliage. It comes in a variety of colours, prefers well-drained soils but again gives you striking seedheads when the flowers have faded. All you need to do is cut them down when they look too scruffy and wait for the flowers again next year.
The Butterfly Bush (Buddleia) is tough as old boots! But produces the most beautiful flowers and (as its name suggests) the bees and the butterflies love it! Cut it down every Spring so it doesn’t get out of hand and it will reward with you flowers and scent!
Just a few ideas to bring some colour to July. Let me know what your favourites are.
I’ve just read this article about a community in London crowdfunding for a Community Gardener. The appeal builds on the 10xGreener project, which has seen a BBC TV crew following the local community’s attempts to make a single street, Daubeney Road, ten times greener.
They have realised to keep the impetus going they need some consistent help and expertise and so are looking for a gardener 1 day a week to maintain some of the projects that have been created, offer advice to residents and continue making and planting.
There is so much about this project that makes me glow: community and connection through gardening and planting.
But what it highlights though is that when you start something you often have to maintain it, and gardens and gardening is no different. I know that I get so excited by planting new plants, sowing seeds, making a hanging basket but that the nurturing of them, the care of them and the maintenance of them can sometimes feel overwhelming in the busy rush of life! And that the joy and excitement of starting the thing can quickly swing the other way when I’m disappointed in myself for not looking after something and seeing it literally shrivel up and die!
Don’t beat yourself up! Do what you can and most importantly enjoy what you can! Here’s some top tips to make gardening a bit easier:
Approach your space in chunks and do a chunk at a time. If your pots need watering and weeding do the watering today and the weeding tomorrow.
Weeding can feel overwhelming – use a hoe on a hot day to sever the small weeds from their roots – they will die in the warm weather on the top of the soil and you don’t have to collect them up – easier on the back and quicker to complete
Watering – water less often but for longer. Only new plants, seeds and pots and containers should need watering. Established plants in the ground should look after themselves unless we have a severe drought. Water your pots 2-3 times a week but make sure they get a good drink rather than just a splash every day
Leave you watering can outside so it can fill with rainwater and is close to hand to use
Don’t beat yourself up – it’s only you that knows what you haven’t done, or got round to!
Gardening can feel like a chore, but hopefully these tips can ensure you spend some time in your outdoor space enjoying it!
I’m very excited! They are remaking ‘The Secret Garden’ which is 1 of my very favourite books. Its not to be mixed up with ‘Secret Garden‘ which is being released this year and which is about an entirely different topic!! Its going to star Colin Firth and Julie Waters and I can’t wait to find out where they are filming it!
It got me thinking about our own gardens and how sometimes we want some secret space from the family but also private space from our neighbours. So what makes up a Secret Garden:
Paths – that twist or turn or that has planting either side to create a path that runs through greenery. What you don’t want is to see where the path goes. You want it to draw you in to find out where it goes.
A destination – the path needs to take you somewhere – it could be to a seating area, a focal point or to the shed! But the point is you can’t see the destination when you start out!
A canopy to cover and create a ‘room’. This could be created with trees providing a natural canopy of leaves or it could be made by an arbour or pergola covered in climbers.
A garden gate – nothing more secret than to have to open a gate to go through to the next space. It could be a wrought iron gate you can see through, or a panelled wooden one you have to open to see through!
Exuberant planting – that gives you a glimpse through to what is beyond. Think of height and movement; to screen the background and colour and scent to stop you on your way.
Light and dark – there might be distinct areas so that you pass from shady paths into a sunny courtyard, but the light and temperature change ensures that all your senses feel the change as you explore further.
Organised chaos – for me a secret garden is a bit unkempt! A bit overgrown and mossy at the edges!
Lights – the fabulous fairy lights that are available now are just the thing to be strung up in the trees, shrubs and canopy to let you use your secret garden in the evening when the fairies come out to play!!!
So having caught up with all the coverage from Chelsea here are my thoughts on what we can take away from the Show to use in our gardens:
Yellow seems to have been a really popular accent colour with yellow Globeflowers (Troillus), Ladies Bonnets (Aquilegia), Woad, Hot Pokers (Kniphofia) and Lupins appearing in lots of the show gardens. And we’re not talking pastel Yellow here we’re talking bold and dramatic hues of Yellow bringing sparks of brightness to the foliage. All of these plants can be used in our gardens and I would add Sneezeweed (Helenium) and Aunt May (Sisyrinchium striatum) (pictured) to the Yellow Hit List!
Plants with vertical spires of flowers also seemed to crop up all over the place with Foxgloves (Digitalis), Mullein (Verbascum), Foxtail Lilies (Eremurus robustus) and especially Lupins making bold statements throughout the show gardens. We can definitely use these in our gardens, I would clump then together in odd numbers to make more impact and add Turkish Sage (Phlomis russeliana) and Bears Breeches (Acanthus mollis) to a list of high performing Flower Spires!
