..seats in place. ..

Lady Gardeners

Ms Joanna Swiers

Lg27@btinternet.com 

Popping Through...@Abbotsford Walled Gardens

Lady Gardeners

Ms Joanna Swiers

Lg27@btinternet.com 

....Planting Up Old Borders With New Additions...

Lady Gardeners

Ms Joanna Swiers

Lg27@btinternet.com

Plan your positions.
Circle them out with sand
to get a sense of where
and scale.
Mark your boundary.
Begin.....

Ground Cover

Long Green Trailing Marrow, Hundred weight pumpkin, partner planted with Cosmos &  Blackball Cornflowers. .
(Click on pic to enlarge)

Sent from ze Moon.

The Orangery

Beds tidy for replanting & a rose swirled around to try to encourage new growth so I may determine what variety it is.

Lady Gardeners

Ms Joanna Swiers

Lg27@btinternet.com 

Veg plot no 1... The humble beginnings.

This year in the Walled Kitchen Garden at Abbotsford we are planning and designing are veg plots to sow and grow a variety of vegetables , some of the heritage variety and plenty of flowers as partner planting.

Lady Gardeners

Ms Joanna Swiers

Lg27@btinternet.com 

..Comfrey...

Comfrey has many uses as a medicine, as well as being used as a fertiliser. It is an East European native plant, although it has now been introduced to many other parts of the world. Comfreys healing properties have given rise to various names such as 'Knitbone'. The leaves of the Comfrey plant have small hairs which can be irritating to some people, but when the leaf is rolled in on itself these hairs can knit together like a weak form of Velcro. The leaves can also be applied directly to cuts and bruises, by firstly dipping them into boiling water to sterilize them, and when cooled placed over the wound. The active ingredient in Comfrey which heals wounds is Allantoin, which is a cell profliferant which speeds up the natural replacement of body cells. Comfrey has also been used to treat bronchial problems, broken bones, sprains, arthritis, gastric and varicose ulcers, severe burns, acne and other skin conditions. Constituents of comfrey also include mucilage, steroidal saponins, tannins, pyrrolizidine alkaloids, inulin, vitamin B12 and proteins. Internal usage of Comfrey should be avoided as it contains Hepatotoxic pyrrolizidine alkaloids which have been linked to veno-occlusive disease, or the blocking of small veins in the liver.

...As A Fertilizer...

........Comfrey is a dynamic accumulator......

...... which extracts the nutrients in the soil and can then be used as a fertilizer. It's root system can grow up to 10 feet down to extract nutrients from places which other plants cannot reach.....
Other dynamic accumulators include,.... Borage,... Bracken, ....Clovers,.... Stinging Nettles,..... and Yarrow.

To use Comfrey as a fertilizer there are several options.

1 ~  they can be used straight from the plant as a lining for trenches or as a simple mulch.

2 ~ they can also be mixed with water and used as a liquid manure.

3 ~ they can be incorporated into other composts.

4 ~ you can cut the leaves and place them in a large water butt, with no water. The leaves will break down quickly and produce a black (very smelly) liquid, which can be diluted (15:1) with water and applied to your veg plot & flower garden....

Hydrangea...

Hydrangea macrophylla red

Ground Cover

 French and Runner Beans , Blauhide purple peas, Crown Prince squash, Long green trailing marrow, Hundred Weight pumpkins with Cosmos, Black ball Cornflower,Jewel of Africa trailing  Nasturtiums .amazing ground cover plants for a large area, or small,just don’t plant too many.

Sunny start @Abbotsford

New Cut Flower Bed in the making

This bed had some old roses in it that had been there for years some more than a decade, so we thought it was time for something new and a bit of a change.Firstly we dug out the old, kept the ones that were strong and that we liked and then replanted them elsewhere. next in with that "marvelous machine" Marvin the Rotavator !!
With a quick rake to even out the soil, we used a length of wood divided the space up equally, laid some builders sand so we knew where are edge lines were and then planted in some lupins and tulips that had been elsewhere,the dahlias will follow shortly when its warmed up a bit more and I will post some photos so you can see how it all works.

Veg Plot ~ 2

 Next stop .A new Veg plot in the making.
 ..and so it begins.. This space in the past has had Tulips, Dahlias, Lillie's, some Fruit trees and has never really been a space that works.This year we are reclaiming it and changing its look and feel.We have already rotavated it at one end and put some Roses in -City of London-Floribunda-lovely and pink.This  is a working progress..so..to be continued.

Herb Bed in the making

This bed faces South, so it has a wonderful sunny outlook. It has some Victoria Plum,a Green Gage and Damson espalliard trees against the wall.There are three climbing roses and a Black current and a Blackberry bush here too.The plums are fantastic and every year produce an abundance which some are often taken to make some jam,others are sold and most are munched.
At the top of this bed there planted is an Herb bed..but only small..This year we would like to plant a much larger one.After digging then rotavating and raking, I then took out a worn out gooseberry bush and replaced it with a pretty weeping cherry blossom.
 Next stop, some gigantic herbs..to be continued...