the phoenix garden

New species - bagged but ready to go

2011-11-04T14:21:00.000Z

On the last Sunday Workday we were trying to sort out one of the garden's 'toilet' corners - these spots are a nuisance but we have to address these as best we can. The corner in question is next to the green leaf-bins, under the horse chestnut tree and it is dark and very dry. Last autumn a number of holly saplings were planted but the combination of hard growing conditions and the physical damage caused by squatting shitters had done for these. When a big Spotted Laurel, Aucuba japonica, was anonymously donated earlier in the year, roots wrapped in a black plastic bag, I was unsure where to plant it so it has sat, rather neglected, outside the office. These are tough shrubs, not to everyones taste, but are notorious for their ability to cope with difficult dry, shaded, conditions. Ideal for this corner.

The usual big planting hole with lots of added compost was dug and the laurel firmly planted. The loose compost was shaken out of the bag - revealing this bright eyed little fellow...

I am a big toad fan. You will probably think this is because of their slug-eating, pest-controlling ways. Wrong! It is because of; the perfect balance of comedy and dignity in their expression, that they swallow their food using their eyeballs to push the food down (how cool is that!), and they defend themselves from being picked up by emptying their bladder all over your hands (how silly is that?!) They are wonderful!

We do not have toads at the Phoenix, their wandering ways would mean they would soon get pancaked in the road. Frogs are much more sedentary so can survive here. This little fellow after being photographed, videoed and fed a worm (very hungry after the summer in a bag) went off to be re-homed in the suburbs.

Back to the laurel. 1 day later it is broken in half with a large turd amongst the broken branches. Blighters!

ant nuptials

2011-07-12T02:02:00.003+01:00

My childhood sugar-water/magnifying glass memories have been telling me that when the mounds of ant-earth get that big it's gonna happen. It did, so today I was excited by the ants. Some things just don't change.

Today the combination of warmth and humidity triggered the ants into action. They have been waiting for the conditions to be just right to take to the sky in a mass mating flight. In the garden and across London, countless fat-bodied virgin-queens synchronised their departures to take the air with equally countless small winged males. As they rush to the top of grass stalks for lift off, the nests swarm with frantic workers. The slightest disturbance drives them into a frenzy - they bravely attack legs.

By simultaneously launching en-masse the odds are improved for a lucky few to avoid the army of hungry beaks and mouths all ready to take a toll (the wren was busy). After mating, the female ants drop to the ground (the males soon die), chew their own wings off and frantically search for a place to dig. If lucky and on soft ground they soon disappear underground, where if nothing gets them, they excavate a small cavity, the beginnings of a new nest. They survive by re-absorbing their redundant wing muscles, just living off these reserves as they raise the first few workers. The first workers will leave the nest the following spring to search for food. A new colony will take years to grow to maturity and to produce the fertile winged forms. With lots of luck the queens may live for 20 years or more.

Good luck my beauties!

open squares weekend - 11th & 12th June

2011-06-14T14:21:00.002+01:00

Every June the garden takes part in London Open Garden Squares Weekend. The weekend is organised by London Parks and Gardens Trust and is a great opportunity to explore many of London's private gardens - the majority of the participating gardens are private squares and this is the only opportunity for non-key holders to have a look round. The Phoenix, being open access every day of the year, closes to the general public for the weekend and is only open to Open Squares ticket holders. This year was very busy with over 300 visitors on the Saturday alone, so it is a great opportunity for garden volunteers to show off the results of all the hard work they do throughout the year to keep the Phoenix Garden running. The Open Squares visitors are viewing the garden alongside other gardens, many that have planting budgets we can only dream of, so it is good to get all the feedback and to hear how we stand up to the competition. Many visitors are amazed that the garden is open to the public as a matter of course and there are many compliments regarding the planting and the design - of course I already know we are the best! Garden volunteers also run a refreshments tent selling teas, coffees and home-made cakes, and they were run off their feet keeping up with demand!

A long day greeting 300 visitors, and hearing a litany of complaints from those too tight to support 'their' charity garden, has exhausted the gatekeeper! I should probably know better by now but I am still surprised at the unpleasantness freely directed towards garden volunteers by those unwilling to pay the £3 entrance fee for the day; "but this is MY garden you effing middle-class wanker!".

I continue to be amazed at the commitment of the volunteer team who keep on running fund raising events such as these for such little thanks, so here is a Big Thank You to: Jane, Alex, Ray, Craig, Peter, Elizabeth, Graziella, Sharon & Pauline, who made the weekend such a success.

garden roses

2011-06-03T19:06:00.000+01:00

I have been having lots of odd weather/climate change conversations recently, what with it being such a dry and early year (so you know, I am; yes, climate is changing - no, an early spring doesn't prove it). Whatever the reason the roses are out well before they usually are and are going over quickly. Get them while they last, they are looking great.

The roses here are a mix of odds and sods from yesteryear with a few new ones planted over the past few years. The Phoenix is being managed as a natural garden and they are probably not first class shrubs for wildlife but in full bloom they bring a welcome touch of luxury and they are useful protectors for other plants - they are spikey and prevent in-bed-intruders. None of the roses here get any other treatment than the occasional dollop of compost, regular deadheading of repeat flowerers and a prune and tie-in in winter. No sprays, no extra food and no extra water. A couple of them get hit each year with blackspot, the fungal bane of rose growers, but they seem none the worse for this. Powdery mildew silvers leaves and twists new growth later in the season but it seems to do no lasting damage. I find them tough and they grow and flower well in the rubble soil here.

'Iceberg' white, repeat flowers well, unscented.

Unnamed (possibly 'Felicia'), soft pink, fantastic fragrance.

I lost the label of this, one of the David Austin English roses (all are over-rated I think), great when first out, fades badly.

50p bargain bin, good scent, very spiny flower stems, blighter to deadhead, blackspot prone.

50p bargain bin, nasty shade of pink, blackspot prone.

50p bargain bin, tall red blooms, no scent I can detect, repeats non-stop, lovely red foliage in early spring.

Climbing red rose, good first flush of bloom, gets too dry here (it's under the tulip tree) to flower again, very thorny.

Zephirine Drouhine, pink, scented, thornless, mildew-prone.

'Pilgrim Climbing', I like it when the buds first open,

less so when fully open (too many petals for my taste), and I can't detect the scent,

but the bush has thickened nicely up the railings at the North end. Another English Rose. Not as yellow as I hoped it would be but disease free.

'Ballerina' semi-double, soft pink, repeat flowers well, tough, tough, tough.

Along the front railings this vigorous white rambler throws it's thorny stems like living barbed wire. In full flower the fragrance battles the ammonia stink in this pee-soaked corner. Mildew gets hold every year but it still manages to grow new 3m stems each year.

Tied in during winter it flowers only once in a great burst and garlands the rails with this glorious display. I think it is 'Rambling Rector' - rather apt at the foot of the Churchyard steps.

'Francis E Lester' apple-blossom single flowers with a good fragrance, followed by ornamental pea-sized red hips. Covered in aphids early in the season it shrugs these off undamaged and is my favourite medium sized rambler, growing to 5m.

And the very best is this three year old giant rambler, Rosa filipes 'Kiftsgate', with fragrant single cream flowers with yellow stamens. This is growing to go up the walnut tree where it should eventually hang great trails of blossom from top to bottom. That's the idea anyway, it is a monstrously big rose and I may regret it in the long term but for now I just love it!

For wildlife the garden roses are not the very best of shrubs but they are not the worse by far. The single roses will all be better as the open flowers are easy to access - only fat bumblebees can manage to muscle themselves into the centre of double blooms - the small red hips of Francis E Lester and Kiftsgate are eaten by birds through the winter months, the leaves of all are used by leafcutter bees to line their nests, rose sawfly grubs eat the leaves to skeletons, greenfly wait to be eaten while sucking rose sap and deep in the flowers camouflaged hunters, like crab spiders, lay in wait for the unwary.

If you sniff at the roses, do mind your nose - you could end up like this hoverfly!

a bit of a mouthful

2011-04-29T01:26:00.166+01:00

Grown from a few seeds picked up from the path at the Chelsea Physic Garden a couple of years back, there are three plants of the unusual Madeiran endemic Black Parsley, Melanoselinum decipiens, growing at the Phoenix. Apart from it's tongue twisting latin name it has a reputation for being a grand architectural rarity so I was pleased to get hold of it. The big glossy green cut leaves held in a rosette atop a thick stem ringed with pale leaf scars have filled a space and been impervious to the dry site. In better soils than here it can grow enormous and reach 3m at flowering, these are only half that height. It is monocarpic, meaning it spends a number of years building up enough strength before putting all it's energies into flowering and seeding before dying. After enjoying the anticipation for three years I find I am disappointed as the first one to flower shows me it's true colours - it's just not like the pretty photo-fakery on the web!

I liked it early in the year when the new bronzed foliage unfurled.

I liked it as the candelabra of stems grew as it readied itself to flower.

I liked the promise of pink in the piped-icing buds.

I liked the ruff of foliage beneath each umbel of flowers.

But I do not like the flowers now they've opened, up close they are off-white and from a distance they just look dirty. I am under-whelmed.

The bugs don't agree with me - each head seeths with feasting micro-bees and pollen beetles. I am hoping the dark seed heads that give it it's common name are more to my taste as I have no doubt it plans to seed about as generously as the other umbels, cow parsley and alexanders, do. The jury is still out.

planting workshops

2011-04-21T17:36:00.153+01:00

I have been running a series of planting workshops in the garden on Wednesday evenings. The sessions have covered a range of topics; beansprouts and salad leaves, tomatoes and dwarf beans, wildflower pots, taking cuttings and houseplants. At the workshops I 'show & tell', then the group gets to have a go themselves and take the results away to grow at home.

The beansprout kits. A taster selection of mung bean, spicy fenugreek and alfalfa,

the group smiles for the camera and at my confident 'you can't fail with these!" - and they didn't.

Salad leaves being sown in pots. A cut and come again mix of salad leaves, 'Saladisi', and rocket.

The houseplants; offsets of the succulent Lace Aloe (Aloe aristata), small Begonia plants and tubers of a decorative Chinese yam. Not much to look at at the moment but there will be soon.

The cuttings workshop; softwood cuttings of Blackcurrant Sage, South African Daisy Bush and Erysimum 'Bowles Mauve'. Pots of cuttings and mini-greenhouses in hand, the group pose - it's obligatory!

And photos emailed from group members show the results;

Alfalfa sprouts - enough for a salad.

Cornfield annuals and cuttings.

Healthy courgette seedlings.

It has been great to see there's been so much success and the confidence of the group to grow new things has clearly increased. We will be holding another series of workshops once I work out just what we'll be doing. There have been requests from the group for; hot and sunny/windowsills and balconies, deep shade/basement flats and growing plants from pips and stones. For the last they may have to bring their own pips - I don't think everyone will want my slobber over everything.

Details on the garden website soon.

vegetables at wardour house

2011-04-21T17:18:00.003+01:00

Popped over to Wardour House to get some vegetables started in the two veg planters. We planted some small lettuce plants in green and red, got the tomato plants in and a courgette. Seeds were sown for carrots, pot marjoram and dwarf 'Hestia' runner beans. Nasturtiums too - usually grown just for their pretty flowers, both the flowers and leaves are edible too, but be warned they are mustard hot!

Pushing in runner beans,

is easy to do.

Hope I get invited when they harvest!

return to sandringham - the roof

2011-04-21T13:44:00.296+01:00

The first gardening day with Sandringham Court residents was a success so I was looking forward to the second to work on the middle roof. This is how it looked when I first visited, under-used but great for drying washing - behind me, on other sections of roof (it is big), are a great selection of container plants already planted by residents. The conditions are the same as most roof gardens; windy, sun-beaten, exposed, so when the residents asked for advice on planting and said they would like a mediterranean theme, I was pleased - plants from mediterranean climatic zones like sun and wind.

First came the containers. The same large wooden planters we used at Wardour House. Big enough to hold a substantial amount of compost and affordable for the number required. Arriving flat-pack they had been put together ready for the day and after being laid out in position,

the compost could be carried in to fill them. Each container holds just over six bags each and they are immovable after filling but they will be stable in strong winds. We used soil based compost which is heavy so the planters were positioned mainly round the sides and well spaced out to spread the load. Soil-based compost has more 'body' and supports plant growth over a longer period so is much better for the large shrubs chosen.

