Apart from sowing some Spring green seeds in mid September for planting the GH when the tomatoes are finished, I don’t do anything and try not to think about the garden through the winter, it’s hard work to keep it in check through the summer, so winter is my time off. Will lime the ground about November time and start to pile compost on the ground.
I have some seeds that I will sow in the GH early autumn, pansies and lavender, (always have a supply of pansy and lavender plants) poppies, but not much else. In February I will order onions, leeks and beans seeds. Got enough tomato seeds for the next umpteenth years. They keep forever.
Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor.
Hi @Loxley, is the Sesleria you grow autumnalis? Does it remain in quite contained mounds? I think I saw and admired it in one of your photos but failed to note it down!
Hi @Loxley, is the Sesleria you grow autumnalis? Does it remain in quite contained mounds? I think I saw and admired it in one of your photos but failed to note it down!
Yes, S. autumnalis. It stays in clumps, yes. I strongly recommend this grass, it's not as showy as some but it's very well behaved and looks good most if not all of the year.
"What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbour".
It's partly that @Fire. I had plans to change the planting but only in certain sections at a time. After the first heatwave, and listening to how this weather pattern is expected to reoccur, l decided that l'd be better off making the bed smaller and hopefully that would mean fewer plants but easier to maintain. I stood looking out of the kitchen window at the carnage caused by the heat one day and thought "Sod it, l may as well go for broke".
Don't forget l still have 2 other beds, they aren't looking so bad, but that one bakes in the sun from around 8am to 7pm in high Summer.
I have plenty of bags of horse manure compost plus the contents of 2 compost bins to add to it. As l'm always telling other posters, preparation is key, so l'd better follow my own advice
@Loxley, that's the plan I do (did !) have a lot of drought tolerant plants such as salvias which are just about hanging on, but l think as well as the exceptional temperatures, the soil was probably running out of steam. In a "normal" year l think the usual adding of chicken manure pellets etc would be fine but not this time. I am trying to be positive though, and once the rest is cleared and l can see what l have to work with l'm sure l'll get my "mojo" back 🤞.
It is sad as @fire says, but in the great scheme of things it's minor. If this is all l have to deal with, l'm lucky.
We'll be removing almost all of the remaining perennials, which are almost dead. We've also let one Privet hedge die, and all of our Carnivorous plants. We will replace the perennials with drought tolerant shrubs. We'll also be getting rid of half our 40 pots, having already gotten rid of 20 in the Spring, and most of our ferns will go.
Ten years of preparation (soil improvement, mulching, water butts, grey water, etc), have had barely any impact on stopping our garden from dying. Two months of zero rain and 25-40c temperatures, mean a major rethink is needed.
We've learned to embrace any big changes, it's an opportunity to make the garden less labour intensive, but we do miss the days when we had huge herbaceous borders with Prairie style planting. I feel for the others here who are also having to take radical steps, and are losing much loved plants that you have nurtured for years.
I didn't think I would come to feel grateful for a north facing garden, but I do this year. The shadow from the house and the fences offers some respite to plants and I can move around pots as the months progress.
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Will lime the ground about November time and start to pile compost on the ground.
I have some seeds that I will sow in the GH early autumn, pansies and lavender, (always have a supply of pansy and lavender plants) poppies, but not much else.
In February I will order onions, leeks and beans seeds.
Got enough tomato seeds for the next umpteenth years. They keep forever.
I had plans to change the planting but only in certain sections at a time.
After the first heatwave, and listening to how this weather pattern is expected to reoccur, l decided that l'd be better off making the bed smaller and hopefully that would mean fewer plants but easier to maintain.
I stood looking out of the kitchen window at the carnage caused by the heat one day and thought "Sod it, l may as well go for broke".
Don't forget l still have 2 other beds, they aren't looking so bad, but that one bakes in the sun from around 8am to 7pm in high Summer.
I have plenty of bags of horse manure compost plus the contents of 2 compost bins to add to it.
As l'm always telling other posters, preparation is key, so l'd better follow my own advice
I love replanting beds, have fun!
I do (did !) have a lot of drought tolerant plants such as salvias which are just about hanging on, but l think as well as the exceptional temperatures, the soil was probably running out of steam.
In a "normal" year l think the usual adding of chicken manure pellets etc would be fine but not this time.
I am trying to be positive though, and once the rest is cleared and l can see what l have to work with l'm sure l'll get my "mojo" back 🤞.
It is sad as @fire says, but in the great scheme of things it's minor. If this is all l have to deal with, l'm lucky.
Ten years of preparation (soil improvement, mulching, water butts, grey water, etc), have had barely any impact on stopping our garden from dying. Two months of zero rain and 25-40c temperatures, mean a major rethink is needed.
We've learned to embrace any big changes, it's an opportunity to make the garden less labour intensive, but we do miss the days when we had huge herbaceous borders with Prairie style planting. I feel for the others here who are also having to take radical steps, and are losing much loved plants that you have nurtured for years.