Another summer has nearly gone and I’ve not done any updates here. It’s been a tough old spring and summer for me. I have been to almost as many funerals this year as I have in the rest of my life – losing so many family members and friends in such a short space of time is difficult. It takes its toll. I’m still processing much of this loss, there’s no roadmap or right way of doing this and sometimes I think I’m getting there and other days the pain is just as raw as it was earlier in the summer. Through all this my garden is a constant comfort. The need to keep going out there to plant, to tend, to water, to deadhead is a focal point in the here and now that keeps me grounded.
I’m so grateful that I have the means and support to garden. I couldn’t do it on my own, my husband encourages me and helps me (with the heavy lifting and the trips to the garden centre that I couldn’t do alone) and I know I couldn’t create this space without him. It’s been an up and down year weather wise – June was wonderful and we spent a lot of time outside, enjoying the new garden furniture we bought, watching all the crops emerging. Sadly July and August have been a disappointment with endless days of rain and very little sunshine. Crops are ripening slowly, if at all (the sweetcorn is basically just taking up space at this point!) and I fear we many need boxes and bananas for most of the tomatoes. Our lovely little patio set has been neglected and covered for most of the last two months.
It’s not all doom and gloom, the crystal lemon cucumbers have been a revelation and something I will definitely grow again next year. The pumpkins are also a new endeavour that will come back next year. I’ve absolutely loved watching them grow and I can’t wait for Halloween (which I love more than Christmas!). Next year there will be more – there are two pumpkins on one plant this year – I need more next year. The self seeded nasturtiums have done a stellar job protecting the crops around them from black fly.
Another big success this year has been the dahlias. I overwintered them outside, covered in straw. Three out of the four pots survived the minus 7 degrees we had back in December and the blooms are better and brighter than they were last year. I plan to leave them in the ground again this year. They live in a sheltered, not too hot part of the garden and they seem to like it so that’s where they will stay.
One big change I have planned for next year for my crop growing has been inspired by a recent visit to RHS Bridgewater. We went into the Wellbeing Garden and were enchanted by the raised beds that had been planted up with a mix of flowers, fruit and vegetables. Everything in the beds seemed to be an edible of some description and this inspired me to rethink how I use my raised beds. So next year I won’t be planting up in a traditional raised bed manner. Each raised bed will have one tall focal plant (sunflower, allium, cordon tomato) and then the rest of the bed will be filled with a mixture of flowers and crops. We saw marigolds, echinacea, strawberries, green beans, tomatoes, courgettes, calendula and many other things. All growing side by side, just rubbing along together. Not rigidly planted 30cm apart, not even two plants the same next to each other. Just a glorious growing space that produced a stunning display of flowers and leaves and fruit.
We don’t have the space to grow enough fruit and veg to feed ourselves – we just grow for the fun of it – so while this might seem like an unusual approach I see it as an opportunity to experiment and watch these plants grow side by side with things that maybe they wouldn’t usually do. To see what kind of palette of colours I can create by mixing flowers and crops. What a joy it will be to go out and pick strawberries and beans growing together, with a juicy tomato just inches away. I am excited to be able to curate these spaces, each bed will have a different combination. I know it might not all work, it’s going to be trial and error and I might have to have more spare seedlings ready through the season to plug any gaps that appear if plants don’t like the space I put them in.
For me this is the very essence of gardening at home though. I’m not relying on my garden to feed us – it’s an outside space I love and cherish that gives me more emotional nourishment than actual physical sustenance. I want to understand the plants I’m growing, what do they want, what do they need, what makes them flourish. I want to nurture this space and in turn be nurtured by the garden. This is definitely a two way relationship and one that I am so grateful to be part of.
Some photographs of the garden since April.
The Garrett Garden 