Some could heft the bags easily,

For others it was 'many hands make light work'.

The plants were waiting in the residents hall ready for laying out - a selection of drought tolerant trees, shrubs, herbs and bedding plants for quick colour. I encouraged everyone to have a tea break to give me time to get them out - it is difficult to make plant position choices with enthusiastic audience participation. Working with the required 'mediterranean' theme one end will be an olive grove with scented foliage plants and blues, yellows and pinks, the other a scented herb garden with purple Cordyline and Phormium to move in the wind. Once everything was in position everyone got to planting.

Then a break for lunch. Yet another fine sandwich selection was laid on (bit frozen in the middle, but nothing a quick blast in the microwave couldn't sort out).

After lunch we worked on the existing roof garden areas to renovate some of the old containers and add some new large planters. Some of the old root-bound shrubs were released from their bonds and they will get a new lease of life with root-room and fresh compost around them.

As there usually is there was one surprise waiting in the wings - lots of the existing containers had broken glass hidden in them, mixed into the compost. This caused the only injury of the day, a nasty cut finger. It transpired that this had been added by someone due to a mistaken belief that it prevents slugs & snails. I took the opportunity to explain that snails can dance along the edges of razor blades so it was not an effective deterrent - I hope the new planters don't get a similar treatment.

Apart from this and someone trapped in a lift with an enormous bamboo plant (fire brigade soon in attendance) the day went very well and this happy biscuit summed up the reaction to the finished 'mediterranean' roof garden. It was great to see people get straight down to enjoying the garden, to chat. .

and for quiet contemplation.

The finished planters and the plants we used:

Cotinus 'Grace', variegated Phormium, Solanum jasminoides, Pittosporum Tobira.

Solanum crispum 'Galsnevin', Buddleja 'Lochinch', marguerites, silver Helichrysum.

Pittosporum tobira, Senecio 'Sunshine', green Sage, Cistus sp., Miscanthus 'China'.

Cistus sp., purple Fennel, red Cordyline, Buddleja, Pony Tail Grass (Stipa tenuissimma), Rosemary, dark leaved Phormium.

Buddleja alternifolia, Cistus sp., Oregano, yellow Bidens, variegated Phormium.

standard Olive tree, Cistus sp., Erysimum 'Bowles Mauve', Euryops pectinatus, yellow Bidens.

Ceanothus 'Autumnal Blue', purple Sage, Oregano, Geranium 'Ann Folkard', Solanum jasminoides,

Thyme, Lavender, purple Sage, Euryops pectinatus, Erysimum 'Bowles Mauve', Senecio 'Sunshine'.

standard Olive trees with Rosemary and Lavender.

Olives, Lavender, Cistus, Mock Orange, grasses and herbs.

dark Cordyline, dark leaved Phormium, purple sage and fennel.

goldfinch-a-go-go!

2011-03-17T01:24:00.002Z

Today I was cut-off midsentence by a squeak of excitement and I was pushed aside. 'How rude!" you might think but I just couldn't compete for attention (understandably, I was droning on) as a pair of goldfinch flew in.

They chittered and trilled quietly to each other as they searched for seeds among the dried thistle heads in the wildlife area. These are the first of these beautiful birds we have seen here at the Phoenix and lovely ones they are to add to our birdlist - they're smashing!

Only two rather dodgy pics of their visit. Here's what they look like elsewhere and not snapped by me.

pic: Lukasz Lukasik

a red carpet for royalty

2011-03-12T18:49:00.008Z

Looking great at the moment are two forms of Red Deadnettle, Lamium maculatum, that have already been in flower for a month, if rather shyly at first. Now the weather has warmed and days have lengthened they are really getting into their stride and they make a great welcome for early emerging queen bees.

The first, under the Great White Cherry tree has foliage marked with a bold stripe of silver and good purple/pink flowers (stronger than shows in these photos). It is vigorous and has spread from a small plant new in last year to make a carpet over a metre across. Under the cherry it gets phenomenally dry in summer but this didn't turn a hair and looked good right through.

The other in the bed to the left of the gate is plain green with soft pinky/mauve flowers.

It is monstrously rampant and has filled half the bed in two years, but I just love it's rude health and bold nettle-y-ness. It spreads across the soil surface (and anything in its way) rooting stems as it goes but is easily pulled out to control its spread. It is paired with vigorous bedfellows; Geranium 'Claridge Druce' and Symphytum caucasicum, these can hold their own but the Pheasant Tail Grass is now at risk. Newly planted in this bed over winter are a range of shrubs and, with the grasses out, I see the other three carpeting the ground beneath them. This may work.

The usual forms of Red Deadnettle found in the shops are much less vigorous and not so tolerant of drought. Some have completely silvered leaves and white flowers and they are very pretty, but I find they shrivel in the heat of summer and eventually collapse from the debilitating effects of the powdery mildew that attacks them in dry periods - a couple of plants hang on in sheltered spots but never really get going. Our two toughies were grown from seed from Umbria, Italy, and both laugh at drought and remain untouched by mildew. They will be full of early bees in just a few weeks - keep an eye out for the long tongued and charmingly named Hairy-Footed Flower bees that just go wild for the nectar rich flowers.

Of course the first queen bumblebee to emerge found comfrey flowers more to her taste - but then she was probably somewhat perturbed to be chased about by a camera wielding gardener.

Damn those paps!

applecatchers

2011-03-11T14:14:00.000Z

With mulch-hungry apple trees growing atop mounds at the north end and a garden brimming with industrious foraging blackbirds and their backwards kicking digger feet (they amuse me no end but are very messy!) I had been wondering how to keep any mulch in place, so the donation of an enormous bundle of whippy alder twigs from a bout of late winter pruning in Neals Yard (thanks Graham) was synchronicity itself.

With a bit of twine and some lengths of ivy stem the twigs were simply twisted and tied into big twiggy wreaths, dropped over the trees and pegged to the ground with alder pegs - all very woodcraft but with a quick weed around the trees and topped with a heavy mulch of compost they should stop all the mulch being dragged away by the birds. Ha - the birds can't beat me!

Wardour House Roof Garden

2011-03-10T20:25:00.002Z

Almost a year ago I visited Wardour House in Soho after being approached by the TA to advise on gardening on the roof space. This was much underused and as you can see was not all it could be (even so I was wildly jealous having just windowsills myself). We worked out the budget for the garden so they could apply for some funds and I came up with a plant list for them, suitable for the conditions on most roofs - sunbaked and windswept - and quick growing, the roof is very overlooked and they are keen to gain some privacy. They were awarded a grant from the management body, Soho Housing Association, for the renovations, but building improvements wrapped the block in scaffolding for summer and autumn so we couldn't do anything further until now.

In working out the planting for the roof I wasn't surprised to see at the top of the wishlist were the large specimen plants - bamboos and palms - that everyone seems to want. I am not an advocate for these as large specimen plants often struggle to cope with the change of conditions from sheltered nursery to exposed rooftop and can be a disappointment when planted into small tubs that dry out quickly. [bamboos are woodland plants and don't really like droughty exposed positions - palms get tatty and grubby looking sitting dormant over winter, they are much better in hotter climates than ours]

Smaller cheaper plants will usually establish much more successfully than larger and they are substantially cheaper - i'd always go for £4.99 that grows than £100 that doesn't. With a limited budget (or unlimited for that matter) I would always advise that the majority should be spent on large planters and compost - large planters give stable conditions and are slower to dry out

With the building works nearing completion the residents sourced the largest planters the budget would allow - large planters can be phenomenally expensive but they managed to find these reasonably priced ones online and at 150cmx50cmx50cm they can hold enough soil for good plant growth - 15 were delivered flat-packed along with 80 bags of compost. Thankfully the end of the works coincided with the delivery and they managed to negotiate everything being taken up to the roof. I don't think I could have managed getting all that up all those stairs!

A couple of residents constructed all the planters during the week before the planting day and I accompanied the shopping trip for the plants. I really do enjoy shopping for 'my choice' plants with other peoples budgets! The plants bought included a range of Ceanothus, Lavatera 'Barnsley', Senecio 'Sunshine', Callistemon, Buddleja alternifolia, Escallonia, rosemary, sage and oregano.

The planting day started with arranging the planters on the roof and agreeing on the arrangement - before they were filled (it's too late after!). This done the containers were filled with 5 bags of compost each.

It is always surprising how much compost is needed for a large container.

A break for tea gave me time to arrange the plants ready for planting and a chance to enjoy the odd burst of sunshine breaking through.

Planting up the tubs didn't take long...

and everyone got a chance to try their hand...

before posing for the obligatory group photo (the camera shy ran for cover at this point!))

Completed. I think it looks great, but I can see the future when everything has grown...

and before long those lavatera will be head height. (I can tell no one quite believes this at the moment but at least they are going with me on this - I shall be proved right come August!)

Well done Wardour House!

sandringham buildings - courtyard - november 2010

2011-03-10T19:14:00.001Z

Sandringham Buildings is a Soho Housing Association block of 140 dwellings behind the bookshops on Charing Cross road. The Tenants Association approached us to see if we could help with improving some of the communal garden areas. The first session was planned to improve two ground level areas; the shady courtyard and an overgrown bed. The materials and plants had been bought on a shopping trip earlier in the week, using a StreetVan transit van hired for the day was so much cheaper than the charges for delivery into the west end (we must get a designated driver registered for the garden). The TA had put up notices for the planting day inviting residents to get involve and organised refreshments for the day

The first area to be tackled was the courtyard. The existing planting was one large concrete planter with a fern and ivy, an old wash basket planted with a laurel and a few small pots with red-leaved heuchera. All these were tucked into one corner to make a lone island of green in a large area of paving. I felt increasing the number of planters through the whole area would look good, the area is in bright shade and all the plants used are tough and reliable in shade to give year round interest, the plants being repeated throughout to give a unified feel. The TA had chosen half-barrels for the containers - a good choice in appearance and big enough to support good plant growth. Attractive foliage and form will be the main focus of interest using ferns, bamboo, sedges and grasses. Other plants used all have good foliage and flower in season too.

The courtyard, before.

The containers were put in position and filled with soil based compost - position first as full they are heavy! The plants were laid out in groups for each container and after the first was planted up as a demonstration by me - usual points made; drainage layer, use plant-in-pot to make mould for rootball, plant at same level as in pot, don't firm on top of the plant - then everyone got stuck in.

The theme of the planting runs throughout with the same plants repeated but used in different combinations.

Climbing Trachelospermum jasminoides, golden-leaved shrub Leycestreria formosa Aurea, golden grass Hakenechloa macra Aurea, green sedge Carex testacea and Polystichum fern.

A bamboo Phyllostachys bissetti, with spring-flowering Euphobia robbiae, the sedge Carex testacea, a fern and variegated ivy.

In the planter, variegated bamboo, the sedge Carex testacea, the fern Athyrium felix-femina, late-flowering Anemone japonica, spring-flowering Bergenia and ivy. In the terracotta pot - Pheasant-tail grass Stipa arundinacea, fern Dryopteris erythrosa and ivy. The small pots of red-leaved Heuchera remain from before.

Golden bamboo, sedge Carex testacea, golden grass Hakenochloa macra Aurea, fern Dryopteris erythrosa and ivy.

Climbing Hydrangea petiolaris, spring-flowering Brunnera maculata, golden grass Hakenochloa macra Aurea, the tree fern Dicksonia antarctica and ivy.

Phyllostachys bissettii, Brunnera maculata, Euphorbia robbiae and Stipa arundinacea.

The containers have been spaced out along the wall, each container has had a number of spring bulbs tucked in to give a boost at the end of winter. At the moment it still looks slightly sparse but come spring everything will soon thicken up.

From above. The bamboo should soon establish and fill out to move gracefully in the breeze, softening the hard landscape and will bring this area to life.

After lunch - a very satisfying spread of sandwiches and the like (well done Sandringham TA!) - we got cracking on the other area - this long bed.

