Gardening, An Emotional Rollercoaster

I’ve been through the whole range of gardening emotions since my last post. If gardening was the X factor I’d have been on an emotional roller coaster that changed my life forever.

In actuality I’ve been so enthusiastic to get started that I’ve been digging in the rain, I’ve had some serious seed lust and I’ve taken charming pictures of wildlife… Please see below for the picture of the sneaky squirrel that stole the twine I was using to mark out the lawn.

An intrepid squirrel sitting on the tree stump where my patio should be.

However with the highs come the lows… I’ve been despondent when I cut the lawn into the wrong shape, the pattern I’ve chosen for the lawn looks like a bottom according to my husband and I made it worse by creating a wonky bottom. I’ve been defeated by the huge amount of earth moving needed to flatten a tiered garden and frustrated by the difficulty I’ve had just getting out to the garden at all.

But I’m back on top thanks to fedging. Even the name sounds  naughty/delicious/ridiculous. I’ve been looking for a cheap hedging option for ages and my answer up to now has been grissilini. I took the cuttings from my Mom’s coastal garden, where it grows vigorously and I put them straight in the ground in the middle of winter then ignored them. I didn’t even dig a hole I just pushed them straight in. They all took but after two years they’re still only a foot tall. So I’m going to plant a living willow fence, it looks easy and makes for really pretty screening, it should reach six feet in two years. Originally I was looking for something evergreen but I think the bare willow frame will look lovely in winter.

Fedge at Ryton Organic Gardens, taken from thewillowbank.com

Finally I’ve been following the anxious gardener and his ‘new gardening blog’ posts. Up to now I’ve been on mumsnet to try and find other blog sites and now I’ve discovered The Rivendell Garden and a complete A-Z listing of other gardening posts, so I’m going to wean myself from my seed catalouge addiction by browsing the listings of 100 and something other gardening blogs.

Snow day!

Since it’s still not really the weather for digging yet, I’ve found a little job to get on with.

Topiary! I’ve never tried it but I’m surprised it’s never occurred to me before. I find it very relaxing to go out in the garden with the secateurs, in fact it’s my favourite activity.

I’m having a go with some rosemary, it’s been having small snips all winter so hopefully it won’t mind being pruned so early. I devised a little cage as a cutting guide and it should have filled out nicely by August.

I’m also going to have a go at a bay leaf pyramid. Since The Serendipitous Garden is only small, each plant has to earn its place. If it goes well, these should be good to eat, evergreen and interesting to look at.

Beginnings

Welcome to The Serendipitous Garden, so called because my gardening up to now has been a series of happy accidents and cunning colonisations from neighbouring gardens. Along with this blog I have set myself the challenge of planning a garden to fit in all the plants that I love and space for all the things I love doing.

I think we should start with a ‘before’ photo…

Enough said.

Lets move on to the fun planning bit, I can’t resist a theme so each border is going to be different. There’ll be tropical, cottage, arid, night time and a scented walkway too.

I’ve planned and measured, consulted all kinds of plant selectors but since I haven’t actually put my spade in the ground yet I won’t say too much more. Only that I intend to start work on the edible border this month. From little acorns…