Kate's Cuttings

Hooray, March is here! I’m celebrating as those dark winter nights are shortening and plants will be busily growing as the days get longer. So now is the time to get your wellies on, roll up your sleeves and get out in the garden. Time spent out there now will save you a lot of work later on.  Here are some jobs for you: ·         Herbaceous perennials such as day lilies, hardy geraniums and phlox will all be coming through in the next couple of months, and now is a good time to lift and divide them. If you don’t they may stop flowering well for you.  Just dig the clump up, get a spade t... Read more…

Soggy seems to be the best word to describe our garden In the middle of January. I know we are not supposed to walk on it when it’s in this condition, but I must admit I’ve thrown caution to the wind and ignored that advice just to be out in the fresh air and doing something useful. Of course there is the endless collection of mucky boots, trousers with wet and muddy knees and cold, stiff gloves when it freezes but I’ve been happy to get out there some days despite all that. Not that I blame those who choose to hibernate, that is probably the much more sensible option! Spring bulbs are, ... Read more…

It's damp, and cold. We've had a fair bit of snow. But these little beauties are starting to come into flower. Spring feels a bit closer - here's to a happier, healthier new year! Read more…

We moved into our garden (and house of course, but the garden was the clincher) in 1987, and one of the many good thing about the move was that we took custody of several beautiful trees. It has often been said that a true gardener is one who will plant a tree despite the knowledge that they will never be able to sit under it, in its shade.  We are certainly benefiting now from the generosity and imagination of previous gardening residents of Charnwood. In addition to a number of beautiful trees including a magnificent blue cedar, two glorious copper beeches, an oak and a lime, we also h... Read more…

It’s my birthday this month and I really wish I was born at a time when the weather is better. To be sitting outside in the sun with a glass of something cold and white to celebrate yet another year passed, with the bees buzzing and the birds singing with the smell of mown grass and summer flowers in the air would be wonderful right now. Peter and I (with Gibbs the dog of course)  have been known to enjoy a barbeque with our coats on to squeeze the absolute last warm ray of sunshine out of the year, but that is unlikely to happen again for a bit. And I’m not even going to mention tier tw... Read more…

One of my favourite ever lines in a TV drama was when Maggie Smith, playing a vicar’s wife in Alan Bennett’s excellent ‘Talking Heads’ uttered bitterly: ‘If you think squash is a competitive sport, you should try flowering arranging’. My Mum was a keen and very skilled arranger of flowers so I have witnessed this from the sidelines, albeit a few years ago now. The same can be said of many pastimes, and I admit that gardening is one of them. In a kindly way though. I’m a self-confessed obsessive plantswoman and a fair bit of plant snobbery is contained in that description of me.  How does... Read more…

We’ve a beautiful fig tree at the front of the house and this year it has been laden with fruit. Ours is a ‘Brown Turkey’, reliably hardy and a reliable cropper. Getting the right spot to plant seems to be key; she needs somewhere sunny and sheltered and in not too rich soil. If you feed it too much you will get beautiful leaves but no fruit. I’ve struggled to find a really good pruning guide, so it gets a good old cut back about now and it seems happy. You will need space: ours before pruning stands at about 4 metres high and 3m wide so we’re going to have to get the ladder out to get a... Read more…

I love trying out plant combinations, to see what makes a good, long lasting display. Here are some of the midsummer combos that have worked for me: Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’ and the tall yellow Inula magnifica. The bright, almost florescent red of the Crocosmia contrasts well with the flamboyant yellow daisies of the inula, and they both grow lustily and tall at the back of the border; ·         Roses underplanted with a scrambly hardy geranium. I’ve a border with pink and red roses with a deep,  almost magenta  pink geranium, name long forgotten. The geranium covers the rather boring bits a... Read more…

Those of you who read my gardening column regularly may know I’m a keen composter. Some (like Peter) would say even an obsessive compost anorak. It is just lovely stuff, great fun to make, free of charge, saves an expensive gym membership fee* and is wonderful for the health and vitality of your plants. Our soil here is really heavy clay; compost helps to break it up and make it easier to work so I dig it in by the barrow load when I plant something new.  It can contain a fair few weeds but I can live with that given its benefits and there is always the hoe. The rain will have made your ... Read more…

Never have we felt so lucky and privileged to have a big garden than we have in recent weeks. I have an elderly cousin in poor health who lives in a tiny flat in Leicestershire;  she lonely and climbing up the walls. My heart goes out to people in that position. So Peter and I have been spending a lot of time in our own oasis of calm and as a result the garden has never looked better.  The wisteria has been stunning , clematis are coming into their own and our peonies are looking good, if only for a short while. If you indulge in social media, Peter has been posting photos on Facebook @p... Read more…