It gets half a days sun, is prone to drying out in summer and had become somewhat overgrown. Feverfew, campanula porschyana and a couple of great big Acanthus mollis held their own with nettles and creeping thistle. After lifting some clumps of feverfew and the campanula (wrapped in plastic bags so as not to dry out) and marking the Acanthus to be retained the area was dug over and as many of the weeds removed as could be. I had the group go over the area a couple of times to get as many roots as possible out but expect the creeping thistle to be back re-invigorated in spring - then there will be weeding to do.

The selection of shrubs and perrenials were laid out in their positions, included in the chosen selection are; Philadelphus 'Belle Etoile', Choisya 'Aztec Pearl', Abelia x grandiflora, Bergenia, Geranium, Miscanthus - more on these no doubt as it gets established.

The planting got underway and was pretty straight forward with just the usual reminders not to plant too shallowly and not to walk on what's already in. The potted memorial rose for a resident needed to be planted out into the bed, easily done, but on turning it out of its pot, much to everyones surprise, the ashes were revealed in a thick wet layer (remember: pots do need drainage holes!), slightly disconcerting but soon dug in under the rose and in the ground as they should be! The rose should establish well now the roots aren't sopping wet.

It soon became apparent that there was an unexpected single-mindedness to remove all the brick rubble in the bed - the bed level went down as the rubble heaped at the base of the plane tree went up (you can see the collection in the background) - after explaining a few times that plant roots don't mind stones and rocks the energies were redirected into planting the bed ... it now even has an unplanned but beautifully constructed gabion and rubble invertebrate habitat at the back of the bed (see what I did there?).

At the end of the day the bed was given a good soak to get everything settled in. I'm looking forward to seeing how it gets on come spring as it grows away and makes its mark.

We will be arranging further days with Sandringham residents to work in their garden, and I hope we get such a good turn out on those days. It was good to see so many people be so enthusiastic about improving their garden space. Well done everyone!

tidyness stimulated habitat creation

2011-03-10T15:55:00.004Z

Despite the apparent christmas-y-ness of this little redbreast busy watching me as I dig in the compost bin, spring is well underway. Visitors tell me 'Bbrr its cold!' but the buds on the trees are swelling and everything is getting busy for the breeding season - I am dressed in layers and so am impervious to the cold and am enjoying the opportunity to get on with some tidyness stimulated habitat creation.

While general tidying of the beds has been going on for the past couple of months I am rarely at them with a fork for a traditional dig over in winter. Unless we are completely renovating beds the garden is 'no-dig' and I trust that the worms and the rest will keep the soil well worked. Regular digging in permanent beds damages the soil structure and it obviously takes a while for everything to settle down afterwards - the fine roots that spread throughout the soil are broken - and growth is set back. More than that I find the minced worms left in my wake slightly disturbing and when trowelling out a planting hole last week I uncovered this sleepy gargoyle I was glad I hadn't gone in gungho with a fork.

How frogs dig down through solid soil remains a mystery to me but they go very deep in winter. This one was carefully re-covered with a blanket of deadleaves to emerge when ready, but it probably didn't wait long as the first spawn is now in the pond. In April long after the event, visitors finally braving the weather, will be asking "when will the frogs be spawning?". They will be disappointed when I explain that they must be up and out early to catch the frogs in action, some will no doubt take this as a personal affront by the natural world - some do every year.

At the back of the garden a heap of broken bricks and scattered rubble has needed something doing with it for quite a while but hidden under a good stand of nettles has been easy to ignore. With a bundle of bare root wild roses and a free afternoon for some tidying it was obvious that some impromptu habitat creation was clearly on the cards.

The wild roses - Scotch Rose Rosa pimpinellifolia - were planted close along the foot of the wall. They flower early in cream and have good maroon hips. Growing wild on sand dunes makes them great for poor dry soil, but to give them a good start a couple of barrows of compost were added. On this a collection of logs were laid to give a gently rotting core to the habitat

Over this went broken bricks, packed well down with a good jumping on to make firm - the bees and bugs will love those cracks and crevices.

And finally a layer of large lumps of concrete. These lumps are heavy and should be immovable to casual interference - by the railings drug-stashing mischief can be a nuisance but hopefully these great big lumps will be hard to shift one handed. We shall see.

In my eyes it all looks nicely dry-stone-wall-y and an improvement on the scattered heap - I'm sure some will still see it as a mess but then they always will. After a couple of seasons it will all be hidden as the small roses that are just peeking up through the cracks will have suckered and spread and knitted it all together.

Once the roses have established it will be impenetrable to human hands but I fully expect frogs to magically dig their way in and out without the slightest scratch. Good on them!

autumnal bloodletting and the demise of the fig

2010-11-09T18:33:00.005Z

Since being murdered (by me) a few years ago the dead stems of the Virginia Creeper have hung over the churchyard wall in an increasing state of dishevelment. I have all too easily managed to look the other way knowing blackbirds had nested twice in the mess of twigs and wrens aplenty were busy in there too. Not to say that I'd been totally ignoring this area, I had been tying in the climbing stems of Rosa 'Mermaid' as if the dead creeper stems were some secure trellis but now, in a noisy flutter, the chickens have come home to roost so to speak and a strong gust brought the whole lot down like a giant, dirty, twiggy - and well armed - duvet. More fool me.

Mermaid is a great climbing rose, vigorously growing to 30ft and opening a long season of soft yellow single flowers throughout the summer. This was planted three years ago and has grown rather well despite the competition of a greedy fig and droughty poor soil, though the affects of these have combined to cease the floral show prematurely each year. It climbs using viciously hooked prickles and is as happy to hook onto a branch to scramble up a tree as it is to sink them to the hilt in my plump pink cheek - it means business but the stems are incredibly brittle and any rough treatment breaks of great lengths of stem. Patience and a high pain threshold are needed to deal with this brittle-boned beast. Extricating the mass of dead stems from it's clutches while keeping the bulk of the plant intact took a few concentration filled days, stop-start ladder acrobatics and up to date tetanus jabs.

Wires have now been attached to the wall and with the rose stems tied into these it should now be able to get on with it's business well out of reach.

Below the rose the fig had been losing an ongoing battle with me. When I first came here the fig grew as a dense, all-concealing tree and was soon reduced to a stand of coppiced stems. These had been tormented and tied-in over the past couple of years to form a low enfolding hedge around the green bench. It fruited poorly as a tree and after pruning and training did no better, it had severely compromised the growth of surrounding and more desirable plants and with the green bench gone had lost it's latter-day purpose.

Finally, after realising the burnt and blistered patches on my arms this summer were a reaction to its poisonous latex sap (this rather sealed it's fate) it was a pleasure to let Garard loose to wreak havoc on its roots. Get it out!

Removed, roots and all, it is clear how it has shaded out the native berry hedge running past it and what a large space even the reduced fig had taken up - those big figgy leaves take a lot of light. With the competition removed the shrubs should grow away strongly come spring. In the meantime the hedge shrubs to the right of the fig have grown long vigorous stems ideal for filling in the gaps.

The long stems all along the hedge have been pulled down into place and tied in. This both fills in the gaps until the weaker plants grow away but also help the hedge to thicken up to provide dense thorny cover for nesting birds and breeding insects.

In front of the hedge the lawn will be extended to run along the curve of the hedge - the wide bed as it is gets far too many footballs dropping into it and football retriever's must trample right in to get them. A narrow wildflower strip should make this less of a problem.

[Please note: if you are an angry, shouty, outraged fig person angered by it's removal and planning to come a-shouting my way be aware there is still a good fruiting fig growing at the back of the garden - note too if you get very shouty I may just run and chop that one down too]

autumn daisy exotica

2010-11-09T16:44:00.001Z

Autumn is a well known daisy season with displays of the herbaceous prairie daisies; aster, helenium, helianthus, stealing the limelight in many gardens. The majority originate from moist meadows with deep rich soil and in the main do poorly here - the garden is just too dry. For autumnal daisy-ness here I have been enjoying for weeks the re-flowering of two exotic shrubs from South Africa, the Kingfisher Daisy, Felicia amelloides, and the African Bush Daisy, Euryops chrysanthemoides, both coming into flower after the first rains of autumn.

The Kingfisher daisy is a small sub-shrub about a foot high and it makes a loose sprawling mound covered with bright blue, yellow-eyed daisies over a long period. It is sold for summer bedding and hanging baskets and will flower throughout summer if it stays regularly moist and is dead-headed frequently. Here it grows in a tub with a blue fescue grass and some tree sedum, Sedum praeltum, with stone filled rubbish soil and never receives enough water to keep on flowering. I don't mind when it shuts up shop at the start of summer as I know it will freshens up when the weather cools in autumn just when the intense blue flowers will be most admired. It is not fully hardy but has been growing outside here for five years, no doubt the dry, free-draining tub helped it with the freezing temperatures of last winter when others growing in heavier soil elsewhere in the garden turned up their toes. Easily rooted from cuttings they are good doers in sunny containers.

(my camera doesn't 'like' blue in low autumn light - they are much brighter and a purer blue than they look here).

Migrainingly intense in bright summer sun the large yellow daisies of the African Bush Daisy seem to my eye to be better suited to the grey days of autumn - not that I have any say in the matter as they flower non-stop except when too cold or too dry. Another plant sold as disposable summer bedding they will make permanent shrubs in sheltered, well drained sites. It is incredibly drought tolerant when established as you would expect with its South African roots (few plants can sit unpotted and forgotten under a bench all summer to grow away untroubled when finally planted - this can) it is also surprisingly cold-hardy, only showing its displeasure in winter by flushing an unhappy bronze (which is rather attractive anyway).

The largest bush at the Phoenix has made a big dense mound six foot across and nearly as tall in five years. In full flush it will be covered in hundreds of 6cm flowers. To keep it tidy I deadhead as best as I can (it is tiresome), without this attention it will still flower on and on but it does get annoyingly messy. Deadheading involves snipping each separate flower head off at the base of the stalk. If the heads are just pulled off the stalks remaining dry to knuckle-stabbing sharpness and you will have pin-cushion hands next time you go in, if you shear it the new buds growing beneath get snipped off too, so it must be one by one but it is worth the trouble.

These bushes have been repeated through the garden for their reliable, if brassy, flowering and lumpy mounded forms and they visually tie the garden together, particularly at this time of year when they glow in the low autumn light.

These two daisies may be far flung from their exotic beginnings but they are good doers in this city garden. Grow them.

time to plant

2010-11-09T14:45:00.003Z

and it should take time.

Gardening atop rubble at the Phoenix means new plants can struggle to establish in the summer-dry conditions so we try and tip the balance in the plant's favour with proper planting at the right time and in the right way. Now the soil is moist with autumn rain it is the perfect time to plant as the roots can get well established long before the soil dries out again next summer. Few plants will make it here if just plonked in and summer-dry gardens are unforgiving of corners cut at this point. To give the best chance of survival I am particular in how we prepare the planting holes and time taken doing this now is time well spent.

Here Peter is clearing a space between a clump of Geranium x oxonianum and the comfrey, Symphytum caucasicum, to dig a hole for a Daisy Bush, Euryops chrysanthemoides. These are both greedy bullies and it would be no good tucking anything in tightly between these thugs so an area 3ft across cleared of their roots is needed (established, the Daisy Bush will stand above them both and be able to hold it's own).

Even without such nasty bedmates to contend with a planting hole needs to be at least twice the size of the new rootball to give room for the new roots to grow. This is especially important on compacted soils. It can take some doing.

Here, having cleared a good space of ivy root, Pauline gets to loosening compacted rubble with a steel bar, to plant...

this too-long-in-the-pot and rather leggy, Buddleja officinalis - early flowering, drought tolerant and borderline hardy (more on this no doubt if it gets through the winter).

From a hole twice the size of the pot came this collection - to add to the ever-growing pile of rubble by the office.

[Remember, most plants don't mind growing in stony soils and the roots simply grow around any rocks or stones, which makes sense, 'the wild' not being stone free. We simply remove those that physically prevent the planting hole being dug - if we took out more the garden would sink dramatically!]

The soil is dug out into a barrow or bucket - much easier than dumping a heap on the ground amongst other plants. It is always surprising how much soil comes out of even a small hole - Pauline's plastic barrow is bulging!

