Preparing for bulbs, planting paper whites, flirting with scarification and being a NICE mother 🌱
Hello friends!
We’re about to be locked down again and, well, at least we’ve done it before, and the schools are staying open (at the time of writing) and we have our health and a roof over our heads. I cannot help but marvel at how I now seem to accept this situation like a zombie, now that I am fully cognisant that this is going to be a marathon rather than a sprint. The phrase ‘new normal’ comes to mind.
The garden though, is as normal as it’s possible to be… I love the fact that it isn’t affected by any of this, and, well, that’s why we love gardening isn’t it; that marvellous thing of watching nature, this organism, simply putting one foot in front of the other, getting on with the business of growth, decay, regeneration and all the rest of it. It’s comforting (at least for me) in the extreme.
Here’s what I’ve been up to in the garden this week
Monday
I been doing a weekly rake of the lawn to clear fallen leaves off it, but today I do it with extra verve, in a half-hearted attempt at scarification. This is when you pull a rake over your lawn, whilst pressing down firmly, to remove thatch and stuff…anything which will prevent water, light and air from reaching the base of the grass and beyond. I love scarifying and I generally take it in stages, completing it over the course of a week or so, not because it’s taxing, but because to do it properly, you need to feel somewhat ‘fresh’ and enthusiastic about it; there needs to be something approaching GUSTO in your soul. I tend to run out of gusto after about five minutes, so little and often works best for me. Once you’ve been over the lawn in one direction, you should then change your tack by ninety degrees and go in the other direction. I’m a bit torn because there is still much frolicking to be done on the lawn, and that’s the reason why I don’t go hell for leather with it - because I don’t want too many bare patches at this stage. I should probably say here that I know plenty of lawns that never see the end of a rake and are none the worse for it - this is something you’ll want to do if you really like your lawn to be made up of grass, and only grass. It’s your call.
Tuesday
The space created by the marvellous Emanuele who removed my enormous euphorbia mellifera is now crying out for planting. This bit of earth used to be lawn, but lack of light beneath the euphorbia bush put paid to that, and now I put see an opportunity for more planting. It’s the perfect thing really, because this is a wonderful time to divide perennials, and my plan is to dig up and divide one of my sedums and add some divided anemone too, and then order a few hellebores to create a new border that speaks to the rest of the garden. Of course, I don’t actually DO it, I just stand there and PLAN it which is very much NOT the same thing. At any rate, I cannot do much today because my legs won’t work. The reason for this is the rather rash decision I took last week to migrate away from spinning on the stationary bike, an activity which makes me incredibly euphoric and sweaty but isn’t exactly addressing the very real fact that I have close to zero upper-body strength. It’s not that I NEED to be able to do press-ups but I’m very aware that being stronger makes for a rather better time in the later years. So yes, I have pulled out an old pair of dumbbells and have begun doing things like planks and tricep dips in my kitchen and it’s fine while you’re DOING it but by golly it hurts the next day. I cannot sit on the loo, or walk down the stairs, or bend over or sneeze without my muscles telling me to stop bothering them. It’s immobilising and, bloody, addictive.
But yes, I am looking forward to cutting back and slicing through my sedum and a couple of other plants, and for resulting texture and colour next year. It’s the long game and I love it. Instead I pull out the left-over sweet pea seeds and push them into a fresh set of rootrainers. The previous batch had an altercation with a football which is best forgotten (tears were shed) but this second sowing really took no time at all. The only difference is the weather - it is far colder than it was and I will have to be rather more careful with hardening off. Hardening off is when you get your plant babies used to the cold. You need to do it gradually, and I generally use a clear plastic storage tub with a lid, which I can hokey cokey in and out of the kitchen in the beginning and which then eventually stays outside over the winter. Full instructions here.
