Hard Drive

Come June, I always start to feel that the garden is running away from me; so with only a couple of frantic weeks of lecturing left, I treated myself to a few minutes trying to restore some order in the front garden.
This is the first impression that anyone makes of us as a family, and of me as a designer, so where I am prepared to allow yellow plastic diggers & bald patches on the back lawn, I am more particular with 'my' garden.
When we moved here 10 years ago, we ripped out the tarmac drive (which was peeling back from another tarmac layer), and laid Indian sandstone wheel tracks infilled with slate chippings. This was to reduce the harshness of a paved drive, to allow for water run-off from the sloping back garden, and to squeeze in a few more pockets for planting.
It has been easy to maintain, with a lick of a flame gun (weed wand) every few weeks keeping to worst of the weeds down. However, this summer (ha!), there has been too much rain and wind to be able to scorch the weeds, and nature has taken over.
Kneeling down & lifting rogue roots with a daisy grubber is immensely satifying. I can now spot Thymus serphyllum and am delighted it has finally started to colonise the gravel, releasing a slight herbal scent underfoot (or underwheel). I sowed a packet of thyme a few weeks ago, holding little hope for its' germination rate as I left it outside by the car, but every one has come up & I will be transferring these into the gaps left by the moss & grass once the seedlings are big enough to move. I am keeping the self-seeded Verbena bonariensis in situ for a couple more weeks before transplanting it into the beds for some later summer colour. I fancy experimenting with some more adventurous dwarf herbs along the gaps in the pointing: French Sorrel (Rumex scutatus), Lemon Basil (Ocimum citriodorum), Heartsease (Viola tricolore) & Oregano (Origanum vulgare 'Aureum'), but will be sprinkling seed rather than failing at establishing pot specimens as previous experience has shown. I must remember to sow a few seeds in pots first, so I don't grub them up in a few weeks' time...

Ordered Chaos?

Usually, by the beginning of June, the front garden would be in a horticultural no-man's land: weeds would be rigorously pulled (along with one or two plants put in the previous Autumn, and forgotten about...); the herbaceous perennials hacked back with a Chelsea short, back & sides; and the dwarf lilac (Syringa pubescens subsp. microphylla 'Superba' AGM) shaking itself with shock after a swift prune to remove the dead flowerheads & regain its' rounded pillow shape. It usually takes a couple of weeks for the plants to forgive me & grow on, but they reward me with a longer flowering season deep into the Autumn.

This year, because of the relentless wet Spring, this hasn't happened. Everything is in bloom a touch later than usual, and the initial weeding rout hasn't happened. We have just had a fantastic 10 days of sun & heat leading up to the Diamond Jubilee weekend, and there has been a riot. Neighbours & passers-by have commented on the lush fullness of the planting, and the surprising textural combinations that have sprung up. I am relishing the contrast between a red corkscrew hazel (Corylus avellana contorta 'Red Majestic' and a white masterwort (Astrantia major - no idea which, but it has lime green edging). Another fabulous accident is Chocolate Mint (Mentha piperita) that I had forgotten was in a pot with a coastal daisy (Erigeron karvinskianus), but the finest planting combinations are proving problematic.

Another square metal pot is crammed full of mints, and is looking stunning combined with a small flowered pink cranesbill. Unfortunately, the cranesbill is herb Robert - Geranium robertianum,and I am in two minds whether to treat it as a weed, as I normally do.

My final conflict, which I will have to resolve in spite of the visual impact, is between a blue iris (Iris sibirica), Geranium robertianum, Anemone huphensis 'Honorine Jobert' (not flowering yet), and Aegopodium podagraria... Ground Elder. The celebrations for the Queen may have to be deferred until this interloper is eradicated.

Totally Mintal

I have been on a fantastic foraging course with Chris Bax from Taste the Wild & I just know that the things I learned from him & Rose will continue to reverberate through my gardening life.

I was thinking of this as I pulled handfuls of goosegrass (Galium aparine) from the bank at the back of the garden today. The tips are edible, and have a faint taste of grassy peas, but the texture is a bit challenging, as the sticky, furry buds roll around your mouth.

I contemplated saving a handful to add to tonights’ salad, but decided they would be happier contributing to the green bin.

I cropped back my mint collection instead. The sudden sunshine has caused an explosion of mint, which has only been really successful here since I planted it in old compost in pots in the front garden last year. It has been covered in mildew during previous years, so a judicious pruning during Chelsea week will hopefully prevent this. I have hung a huge bunch of garden, chocolate, pepper & spearmints in the pantry that have already been used in tea & a quinoa salad. I am hoping to dry the rest for more tea, unless I can think of another forager’s use for it.