The excavated soil is always mixed with a couple of shovel-loads of compost, compost holds moisture in the soil, provides nutrients and brings the soil to life around the new plant and it good as guarantees success. The plant goes in the hole at the same level it was growing in the pot - deeper and the now-buried stems can rot. The compost-improved soil is filled in round the rootball bit by bit, firming well as we go.

I always go on and on about firming the soil AROUND the rootball and not the rootball itself - all too often a vigorous firming on top of the rootball produces a tearing sound as the roots are ripped off the plant. This obviously defeats the object. We aren't looking to push the plant down into the centre of the earth, it should be at the right depth already (if it isn't take it out and dig a bit deeper!), just firming the in-fill with steady pressure using your knuckles will be enough to remove big spaces and to hold it firm while it roots (taller things, that the wind will rock, will need staking).

I get asked how hard to firm. I say "firmly". This means it shouldn't hurt you or the plant. I dislocated my thumb a couple of years ago firming - now that was definitely too hard!

Then we water. Properly. A whole can for each plant, sometimes two. This takes time to soak in below the rootball so we don't rush. Deep watering encourages the new roots to grow deeply as they follow the moisture down. They will need to root deeply as they will only get another can or two next year as they establish but otherwise will receive no additional watering. Ever.

After watering the plants get a good layer of mulch. This prevents moisture being sucked out of the soil by the wind and competing 'weed' seeds from sprouting like cress.

Finally we pose (to order) for the camera and repeat the magic words - "Grow you bugger!".

[Peter is a Phoenix Garden stalwart and has moved tons of rubble up and down the garden uncomplainingly during the renovations of the last few years with little chance to green his rubble-worn fingers. Looks like he relished the opportunity to repeat the magic words!)

SHA newsletter

2010-11-08T13:00:00.001Z

Soho Housing Association were one of the sponsors for the agricutural show. Here's the report of the show in their latest newsletter - good to see they're up for supporting the show again next year.

St Giles & Seven Dials In Bloom Competition 2010 - the Awards!

2010-09-13T22:19:00.007+01:00

The award ceremony for the St Giles & Seven Dials In Bloom Competition 2010 was held on Sat 4th September at the Phoenix Garden Agricultural Show & St Giles Fayre.

Phoenix Garden Chairman, Alex, announced the winners and presented certificates and winners' rosettes.

Category: Best Roof Garden

1st - Graham and Anya, Neal's Yard.

2nd - Gina Saunders and Sian Frances, New Compton Street.

Category: Best Communal Garden

1st - Dudley Court Tenants Association, Endell St.

2nd - The Alms House, Macklin St (accepted by Rev.Bill Jacobs)

Category: Best Hanging Basket

1st - Garrard Knowles, Stacey St.

Category: Best Edible Plant

1st - pears. Graziella Mecarone, Pendrell House

1st - potatoes. Luke and Sharon Peppard, Stacey St.

Category: Best Wildlife Garden

1st - Marea McCormack and residents, Newton Street.

Category: Best Container

1st - street tubs. Gina Saunders, New Compton St. (accepted by Sian Frances)

2nd - Nicolette Roberts, St Georges Church.

Category: Best Balcony

1st - Steve Fothergill, Pendrell House.

2nd - Sian Frances, New Compton Street.

2nd - Yasmin and Kieran Egan, Pendrell House.

Category: Best House Plant

1st - orchids. Virginia, Pendrell House.

and, one totally made up category, for all her hard work organising the agricultural show;

Category: Best Show Organiser.

1st - Jane Palm-Gold

(Well done you lot! More entries next year please!)

Our thanks to Soho Housing Association for supporting the competition this year.

The 2nd Phoenix Garden Agricultural Show & St Giles Fayre

2010-09-13T21:21:00.000+01:00

8am: The set-up for the show went surprisingly well and the early-bird volunteers had turned out in force. We really do have tent erection down pat these days, which is just as well as extra time was needed for the mass bunting installation. Tottering about up a ladder while synchronising poles, gaffer tape, 300m of bunting and frayed nerves, with the clock ticking, could so easily have turned nasty - well done team, blessed are the peacemakers! Even the last minute changes to the site plan didn't get us off track and all the tables and tents were soon up and out and ready for the exhibitors to arrive.

All the attractions for the show managed to arrive in good time and it was a treat to see the months of planning come together in time for the midday opening. The animals announced their arrival with excited grunts and cock-a-doodle-doo-ing from the trailer, the church bells pealed as the last knot was tightened on the hand-made bunting and the show could open.

The show entrance, and behind,

the hand-made bunting installation from the Phoenix Garden Bunting Project -

www.phoenixgardenbuntingproject.blogspot.com/

The bunting makers showing their bunting at the show were; Jaqueline Hollande, Oscar Quiroz, Pauline Ferris, Christopher Raeburn, Jane and Dominic and the London West End Women's Institute. I think it looked great!

Up the steps and into the churchyard and there was the showground,

and the market with a small selection of stalls selling 'country show' themed produce;

Neal's Yard Dairy with a selection of fine cheeses,

Vicki's Vegan Bakery with beast-free pastries,

BonCoton, with pretty patchwork pieces,

Edwards and Todd, and country style homewear,

The London Beekeepers' Association with a full range of bee products and a show hive.

and the fundraising stall for The Leprosy Mission.

(St Giles is the patron saint of lepers and outcasts, and St Giles-in-the-Fields church is on the site of the original leper hospital built in 1101 for the city of London, so it seemed appropriate to invite the Leprosy Mission to the Fayre. The Leprosy Mission works around the world with those afflicted with this terrible disease).

We planned for the garden to be a quite area with refreshments and food on sale. Through the gate, in the shade of the tulip tree, were the London West End Women's Institute and their cake stall.

The fine selection of biscuits, cakes and preserves soon had them queueing.

A whole lamb was to be roasted on the BBQ and James, our chef, enthralled visitors with a butchery master class

and soon beautifully prepared portions were sizzling on the grill.

Served up with barley salad and salsa verde it was delicious. The non-meat option of roast, dressed aubergine was fantastic.

Peter and Elizabeth are stalwarts on teas,

which is just as well - it soon got busy.

In the churchyard the animal attractions amazed and delighted visitors and the rolling schedule of performances; the London Pride Morris Dancers, Punch & Judy and the St Giles Bellringers, kept everyone entertained.

The Fancy Pigeon tent was a great success with a display of 24 varieties of fancy pigeon brought by John Ross, a national pigeon judge, and fellow pigeon fancier Colin. John and Colin were only too happy to explain the intricacies of their art to visitors and the birds were definitely a cut above those we're used to - many people were amazed that they were all the same species!

The tent had rows of display cages each holding an immaculate bird.

A Capuchin,

a Damascene,

a Modena,

a Magpie,

a Short Faced Viennese (sounds like a pastry, and my favourite!).

Many people were keen to get hands on with these beautiful birds

and I think they found some new fans.

The farm animals were a great attraction too. One pen had a flock of Call Ducks,

a vocal, rosy-wattled Cuckoo Marran rooster

and hen - tame enough for touching,

a rabbit and some much petted Guinea Pigs.

In another two very handsome Suffolk Sheep grazed their pen,

and both seem to relish company (I suspect there was some illicit feeding going on!)

A Shetland Pony was popular with everyone.

(Well, not quite everyone. I am not a horse fan but can possibly be convinced they are not all bad - at this scale, I'm certain, they're much less bloodthirsty)

But best of all, and my star of the show, was a rather lovely Kune-Kune Pig called Peppa.

Most of the day she was horizontal, accepting pats and belly rubs with faint squeaks of pleasure. A rattle of her food tin would see her up in a second but otherwise a day feigning sleep and being rubbed silly seemed to be just fine by her.

Oink! Oink! Love her!

The Falconers had brought a range of birds of prey to show, these spectacular birds proved crowd pleasers.

A rather sleepy looking Barn Owl,

a fiery eyed Eagle Owl,

and a tiny Barred Owl.

Some lucky visitors even got a chance to hold the Buzzard.

(I didn't, I was far too busy!).

In the middle of the busy showground we had a space for traditional performers.

Accompanied by traditional instruments the London Pride Morris Dancers danced a range of dances.

Some with flags, and some with sticks

They even managed to get the audience to join in on a number of dances.

What fun!

Exhausted, the Morris Men took a break in the garden and really looked very fitting. It may have to be leg bells at work for me in 2011!

The Punch & Judy show began with a warm up boxing match which certainly set the mood and got them giggling.

Master puppeteer, Geoff Felix, gave an entertaining short talk on the history of Punch before launching into the show.

It is easy to forget just how much fun Punch & Judy is.

Old and young were soon laughing out loud.

That really is the way to do it!

The St Giles bellringers, led by Dennis Ellisdon, rang peals of bells between the shows.

The Bellringers had a stall outside with information about the bells at St Giles (some of them are hundreds of years old).

Visitors could go up into the belfry to find out more, Dennis' enthusiasm for bells is infectious,

so having a go was very popular.

At the end of a very busy afternoon the award ceremony for the St Giles and Seven Dials in Bloom Competition was held in the garden by our master-of-ceremonies, Alex. With the winners clutching their certificates and rosettes the show ended with a last resounding peal of the bells of St. Giles ringing out "ding-dong-well-done!"

It was a very good event and definitely fulfilled our aim to put a proper country show in the West End for our community. The day had a lovely relaxed 'village' feel to it and it was great to see so many people enjoying the event, we had over 800 visitors, and the responses from visitors were really positive.

A very big thank you to everyone who worked so hard to make the day such a success - it really was a team effort.

Special thanks go to Jane PG, Cllr.Sue Vincent, Rev. Bill Jacobs, Dragon Hall, Nicolette @ St Georges.

Just think, next year it will be even better!

all is ready

2010-09-03T23:08:00.002+01:00

After a year of planning, the show is ready to go. It will be, as the poster states, "a West End 'Country Show'" and I think we've got together a rather good range of country-ish attractions and stalls. Being 'West End' does mean anything may happen but we are as prepared as can be.

Aglow with the success of the first 'agricultural show' last summer (farm animals and BBQ) I oozed confidence when I cheerfully floated the idea of extending the event at a committee meeting last autumn. Generally the assumption that we could put on a proper 'country show' has been proved right with the planning going relatively smoothly. The learning curve has been steady enough with the expected lessons being learnt: most people won't do anything for nothing (but some will), you can send out posters but they probably won't go up, and the old but true - ALWAYS get it in writing. Despite my autumnal oozing I am rather surprised it has come together as well as it has, but it has.

The final week has been somewhat crazed as the best laid plans can almost be scuppered by last minute cancellations and ridiculous schoolboy excuses (thanks Surrey Docks Mobile Farm! - with four days to go! - we will want the money back!). Almost. But not quite. We now have a kune pig coming. Very exciting! So there!

I get to wear a red rosette too!

Roll on tomorrow - see you by the pigeons!

off with their heads

2010-08-06T13:48:00.000+01:00

In times of drought it can be somewhat wearying to watch as plants, left and right, become increasingly dishevelled. Without readily available moisture they are unable to put on much fresh growth and flowering often ceases as they try simply to stay alive. In a normal year many early flowering herbaceous plants benefit from a mid-season cutback to remove congested old flower stems and encourage fresh regrowth, but in a droughty season this is also a useful technique to ensure they survive until better times. Cutting off all the leafy growth above ground reduces the amount of moisture the plant needs so instead of dying the plant will regrow from the base when conditions improve. It can take a hard heart to savage a treasured special but if you keep in mind that the buds shrivelling on the plant won't open this season anyway it becomes easier to steel the nerves for a severe chop. Keep in mind that this way they will next season.

Here is a collapsed Geranium 'Claridge Druce'. It has flowered and fed the bees for months. It is tough as old boots and will survive the worst the garden can throw at it but now it has become a mass of sprawling seedheads, and frankly looks a bit of mess. I don't need to steel my nerves for this one (it gets this treatment every year), I grasp the stems together in a big clump and chop the whole lot off.

Which leaves me with this.

I want some quick regrowth to fill the gap - or someone "but I'm not stood on anything" will soon be standing on it - so it gets a couple of buckets of water thrown over it to give it a bit of encouragement.

In a week it has new shoots coming through,

and in two is making progress, and is clearly visible to the unobservant.

I expect it to be back in flower by the end of the month with no additional watering and it will flower well on into Autumn.

