Insta-breaks, fritillaries, mowing, wine and how I MULCH.
Hello friends!
I took a week ‘off’ from social media (particularly Instagram which can become rather all-consuming) in order to concentrate on the rather boring but necessary job of removing some of the stuff that my children have accumulated in their short lives but no longer use or play with, and passing that stuff on. If I was a sensible person this would be a daily or weekly thing…editing toys and books and random bits of crap but - much like an overgrown garden - things had got wildly out of hand. The other motivation was a strong yearning to see how I would get on without the social media checking and scrolling which I enjoy immensely. I didn’t delete my instagram, just moved it onto the last page of my apps, where it sits, forlornly, ALONE and crucially, TWO SWIPES away. The effect was immediate friends. My social media hours went down from an average of four to less than an hour per day, and I completely de-cluttered most of the rooms in my house. RECOMMENDED.
Here are my five minute forays this week
Monday
I feel a strong urge to plant something cute and gorgeous for the terrace. There is no reason to resist when this urge strikes you, unless, like me, you’ve committed to fewer, larger and JUST GREEN containers in a bid to save time. Rules however, are inherently boring and need breaking, so I act like my own best friend today and treat myself to three tiny pots of fritillaria meleagris which I immediately plant inside a shallow pot for the table on my terrace. They look exquisite and I really really like myself for putting them there. RECOMMENDED.
Tuesday
The light on my dishwasher that tells me I need to feed it with salt and rinse aid has been on for, oh, shall we say 3 months? Possibly four. I know. I KNOW. But it’s so DULL isn’t it, dishwasher salt? Every shopping list I’ve written for the last three months has included dishwasher salt but every time I’ve picked it up off the shelf I’ve thought about the weight of it in the shopping bag and shoved it back there, resolving to get the Rotter to pick it up later…and then it gets forgotten about…and so the cycle continues. Anyway, today, I lug the stuff back from the shop and put it in the machine and I am quite aghast at how good it makes me feel. Cheap date.
The day is dry and I dash out with the lawnmower battery fully charged, to mow my very shaggy grass. I know that February isn’t really the optimal time for mowing but have long since learned to ignore what other people or books tell me to do in the garden and instead follow my instincts. The thing is, I like a shorn lawn. I like it. It gives me a feeling of order, which (despite appearances) I really enjoy. So I get going, with a podcast all about the crazy woman called Anna Delvey who managed to dupe people into thinking she was an heiress even though she was continually running out of hotels and restaurants without paying. Rather amusing (as long as it’s not you she’s tricked). I’m secretly thrilled to see moss in my lawn and mow carefully around the emerging snowdrops. I also hack away a bit at the grasses around the base of my three amelanchier trees, which are preventing light from reaching the grass.
I get on the tube to Westminster and walk over the bridge to the Garden Museum, where the fabulous James Alexander Sinclair is chairing a quiz all about the Royal Parks. I have not revised at ALL … I fully admit that I am there for time with my dear gardening friends and a good amount of fizzy wine. But we WIN! (We will henceforth be banned for making far too much noise, but again I say; we WIN!) Mowing and wine and WINNING: RECOMMENDED.
Wednesday
I am rather hung over, and in my experience the very BEST thing for a hangover is weeding. I know. It sounds odd but next time you have an adult headache you should try it. I use a kneeler, and gloves and my favourite widger (which you can find here) and of course, a podcast to keep me going. I pick a corner and have a truly lovely time chasing the creeping buttercup which has decided to take up residence here. It’s a truly remarkable plant that sends out long runners that can go from one end of a flowerbed to the other. I adore it but it needs keeping in check. There are also dandelions and couch grass, all of which come out, along with various brown, dead bits of plants. The earth smells are thoroughly reviving and I find that 30 minutes has disappeared before I even look up. RECOMMENDED.
Thursday
The weeding yesterday has reminded me that there is still mulching to be done, and this is now a matter of some urgency as there are bulbs peeking through everywhere. I have been building up my flowerbeds last year, and because I only garden in five minute bursts, I mulch as I clear. Mulching can be a bit of a minefield, so here is my attempt at demystifying it.
What is mulch?
The word ‘mulch’ is used in gardening to describe ANYTHING that you put on top of your soil. So that could mean horse manure, or it could mean thick black plastic sheeting. These two things are obviously totally different, so it’s useful to split mulch into two groups: Organic and inorganic.
Organic mulch is a mulch that originally came from something that was alive; manure, grass clippings, shredded bark, compost, shredded newspaper…all these things will decompose over time and be incorporated into your soil by worms.
Inorganic mulch is a mulch that comes from something man-made or which doesn’t break down; plastic sheeting, shredded rubber tyres, stones, landscape fabric. These mulches are used to suppress weeds and/or to give a ‘decorative’ finish to a border but apart from preventing moisture loss, they don’t contribute to the soil structure.
Adding organic material on top of your soil and around your shrubs and trees is generally agreed to be of benefit to them, particularly as it helps to prevent evaporation. Depending on what you use, it can also add nutrients to poor soil, which is generally considered ‘a good thing’ (although NB you may not wish to have ‘rich’ soil if you’re trying to grow plants that thrive on poor ones!) Piling on extra organic material will also build up your flowerbeds, which can tend to ‘sink’ over time. It will also make it harder for weeds to come up and find the light, weakening them, and lastly, but importantly, a dark mulch will just make everything look totally glorious…!
What to use:
The best mulch is your own home-made compost, but most of us don’t have enough of that (if any). If you are buying compost from somewhere please be super-vigilant about its source; the last thing you want is to be applying a mulch made from plant material that contains anything ghastly like weedkiller. Similarly, if you are buying manure, you need to ensure that the animals haven’t been fed on anything that has been treated with herbicide, as this can travel through the bodies of some livestock. I use a mixture of bagged horse manure, which I use around the base of my shrubs, and topsoil (peat-free) which is easy to spread and the easiest option for me with a small area to mulch. My own compost is always spread under my shrubs and trees as and when it becomes available, and I also use my lawn-mowings at the back of my borders.
Mulching rules:
Mulch freely, as and when you want. Know that it’s easier to mulch in autumn and winter, when there are fewer things in the flower-bed, than it is in spring and summer, when you’ll have to try and avoid tulips and the like. Know also that the only ‘bad’ time to mulch is when it is very very hot, or very very cold. The reason for this is that a mulch will tend to lock in dryness or cold and amplify it, rather than helping to mitigate. So if you’re wanting to mulch in the heat, then do water first.
I do hope that was helpful!
Anyway, the halo that a good mulching gives you is second to none. It requires moving heavy things around, which makes you warm, and it also requires artfully spreading things about, which is satisfying, but most of all it makes your flowerbed look BEAUTIFUL…deep dark mulch. RECOMMENDED.
Friday
My smallest child is scholar of the week. I have never seen anyone so happy - sitting there in front of the world (her world) with a mortar board and cloak and an enormous smile on her face. It’s basically the Oscars as far as she is concerned. The reason she is scholar of the week has nothing to do with being scholarly and everything to do with being kind and sweet to a boy in her class who doesn’t have any words, so frequently bashes other children (especially my child) over the head. I told her to steer clear of this person but she didn’t listen. Instead she befriended him and endeavoured to help him. She is five. I love her. No gardening but sometimes, motherhood is RECOMMENDED.
X Laetitia
ps you may have missed:
Quick topiary for valentines day
What to grow on the terrace in February
How to grow hellebores in small spaces