Autumn Gardening

Hello all, Gill here,

There is so much to do in the garden in the autumn, it makes you wonder where we all find the time. At this time of the year the main thing is clearing up and pulling up. If like me you like your plants growing naturally anywhere, when you pull, shake, there may be some seeds still left in the heads.

Love them or hate them, you cannot fail to notice the striking colours of the dahlias. They come into their own at this time of year, in my opinion there is nothing to rival them. They come in every height from 6inches to a about 5foot, the flowers heads are from a teaspoon size to a dinner plate and there are some with zillions of petals and some with single petals so I find it hard for someone to say that they hate all dahlias!

Most people don´t think of autumn as being a busy time for planting but it can be for both flowers, fruit and vegetables. Plant all you currants now, black red and white and raspberries oooo yummy, gooseberries yuk and the like, all cane type plants.

Also your herbaceous perenials, cottage flowers such as echinacea should go in now.
I have already mentioned fruit trees in a previous blog, you can still plant those for a couple of months, but preferably September and October.

Broad beans are best planted now because they are less prone to black fly than when planted in the spring.

Get down to the garden centre now if you want shrubs and get digging!!!! I think they take better in the autumn than spring, they certainly get a head start next year being planted now, such as euonymous, berberis, choisya and hebe. Most garden centres do these at very reasonable prices in bulk. I think in Avenue nurseries, Lasham they have 6 small shrubs for £8, thats fantastic. They are small but dont take long to grow. Get two sets, one thats all green plants and one reds and yellows, when they grow all mixed up together they can look stunning at this time of the year.

These can be put in tubs or hanging baskets with winter cyclamen and pansies, an ivy and heather, don´t forget to pop in some spring bulbs so that when the pansies are dying off, up come these little surprises of bulbs to make you smile :).

I have noticed that the birds are eating a lot more suet balls, so please don´t forget them, they are such lovely creatures, they brighten up my day, I can´t imagine a world without birds.

I am rushed off my feet at the moment packing boxes to move. I cannot believe I have got so much rubbish!!! Car boot here I come.

Make the most of this lovely autumn sunshine and get cracking in the garden instead of reading this lol.

Catch you all next week when I get time, take care all, Gill x

Gardening: Holiday, Moving & Planting

Hiya peeps, its Gill,

Got back a week ago from my hols staying with my brother in France not too far from the Pyrenees. Glorious weather, between 26 and 30 deg every day. My brother Peter grows all his own veg and some fruit for the year too. I was told to eat as many strawberries and raspberries as I wish from the garden. Needless to say I didn´t have to be told twice lol! The raspberries (my favourite fruit) were delicious. It reminded me of my first taste of this wonderful fruit. When I was about 7 or 8 years old I had a friend on the army estate where I lived in Wolverley called Joyce McCluskey. Her back garden was about 5foot square at the most and it was just raspberries. We used to lay on our backs and crawl under these canes and just eat. What wonderful days. My Dad used to grow strawberries and I used to eat them green, I couldn´t wait for them to turn red. He often used to say what a poor crop he had, if only he had known! If he were alive now, I would own up.

Whilst in France we watched swallowtail butterflies, a beautiful creature that was plentiful in my youth but haven´t seen here for over 50 years. Also something I have never seen before a humming bird moth on a newly opened hibiscus, stunning! There were frogs croaking all day long, a flock of egrets came every day and settled near a little creek to catch the fish I guess, and we watched buzzards spiralling on thermals, as I do in England too.

My nephew 5 year old Jenson had been there for the summer holidays and had seen the chickens eating a mouse. He was most concerned and told my brother to get it because if he didn´t the mouses Mum and Dad would be sad if he didn´t come home. Isn´t that lovely? Oh and the other thing that I haven´t seen before was a big fat black bee on the runner beans absolutely fully laden with pollen he could hardly fly, I could watch that sort of thing for hours.

Well I have news, we have sold the house and will be going our separate ways soon, but there is so much to do in the garden to get it straight for the new family moving in. The biggest job is to move the chickens, my daughters friend Jenny is having them. They will have acres of bluebell woods to run around, a freer life than they get here. I did shed a little tear, I will miss Lucky most, but I will be able to go over and see them when I like she said.

It is definitely the start of autumn here so I will be cutting off all the tall plants. The tomatoes can be pulled although there is still time for a few more to plump up and redden. I pulled all the runner beans up yesterday and gave the whole plants, beans and all to the chickens. They stripped everything off and left just the main stems, they will eventually mulch down into the ground. All the leaves on the trees are starting to turn a golden yellow, absolutely stunning time of the year.