Other plants, not as tough, and cut back to aid their survival have not been watered. This seems contrary but encouraging fresh growth from these before there is rain will soon see them struggling again to support the new leaves. Better they wait beheaded and quiet until the overall conditions improve.

going global

2010-08-06T12:58:00.000+01:00

The lack of rain over the past few months has resulted in many of the best sources of nectar drying up, quite literally, as plants have put their energies into quickly setting seed rather than continue the show and new buds have withered. Such is dry gardening in a dry season but thankfully there are a few species that are reliable sources of nectar late in the season no matter how dry.

The Globe Thistles, Echinops sp. are bee magnets when they come into bloom in late summer. The plants growing here were grown from seed randomly pocketed on a garden visit somewhere so I am unsure of their parentage but they are little different from the rest - 1.5m high, rough, thistly foliage and blue-grey flower heads in perfect globes. There are named varieties in confident clear shades of blue and silver, some tall giants and some of compact growth but in the main the Globe Thistles are all similar with relatively minor differences. They are adapted to grow with minimal summer rainfall and have deep tap roots to reach any remaining moisture down below. The early season growth rapidly produces strong clumps of coarse white-backed grey-green leaves, they aren't the prettiest and can become rather tatty over a long dry summer, but by then the exciting spiky satellite buds are forming so who would care?

The heads are made up of lots of individual flowers and as they open the bees, big and small, gather. First on this flower is a small male White Faced Bee. He's feeding, but also waiting for a hungry female to arrive, ripe and ready for ravaging.

When the bumble's get in on the act there isn't much room for the smaller bees and their randy antics, this trio of circumnavigating workers stamping about have probably spoilt the mood and they have it to themselves.

After flowering and setting seed the heads are disappointingly short lived, there are no winter silhouettes to be had from these. When they fall apart and the leaves become increasingly disgraceful I will simply chop them down. They won't mind at all and neither will I.

blackcurrant sage and thieving bees

2010-07-20T01:06:00.003+01:00

I made a prediction earlier in the year that the most asked question come summer would be "what is that bush with those red flowers?". I was right, but then it is the same each year and I know that "those red flowers" are winners.

To answer the question, it is Blackcurrant Sage, Salvia microphylla. Growing into a loose mound of rather brittle stems, a metre high and across, and covered with bright red flowers from May to December it is a great plant for a well drained position. There are a number of varieties available, this is, I believe, 'Kew Red'. All are very tolerant of drought and poor soil and while preferring full sun seem quite happy in part shade. Supposedly they are not very hardy but do come through most winters unharmed (but only if well drained). The older stems protect the heart of the plant from the worst of the frost so I cut them hard back in spring only after growth has started - before winter can be the death of them. Unpruned they grow much wider and untidier.

Native to Mexico, it has evolved flowers perfect to be pollinated by hummingbirds - the anthers and stamens protrude from the top of the flower to dab on, and take off, pollen from their feathered foreheads. Here it proves a surprisingly good source of nectar for bumblebees, surprising because the beakless bees cannot reach the nectar from the front of the flower, their tongues aren't long enough and the flower is tight-lipped.

To get round this the bees bite small holes halfway down each bloom and they feed from the flowers without pollinating them in exchange. It is interesting that all the holes seem to be gnawed into the right hand side of each flower and that the hole maker isn't the only bee to use each hole, many bees will visit each prepared bloom and fly directly to the hole to feed - obviously the nectar guides, the markings on flowers that are visible in the ultra-violet spectrum that bees use, are ignored as unnecessary and they don't waste time trying the front door. Sneaky thieving bees.

sanding sir digby

2010-07-19T15:28:00.002+01:00

The benches in the garden have been looking increasingly grubby so over the next few sessions the Sunday Workers will be giving them some much needed attention. Some of the benches were varnished long ago and this has not stood up well to the thousands of backsides gracing them over the intervening years while others have lost their sparkle under layers of particularly persistent city grime. Earlier in the year one bench received a soapy water and scrubbing brush quick fix but it was clear this wouldn't be quite enough of a treatment to bring them back to their best.

Here is the Sir Digby bench, released from it's chains for treatment.

Here are Peter and Pauline chatting as they sand off the dirt.

"Get back to work!"

(Look at that sun! I am hiding in the shade looking busy)

Here is Delia getting to grips with the grime on Louis Green.

I have to admit it is rather a grim task, all dust and dirt and blisters, but the persistence of the group does pay off - they are tenacious! A few coats of linseed oil to feed and protect the wood (this doesn't flake like a varnish) and Sir Digby is clean and bright and once again ready for bums.

The clouds of dust floating about reveal the hidden webs of spiders and it is apparent just how many are busy spinning in the garden.

I read it is meant to be good year for spiders so I'm sure to be enjoying them as they hang mid-web in early autumn. More on them then but in the meantime do be glad you're not a fly.

fissle fan

2010-07-09T15:07:00.003+01:00

I am a big thistle fan. I like their big fat rosettes of spiny leaves in winter. I like their unapologetically pushy growth in spring. I like their open angular structure and their un-pickability, but most of all I like their shaving brush flowers in violet and mauve. I am told all too often by visitors that they are 'weeds, weeds, weeds', but this falls on deaf ears, generally they are not too weedy for our purpose (though one is) and the benefits outweigh any difficulties.

The garden is home to three species of thistle, two biennials and one rampaging perennial. All are good plants for wildlife and the flowers in mid to late summer are a treat for bees and butterflies.

The Musk Thistle, Carduus nutans, is a spiny whopper growing from a big over-wintering rosette to 1/1.5m. The candelabra of branches needs no staking and each branch ends in a single fat 'artichoke' bud armed with ferocious spines. The buds open into great big violet brushes - perfect bee-beds for bumblebees to nestle in.

Spear Thistle, Cirsium vulgare, is less statuesque and only grows to 1m here. It has finer spines and narrower leaves, this gives a lighter feel to the plant. The round, densely spined buds open into pale violet pompoms over a long season.

Both of these produce lots of seeds that spread on thistle-down parachutes. This could be a problem in some gardens. I find that here, with seed hungry birds and an army of molluscs munching away seedlings and with lots of competition for space in the beds they only manage to reproduce themselves enough to please me. They are easily removed if needs be.

The Creeping Thistle, Cirsium arvense, is the bad penny in the bunch. It is fiercely invasive, spreading far and wide underground - the roots can go down metres and spread yards in a single season - and it seeds like crazy. Unbranched relatively spineless metre high stems are topped with clusters of small undistinguished mauve flowers - bees love them none the less for this - but the stems have weak ankles and they often fall over before flowering. In spite of the potential for it to take over it is a foodplant for a number of species - fat-legged beetles develop inside its stems - so it just earns a place. I try to nip off the flowers before seed is shed to prevent it's spread and the colony is restricted to the wildlife area and walnut mound by the regular mowing of the grass around it.

I am a thistle fan.

I like their spiny violet ways and the summer squeals from bin-users caught an unwary jab in the back of the hand. Can you see licky bees in powder puff happiness and tell me you're not a fissle fan too?

damsels

2010-07-09T13:04:00.000+01:00

Flitting round the garden at the moment are lots of Azure Damselflies, Coenagrion puella, in bright blue and iridescent green - around the ponds they are in a mating frenzy.

(Damselflies are often mistaken for dragonflies but they are simple to tell apart, damselflies are smaller and when at rest fold their wings vertically - dragonfly wings are held stiffly horizontal)

They begin their lives in the ponds as wingless aquatic nymphs, ugly little monsters with ferocious extendable jaws, they hunt small water creatures in the depths. After a year hunting and growing the nymph matures in early summer, it climbs up a plant stem out of the water, the skin splits along the back and out emerges the winged flying adult. The males are bright blue and the females green with an iridescent sheen. The adults feed on small flying insects like mosquitoes. To pair the male grips hold of the female's neck using a special clasper at the tip of his abdomen to hang on. To mate the female bends her abdomen under and up to the males body.

photo: Bohringer Freidrich

After mating the pair fly together in tandem from floating leaf to floating leaf and the female uses her flexible abdomen to reach under the leaves to lay individual eggs. In their pond the goldfish follow them eagerly, splashing about as they devour the freshly laid eggs.

The males appear to stand stiffly 'on guard' while the female is busy laying down below and when approached too closely will drag the female into the air for a quick getaway. I am disappointed in my 'up periscope' observations as I read the male hangs on simply to prevent other males mating with the female.

There are unidentified red damsels in the garden too. They are proving far too quick for me and after working up a sweat chasing them about in the heat will be sitting in the shade till the weather cools. We will all just have to imagine what they could be for the time being.

cat snacks

2010-06-15T16:01:00.002+01:00

The garden provides good habitat for breeding birds, both for those that actually nest here and for those that visit to forage. The tall trees give height for a quick get-away, dense shrubs give cover for nesting and a wide range of herbaceous plants support the wide range of insects hungry chicks need. This year wren, blackbird, blue and great tits have all nested in the garden and now fledged chicks are making their first forays out and about. They leave the nest as soon as they can, the whole brood is vulnerable to predation while in the nest, many predators watch foraging parents to discover the whereabouts of the nest, so splitting up and moving about lessens the chance all will be lost. The individuals are still vulnerable and yet to learn it is a hard world out there.

Wrens are shy birds and nest low down in dense cover. This year they have used a log stack, dense ivy on a wall and a 'twiggy bundle' to build in - twiggy bundles are simply bunches of spiny prunings tied with twine to form a hollow ball, these get tucked into dense shrubs and wall climbers in quiet corners to make predator proof nesting sites. Young wrens are out and about now, concealed in the bushes and calling with high pitched breathy 'wheesps'. They and the parents forage eagerly for any small insects and get excited when I give a hand by turning the top layer in the compost bins. They can be in such a rush that they forget I am a danger until a parent frantically reminds them, with sharp calls to 'run!'

Blackbirds usually raise a number of broods each year in the garden, building nests from twigs, grass, string and mud in concealed places. Sometimes they make odd choices where to build - last year they built a nest neatly on top of a paint tin in the tool shed - this year they have been thoroughly conventional using a dense bush of ivy to conceal them. The young have recently fledged and are out and about, so trusting they will happily wait in the garden office for feeding time. They follow their parents round the garden calling loudly to be fed - and seemingly to be eaten - the local cats must be drooling at the mouth!

Blue tits feed their young on thousands of small insects and will collect vast quantities of aphids in the foraging frenzy. This makes them vulnerable to the effects of pesticides and many young birds are poisoned while still in the nest, so we use no pesticides - aphids are soon controlled by everything that eats them - and everything does. The parents keep their energy levels up with occasional visits to the feeders for a sunflower seed or two and now the Red Hot Pokers are in flower will drink sugary nectar for a quick energy boost.

the eyes have it

2010-06-10T03:49:00.001+01:00

I think ox-eye daisy are irresistible. I am not alone in this. The flowers are constantly busy with any number of small things going about their busy business. A quick walk round the garden reveals why they are right at the top of my must-have-for-wildlife plant list.

A mining bee,

and a greenbottle make the most of the open faced flowers.

Harlequin ladybirds, in 'mostly black'

and 'traditional' forms, hunt for aphids on the heads.

Tiny white-faced bees feed from the flowers - males also patrol and unceremoniously mate feeding females, the violation doesn't interrupt their meal.

When downtrodden or flattened by bags, snails will get to work to graze the open florets.

Ox-eye daisy, Leucanthemum vulgare, a common wildflower, will grow anywhere with good drainage and some sun, are reasonably drought tolerant - they grow here unwatered on broken brick filled gabions - and they flower for a long season. If they have any faults in a garden it is that they will grow far too lushly on rich soil and collapse messily. They are better in spartan conditions. They are short lived and easily succumb to bossy neighbours but they will move around a garden by seeding into any suitable places and here have designs on conquering the paths where there is little competition. Of course left here the flowers would be crushed underfoot so in early autumn I rip up the plants, tear them to pieces and poke the bits into any spare corners. They will all take and be flowering by the following summer. Well done them!

a quick brick trick

2010-06-09T02:59:00.001+01:00

has once again been the solution for new seating in the garden. Last autumn a miscalculation with the paving brick order left us with an enormous stack of bricks unused outside the office and I've been wracking my brains on how to make the best use of these. The Sunday workers are dab hands at knocking up gabion benches filled with random broken rubble but with whole bricks aplenty I thought we could try something rather more sophisticated to provide seating to encircle the new south-end lawn.

