Pot bound

So here we go: 27, 7, 19, 9. Plus yesterday’s 44.   That is my planting tally for the past two days.   I have planted 27 lavenders this afternoon, to go with the 7 that already exist. And the 19 I put in only yesterday.   I have 9 more to go.   And yesterday I finished planting the 44 thyme plants up in the shade garden. Phew.

So where to begin? The thyme plants.  These are in the shade garden creating a new horizontal amongst the festuca and other undecided design. And what I love about this dense planting is you can’t actually see them. A day’s work! But they should settle in and put on growth and get a bit taller than the festucas around them.

But I like the idea. It’s just a matter of getting the rest of the area sorted out so that it looks more homogeneous.  I have a few close ups of the little critters, and one of the four, or is it five lines?

I made sure I planted a few of the thymes right up against the narrow path. That way they will release their gorgeous scent when I brush past them.

I had a lovely distraction at lunchtime when Teo came by to drop off some goodies. The main one being a new David Austin grafted Gertrude Jeykll rose. One more for the courtyard.

I have to limit my pots of strawberry and rose petal jam as I just don’t have enough roses. So by piggy backing onto one of Leslie and Teo’s orders I managed yet another Gertie. That will make four.  I had already dug a hole and mulched and sprinkled rose food in readiness.  

This rose is going to go between the lily and mint pots on the south side of the courtyard.  It will be more shaded, but that might mean it flowers a bit later than the others which get the blast of full sun.

It looks so titchy right now.  But hopefully it will put on growth soon.

And then after lunch I launched into lavenders.   The first nineteen of the bank below the house. This has been a conundrum for me.  It’s a little bank that contains some olive trees and daffodils and not much else. Well, weeds of course, and grass. But I’ve never dared design anything more racy until now. Lavenders it is.   They will complement the colours of the olive trees (the babies are looking a bit blasted from the cold snap) and hopefully with that of the shutters on the house.

I don’t have enough plants. Which would surprise you if I told you I bought 46 of them in the past few weeks. But big garden syndrome strikes again.

The first nineteen fit in a snappy straight line (I love straight lines) and will be my starting point for the rest of the rows. Except of course there are no straight lines in this garden.

But I’ve tried my best. The one good thing was how easy it was to lift the soil and get the plants in.  I know our house is built on a rock; so I expected to meet more resistance. But there is enough soil to get the rather pot bound little specimens into the garden.

And I even snuck in a hundred allium bulbs (drumsticks) along the row of lavenders. I just didn’t have ‘la morale’ to plant them in any other part of the garden.

And then today I had a brief interlude of log chucking up in the forest before settling down to more lavenders. Artur popped by to steal some water from the wheelbarrow but wasn’t that excited by the whole process.

And I was starting to feel the same when I realised my rows were wonky. It’s easy to plant in straight lines on a flat surface; but it’s a lot more playful when you have to plant on a bank. And this bank is composed of the most interesting rubble. There are blue and white plates (in bits) some bricks, lots of broken roof tiles and even the occasional bits of soil to bind it all together. Oh, yes, and daffodils (narcissus Thalia) to skirt around.

So I tried my best and ended up just cramming some plants in to make it look decorative.And I have nine more to go.  But they should be easier as I’m planting them on the flatish surface right in front of the house. Pictures to follow, I promise.

One thing that might look odd is that I haven’t weeded the bank to within an inch of its life. There’s just not enough binding the bank together if I pull out the grasses and daffs. So I’ve planted in between and hope to come up with some way of weeding, then creating barriers (chestnut poles hammered in and a low woven hurdle perhaps) and adding mulch over the top later in the spring.

And now for lists. I have (potentially) two full gardening days ahead. Calm weather, warm and sunny. No rain of course, but I can probably get some watering done. Once I’ve planted out all I have in the potting shed.