The sultry scented summer bulbs you cannot live without
Hello friends!
A lot of you are new here, and I am waving you all a big hello. This is a space where I recount my daily five minute gardening forays and impart fun, easy weekend projects or mini-guides to gardening. But it's also a conversation starter, so please don't hesitate to hit 'reply' below and email me about anything you like. Gardening is my favourite subject, but hey, I'll chat about cake too if that's what's on your mind.
Monday
I have come to regard inset days in the same way as I do snowstorms in late March. Not. Bloody. On.
Anyhow, here we are, and I manage not only to keep everyone alive, but also to record a podcast, buy new school shoes and do my five minutes of gardening. I go out and find my hand hoe. It's this one from Burgon and Ball. I like it because it's light and frankly, it looks ninja. The sycamore seedlings are off the charts this year. This may have something to do with the fact that I mulched in the autumn, probably covering a load of the winged suckers in the process, creating the perfect bed for them. Whatever happened, up they have come. I spend five minutes getting as many out as possible, and then another five minutes, and another, until I have collected three large mounds of the things, and there are lots more to find. I even find what I can only describe as an ACTUAL SAPLING masquerading as a bit of my hydrangea (shows you how very observant I am) and try as I might I actually can't dislodge it, so I have to cut it down at the base. Unbelievable how quickly the thing has lodged itself into the border. I wonder at what point they become so embedded and resolve to get every last seedling out.
Tuesday
I clean my gutter. One gutter, on one side of my shed roof. It was full of sycamore seedlings and (strangely) compost...I guess from years of detritus breaking down. There were a good few woodlice too. It is cathartic but I don't want to do it again. The other one will have to wait. I also mulch the lilac trees that I re-potted last week with pale grey gravel. They look almost scarily smart. I am still studiously avoiding my compost bin.
Wednesday
It's a beautiful, beautiful day. The kind of day where you just want to strip off and lie in the garden all day long. I still have a child with chicken pox, but I manage to send her off somewhere with my amazing au pair and I get the whole morning to myself. I do some extremely boring but important things (filing, admin) and then I rush out with a bucket and pick ALL of my tulips.
I should have done it early in the day, but I don't care. I fill two buckets and five huge vases with tulips, and there are still lots left in the borders to come up and delight. My reasoning is to avoid planting any new ones this year. If you remove the flower, you also remove the seed of the plant. Making seed takes lots of energy and that's why tulips don't do so well in subsequent years. By chopping the flowers I'm re-directing the plant's energy back down into the bulb, for an equal show next year. The vases are making me deliriously happy. I feel like Beyonce, who surely has flower filled rooms wherever she goes, no?
Thursday
Poxy girl has finally scabbed over (if you're not a parent, that means that all the spots of the varicella virus have turned into scabs and my child is no longer contagious. You're welcome) so I push her little tush into nursery and go out into the garden. It's hot already. I amble around for a while before deciding to plant more summer-flowering bulbs. I planted a pot of these at the weekend (a rare weekend five-minute thing of which I am immeasurably proud). I'm giving the details of these below for you, because believe me, you want these little scented gladioli (above) in your life. I'm keeping another lot back for planting later (see below) but I also notice that I haven't yet done anything with my lily bulbs. I have no compost left, so I decide to put these in the border, along with a few more gladioli. In they go, and I weed a bit as well.
Friday
I get the smallest person to help me to cut several lengths of string for tying things in. I like to have string in my pocket at all times, and all the better if it's cut into lengths. Unfortunately I leave her alone rather too long with the scissors #badmother and she chops a load of her own hair off. I add it to the compost bin and try not to feel bad..
The sweet peas have been neglected. I don't know why. I walk past them every time I go into the garden. Perhaps that's the point; that their very proximity engenders some sort of complacency. They have all grown elbows from falling over and I tie them upright attaching them to the pea sticks. I feel instantly better about life. Five minutes was all it took.
Saturday
Just before I send this out, I must report that things are looking up with the compost bin. I still haven't looked at the bottom to see if any compost has been made, but the smell has transformed and is now composty, and sweet and the whole thing is sinking beautifully. It's because of the hot weather, which has taken the temperature up to almost forty degrees in there. I'll be opening it up next week. Might even do an instagram Live with it.
Summer bulbs
Summer-flowering bulbs often get lost in the rush of March and April when there’s so much to do in the garden, but it’s a real shame to miss out on these beautiful and useful plants that often bridge that awkward gap between summer and autumn where everything seems to be crisping up and dying a death. My first choice is always Gladiolus callianthus (sometimes called Acidanthera) – a perfect white thing with a gorgeous deep maroon blotch in its centre. I plant masses in pots and they never fail. The scent is indescribable so I won’t even go there; just know that you can’t possibly live without it.
Plant the corms about 4inches deep in ordinary multi-purpose compost mixed with a bit of John Innes no 2, - I've planted about 15 corms in this 40cm pot.
Place the pot in a sunny spot, keeping it well watered.
Plant some now, and keep some back to plant at the end of May. This will give you fresh ones during the cooler months which will delight you and last much longer than their summer sisters.
All the good things, as always
x Laetitia
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