Helping you plan family friendly weekends & holidays in the UK.
Monty Don has just published a great little blog full of hints and tips for getting your garden ready for spring, and I highly recommend it.
To read Monty’s blog visit https://montydon.com/2019/01/31/february-2/ you may also be interested in my updated Monty Don Gardeners World Reading List and Gift Guide page. I’m working hard to keep that page up to date with any news every week and will be planning to publish my show notes when Gardeners World returns to our TV screens in a few weeks.
With summer on the horizon, Monty is planting up pots for summer colour as well as giving his box hedging a seasonal cut.
Frances Tophill checks on the progress of crops on her shared allotment. Mark Lane is in Suffolk where he gives advice on the elements of successful woodland planting design, and Nick Bailey travels to a garden in Cheshire to answer a viewer’s query about how to plant up a rocky area of their garden. Plus a visit to a Worcestershire garden where the owner has created a garden with a tropical twist, and the final garden in the Every Space Counts competition is revealed.
The show starts with Monty showing us Viburnum plicatum ‘Mariesii’ – the Japanese Snow Ball, comes from Japan and the Far East. Full of beautiful white flowers with a very distinctive format because of the branches for layers or tiers which carry the flowers on the top side of the branches. It will grow in light shade, in the sun and in most soil conditions. So it’s a great plant in summer but also in autumn, the foliage develops the richest colours, going from red to plum, to purple to almost chocolate. The strongest colour in the garden in October and November.
This is one of those plants I regard as indispensable… a real doer. – Monty Don
Cobaea scandens – cup and saucer vine. – Now Monty is planting climbers in a big pot, previously used for tulips. Sowed at the end of March. This is a climber from the tropical areas of America. Flowers profusely with blueish, purplish cup and saucer flowers from mid-July onwards right into autumn until the first frosts – it’s a half-hardy annual. It’s vigorous and will grow up to 20 feet tall and is really good against a sunny wall or fence. It does like a fairly rich soil – which applies to most climbers as they have a lot of growing to do in a short space of time.
Around the base of the pot, Monty planted petunias and Bidens ‘Hawaiian Flare Orange Grop’ – there’s a whole range that have marmaladed caramel colours, oranges touched with yellow work well in Monty’s jewel garden and also with the depth of colour from the petunias.
Monty will feed the pot once a week with liquid seaweed.
Sometimes I feel as though Buxus is a plant that we used to grow in our gardens and its days are gone but it has been so important in gardens from the 17th century right up to the 21st century. If you wanted any kind of formality in a garden box was the first plant you turned to. – Monty Don
Box – it’s had a tough time over the last decade, box blight ripped through the country.
Buxus sempervirens ‘Handsworthiensis’ Box – Monty has grown all of his from cuttings he took from one set of plants over 26 years ago. Its great virtue is it has very large leaves, upright growth and it seems to be blight resistant or at least able to recover from blight. He avoided clipping for a couple of years as blight enters via wounds and obviously clipping creates lots of wounds.
Saturday, June 2nd is Derby Day and that’s the traditional day when you clip box. The key thing is to keep an eye on the weather, you want no rain for 3 or 4 days. You want to use nice sharp cutting tools to create clean cuts if blunt you rip rather than cut. Dip / wash the blades in a bucket of water every few minutes as Box has a kind of stickiness to it which makes clipping harder.
See https://perennial.org.uk/garden/fullers-mill-garden/
The gardens were created by Bernard Tickner who died last year aged 93. During his lifetime he transformed an area with poor sandy soil into a tranquil woodland wonder. Now the grounds are in the safe hands of head gardener Annie Dellbridge.
By following a few golden rules you can create the woodland of your dreams. It’s all about building layers. Thinking of the woodland as a theatre, the trees provide the upper circle with light and shade. Coming down to the mid layer, where the smaller trees come in really handy creating silhouettes and shadows that bounce off each other. Then there’s the understory of the ground over.
Forget straight lines and go with the flow, most woodland plants self-seed so avoid organised lines and opt for more random spacing – Mark Lane
A large area of comfrey was shown, Symphytum officinale blue-flowered – Common comfrey mixed with a white variety. It’s covered in bee’s – I noticed earlier how much the bee’s are loving the comfrey in my garden this year.
VIP (Very Important Plants) Guide:
Monty demonstrates eco soil block makers (eg https://www.worm.co.uk/products/eco-soil-block-maker)
This looks like a good activity to do with the children – it’s basically making mudpies!
You need to mix the mixture up in a flatbottomed container that you’ll be able to press the soil block maker into.
The mixture starts with something to bind the mixture together with, Monty uses Coir
4 parts of Coir
1 part garden compost (Monty used sieved leaf mould)
1 part grit (vermiculite or perlite)
1 part loam (basically garden soil with a very high organic content – Monty takes his from his turf stack.)
Then add water – more than you think you would need.
Monty then goes onto sow Parsley into the eco soil blocks. It’s one of those crops that you need to sow successively to have a constant supply. Monty does three sowings a year.