I mislay tape measures regularly so usually resort to sticks, my feet or similar to measure up. The new bench was measured to be exactly one long piece of string in length. Pauline and Michael, used to my methods and length of string in hand, cut the required pieces - two long sides, two end panels and lots of dividers - from a new roll of steel mesh, making do with a rather dilapidated pair of bolt cutters. Laid out around the curve of the lawn, side by side and upright, the sides, the end panels and dividers were simply connected with steel spirals 'twizzled' into place.

This made a long, curved, bottomless, topless box with sections along the whole length. Lightweight and flexible, it is easy to adjust the position before firmly pressing the bottom edge, 'toothed' with the cut edges of the steel mesh, firmly into the soil beneath. Full, it will be immovable.

To make the body of the bench the sections are filled with a double layer of bricks stood on end and jammed in very tightly so there is little room for movement. It was filled in no time. To finish off the cut ends of the spirals will be ground down smooth and it will be complete. A big brick bench finished in a day - a bit bumpy on the behind maybe but it does look rather elegant.

I sit and drink tea in a plastic chair by the office so will not be troubled by the bumpiness myself. Let me know if you are.

the quick and the dead

2010-06-08T13:09:00.011+01:00

Again I find myself delighted by the Dragon Arum, Dracunculus vulgaris, and its comedy stinkiness. Every year without fail the flowers, whopping great funnels of rich velvety purple, fill the garden with a far reaching stench of death, perturbing visitors and making me smile. The flowers fragrant mimicry is proven effective as the blooms dance with flies drawn excitedly to the promise of a corpse-based feast. They will be disappointed.

The flowers only stink to heaven on the first day of opening and this is key to their successful cross pollination. Inside the flower the female parts are receptive to pollen only as it opens and smells ripest. As flies enter the bloom they deposit pollen carried on their hairy bodies, fertilising the flower, but they are unable to climb the waxy, slippery walls of the flower to get out. Trapping the flies overnight until it is no longer receptive to pollen, the flower releases its own, the scent fades and the flower starts to wither - in the morning the hungry flies with a fresh coat of pollen flies are released. Of course being gluttonous simpletons they rush to the next freshly opened flower only to spend another night trapped by deceit. Ha!

Here the flies get busy on a newly opened bloom.

bee but no bumble

2010-05-21T11:37:00.003+01:00

Since the earliest flowers opened at the end of winter there have been bees busily working the flowers in the garden. Lots of small glossy black bumblebees and lighter coloured, hairier ones and I was stumped as neither appeared on the bumblebee ID chart.

Watching the black bees feed at the flowers it was obvious what extraordinarily long tongues they had, perfect for the tubular flowers of the early comfrey, and the pollen baskets on their back legs stood out bright orange. The lighter coloured ones were patrolling territories around patches of flowers, just like Wool Carder bees, but instead of pouncing on intruders aggressively as these do it was clear they were intent on mating with the black intruders - Wool Carders don't appear until June and I was confused. With these characteristics noted an internet search followed.

Turns out they are not two species of bumblebees at all but instead are Hairy Footed Flower Bees, Anthophora plumipes. Aside from their lovely name I discovered they nest in holes in walls and other cavities, constructing cells from particles of soil, prefer deep-throated flowers and defend themselves with their large and hairy middle feet (love that!). The lighter coloured males do patrol flowers on the look out for willing females but they don't chase off other species - though they will try it on with them. I read they are easily recognised as not being bumblebees by their colour - there are no black bumblebees, by their flight pattern, quick and full of stops and starts - bumblebees fly slow and steadily, and by the shrillness of their 'buzz' (this last seems rather subjective, for me a buzz is a buzz).

Here is a male, shrilly buzzing as he feeds on blue comfrey flowers.

They will all be gone soon until next year as they only fly from March to late May, wisely leaving the scene before aggressive Wool Carder males appear eager to club them to death with their spike-pronged tails. Can't say I blame them.

everyone wants to know...

2010-05-20T16:30:00.001+01:00

what this is.

It is Abutilon vitifolium, in full bloom with a great display of silky violet flowers. It is a quick growing, drought tolerant shrub, this plant has grown to 2m in two years, for full sun and well drained soil and opens the first of its crop of flowers in mid spring, continuing for at least a couple of months.

I can't remember which form we have - the label is somewhere - but all are good. Their is a lovely white form called 'Veronica Tennant' that is widely available but I do prefer the darker shades. I read they are not the hardiest of shrubs but I know of one growing in a cold Yorkshire garden in badly drained clay so they can't be that tender. They are not long lived but are easy to root from cuttings and easy from seed. The only problem with them is that the wood is very soft and they are easily broken by strong winds in exposed situations - or by being planted too close to railings.

This poor misshapen fellow flowering cheerfully at the North end has been repeatedly ripped to pieces by drug-rooters needing a rooting stick so has never really had a chance to get going. Blighters!

under lions and unicorns

2010-05-20T01:45:00.005+01:00

St Georges Church, Bloomsbury, has a spire draped with a lion and a golden horned unicorn. Luckily this attracts the attention upwards so it was easy to miss the sad state the hard winter had left the planters in (if you were a passer-by). For Nicolette, working in the office, it was all too obvious and she got in touch to see if we could help.

Last year the church had new planters installed and these were filled with a range of summer flowering perennials edged with small box plants. The box plants had established well but the perennials had proved not to be and a fine crop of Sticky Willy and nettles had taken their place, their seeds lying in wait in the topsoil used to fill the planters. Nicolette informed me that most of the previous plants had been brightly coloured sun-worshippers such as gaillardias, so it isn't surprising that the combination of a cold winter, a shady position and claggy topsoil had done for them. It only gets an hour or so of sun here and is open to the public, suffering from the usual West End silliness, so the replacement planting was chosen to be tough, reliable in shade and give a quick bit of colour for the summer ahead.

The Clean Sweep Group usually works in the garden on Wednesdays but with the garden still full well after lunch ("ain't you got jobs to go to?!") it made sense for us to work off site at the church. Doug and Zoe first cleared out the weeds, roots and all, and gave the soil a good trowelling to loosen it. The large concrete trough holding a large clump of crocosmias, these rapidly increase and starve themselves into non-flowering, was weeded, dug over and most of the crocosmia were removed. The box hedge was given a trim to tidy it and encourage it to thicken - it will - box is tough. A dead rose was removed and then the new plants went in.

The rose was replaced with a Winter Box, Sarcoccocca, an evergreen shrub with great winter fragrance.

The perennial plants chosen for the containers were;

Geranium macrorrhizum - scented leaves, pink flowers,

Anemone hupuhensis Praecox - good foliage, pink flowers,

Euphorbia robbiae - evergreen leaves, green flowers,

Phalaris arundinacea Feesey - bright white variegated grass,

Stipa arundinacea - clumping grass, orange in winter,

and to give colour this summer fuschias and busy lizzies were inter-planted - these both do better in bright shade than in sun and will keep going to the frosts of autumn. A few Mirablis roots were tucked in, these prefer sun but should manage to give something even here - but only after four o'clock.

In the concrete planter the crocosmias still dominate their end but the new additions are all vigorous and will soon claim their spaces. With a feed the crocosmias should return to flowering but if not the foliage will still contribute and contrast well with the euphorbia's glossy rosettes, the geranium's cut leaves, the big 'hands' of the anemone and the bright white striped elegance of the phalaris.

It looks a bit sparse at the moment and the plants have that shocked look of the newly planted but given a big cheer they will soon pick themselves up, fill out and brighten this corner. So if you are passing...

here be dragons

2010-05-19T12:00:00.003+01:00

Today while remonstrating quietly with myself about the plant spacings in the new beds (its crowded in there) a bit of sparkle coming from the wheelbarrow cabbage flowers caught my eye. Hanging from the flower stem like some strange fruit was a large dragonfly in complementary tones of gold, yellow and brown with light reflecting off its transparent wings. These large and distinctive insects are strong flyers and can easily travel long distances so it is not unusual to see them in the garden but it is rare to get such a close look at one, they are wary and alert with lightening fast reactions and have the ability to fly forwards, backwards and any which way so despite my running willy-nilly I am usually unable to get close enough to identify them.

This one was easily identified by its distinctive wide abdomen as a female Broad-bodied Chaser, Libellula depressa, (the males are blue), probably newly emerged from the pond and resting after her maiden flight. I have seen these in the garden each year since the wildlife pond was completed a few years ago and think they probably established from larvae introduced with the pond plants but they are known to be colonisers of new ponds and may have arrived of their own accord. I am looking forward to watching its darting flight as it hunts round the garden for flying insects (do I just imagine the clatter of those cellophane wings?) and I fully expect to crick my neck jerking my head this way and that trying to keep it in view. I did this before and doubt I've learnt my lesson yet.

lace and the wartkiller

2010-05-12T01:04:00.005+01:00

Pictured growing either side of the narrow path at the north end are two species of wildflowers that teeter on the weed divide. Both have persisted despite years of mild persecution and regular ripping out to rescue swamped lovelies from beneath them. My efforts have been half hearted as both are very pretty and I always forget to cut them down before they ripen seed - both produce vast quantities - so they easily move themselves round the garden to escape my clutches. At the moment, fresh and in flower, they delight me so I fully expect to forget to cut them down again.

Flowering on metre high stems are the delicate white umbels of Cow Parsley, Anthriscus sylvestris, a common hedgerow plant that grows countrywide. It grows a thick taproot topped with a low clump of finely cut 'parsley' leaves. In its second year a flowering stem shoots up, usually unnoticed until the lacy white flowers open and then suddenly it is obvious swaying in the breeze. It has a small footprint, is not overly aggressive to neighbours and is short-lived - but it will seed everywhere. It is great source of nectar and pollen for hoverflies and makes a reliable display each May. There is a dark leaved form that is widely available called Ravenswing that has dark brown/purple foliage and stems. This is lovely but I'm not sure it is lovelier - we do not have it.

Beneath the lacey white flowers of the Cow parsley is a sprawling clump of scalloped leaves and clear yellow flowers. This is Greater celandine, Chelidonium majus. I lean towards it being a nuisance as it is a vigorous coloniser of new ground - every bit of turned soil will sprout rafts of its seedlings that rapidly outgrow anything else. Easily recognisable from the moment it germinates (and it is up early) it confounds eager weeders by simply breaking off from its own roots. That satisfying cleared piece of earth, still full of tiny roots, will soon re-cover itself as soon as a back is turned. The plant itself is sprawling, swamping neighbours with brittle stems that break to drip bright orange, caustic, finger staining sap - it was traditionally used to burn off warts. But it has redeeming features - I always get asked 'what is that pretty flower?', it is early in flower and continues for months, is bright and cheerful and will grow in shade or sun or damp or dry and is buzzing with bees. It is a 'can't beat 'em, join 'em' type of weed - I shall think differently later in the year but for now i will enjoy it and instead focus my attention on the rampaging Sticky Willy elsewhere.

cabbages

2010-05-11T23:05:00.003+01:00

On top of the dry wall in front of the office grow a group of wild cabbages, Brassica oleracea. Growing wild on seaside cliffs they are the ancestors of domestic cabbages. They are not first raters for a garden but they manage to produce loose heads of lush blue-green leaves on a dry diet of dust so earn a place, both as a wildlife foodstuff and as a result of seed-filled Welsh holiday pockets. The leaves are thick and fleshy with a grey bloom and are bitter, tough and nearly inedible. This won't put off the Cabbage White caterpillars that will appear later in the season, feeding ravenously on the leaves and gnawing them down to stalks. The thick layer of caterpillar faeces scattered then will make this corner stink to a sulphurous high heaven - the caterpillars store the cabbage sulphur compounds in their bodies as an effective chemical deterrent against predators. The cabbages will soon re-grow from their stinking state of collapse but this is all yet to come.

At the moment they are flowering and I like them. Above the leaves sway stems of pale yellow flowers, simple with just four petals they are unsurprisingly typical of the cabbage family, and they should be in flower for a good few weeks yet. I have tasted the flower shoots too expecting something milder and mustardly edible in a Chinese flowering greens type of way. They are as unpleasant as the leaves.