Now is the time of year to start looking at spring bulbs. There is an ernormous choice these days of colours and shapes. For me you cannot beat the every day daffodil, I am not one for the pink variety etc. The tulips are my favourites in the spring. Just check that the bulbs you buy are not even slightly mouldy, they won´t grow and they infect the others. I hate the thought of leaving my lovely English bluebells here but I´m not going to dig them up as I wont have a permanent house to go to and dont know when I will have. Most of the bluebells that you see other than the ones in the woods here in England now are Spanish. Goodness knows how that happened. I think one of the most beautiful sights in England is woodland with that glorious bluebell colour, a lilacy blue haze. My gladioli are still flowering, one of my Dad´s favourites, thats why I grow them.

Don´t forget like I said last time, if you need to regrass or have patches on the lawn that need seeding, do it this month or March only.

I have dug up and potted two of my acers and left 5 here that are too large to move without doing any damage. This week I will be potting up probably about 5 of my azaleas, one of them I brought from my last house and it survived, a vivid orange one. I have bought some ericaceous soil for that, oh and also two rhodedendrons. I must be boring you with all my things to do so I will close now and get some of them done.

Take care all, happy gardening, and will try and think of something to chat to you about next week. Luv from Gill

Gardening in England & Fruit

Hi all its Gill,

Hope you are all well. I can't believe another week has gone by already!

At this time of the year there is so much to do, especially dead heading if you want a succession of flowers through to the autumn. Also (my favourite thing) gathering seeds ready to scatter next year. I always think I am getting something for nothing hehe.

We had our first pickings of runner beans tonight for dinner and they were succulent. I said before that I would tell you the outcome of my `trials` as to white or orange flowered runners. So far the orange ones have far more beans on them.

This year looks to be a bumper year for fruit (I bet that doesn't reflect on the shop prices though). My neighbour has several apple, and pear trees and one damson. They are heavily laden which is nice because they allow me to go in and pick what I like.

I pick up the windfalls and chop them up for my chickens, they love them. I have a tiny victoria plum whose boughs are almost touching the ground from the weight of the fruit. There are also loads and loads of hazelnuts this year - one of my favourites. If you buy from local farms the fruit seems to be a lot cheaper than Tescos, but then again that's not surprising!

Don't tell me that you don't have enough room to grow your own runners because unless you are in a flat, you do. Mine this year are in three tubs with canes making them into a wigwam shape on the patio. Actually my friend Irene has a small balcony with her flat and it is absolutely full. There are herbs, trailing tomatoes and strawberries in baskets, and loads of flowers too. She has feeders everywhere for the birds, and she seems to get more variety of them than I do.

Going back to fruit trees, yes they can be expensive but last year Wilkinsons was selling plum, peach, cherry, apple and pear for £5 each and they were about 6 foot tall. Whether they have them this year I don't know. Most garden centres sell them for around £25.00 each. Last year from one of the cheapy shops I bought a gooseberry plant for £1.25, that little plant had several gooseberries on it this year.

Seeds are expensive when you consider how many you get from one plant, so why not go along to Campo girls seed swap site, great idea and free. I always ask for seeds for Xmas but never specify which ones, that way you get lots of little surprises. I give lots at Xmas too especially for the men, because I find them hard to buy for.

One of my favourite stories I am going to share with you. My Dad bless him passed away at a youngish age 27 years ago. When he was 3 years old and lived in Notting Hill back in 1922 he had several brothers and sisters so they were not what you would call affluent hehe, the opposite actually. My Nan always put the rent money on the side every week waiting for the man to collect it. One day he came and it was gone! Everybody looked frantically for it but to no avail. I dont know if my Dad was looking guilty but they asked him if he had taken it for ages, then bribing him with a freshly ironed shirt. He took them to the front garden where he unburied it and placed it in Nans hand. Asked why he had done that he said that he was growing a money tree!!!!!! How lovely is that, awwww.

I will love you and leave you with that, happy gardening. Gill x

Growing from Seed

Hi all, its Gill,

Many many years ago I remember walking past a garden and being gob smacked by a plant that I saw. I hadn't a clue what it was and have never seen one since until I opened my Thompson and Morgan catalogue last year and saw the seeds for sale. It was a melianthus, a honey bush.

Has anyone out there got one? It grows to about 6foot I think, and has huge fronds of brown and gold. I eagerly planted all the seeds in one pot and covered them in vermiculite and placed them in my greenhouse earlier this year. Eventually one plant emerged, then two and now I have four. They are about 8 inches tall so I guess no more will come through. They were all planted in the same pot, in the same conditions etc so I am a little disappointed that only 4 have come through.I must admit that I have bought loads of seeds from Thompson and Morgan and I think I have yet to get a full packet of seeds to grow!!!

I nevertheless go back to them because of their enormous variety of seeds that I dont see anywhere else. Last year I bought two packets of banana seeds and unfortunately not one seed grew. I have grown bananas in the past with no effort, such a shame I was looking forward to seeing them.

