Kate's Cuttings

It’s that time of year when the catalogues and emails come to us gardeners thick and fast. All of them are trying to seduce us with their gorgeous photos of healthy, productive and/or floriferous goodies to plant and sow in time for the summer. Here’s my run down of the crop: De Jager are my go-to bulb specialists and have been for several years. They have a good range, the quality is excellent and their prices reasonable if you buy in quantity. The Spring 2020 wholesale catalogue has a lovely range of lilies. To give you an idea of cost you can get 25 Regale lilies for £26.35 plus VAT. ... Read more…

All the best for 2020 from Kate, Peter and Gibbs at Charnwood Read more…

I’m sure we are all heartily sick of the rain. I can’t imagine the misery of being flooded, but it’s an experience all too real for some people this year. Farmers too must be counting the costs of such wet weather on their crops. On a much less serious note it’s not brilliant in the garden either, but at least we can wait until it dries out and rainwater does have its uses. Ericaceous plants such as Camellias, Blueberries and Azaleas all prefer rainwater to the stuff that comes out of the tap. Orchids love it too. If you rake up damp leaves and put them into a bin bag they will turn int... Read more…

If you were watching Gardeners’ World mid-October (and if not, why not I ask?) you will have seen Monty Don planting up some spring bulbs in rather posh looking terracotta pots. A close inspection I’m pretty sure, would have revealed that they are from Whichford Pottery at Shipston –on-Stour in the Cotswolds. They have a very distinctive stamp all around the neck of the pot. We paid them a visit a few weeks ago and, wow, what a find. The pots are expensive but really good and guaranteed frost proof: not ‘frost resistant’ the rather non-committal way less expensive pots are described. Do... Read more…

Gardening is an organic process in many ways. We can plan a grand, new planting scheme, try sowing a different kind of tomato, prune our trees and shrubs more drastically, dig a pond, establish a little wildflower meadow or perhaps plant up some new pots. Whatever we have the time, energy, money and imagination to do. So every now and again it’s a good idea to take stock: what has worked this year and what really hasn’t. This is my stock take for 2019 so far: • Roses do well in our heavy clay. Buying bare root in winter or early spring from David Austin is quite expensive, but the rose... Read more…

I am in awe of all you clever and resilient growers of vegetables. So much of my efforts to grow something good to eat turns into rabbit food, or just doesn’t thrive. So a recent go at growing new potatoes in a different way has cheered me up no end. In spring I bought 3 tubers of a seed potato ‘Orla’. A large tub was selected, cleaned up and Orla x 3 duly planted. I watered regularly and ‘earthed them up’, meaning topping up with soil as the green leaves emerged. And yesterday – hooray – we upturned the tub and were delighted to find a gorgeous pile of blemish free baby Orlas weighing ... Read more…

It wasn’t until recently I realised that I have a lot of Salvias in the garden here at Charnwood. I’d been unable to resist a gorgeous and rather fetchingly named (more on that later) S. ‘Lavender Dilly Dilly’ at a local nursery. When I tried to find just the right spot for it I noticed that there were already two salvias in the bed I was eyeing up for a gap and I have more in sunny beds throughout the garden. Salvias are members of the sage family with over 1,000 different kinds. You can usually identify them by the rather pungent smell of their leaves: the sage we use in cooking is u... Read more…

Huge concerns now abound about the effect we humans are having on our planet. It can feel a bit hopeless: what on earth, quite literally, can we do as individuals to prevent the catastrophic events now predicted? So I did a bit of thinking, and research to see if there are some simple, inexpensive things we gardeners can do. Some of these suggestions also apply if you are not convinced by the arguments from scientists about climate change as they can save you time and money. Conserve water. Water butts are cheap and fairly easy to install and it is surprising how much water comes off ev... Read more…

Discovering a family run, independent nursery where you can buy well grown and cared for plants at a reasonable price is always a joy. So I was well chuffed to visit Ashdale Nursery on Lambley Lane in Gedling at the recommendation of a friend. If you are looking for a wide range of healthy perennials, bedding plants, a decent choice of tomato plants and NOT an all singing and dancing garden centre with nasty jumpers or naff garden furniture, then this is well worth a visit. The purchase of primulas was my main mission as we have just made ourselves a bog garden out of a small pond that ... Read more…

It may be a bit late this year given the mild winter to talk about daffodils, but they are such a cheery, welcome sight when they arrive in spring. All you have to do is plant them early autumn the pointy side up about twice their depth and away they go for years and years. Having said that, some are better do-ers than others when it comes to increasing and flowering. The best early ones here are February gold, closely followed by February silver. This year they DID appear in February, but in a ‘normal’ season (whatever that is!) they rarely emerge before March. Like all daffodils, I do... Read more…