A WINTER GARDEN IN CAMBRIDGESHIRE

March 4, 2016 | gaiainaction

During the very early spring days of 2016 I had the privilege to visit a beautiful garden in the South-East midlands of Britain, in Cambridgeshire. I received kind permission to use photos and information here in my blog from the lady who is the creator of this marvellous garden.
What appealed most to me was the way the eye was led effortless through a variety of colours and textures, shrubs, purposely dried flower heads, trees and their undergrowth, borders, arches, hidden corners, effective hedging and ornamental pebbles, trellises, wooden fencing, all making this garden into a whole that works, and that even in winter can, with ease, hold the interest of any visitor.

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The hydrangea arborescence Annabelle, and the dry grasses here add some lovely beige colour in stark contrast to the evergreens. The Iris Unguicularis flowers give a magnificent bright blue among it’s own rather dull foliage. The Gold Dust Variegated Aucuba, looks indeed as if it has been dusted with gold, it is a lovely subject. The spiky foliage of the, what I think is a Cordyline australis Variegata, but I could be wrong because I can’t rightly remember the name I was given, highlight sharply the more rounded subjects around it. I enjoy such a variety of shapes and patterns.

Iris unguicularis

As you walk through this lovely arch you have entered into a grassy area where you will find a variety of trees and even some hidden corners, the undergrowth at this time are made up of colourful daffodils and snowdrops. You also enter a very organised and productive vegetable plot, all of it sheltered from harsh winter gales by the high fencing and the trees. I found jasmine climbing along the hedgerow here, not quite flowering, but that must give a lovely scent in it’s season. Everything in this garden. as in the general area, is ahead of it’s time this year, I’ve heard so many people say this both in Ireland, and also here in the UK, blossoms are well ahead, the magnolia flowers are almost open. Daffodils are blooming gloriously.
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There is more to say and show about this lovely garden, but I could not load anymore photos, I want to talk about the ornamental shrubs and flowers in the borders, among other things, so I will follow this blog entry up with another one. I hope you enjoy as much as I do.

YOUNG TENDER SHOOTS AND COLOURS

February 26, 2016 | gaiainaction

I took a walk around the garden this mild spring afternoon. I went to see what vegetables are still growing, and what young tender shoots or flowers are hiding here and there, and of course they were. I came across a whole range of fresh young growth that shot up all of a sudden because of the sunshine in the past week.
The comfrey, tansy, lungwort, hypericum, foxglove, wild leeks, are all throwing out young shoots, some are near flowering. My winter garden did not produce as much as I had planned, partly because the slugs ate some of the produce, and partly because the rain and storms destroyed some of the vegetables, in fact the soil became too wet for anything to grow. But the Brussels sprouts are still growing strongly, small as they are, they are looking good enough. My white round radishes are doing well, as are the beetroots and the leeks. And the kale is still lasting, even if we ate from the plants regularly. One of my kale plants has grown over 1.50m and is looking fabulous, I am leaving it as an experiment, it is now growing new small leaves among the large old ones, I want to see what happens next. The lavender plants are shooting up well, the grey green young leaves adding to the variety of colours now in the garden, as are the primroses and grape hyacinths, they are just about flowering, they too are bringing some very welcome colour to the garden. And our little Korean fir tree is really doing well, ever since I put it outside again after Christmas it has been showing an abundance of shoots, leaves but also cones, beautiful.

In another week or so we shall be going away for a month, and so my garden will have to take care of itself, which I am sure it is very well capable of, I am already curious what I will find when we return, will there be a lot of wild plants, to be sure there will be, I remember from last year that the goose grass had overtaken the garden fast enough. I will let it be, I’ll tell my grandchildren to come and take away the produce that is there though. One job that I will try and fit in is to spread some leaf manure over the raised beds, I think the soil will benefit from it greatly and I have plenty of it.