Corten Steel – we seem to have fallen in love with the coppery tones of corten steel and its been used in lots of differentways: planters, pots, water bowls, edging and pergolas. It’s definitely a modern material that we can use our gardens that melds with other materials and styles, whether traditional or more modern and is easy on the eye in its simplicity and sleekness. I especially like these Light Fittings by Nordlux at Wayfair.
So yes they are Show Gardens that sometimes cost more than my house is worth but I very much see them as the Couture Shows in fashion; they’re exciting and innovative and always provide inspiration for even the smallest of spaces!
Clue: it’s not a gathering involving shouting catchy phrases like “yee-haw”! A Hoedown is what I called my Garden Consultation Service, purely because ‘Garden Consultation’ sounds so boring! If you want to yell “yee-haw” at the end I’ll be more than pleased!
It’s usually an hour (but can be more) spent standing in your garden with you talking through anything garden related! Someone called it Garden Therapy as they were feeling so stressed and overwhelmed by their garden and not enjoying it all! Others have found it really helpful at different times: perhaps you’ve recently moved in, about to put your house on the market or have just built an extension and now can see your garden more. In the past I’ve covered:
Identifying what plants are what
What to prune and when
How to prune
What to do after an extension has been built or after a garage has been pulled down
How to make fences and walls look better
What shape borders or beds to make
Ideas on what plants to use in different places
Lawn care
What materials would work in a small courtyard
What plants wouldn’t mind living in pots
Making decisions about taking out shrubs or moving them
Where it’s best to put waterbutts and raised beds for veggies
Pests and diseases
What’s a weed
Where to put the trampoline!
My objective pair of eyes and ears can be really helpful to solve problems, be a sounding board or come up with ideas. After our hour I write up our discussion including any links I’ve promised and email it to you so you have a record of our discussion and signposted places to go to to take action (or delegate the actions!).
Here’s what Claire had to say following our Hoedown:
“I spent a lovely hour in my back garden with Renée having a Hoedown. She is so enthusiastic and knowledgeable. I feel very inspired now and, most importantly, confident that I can change my garden to suit my family. Renée listened to what I hoped to achieve and asked all the right questions. I can’t wait to get started and thanks to Renée’s follow-up email with links and reminders of what we talked about it didn’t matter that I forgot most of the plant names we talked about! Thank you.”
The cost of a Hoedown is 1 hour of your time, 1 cup of tea for me and £75 (Monday to Friday) or £95 (weekends and evenings) within 5 miles radius of Redhill. I’m more than happy to travel further afield but will need to agree additional expenses to cover mileage.
The seeds of Annuals can be bought in the supermarket, garden centre or high street homeware store for a couple of pounds a packet and they literally can provide hundreds of colourful flowers in just 1 packet! Buy in May to sow outside straight away. You’ll need to read the back of the packet to make sure you have the right ones but they include:
Love-In-A-Mist
Pot Marigold
Nasturtium
Poppy
Zinnia
Annuals are plants that complete their life cycle in 1 year. Summer annuals grown from seed will produce flowers within 6-8 weeks of sowing, flower all summer and then the plant will usually die with the first frosts in the Autumn. They are a great gap filler between shrubs and perennials; working really hard for you during the Summer putting on a great display. They then do you a great favour! Once the flowers fade they set seed which drops to the soil creating plants and flowers for you again next year!
It’s all in the preparation . . .
Weed the area that you are going to sow to taking out anything you don’t want however big or small (it might not be that easy to weed for a few weeks as all seedling tend to lo the same!)
If your soil is quite dry water it now so you don’t wash away the seeds when watering after sowing.
Then rake over the area to break up the soil particles and give you a level area
If you’re sowing several different types of seed, consider mixing them up to sow a random selection. Look at the expected heights to help you gauge. I tend to mix two blends according to height and sow the taller plants at the back of the border and the smaller plants towards the front.
There are 2 different sowing techniques:
1 is very random: you liberally sprinkle the seeds over your area with your fingers. Once sown gently rake the soil again to cover up the seeds. It will be hard to distinguish your seedlings from weeds when they grow so this may not suit everyone!
2 is more controlled: draw a line in the soil with your finger or a bamboo cane and sprinkle the seed along the groove you have made. This could be a straight line or a curved one. Rake the soil back over the groove when sown. When the seedlings appear you will see the line and know they are plants as opposed to weeds!
If it doesn’t rain you will need to water your seedlings in the coming weeks. They should poke their heads out of the ground within a couple of weeks – if they are bunched up together in places thin them out by snipping the emerging stems off with scissors. This gives the others more room to grow and doesn’t disturb their root growth.
You should see plants and flowers in 6- 8 weeks after sowing. Deadhead the flowers with scissors or by pinching them off with your fingers throughout the summer to encourage the plant to flower some more. Leave the flowers in place as we get to September though so you get your free seeds for next year!
Just have a go – it’s dead easy and kids love sowing seeds too and they also love seeing all the different sizes and shapes of seeds. You can see a video of me showing the 2 sowing techniques here:
So having caught up with all the coverage from Chelsea here are my thoughts on what we can take away from the Show to use in our gardens: