Just sit and appreciate your garden, whatever the size, says gardener Jamie Marsh in his weekly Jamie’s Little Allotment column…
While getting the garden ready for friends coming over for Teresa’s birthday barbecue, I suddenly realised how much attention I’d been giving the vegetable plot while almost forgetting the rest of the garden.
The allotment side has been full on recently – sowing seeds, watering trays in the greenhouse, hoeing weeds, and trying to keep on top of everything else that suddenly takes off at this time of year. Meanwhile, the ornamental side had quietly burst into life almost without me noticing.
May sees the Ceanothus or Californian Lilac, spring into life – smothered in blue flowers and buzzing with bees
The weeds have certainly noticed the warmer weather. Tiny seedlings that would have taken seconds to hoe off a week or two ago now seem well established, and the bindweed has started twisting its way through everything again.
Every year, I forget just how quickly it grows once the sun comes out. You pull one strand out, and another seems to appear by the next morning.
Once I actually stopped and looked around, I realised there was plenty to enjoy among the chaos. The alliums are opening now and looking fantastic, hovering above the borders like little purple pom-poms.
It’s hard to stop working when you are a keen gardener – there’s always something to do
At the same time, the tulips are beginning to fade for another year. It’s always tempting to tidy them up too quickly once the flowers go, but leaving the foliage to die back naturally helps feed the bulb for next spring.
Aquilegias have appeared from nowhere, too, gently seeding themselves in places I’d never have planted them myself. I quite like plants that do their own thing; somehow, they soften the garden and make it feel more natural.
Nearby, the peonies are swelling quickly, reminding me that I ought to get some supports around them before the heavy flowers arrive and end up flopping over after a downpour.
May really belongs to the Ceanothus or Californian Lilac. Mine is absolutely smothered in blue flowers and buzzing with bees from morning until evening. The problem is that it’s becoming enormous.
Over the years, I’ve always left pruning slightly too late because once it’s looking beautiful, I can never quite bring myself to cut it back.
Ceanothus needs pruning fairly soon after flowering finishes. If you leave it too late in the year, next year’s flowers will already be starting to form. You also shouldn’t cut back into old wood, as it often won’t regrow.
I think years of me saying ‘I’ll sort it later’ is exactly why mine is now trying to take over its entire corner of the garden. It’s seven or eight years old now, which is fairly mature for a Ceanothus.
Many only last around 12 to 15 years before becoming woody, though there are always exceptions. Mine still seems healthy despite its size, so perhaps I’ll forgive it for swallowing half the border.
As gardeners, we often find it hard to stop working while we’re outside. There’s always a weed to pull or a dead head to nip off. But simply stopping to notice everything reminded me that it’s important to just sit down and enjoy your outdoor space for what it is – whatever size it may be.
If you’ve got any questions, or just fancy letting me know what you’ve been getting up to in your garden, email me at: jamieslittleallotment@gmail.com
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