The salad crop was destroyed by slugs. They want to take an organic approach so won’t be using slug pellets. Frances uses Sheeps Wool Pellets which the slugs don’t like to cross.
One of the other allotment holders has a pond to encourage frogs which will eat the slugs, they also have a few chickens which are great for clearing beds of slugs and other insects – it’s about working with nature.
A good set of plants for a difficult rock garden.
Citrus x corbariensis – white tissue like early summer flowers.
Lavendula, Angustifolia ‘Imperial Gem’ – English Lavender
Stipa tenuissima – Mexican feather grass.
Helianthemum ‘Ben Fhada’ – Rock rose
Cerastium tomentosum – Snow-in-summer
Sedum spathulifolium ‘Cape Blanco’ – Spoon-leaved stonecrop
Trailing plants:
Prostrate Rosemary to provide aromatic scent
Cotulahispida – Silver Cotula – to provide interesting ground cover.
Euphobia myrsinites – Broad-leaved glaucous spurge.
Olea europaea – Common olive
Monty talks about adding loam to the soil for the Olive. It’s soil with a very high organic content. It adds bacteria and fungi to add some life to the mix.
They are quite hardy and can survive down to -10, but don’t bet on it protect them if you can. Best to grow in a pot so you can move them.
Olive fruit on last seasons growth. The best time to prune is early Spring but you won’t do any harm doing it now.
Monty will water them well and feed once a week through to late summer..
If you can lift the pot and have space they will be much happier inside in winter but don’t bring them into the house as it will be too warm and humid. Somewhere cool but not freezing.
Joe has been developing his garden for the last 17 years. He opens his garden for the NGS. He originally came from a little Caribbean island called Nevis. He came to England in 1967. His dad came first who was a keen gardener. He raises money for the local hospice in memory of his mother who died from breast cancer by opening his garden.
Podophyllum versipelle – ‘Spotty Dotty’
He has some lovely hostas, ferns, ligularis. The podophyllums are weird in a sense because the pattern looks like a frogs back.
He’s growing lots of varieties of ginger.
Hosta ‘White Feather” – most of the plants in the garden are Hosta’s and this is Joe’s favourite. The other is Hosta ‘Chinese Sunrise’.
The trick with hostas is to cover the top of the pots with grit, this stops the weeds but also stops slugs – Joe Manchester
His other tip to stop slugs eating his Hosta’s is to boil garlic in water and then spray the leaves with the water – not a single slug bit insight in Joe’s lovely garden.
Joe’s garden is open by appointment until the end of August.
It’s done this time of year around the time of the Chelsea Flower Show. People make the mistake of thinking it’s a tidying process but it’s not. It’s all about pruning late-flowering perennials to control the rate of their growth, the timing of their flowers and different heights.
Monty demonstrates the principle with his Lysimachia ciliata ‘Firecracker’ Loosestrife. It’s got dramatic purple leaves with tiny very vivid yellow flowers. If left the whole clump would grow to about a meter and the flower towards the end of July / beginning of August. Monty cuts some of it back (ie gives it the Chelsea Chop) by between a third and a half. This helps it establish side shoots and then the part of the clump that was cut back will flower later than the part which was left – to extend the flowering period. The other advantage is that the section which is cut back won’t grow so tall so it adds some structural shape to the clump.
Aster umbellatus – Flat-topped aster – Monty loves it. Tiny white flowers from July until Autumn. A good example of where to apply the Chelsea Chop.
Only to be used on plants which have not yet set their buds or flowers.
A gardening technique well worth understanding and mastering!
Sow biennials like wallflowers.
Water newly planted trees and shrubs and give them a good soak for the rest of summer.
Pot up peppers and chillis.
Monty elevates his cottage garden borders this week by adding plants to give height and drama and rejuvenates the design of the grass borders by adding evergreen plants grown from cuttings.
Carol Klein’s plant of the season is the delicate but easy to grow dog’s tooth violet, Joe Swift travels to the Trelissick garden in Cornwall to meet a very special garden volunteer, and Adam Frost returns to Leicestershire to monitor the progress of the new-build garden. We also meet a woman who grows a national collection of polemoniums in her back garden, and we reveal the garden of the fourth finalist in our Every Space Counts competition.
At Longmeadow Monty adds height to the cottage garden by planting:
Verbascum ‘Jackie’ Mullein – soft powder pink and peach – free draining soil, don’t last more than 2 or 3 years. Grows 3 or 4 ft tall
Alcea rosea ‘Halo Apricot’ (Halo Series) Hollyhock – a biannual – prone to rust, the best defence is good air flow and drainage.
Delphinium ‘Magic Fountains Lavender’ (Magic Foundtains Series) – you think of these being blue but they come in a range of colours, this one is a light purple. These are true herbaceous perennials, so they will last quite a long time and get bigger as they grow. Easy to grow except for one problem, early in Spring the slugs love the new shoots. Likes good drainage and food. Needs supporting, cut back after flowering. Will then reflower in August / September.