A couple of years or three ago I bought loads of lilies from T&Morgan, and I can highly recommend you to do so too. I open my back door and there is a heady aroma coming from my lilies, a spectacle to behold, they are stunning plants and the flowers are all much larger than my hand. I have taken some piccies and when I work out how to get them on here I will show you. Dont forget that if you buy lily bulbs to always plant them on their side on sand, then cover over in soil.

I have to tell you a story about my grandson James who was 4 at the time, but is now 7. We had just put down an indian sand stone path up the back garden. The slabs had fossils of ferns and trees etc on them. James walked up the path and on seeing a fossil for the first time, said "Look you have tattoos on your path". Isnt that wonderful!

I quite like gardens that are regimental but that's not for me, my garden just happens!!! I have tall flowers at the front of a border whilst the little ones at the back are struggling to survive. If a plant self seeds, then that is where it stays. My path that I mentioned earlier is smothered in thousands of foxgloves, poppies etc etc, I can hardly walk up it haha. Next year we wont be able to at all and will have to walk on the grass, defeting the object of having a path really! I have nowhere to replant these seedlings and I wont pull them up. My neighbour has had as many as he can take too. Nevertheless I can guarantee that a few packet of seeds will take my eye next spring, I will plant them and if they grow I will have the same dilemma I have every year - where to put them haha!!!

Gardening, Spain and England

Hello fellow gardeners its Gill again,

I was in Spain last week staying with my son and daughter in law. Phew it was hot!!! They have my favourite tree in their garden, a jacaranda, wish I could grow them here. The highlight of my week was going to a garden centre out there and seeing all the exotic things you can buy that you definitely dont see here in Hampshire. They bought a mango tree that had 6 fruits on before we forced it into the car along with several other plants, and had one fruit by the time it got home! Also they bought a paw paw tree for €5.75 what an absolute bargain, thats what the mango cost too, and guess what else, something I thought I would never see, my favourite nut, a macadamia tree also that price. By the next day they werent looking too happy being planted out in all that heat but I have my fingers crossed for their survival. It was a wonderful experience going there.

What a shock to come home to half of that temperature at Gatwick and rain. When I drew up into the drive though, my hydrangea had bloomed whilst I was away. I have a piccy for you, but dont know how to get it onto here, something else I have to learn hehehe! All this technology is fairly new to me, I take a long time to learn.

As soon as I dumped my luggage my first port of call was my girls (chickens), then the greenhouse. Woohoo I have some baby tomatoes, thank goodness for my neighbours watering and looking after for me.

Yesterday I went to Frensham garden centre. I like that place, they make the most delicious shortbreads for only £1 for a huge one. Their plants are healthy and the prices are similar to most centres. There is so much to see there its well worth a visit. They have a good range of acers my second favourite trees (I think I have about 8 in my garden).

I go to a garden centre every Wednesday with two friends of mine, and we always eat out there too, there must be about 18 that we go to regularly. If any have any bargains I will let you know of them although I know that most of you are in Spain. Hopefully we have some English readers too. Guess what, yes its raining again, thank goodness its summer else it would be worse!!!

Okay peeps Im going to love you and leave you, enjoy your gardens, catch you again soon, take care, Gill.

New Campo Girls Author

Hi all,

Just thought I would introduce myself, my name is Gill and I am Campo Girls mother in law. I love plants and over the years have gathered a little knowledge about some of them, emphasis on little haha! I live in Hampshire on the eastern side and about half an hour from the coast. My garden is a typical size for a semi detached 1930s house, maybe slightly longer. I have a large patch for my chickens, a small greenhouse, a couple of lawns, loads of flowers and the rest looks like a bomb site. I would like to be one of those people who potter about outside every day, but unfortunately I border on lazy! I want my garden to be lovely with as little effort as possible. I adore flowers and trees but rarely pick them, they should be outside but am not aversed to someone giving me some from a shop, they have been grown for the purpose. Come to think of it, other than Mothers Day and my birthday, I never get any given to me now.

I am widowed and have been for over 15 years, my husband died young of cancer, and he would pick me meadow flowers sometimes, which of course these days I wouldnt encourage, as there arent enough meadows left. Every year he would stop his car when he saw the very first pussy willows and bring me a couple of sprays home, their lovely fluffy yellow heads always reminded me that spring was round the corner. Then when sticky buds were about to burst open, he never failed to bring me some home, something he also did for his Mum when he was a little boy.At Xmas he used to stop in a small lay-by just outside Four Marks where we lived to collect me a few teasles to spray gold and silver for the festive season. I have never picked any of these things since myself, then it makes it more magical that he did.

Okay folks, I have given you a very small insight of my love for flowers and hope to write to you all a lot more in the future. In fact next time I just have to tell you about my trip to a garden centre in Spain last week, the exotic things you can buy there that obviously wont grow at home. Take care all, see you soon, Gill.