In a planted wheelbarrow, still hanging on from last year, a few small purple domestic cabbages are also flowering. These looked good last year with their rich purple leaves contrasting with the bright yellow Bidens accompanying them. They are very pretty with the soft yellow flowers opening atop dark red-purple stems. It is interesting that the purple of the leaves and stems colours the centre of each flower but doesn't extend into the petals themselves. The caterpillars won't get these. They are off to the compost heap within days.

St George's Party

2010-04-27T14:38:00.003+01:00

For some years the St George's day event conversation has been running, ranging across the board from the rabidly jingoistic to the simply bunting loving. There is no great tradition for celebrating the day so when we decided to give it a go this year the choice was entirely ours. Being rather prone to bunting the theme for our party was easy to choose - a bunting pavilion, tea, cakes, hot dogs and, with a nod to the war-mongerers amongst us (we aim to be inclusive) a home made weaponry workshop.

Some rather dashing posters up on the railings,

themed cakes,

and a bunting pavilion

brought in the crowds.

The weaponry workshop was popular,

with personal interpretations of the St George cross decorating tabards,

and a frightening array of multi-pronged, jagged edged,

death dealing weapons were developed.

Watch out Dragons!

A big thank you to the garden committee and other volunteers for making the day a success.

(There is something to be learnt from every event we hold and from this one I now know that;

- someone will always decide that the garden, mid-event and full of small children, is the most appropriate place to cook up heroin.

- acrylic paint whilst non-toxic and quick drying does not come out of party dresses)

non-bird nesting

2010-04-15T02:09:00.001+01:00

Today I had the willies. Ever since I uncovered a man in the compost bins who awoke fisticuffs a-whirling I am wary of concealed pugilists, so on unlocking the garden and coming upon this carefully constructed nest I hurried for a long cane. I know from experience that arms length may not always be long enough. Happily a few wary prods showed that the bird had flown and I could unpin the orange box splinter fixings, clear away the rubbish, mourn the crushed and broken plants and mutter "bloody nuisance!". I don't think Ray Mears would have been overly impressed - Im sure like me he would prefer they just slept on a bench!

the last polys

2010-04-15T01:35:00.001+01:00

The last trays of polyanthus have finally gone, passed to two local communal gardens where I'm told they will be a cheerful splash of colour. The range of colours had reduced to mostly disturbingly frilly pinks so I hope they are. Before they went some regular visitors had their pick of the best. This is Percy and Henry visiting with their mum. They have been coming to the garden since the wheels on the pram could turn and they were both very decisive.

Percy wanted "RRRED!"

Henry wanted "PINK!"

Not what I'd have chosen but what do I know?

cross section

2010-04-15T01:02:00.005+01:00

I know I regularly infuriate conservative gardeners with my stock answer to the question "what do you do about snails?", much to my amusement. I am honest when I say "I don't worry about them" as I can usually find something much more important to be upset about. This laissez faire approach does take into account that growing conditions here are generally rather dry and any damage is minor and seasonal, the worst of the rampages being in the moist warm weeks of early spring when new shoots are soft and succulent. Of course I keep quiet the heart sinking moments when I find they have cut something special and young to the ground overnight but these moments of humility are few, far between - and private.

In studies it has been shown that most slug species mainly eat dead and decaying plants and are even more important than worms in recycling nutrients. Plants are less vulnerable to damage when grown hard, with basic rations of food and water, so stems mature tough and fibrous. Over-fed well watered things, lush as lettuce, would not last long in this natural garden and notorious slug favourites like delphiniums and hostas don't even warrant a try ( I can live with this). Plant palatability seems to vary from year to year as does rainfall and what gets eaten one year will probably be back up and successful the next. For our purposes, we are not producing crops, molluscs are part and parcel of reaching a natural balance of predators and prey so I will not be reaching for the pellets anytime soon - I'd rather not find dead birds fattened on poisoned slugs and snails.

This year for some reason young snails have a taste to cross section white daffodils.

jelly babies?

2010-04-14T23:42:00.002+01:00

There has been a lot going on since this muppet faced mother dropped her goodies in the middle pond in mid-March. The grand total of three clumps of spawn laid this year were not fished out to decorate classroom jam jars so I am relieved, they do not do well in jam jars, and with the frog population being so low every bit of egg filled jelly counts. The two fat goldfish living in this pond have greedy eyes that seemed to be watching for an early spring snack of tadpoles, instead they were wide open and alert to predators and they led me on a merry, curse-filled dance before I could manage to net them out. They will spend the summer with company in the office pond.

I never get bored of watching the textbook-drawing-come-to-life transformation of spawn to tadpoles and I am always amazed at its speed.

The round full-stop centers soon begin to distort as the eggs develop.

Within days they have turned into recognisable embryos with head, tail and yolk-filled bellies.

A few days on and the gills can be seen, looking like frilly ears.

Almost ready to hatch the tadpoles get increasingly wiggly and the protective jelly finally collapses.

The external gills disappear under a layer of skin, the tail strengthens and all of a sudden the pond is full of tadpoles swimming and feeding.

Watch them go!

the start of the silly season

2010-04-10T20:34:00.003+01:00

The first really warm day has brought everybody out. I can't blame them, it's lovely, but my heart sinks as I see soft young shoots disappear under handbags and behinds. It all seems especially vulnerable this year as everything is out so late due to the long winter. Usually the garden has grown past this point when everyone is still out of harms reach indoors but now, rushing to catch up, the sappy growth is delicate as beansprouts. It will all be fine I'm sure but in the meantime there is lots of silliness to make my blood boil.

As the lunchtime crowd arrive I leave off laying the brick stepping stone path once someone sits immovable on the pile of bricks I am working from - I know, would you? - and retreat to the office to sort out the new plants to go in (special lovelies from the RHS show). A few can be planted in the new south end beds once trespassers are decanted - you would think that this area being fenced off would be clue enough that it is CLOSED - but I am waylaid halfway through when I notice a group happily settling down for lunch to sit along the low wall by the digby jones bench. This wall is mid-bed so trampled under foot are ferns. clematis and ceratostigma. I am direct with my "get out of the flower bed please" and leave them to do just that. Of course five minutes later they are unmoved and I try a different approach.

"hello, where do you work"

"in a bureau"

"do you have a desk"

"yes"

"how about I come to your office, throw everything off your desk and eat my sandwiches on it?"

"what?"

"that's what you are doing - GET OFF THE FLOWER BED!"

They move. I am not calm.

Now, in the photo above, can you see what I see? I have, so go and check. Head and shoulders into the horse-head bed, right on top of the Transylvanian sage, is a collapsed, grubby, swollen-handed, shallow-breathing fellow. There is no response to my repeated rousing "wakey-wakey" so I warily give him a bit of a shake for a minute or so to little effect. Of course as I am watering can in hand the advice of the nearest garden wits is to douse him - this they find very amusing (I am always surprised that people will just unconcernedly eat sandwiches not a cucumber length from an unconscious body). Instead I call for an ambulance. Two paramedics arrive lickety-split and finally get a response with an interesting technique (I won't be trying this anytime in the near future). They recognise him from a similar pick up earlier, his hospital wristband is still on, and think he's probably been rather 'greedy' on release. When the ambulance arrive they are ready to get him up, out and onboard. Hooray! No corpses today.

I have the feeling it will be a silly summer season again but do still manage to notice how well paramedics go with the euphorbias. But then euphorbias do go well with everything.

max and the mighty worms

2010-04-06T11:30:00.000+01:00

I have been at the Phoenix for good few years now, in fact for far longer than it feels, so the children that greeted my arrival have now grown up and some are now parents themselves. Just like it says on one of the benches the next generation seem to agree that 'I like worms and woodlice' too.

This is Max. Out taking the air with Gran and Grandad and full of 'what is it?' curiosity. As I had just unearthed this whopping worm and wanted to show it off - well you would - the timing could not have been better so up to the railings on my hot hand it went. Max is used to the tiger worms in his Gran's wormery but this one was much, much, bigger and so demanded some investigation.

When I first came to the garden I was surprised to find very few worms when digging, in particular very few of the large deep tunneling species, probably because the thin dry soil held such little organic matter. Now after years of soil improvements with tons of compost and leafmould added it is good to find their numbers have increased exponentially and worms are uncovered with every spadeful turned. They are most apparent at this time of year when the soil is moist and they are near the surface (they go deep to avoid drought) busy dragging dead leaves below ground to be eaten and mixed with the soil. It amazes me that all the autumn leaves heaped optimistically on the beds every year will have been pulled below ground with their tiny toothless mouths by midsummer Their underground activity is clearly shown by the number of 'casts' that appear each night across the lawns. This is worm poo, made up of indigestible soil particles, digested vegetable matter and magical worm excretions, and it is rich and fine and makes nutrients readily available to plants. All the rough soil in the garden is continually processed in this way and I know that eventually it will be perfection. Continually extruded aboveground as casts it slowly builds up to create a new layer at the surface and this slowly buries things - the brick chessboard set into the lawn is disappearing steadily belowground as it is buried by worms. I wonder, if I stood still long enough, how quickly I would go under too?

californian gooseberries

2010-04-06T10:25:00.000+01:00

Three years after being planted in the garden two Californian gooseberries have established and are in flower. Both have intriguing, if not spectacular, hanging flowers and are protected by an array of particularly vicious spines so these don't get picked.

The fuschia-flowered gooseberry, Ribes speciosum, will eventually make a 6ft mound of arching stems covered with typical green currant leaves much improved for being shiny. Starting in February the length of each stem drips with glossy red flowers - if like a fuschia then they've been petal-plucked - and it will be in flower for two months. It is adapted to summer drought, flowering and growing in the cooler months. During very dry summer weather it will simply shed leaves to reduce its water demands. The first rains of autumn will soon encourage a flush of fresh green leaves - if not too exposed to the worst of the weather these will stay looking fresh throughout winter. It is normally recommended for sunny walls so as to ensure good flowering but seems happy and flowers reliably in dry shade under deciduous trees

The Sierra Gooseberry, Ribes roezlii, originates from moister places in the wild but this seems relative for it's garden use here, California being hotter and drier than we ever are. It is growing successfully here in thin soil that gets very dry in summer. It is deciduous but comes into leaf early and opens it's short season of flowers in March. The flowers are maroon and bright white, appearing singly or in pairs all along each branch - I think they look like dangling pulled teeth - and on sunny days the small points of white stand out from some distance. It is definitely not a front row shrub but is unusual and interesting.

The fruit of both are supposedly edible but none have appeared so far, bees visit the flowers of roezlii but I have seen none on speciosum. In the wild both are visited by hummingbirds, we don't see many of those round here, and I am not expecting heavy crops. Planning for pies, we have just planted two culinary varieties near the compost bins, which will no doubt please the blackbirds - but then I hear they are good in pies too.

golden transformers

2010-03-27T04:04:00.005Z

The golden-leaf variant of the common stinging nettle - Urtica dioica 'Good As Gold' - has made some good stands in the past couple of years since arriving as small rooted pieces, wrapped in damp kitchen roll, from Rosie Castle's nursery Alter-natives (Rosie specialises in unusual forms of native plants). Despite a pernicious parentage it seems to stay reasonably clumping and has not run about like the vicious green stingers do, it is sting-y but not overly aggressive. It is, I think, a good garden plant and definitely not your average nettle but I do have the beholders eye. The very first new shoots appear above ground looking little different from the green but they soon extend and the green of the new leaves is increasingly suffused with bronze highlights.

In just a couple of weeks the bronzed areas brighten to a luminous gold that shines out as bright as daffodils and it is transformed. Later in the season as they mature the leaves lose their intensity and the stems will take on reddish tones. I will still like it then for its unmistakable nettle form.

More commonly grown is the golden hop - Humulus lupulus 'Aurea' - a tough herbaceous climber that will rapidly twine its annual stems clockwise up any support to ten feet plus each year. It has intense yellow foliage in full sun and will hang swags of papery flowers late in the season. In part shade it is a softer green-yellow and I think nicer here

The shoots emerge from the soil a deep red,

but the first leaves open and show the colour to come.

