The rain it raineth

We gardeners love rain, especially us lazy gardeners who keep forgetting to go out and water the tomatoes. But THREE WHOLE DAYS OF RAIN without a break???? I know we desperately needed it but this isn't much fun. Fingers crossed it's not like this on Friday for the gardening group. 

Laudable Lavender

We Brighton gardeners love lavender. Lavandula Stoechas, Angustifolia, 'Hidcote.' We think of it as our own (even though it originates from the Mediterranean.) We just can't get enough of it. It's in everyone's front gardens in Brighton. Why? Because Lavender loves us. It's drought tolerant, loves a bit of chalk, it's aromatic, and so so easy to grow. Or is it?

"Hot lavender, mints, savory, marjoram;

The marigold, that goes to bed wi' th' sun,
And with him rises weeping; these are flow'rs
Of middle summer..."

Mr. Shakespeare of Winter's Tale fame.

Plant your lavender, watch it grow vigorously, and vigorously and vigorously, and then suddenly it's a woody old plant with a bit of foliage on the top of the stems and quite frankly it's not that nice anymore. Why? Because you didn't give it a good prune in it's first couple of years.

You've got to be harsh. 

It will thank you in the long term. 

Because when it gets old it gets woody and every gardener will tell you "you can't cut into the old wood." That means you can't cut into the wood which has no growth on it. 

When should you do your cutting back? In the rest of the country, wait until March - in Brighton do it now, we won't get a frost for yonks (if we ever do..) Go on give it a good haircut before it gets too woody because 'you can't cut into the old wood...!'

PS The same principal applies to Rosemary

Photo montage

I can't be bothered to type anymore so here's a photo montage of the day's highlights.

I'm off to watch Gardeners World. 

Gin the gardener

So who are these modern women who have left their kitchen sinks, turned their backs on 80s power-dressing and would rather read the latest Parkers wholesale bulb catalogue than Now magazine?

Introducing Gin the gardener, the Lara Croft of the horticultural world. 

When she had put her large plank of wood down, I asked her a few questions:-

1. Me - What do you do when you're not gardening for the gardening group?

G - "I run my own gardening business."

Me - What's your favourite plant name?  G - "Cerotostigma Wilmotiatum" She then giggles.

Me - Which gardener would you most like to be stuck in the potting shed with?

Her - Monty Don

Me - If you were only allowed to garden in one item of clothing what would you wear?

Her -  A bikini.    (Me - I think she needs to do the a Health and Safety refresher.)

What is the best thing Bridget has ever taught you?

Don't fill your pots too high.   (Me - and probably to never garden in a bikini.)

What's the best thing about being a gardener in Brighton?

The sunshine  (Update - It's Saturday morning and we've finally got rain!)

What's your favourite tipple after a hard day's gardening?

A glass of Sauvignon Blanc  (Oh lah di daa...)

And she was off,  with a long plank of wood nestled under her arm. 

Aniseed's view

It was a hot day so after all that hard work, I sat down and had a cup of tea with Aniseed the gardening cat. After a long discussion about how he felt the day was going, and in his opinion were the girls working hard enough, I asked him what cats like to have on hot days. He told me he liked a mice cream cone.

Week 4 in the garden

The berries are out in force, it's Autumn, it's Friday and that can only mean one thing.. 

It's week four in the garden. 

and what a week four it was for those intrepid lady gardeners..  There was wood to be collected for those long cold winter nights. ("no central heating? Oh no we're very old fashioned in these parts.")

There were seeds to be sown. Get those Hardy Annuals out of their packets and into the soil right now. Calendulas, Sweet Peas, Ammi Majus, Nigella etc. - they all love a loo roll and a bit of frost.

Scarify (from the Greek to scratch, not to scare) the lawn. It's lawn physio - wakes it up from it's late summer slumber. 

and if you've got a 40 foot Rosa Banksia. 

then get your telescopic loppers out and prune away.

AUTUMN IN SUSSEX

I LOVE AUTUMN and I love it when you suddenly notice that Autumn is everywhere. It creeps up on you and then suddenly, bang, those boring green leaves have been transformed into the most glorious colours.

Autumn ident

 I am going to start a blog ident. Each week I will stick a picture on the blog of something l have snapped that week(preferably a plant not a person) and you just have to correct identify the plant. The winner will win something but I haven't decided what yet. 

So off you go... Identify away.

Our new gardener

For those readers that may think that the Friday gardening group is just for lady gardeners then you'd be WRONG. Introducing Aniseed the willow weaving cat who is happy to get his paws into anything of a horticultural persuasion. Aniseed has told me he is happy to be a regular contributor to this blog. He reckons he can show those women a thing or two. Now that's paws for thought. 

Week 3 in the garden

These ladies don't have time to lunch. These are ladies who chop, tie, cut, dig, propagate, mow, sweep, weed and even replant. The Brighton (and Hove) land girls.