And now soon for us it will be looking at the flora, the insects, the architecture, the folklore, the rocks, and the people of the island of Malta, a whole new experience awaits.
YOUNG GREEN IN GARDEN

WINTER TREES

January 31, 2016 | gaiainaction

With the very wet winter we are having here in West Cork, it is rather showing up some beauty all of it’s own, it is how the trees look fresh, bringing out the colours of the trunk and branches, stark against a sometimes grey sky but now and then against clouds and sunsets. We have five trees in the garden, and these photos I took either from behind the glass if heavy rain, or outside, each brings out different aspects in the photo. Some bring out a rather foggy mood, some are melancholic, but some others bring out a bright clarity, it reflects the way that the mind is affected by the dampness, and according to Chinese traditional medicine, the mind is affected by the spleen, and the spleen is in turn very much affected by dampness, cold dampness, and that is what we get here in winter. It follows then that during these winter months the mind might become a little foggy if not careful, CTM advises us to eat warm stews made from root vegetables, with plenty of ginger to counteract this dampness inside… but that is going away from the trees a bit.
I love trees, I might even be a tree hugger, always want to touch their bark and admire their beauty, and beside that there is nothing as nice as using wood in the kitchen or wherever, the feel of it so smooth after it has been sanded, the lines and colourful markings are very nice too. I have wood on the ceiling and wall in one of our rooms, it often gives me pleasure to take in the many knots and lines visible to the eye. The scent also of wood is so pleasing.
Right now our trees are blowing in the wind, it is quite stormy and has been all winter, but they seem able for it. The silver birch moves most of all, it’s high and thin but the branches are very flexible. The Hawthorn moves very little – that is why the birds like to hide among it’s branches. The oak and the pine sway as if to the sound of their own music, while the chestnut watches over it all, stiff and majestic, even despite it has lost some of it’s branches last summer after we cut some down as they were making the garden far too shady. My trees are very much alive to me, I sense their moods, they are powerful and nothing fazes them, but they do like me to touch them when walking around the garden.
The trees, they give me much pleasure, I feel they are a blessing in our garden, and I am very appreciative.

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MEMORIES OF FLOWERS

January 7, 2016 | gaiainaction

What better to think about and plan while the weather remains wet and stormy, and yet we feel that the new gardening year will soon enough be upon us. Flowers, wild and cultivated, beautiful and colourful, reminding us of summer, of sunshine and warmth.

Looking back at many of the flowers we had in the garden last year, I know that some of them I will certainly repeat this time around. The sweetpeas gave us such pleasure, we picked bunch after bunch, the scent was heavenly and made for a very cheerful breakfast table, so that is a definite Yes. The coriander and oregano are also a definite Yes! These are herbs my kitchen simply cannot do without, and the flowers, though small are pretty, when plentiful they can be used as part of a herbal flower decoration. The nasturtiums are always there also, I sow them yearly, they are pretty for their flowers but I also use both leaf and flower in salads, or I might eat some of the leaves while walking in the garden. As for the hydrangea, I have four different bushes growing, a deep lapis lazuli blue one, a pretty pink one, and two pure white ones. Some years ago I tried to change the colour of one of my white hydrangeas with a product I bought in the garden centre, but I did not succeed, and it did not matter, I will try again some time. The Ph of the soil here in my raised beds is 7, so total balance between alkaline and acid, and the colour depends on the Ph of the soil.
Marigolds grew profusely in the garden last summer, they just kept on flowering, I like the orange types, they are definitely on the list for this season also. The poppies are self seeding, they are beautiful and great for the bees and other flying creatures, but they do have a habit of coming up among the vegetables and become too large sometimes. The fuchsia flowers are seen all over West Cork, in a good year some of the hedgerows are coloured red with them, lovely. They flower from May onwards, and might still be in flower in November. I have them only at the back of the garden, in the hedge.

The big bright yellow flower was going to be a lovely round pumpkin, only last summer all my pumpkins rotted, so while the promise was there in the flower, it did not come to fruition. The blackberry flowers are frilly and white, they also just form part of the hedge and I let them grow mainly for the bees and butterflies. It is great to see all the insects and butterflies come and feed in the garden.

Finally after about three years my wall flowers have started to produce lots of dark rose velvety flowers, nice, and they give off a faint scent, it brings me memories of gardens and flowers in another period of my life, precious memories of flowers.