Wednesday
My bulbs arrive and I put them straight in the shed without opening the box. I’ve decided that this year I’m going to be confining all my bulb action to the terrace (and I reserve the right to change my mind about that) but for now it’s about getting containers ready with compost, some of which I did last week, but today I fill a couple more pots two thirds full with new compost, so that when the time comes for planting I will simply place the bulbs on the surface of the compost and cover them over, add some squirrel protection in the form of pretty bamboo cloches (because friends this is ESSENTIAL in my garden) and that’ll be that. I tend to plant tulips in November, because I read in a book once that otherwise they are susceptible to a disease called tulip fire. I was thinking about this the other day though, and I’ve never heard of anyones tulips actually succumbing to this problem…perhaps, as with many gardening ‘musts’ it’s all baloney. It does SUIT me, however, to feel that there’s no rush to plant ALL my bulbs, so I’m in no hurry to disprove that particular rumour (which is why I’m not looking it up…in the same way that I refuse to look at my bank statements because I don’t want to know the truth). Other bulbs, though, can and should go in sooner rather than later, and yes, you can totally layer them up if you’re short on space or just want a long season from one pot. The popular term is a ‘lasagne’ of bulbs but I much prefer James Alexander-Sinclair’s idea of a ‘trifle’ which is altogether sexier don’t you think?
I pull out every tall-sided vase that I own and put them all in one place ready to receive paper white narcissi. These are a must for the cold months, and if you time it right you might even get blooms on Christmas Day! Here’s a short video to show you how to do it if you’re interested … it’s one of the simplest and most effective ways of decorating over the cold months - very much worth a try. Lovely five minutes adding gravel and bulbs, and I realise that I used to categorise gardening as something of a ride that I’d just hop on and go along with, but that now, out of necessity, my poor old brain, desperate to soothe itself, has put it firmly in the ‘things you can control’ file, next to exercise, marmite toast and a comforting martini.
Thursday
I am shocked and alarmed to find my smallest springs out of bed this morning. I usually have to cajole and bribe her to get up, as if she were a teenager, but this morning it is my birthday, and she has remembered, and the sweet soul, sleepily comes downstairs and hugs me with her warm, just-out-of-bed-body in a way that makes my throat ache and presents me a with a card which says that I am a NIS mummy. I’m very thrilled about this. Nice is a damn sight better than awful or nasty (which is honestly where I feel like I am most of the time). So yes, this is progress indeed. My poor little boy is crestfallen that he as forgotten so the next hour is spent telling him it’s ok and agreeing to go out and get him certain things so that he can make me something when he gets home from school. I go out and clean the terrace, and then I bring in the aloe vera, which really does need to come inside for the winter but has benefitted HUGELY from being out in the rain for a bit - it is perfection, deliciously aqua-marine-glaucous with ZERO DUST! My neighbour messages me to say she has a delivery for me, and I come back with two of the most enormous balloons I’ve ever seen - one pink and one yellow. They are tied with multi-coloured ribbons and weighted down with a silver star. I LOVE them. Later on, flowers appear, and a card from the boy which says that I am kind and RESPECTFULL and then there is champagne and we watch Gladiator and I realise that I have just had one of the best and most joyful birthdays of my life.
Friday
My outdoor lights are a problem…in fact, they are almost entirely useless, because every time they are used, the entire house trips. I have an electrician here today to try and diagnose the problem. He fiddles around for an hour, disconnects the thing that he thinks is the culprit, and leaves, after which, the house trips again. I often think that my life would have been immeasurably easier if only we had been taught basic plumbing and electrics at our incredibly expensive schools. Anyway, I need lighting for the dark months, so I get online and order some solar-powered nets that I can toss over my shrubs to provide me with some twinkle factor. I also pull out my much-loved allium lights and attach them to the apple tree, because with so many rules governing the way we live our lives, I feel like I need to throw out the ‘no christmas stuff before mid-december’ thing. I sweep and tidy, and then suddenly it is half term and I note that lockdown has diminished my whatonearthshallidowiththekids fear to a point where I’m feeling quite unnaturally NEUTRAL about it. Which is all well and good but friends, WHAT IN HEAVEN’S NAME SHALL I WRITE ABOUT?????
All good things to you for a delightful, fruitful, dusky, mellow October and I’ll be back in two weeks
Laetitia xx
So agree with your thoughts re gardening,how nature just keeps on going regardless. I too stand, gaze and plan, but am at stage 2 - have bought plants in pots, dahlia tubers, but they’re still waiting to be planted!!
We’re still locked down, 5km limit, only one visitor, 2. hours exercise , and hoping some restrictions will be lifted today. Have heard we’re probably going to have to get used to this new normal for some years.😥😥
One GD has only been to school for 6 weeks this year - her first at school. The excitement at returning to school is heart warming.
Keep your chin up, they will thrive despite your worst efforts😉
Looking forward to your letters, don’t overthink it, just write...
Stay well, stay happy.💖
*Everything* J A-S does in the garden is sexier (though best not to tell him!)