Polemonium (the Jacob’s Ladder) Trimdon Couty Durham National Collection Feature:
Dianne Nichol-Brown, had been a member of Plant Heritage. Over 70 in the collection, only 3 of which actually set seed prolifically, these being Polemonium caeruleum the native British wild flower which grows from Northumberland down to Derbyshire. The other one is pauciflorum, which is yellow and Polemonium boreale Northen Jacob’s Ladder.
The make good cut flowers.
Flower throughout summer
Easy to grow, in shade to the full sun just need a moist soil.
Dianne’s favourite Polemonium is Polemonium foliosissimum. Foliosissimum means very leafy. Nice purple flowers throughout the summer.
Dianne propagates the Polemonium’s using a mix of Coir Block which she drops into 6l of water and peat-free compost. She fills a seed tray with this mixture. She then just uses the seed which she collects from the dried flowers. Sprinkle over the seed tray, cover with a little more compost and a sheet of glass. Gemination is then about 14 days. You can then pick them out.
The flowers are edible and can be added to salads. The attract wildlife into the garden and bee’s love them.
Back at Longmeadow
Taxus baccata ‘Fastigiata’ Irish yew – they give good height
Yew, hates sitting in a heavy wet soil so if you have clay you’ll have to add grit.
A reminder not to cut back your daffodils – let them die back naturally for another 4+ weeks minimum.
Carol Klein’s Erythronium Feature
They like the shade of woodland, one of the true delights of spring. They are called a true Cinderella plant. They have to do everything before the overhead plants become established, they then go to sleep until the next spring. They bring simple elegance to the spring scene.
Erythronium ‘Hidcote Pink’ – one of the last to flower and are scentted.
Erythronium oregonum
Erythronium revolutum Mahogany fawn lily
The bulbs have contractile roots, which pull the bulb down to the right depth so that they get the right nutrients. The generic name for Erythronium is ‘dog’s tooth violets’. Nothing to do with violets, they get their name from the shape of the bulb which looks a bit like a dogs tooth.
Erythronium californicum ‘White Beauty’ Fawn lily – distinctive red markings of its petals. Doesn’t set seed, instead of this divide the clumps of bulbs.
Back at Longmeadow
Monty’s vine is doing well, he pruned it hard in February. Cut back hard.
Quality and quantity don’t mix with desert grapes.
Only have 3 side shoots from main stem bearing fruit. and each side shoot has a maximum of two bunches.
Monty is growing Black Hamberg
Trelissick Cornwall
A 375 acre estate, at the heart of which is a beautiful woodland garden full of year-round interest and colour. The grounds offer views over the River Fal.
Oliver Goulding is no ordinary volunteer, despite having cerebral palsy, limited mobility and hearing he has been a volunteer at Trelissick for over six years. He loves the plants and lovely scenery. He loves gardening which has fueled his creativity and he’s done some brilliant music icon portraits of Jimi Hendrix and David Bowie and also plays the guitar. He feels much happier when he’s outside gardening.
Well worth a visit.
Back at Longmeadow
What Garlic does Monty Don grow?
Monty is howing his garlic which he planted last September. He planted Elephant Garlic and hard neck and soft neck garlic. It likes heat, rich soil and moisture, so give it a soak at least once a fortnight until June / July when they die back and the goodness goes into the bulb and they’ll be ready for harvesting.
Not too late if you haven’t already planted your peas – plant now for fresh peas in 8 to 10 weeks time.
Just over a month ago Monty sowed some Edamame bean ‘Summer shell’ which in Monty’s words is a fancy name for Soy. They are easy to grow if it’s not cold, the slightest frost will kill them. They’ve grown from seed well in toilet rolls. Grow them in rows or a grid, 6 to 9 inches apart. Sow until middle to end of June. Should be ready to harvest mid to end of July. Best to start them off undercover to get them going quickly now.
Camassia cisickii – Cusick’s camass – Monty planted last September to add colour and stretch out the flowering season. Lovely blue flowers with bright yellow spots.
Clarkia purpurea ‘Burgendy Wine’ – for the jewel garden. Monty is potting up the seedlings. A great tip is to mix some of the soil from the garden with the bought potting compost. It contains the bacteria, fungi and microorganisms from the garden and helps the young plants get ready to be planted as it avoids the plant being stressed by these new organisms when it’s first planted out.
Garden Jobs for the weekend
Cut back some of your dahlias – take off top growth down to the first pair of strong leaves.
Tidy up ponds – remove any dead material, leaves. Make sure you leave on side of the pond for a couple of days.
Remove Lilly Beatles
It was Nigels tenth birthday! He didn’t want any over the lovely Danceline tulips (white with red highlights) and settled for a biscuit.
No Gardeners World next week as Monty is at Chelsea and they’ll be a special programme on Sunday night.
Beth Chatto
At the end of the programme, Monty paid tribute to the great “Beth Chatto who died earlier this week at the ripe old age of 94. He had met Beth many times and of course, Carol interviewed her just a year or so ago for Gardeners World. She enriched the lives of so many of us gardeners with her writing, teaching and incomparable garden so let’s celebrate a life that was supremely well-lived. ” Beth Chatto OBE VMH 1923-2018.
Click here for my Monty Don reading list
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