PUMPKIN

BLACKBERRY

FUCHSIA

HYDRANGIA

WALLFLOWER

NASTIRTIUM

SWEETPEA

CORIANDER

DOUBLE POPPI

OREGANO

BITTER GOURD

PETUNIA

GLOW OF THE EVENING SUN

November 25, 2015 | gaiainaction

What a most beautiful day it has been, full sun and quite warm for the time of year. This evening I happen to be in the garden getting in the washing and noticed what beautiful light surrounded me, and how the evening sun was bringing out all the colours of vegetables and herbs alike. Magnificent especially as not long after that the moon came up, large and beautiful.

I feel so blessed with all the beauty that surrounds me. Really good to counter balance all the sadness and strife that is going on in our earth.

Feeling grateful.

AUTUMN MIRTH

October 27, 2015October 27, 2015 | gaiainaction

“To-day I think
Only with scents, – scents dead leaves yield,
And bracken, and wild carrot’s seed,
And the square mustard field;

Odours that rise
When the spade wounds the root of tree,
Rose, currant, raspberry, or goutweed,
Rhubarb or celery;

The smoke’s smell, too,
Flowing from where a bonfire burns
The dead, the waste, the dangerous,
And all to sweetness turns.

It is enough
To smell, to crumble the dark earth,
While the robin sings over again
Sad songs of Autumn mirth.”

From a poem called DIGGING.”
Edward Thomas, Collected Poems

GOATS CHEESE TARTLETS AND MORE HERBAL HARVESTING

September 24, 2015September 24, 2015 | gaiainaction

Almost coming to the end of September now, and there is already a colourful display of autumn shades to be seen in trees and shrubbery. My grandchildren were collecting some of these bright red and yellow leaves from the front garden yesterday.
And the harvesting in the garden is never ending, it is just amazing what keeps turning up. The leek and scallion seed heads were finally ready for picking and drying, as was the coriander. Also the seeds of the sweet pea, and poppy, all of them are hanging around the place, what an abundance it is.
This morning, after some years of inactivity, I attended my new yoga class, we did a chakra balancing, lovely stretches and relaxation, as well as some meditation, afterward we met up for soups or coffee, I met new people, was warmly welcomed by a group of nice women. Already looking forward to next weeks session. And I felt energised enough to cook up some goats cheese tartlets this evening which is a bit of a miracle in my kitchen! 🙂

Goats cheese tartlets, and fresh coriander seeds

A variety of seeds to be dried, and a close up of the leek seeds.

LATE SUMMER COLOURS

August 18, 2015August 18, 2015 | gaiainaction

It’s amazing how much colour and produce the garden has at this time of the year. Around here it is considered late summer and some days might really have the feel of autumn about them.
But that is not to say that there is less growth, lately we have had a few warm days, temperatures going up a high as 20C, delightful of course and naturally resulting in good growth. The leeks, kale and other winter vegetables that I planted out over the last few weeks have established themselves really well. I am also drying very many herbs and wild plants for winter use, and it gives me great satisfaction to do this.
Among the vegetables are the flowers which give plenty of variety in colour and beauty. Plenty of bumblebees visit especially the oregano and the wall flowers.
I’ve been infusing oils lately, the latest now is the hypericum perforatum, started that today, more flowers need to open over the next few days so I get enough to make a good infusion.
It is an interesting time of the year what with so much harvesting going on, granted in my garden it’s mainly herbs and wild foods this time due to having had a bad season, but that is also interesting in itself.
The slug and snail hunt is still on every night and it is helping to keep my vegetables safe, so worth the effort.

Kale, onions, and some type of marrow – lovely patterns and colours.

Bumblebee on a wallflower

Two very favourite herbs, the St.John’s worth (hypericum perforatum), and the tansy (Tanacetum vulgare) I seem to remember that my dad used to make us a pancake every spring time adding the leaves of the tansy, it was to protect us kids from worms. Not sure if this was a regular herbal remedy, I think it was rather a traditional thing to do in the town where my dad is from (Diest in Belgium). I remember the very peculiar taste, and enjoyed it. (not saying it is safe to do this by the way, do your own research please.)

Some sort of fly on the calendula flower, nice to have come across this today.

My sprouts are growing very well, can’t wait to see the sprouts coming on the plants. And a bumblebee on the oregano flowers. Real nice to get them come into flower and so the insects can enjoy them too.

PURE SUMMER BEAUTY

July 12, 2015 | gaiainaction

“A human should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul.”
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe