Last year (2011) I decided to make some radical changes to the back garden which is out of sight and a bit of a ‘utility’ area. It has the shed, greenhouse and 6 large compost heaps made from old pallets the blocks and roof tiles came on. It also had an enormous apple tree planted far too close to the bungalow and casting shade over the ground which was optimistically called a vegetable patch.

I had been reading a lot about the benefits of raised beds and because this part of the garden had sticky clay soil, I decided it would be best to re-design the whole area with raised beds connected by gravel paths. It would be my Jan – Mar 2012 project and be ready in time to plant out dahlias and chrysanthemums in April. Then I got carried away!

I found a local company who made scaffold boards and managed to buy 20 rejected planks (too knotty) for £9 each delivered free. This would provide 7 raised beds 3.9m long x 1.3m wide x 225mm deep with 600mm wide paths between.

Down came the old apple tree, up came the old uneven slab paths and down went a layer of permeable weed control fabric over the whole area. My strawberry pots held it down for a few weeks until the weather improved.

A few galvanised screws and corner posts later and the beds were made. Around this time I was debating what to do with the turf I was about to take up to form the new front ‘hot’ border and it occurred to me that I could place the sods green side down in the base of the raised beds and they would eventually rot down into loam. A bulk load of screened and sterilised topsoil from Dandy’s filled them up followed by an elaborate system of posts, straining wires and canes to support the tall and brittle flower stems.

The packs of dry, dead looking dahlia tubers from B&Q were set in trays of damp compost and put on the warming bench in early March and the Chrysanthemum cuttings taken from early basal growth were already in the propagators. In a few short weeks the Dahlias had sprouted and cuttings were taken and put in sand to make roots. A month later I selected the best 24 Dahlias and 24 Chrysanthemums and grew them on in 5″ pots in the cold frames and finally planted them out in the new beds on 3 June.

In the meantime, I ordered12 new hardy Gerbera plugs and 6 Alstroemeria rhizomes from Hayloft plants and 10 carnation cuttings from Allwoods to go in one of the beds with some very sharp drainage. That is a real advantage of raised beds, you can create the soil conditions you need for different groups of plants.

At about this time a good friend and neighbour was kind enough to give me an old Access cold frame which he had bought at Chelsea 40 years ago. Being 10′ long and 4′ wide it meant that with a bit of fiddling, it would fit over one of the raised beds. This would enable me to protect the Alstroemerias and Gerberas in winter by keeping them dry and warm.

With it all finished I added some gladioli, peacock orchid, tiger flower, harlequin flower and Star of Bethlehem bulbs. The first Tiger flower came out today!

The Dahlias have been very prolific and a good experiment but we have already decided to limit the varieties we grow in future to the formal and ball types as well as singles in the borders. They seem to last longer in the vase than the cactus, orchid and waterlily types which seem to shed their petals within a few days.

Overall, it has been a change for the better and we can always use the beds for veg in future if we want to. Or, if we ever want to/have to move, the new buyers will have a ready made veg plot with great soil in decent sized beds.

Here are some recent photos of the garden and certain plants and flowers I am particularly pleased with. Isn’t nature wonderful!

Rudbeckia ‘Marmalade’

Not bad from a free packet of seeds!

Aquilegia ‘Nora Barlow’

One of favourite Aquilegias, like a frilly skirt!

New front ‘hot’ border

Very pleased with the new border although 3 months of continuous rain certainly helped! Climbing Fuchsia ‘Lady Boothby’ works well inside an obelisk rather than trained up a fence. Liatris spicata tends to be a bit floppy!

Ricinus communis ‘Impala’ the Castor Oil Plant

I would never have grown this plant in a border unless I had seen the lovely Carol Klein do it. It is magnificent. A little tricky to get started but then whooosh!

Calendula ‘Art Shades’ is a terrific performer

I love Calendula in all it’s many forms and colours. It is so bright and cheerful and grows just about anywhere. My sort of plant, unfussy, performs in all conditions and a good cut flower. This mix has singles and doubles in every shade of orange and yellow. Highly recommended and will be saving lots of seed for next year.

Echinacea ‘Hot Papaya’

I don’t particularly like the ‘freak’ double Echinaceas, they usually look odd but I made an exception in this case because of the stunning colour.Can’t be grown from seed as it is a sterile hybrid but I will divide it when it gets bigger. The one I really want is ‘Art’s Pride’ which is on the shopping list for my next nursery visit!

Verbena bonariensis

I would not be without this tall Verbena no matter how ubiquitous it becomes. It has unique qualities which add height, colour and drama to any garden. It’s reasonably hardy with a bit of a mulch in winter, highly attractive to bees and butterflies, provides movement in the lightest breeze and yet never falls over. It combines with just about anything and takes up virtually no space. Flowers first year from seed and loves a hot, dry position in full sun. What more could you want?!

These daily jottings are for nothing in particular but stuff that might be interesting to others or for me later.

NuCan 7 litre push button controlled watering can

Quite pleased with this recent purchase which just arrived after being recommended by Helen Yemm in the Telegraph but was then out of stock for 4 months! It is a bit of a ‘girlie’ blue colour and not as robust as my Haws cans but seems to work as intended by directing and controlling the flow of water used. If used properly it should cut down on waste and is light and easy to fill and carry. Probably a good buy at £15.99 inc p&p but only time will tell.

Which? Gardening  – Member’s Trial – Sweet Pea ‘High Scent’

Love this magazine – 68 pages and no adverts! Good informative articles and advice and impartial testing of new products and plants.

Taking part in the member’s trial this year and chose sweet pea ‘High Scent’ to grow and appraise. I’m not convinced it’s a winner but Cathy likes it and she looks after all the sweet peas, deadheads them and cuts them daily for the house, visitors and friends. ‘High Scent’ is a pretty creamy white with a purple/mauve frilly edge. The scent is strong but very similar to most others we grow and no better than the old fashioned grandifloras but the best thing is the long, strong, straight stems which make better cut flowers.

I must be odd. I like Botanical Latin. I like to learn the names and pronounce them properly, not to show off, and not to impress, but simply to increase my knowledge and improve my understanding of plants and their origins and differences. It could be because I was good at languages and always like to learn a few words on holiday and pronounce them properly (no mean feat in Turkey!)

A lot of common names in use today have been around since medieval times and it was not until 1753 that the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus published the binomial system. Once I had grasped the basics of plant classification – family, genus, species and cultivar/variety it all made sense. Pronouncing them properly is another matter! It’s one thing knowing what they are and how they are spelt but it’s another thing knowing how they are pronounced. There are a few pronunciation web sites which help, even pre-recorded audio ones (although beware of american differences) and I have a handy little book called “Plant Names Simplified” by Johnson & Smith (although the very first plant I looked up wasn’t in there – Chaenomeles or Japanese quince). It gets even more confusing when someone you admire gets it wrong. I love Carol Klein but cringe at some of her pronunciation!

I am curious, I like to learn stuff, I like to get things right, I don’t like to make a fool of myself, I have a thirst for knowledge, I love gardening and I don’t like to be bored (or boring!). Somewhere in there is the reason!

I wonder though if anyone has a plant label big enough for Acer palmatum var. dissectum ‘Dissectum’ Atropurpureum Group ?

Earlier this year we set aside an area in the fruit garden for some cut flowers and I put in 24 Dahlias of unknown type and colour and 24 Chrysanthemums which were cuttings from 6 plants bought from Sarah Raven last year. Cathy has just been in the garden and picked 3 vases full for the house. I am thrilled! It makes everything worthwhile.

The Gladioli are spectacular and cost me £2.99 for 35 corms. Bargain!

Loads more to cut in the next few months and the sweet peas are still going strong as well.

All is well with the world today.

To deadhead or not to deadhead, that is the question. I love going round the garden with secateurs and bucket nipping off the dead heads but it is now time to decide which ones to leave and provide me with seeds for next year. It is going to be a bumper harvest so I can afford to be ruthless and only save seeds from the very best flowers. The Cottage Garden Society seed exchange is going to do well by me this time!

The list is endless and I always save more than I need but I particularly want the white foxgloves again, some of which grew to over 2 metres. Cosmos ‘Purity’ and ‘Double Click Cranberry’ will produce masses of seed and I want to see if the Calendula ‘Art Shades’ comes true. However, first seeds to hit the envelope are Canna iridiflora, still in flower but already providing me with dried ‘Indian Shot’ seeds, at least a dozen in every big fat pod!

Big fat Canna iridiflora pods bursting with seeds

Dainty bi-coloured Canna iridiflora. So easy from seed and so beautiful