Both of these are as easy to grow as you would expect in any reasonable soil. They are greedy and much improved by chucking the occasional bucket of liquid feed on them through the growing season. Hops are easily increased from root cuttings taken in winter but the nettle is surprisingly slow to establish from small rooted pieces taken in early spring being vulnerable to molluscs until they toughen and get stingy.

Throughout the summer I will no doubt hear many disparaging remarks concerning the nettles. I may respond with a reminder that, like the nettles, silence is golden.

froggy did a-wooing go

2010-03-26T19:41:00.003Z

Rain kept the garden people free so this frog sang his gentle serenade.

a weed by any other name

2010-03-26T19:37:00.009Z

but some weeds have their uses.

This is Lamium garganicum, a dead nettle with early flowers and a carpeting habit, coming into flower to the left of the gate. It is an Italian woodlander and is used to summer drought and poor soil. In two years it has made a dense carpet of growth 20cm tall and 2metres across - and it is still going. It spreads by rooting stems across the soil surface and though very vigorous is easily removed (but get every bit or it will be back). I like it for its 3 month season of mauve-pink and white large lipped flowers and its ability to lushly grow on the worst soil. The early bees like it too, as much as they like all of the dead nettles and that means they like it a lot, but I would not want it with polite neighbours as it would drive them out under its relentless advance. For these places I would use the easily obtained Lamium maculatum with its later neater flowers and foliage brightly marked with silver stripes, it carpets but not aggressively and is generally better for garden use - we have this elsewhere in the garden - but here on dusty broken brick it would give up the ghost under a silver coat of drought induced mildew. I'll stick with this wildling in this bed paired with big bad neighbours who won't complain.

[March 2011 - I now think this is just a plain leaved form of Lamium maculatum - if you know better please let me know]

helleborus

2010-03-26T18:47:00.001Z

Speak for yourself. I like them.

Last year when the new south-end beds were planted up we included a number of hellebore orientalis hybrids for their late winter flowers and tolerance of summer drought. These were raised from small seedlings collected a good few years ago and grown on in pots till large enough to plant out. They flower early each year with flowers in various shades of green, yellow, red and plum with waxy long lasting sepals (the sepals are doing the same job as petals - similar to clematis flowers). Each flower is delicately spotted and striped on its face but the flowers hang their heads and you need to turn up the bloom to see this - be warned though, if I catch you mid-bed doing this I will shout at you for you will be stood on emerging new shoots!

Hellebore orientalis hybrids make good clumps of dark green cut leaves and are happy in shade, growing in soil with added leaf-mould and compost they are long lived and summer-drought tolerant. They are originally woodland plants and make the most of the bare branches above to grow and flower before the trees leaf and the light levels drop. The flowering stems appear early in the year and in hard frosts keel over only to right themselves when the weather improves. Our plants will take a few years to bulk up but even now are giving a good showing.

In red,

spotty, whitey, greeny,

and damson.

Yum!

crocus

2010-03-26T18:07:00.002Z

I am a fan of crocus and love the great sheets of purple, yellow and white flowers that spread across some late winter lawns. I generally prefer the smaller species and hybrids to the larger flowering 'Dutch' crocus but am no purist and all of them just require good drainage and some sun. Crocus are tough and generally pest free - sparrows are meant to rip the flowers apart but the few that visit prefer to stuff their beaks at the feeders and mice supposedly dig up and ravenously eat the corms but those here are too full on visitor leftovers to dig.

It is apparent that many visitors don't look down (I grew up with a garden and dogs so this is second nature) and without some protection they soon fall foul of big stupid feet. They do well tucked where they can peek out sheltered beside pots and rocks and open their flowers with the smallest show of sun. On warm days they release a rich honey scent and so my knees are muddy again.

chrysanthus 'Cream Beauty" (the earliest)

'Pickwick"

seiberi tricolor

tommasinianus 'Whitewell Purple'

'Joan of Arc"

garrad approves

2010-03-19T01:56:00.004Z

Garrad, a garden neighbour and volunteer, has one of the best views of the garden. He is happy to give feedback on garden works and is especially critical of my more messy moments - he has a particular dislike of the large white dumpy bags used for leaves, compost etc.

Today he was all praise and came to say the garden's fantastic.

Which is nice.

Polly who?

2010-03-18T18:37:00.002Z

I'm not a great fan of Parks department spring bedding relying as it does on cheap Polyanthus primulas. Unlike their primrose ancestors the flowers are big and blousy but are weatherproof and make a reliable 'splash of colour' in late winter into spring - unfortunately the undecided mish-mash of colours does irritate me.

When 20 trays of council excess, in the usual primary shades, were left in the garden unused I was undecided how to use them at first but as the colour showed in the buds it became possible to pick out single colours from the mix and these have been planted in matching colour groups - blue with blue and pink with pink. This is much more pleasing. They may not have the pale hedgerow delicacy of wild primroses but planted in scattered groups manage to look psychedelically natural:

in blue,

in yellow and white.

and in brazen pink - deservedly behind bars.

sun sun sun

2010-03-13T16:58:00.004Z

In mid-winter the sun is so low in the sky it barely reaches the garden. The one patch of sun gathers visitors to it at the north end and I glare at them cold and grumpy from the cold office door - "they must be up to no good to be up the back in this weather!"

Now the year has turned it is back beaming along the canyons of the city and got me right in the eyes at the gate. Won't be long before I'm hot and grumpy.

releasing the inner pilgrim

2010-03-13T15:48:00.005Z

At the Stacey St/Flitcroft St corner there has been an ongoing and unequal battle for supremacy between a Potato Vine - Solanum crispum 'Glasnevin' and a climbing English rose ' The Pilgrim' since planting three years ago. They were planted either side of a brick buttress to minimise the competition between their roots and both have established well despite how incredibly dry it becomes here every summer. The vigorous growth of the potato vine rapidly reached the top of the railings and covered with mauve and yellow potato flowers for months is beautiful but its dense growth had become far too dominant. The rose has been much slower to get going above ground and up until last year had only grown bush-like. It has flowered well but low on the railings all the flowers were picked by passersby. The advice for climbing English roses is to leave pruning well alone until it produces climbing shoots and I managed to keep the secateurs at bay. My patience was rewarded last year as finally a number of climbing stems, viciously thorned whippy growths, had grown up through the tangle of potato vine stems to wave wildly out the top.

The potato vine has done a great job of covering the railings but in the long term this space is the roses. All the dense top growth of the potato vine was cut away bit by bit to free the rose stems from its clutches - the thorn free stems of the potato efficiently snag on everything causing whippy vicious rose stems to slap my face to a chorus of my own cursing. The potato has now been reduced to just two stems and tied in to have its new growth trained out along the railings away from the rose - I'll see how it does this year but it may have to come out completely. The rose now freed had the longest shoots tied in along the top of the rails at the corner and its lower bushiness reduced. This forms the start of a permanent framework of flowering wood that with access to light and air, and up high and out of reach, should be covered this summer in a long lasting display of large soft yellow scented roses.

early iris

2010-03-13T14:44:00.009Z

Growing in a small clump at the edge of the path is Iris reticulata - I have no idea which variety it is and don't really care as they are all lovely. It grows with its roots in the sand of the path foundations and is baked by the sun every summer when dormant. It is clearly happy here sunbathing with little competition and it opens it's perky purple and blue flags early each year. Planted elsewhere in the garden as small bulbs in autumn they only flower the first spring after planting before unruly neighbours drive them out. Lovely in pots, left dry in full sun through summer, as is . . .

Iris unguicularis. This isn't a bulb but grows as a tight clump of dense rhizomes - a small clump is in full bloom on top of the gabion wall round the office. Given a site that is dry and sun- baked each summer it will flower reliably every winter opening a succession of delicately marked flowers. Like so many iris that hail from summer dry climates it grows only in the wetter cooler months, sending out new leaves and fleshy white roots with the first rains of autumn. The roots transform into brown wiry anchors and digging up an established plant is surprisingly hard work. Which is just as well as this has taken years to grow from a small donated division and I'd hate it to walk.

A presentation - late but better than never.

2010-03-13T13:24:00.004Z

This is Miriam. Just presented with and proudly holding her certificate from the 2009 St Giles and Seven Dials in Bloom competition she manages a smile despite the cold - it's been bitter - well done Miriam! Miriam has been working on a cookery book in Tuscany and couldn't collect it earlier. She is 'Highly Commended'.

Miriam contends with the common problems that many of those gardening in communal spaces locally experience - shade, neighbours and landlords. In her garden on Macklin St she struggles with a very dark dry courtyard, surprise building improvements and over-enthusiastic independent interventions - her plants get removed and replaced with post-Christmas poinsettias (I understand her irritation with the last for similar intruders appear here but I have no need to diplomatically negotiate their removal but can rip them out with a cry of fury and throw them on the compost).

The recent round of building works at her block has been completed and she has asked if we could give some advice and assistance with re-planting this spring. The shade won't be a problem with the right plant choice and Miriam has realistic expectations of what can be achieved - success will be more 'green tapestry' than 'riot of colour'. I think we can put together a nice selection of shade plants to get it off to a good start and still be in good time for the judging this year.

out of focus

2010-02-23T18:02:00.005Z

The high wall at the rear of the garden had been adorned with a selection of unmemorable graffitti, strangely appropriate tags by SHRUB and a disappointing Quixotic horse and rider announcing the Wild West by Focus. They are gone and something new decorates the wall.

Towering over the garden on a background of primrose yellow are now three simple figures. At a distance I find them cheerful and charming. Closer the paint runs are clear and they are melancholic and tear-stained.

I like them.

why i am a pig

2010-02-23T17:03:00.004Z

or rather a wild boar.

It is nice to see that this winter a new robin has decided to stake out a territory in the garden. Visitors often tell me about their special relationships with friendly robins in their own gardens. I don't usually dissillude them about this but I am more pragmatic about the birds desire for companionship and am free of any 'mister bluebird on my shoulder' Disney expectations. I know I am simply a blundering beast, just another great hairy wildboar rooting through the forest, turning over leaves, twigs and soil exposing worms and grubs for the bird to dart in and snaffle.

I feel used!

the bench is dead!

2010-02-23T16:23:00.006Z

The green bench nestling in the arms of the tortured fig has probably been the favourite bench in the garden. In summer the leaves of the fig enclose it and the apparent privacy encourages all sorts of business - it is actually overlooked by the Pendrell ladies who inform me of all the fun in jaded tones (they really have seen it all before).

During its long tenure in the garden it has collapsed and been cleverly re-built time and time again to evolve from traditional park bench to a battered green truncation. It has finally succumbed to the abuses of garden life and is now beyond repair.

The joints have rotted from within and there are concerns that some overly-nourished amorous couple could become injured. Despite my gut feeling that a concealed camera would be the better option, reaping financial rewards with a 'You've Been Framed' payment of £250, I have been advised by the garden management committee that it has to go.

in my cups

2009-11-19T00:27:00.006Z

Growing up the wall at the front of the garden is a Cobaea scandens, The Cup and Saucer Vine (turn an open flower upside down and the name does make sense). This was grown from seed three years ago and has over-wintered with no added protection ever since. Introduced from Brazil it is tender and rarely survives the winter outside, it is usually grown as an annual when, sown in early May, it will quickly grow to twenty feet and be covered with flowers in a few summer months. Here as the weather warms in spring, despite being cut back by cold and by me, the plant re-grows rampantly to cover the whole wall and send strangely rubbery vines twenty feet up into neighbouring trees. I am glad it is held in check by the winter, it must be an awful weed in the tropics.

It has a long season of flower and continues until the weather is grim enough to damage the buds. The flowers are interesting in all stages of growth, from the first origami buds,

that swell to open,

first soft luminous green

then porcelain shell shades

until the colour deepens

and it finishes dark and dusky.

The funereal shade of the mature flower doesn't really stand out in the garden and, despite being continually in flower, there is never a great mass of them out at any one time. I much prefer the white colour variant 'Alba'. I grew this from seed last year and it was much nicer, its green to white progression of bells stood out from a distance and looked fantastic intermingling with the small flowered white clematis 'Summer Snow' (one of my favourite Clematis). Despite my favour it turned up it's toes in the cold and promptly died. Which is often the way of it.

Sparrers!

2009-11-18T20:54:00.008Z

For the past few months there has been a flock of house sparrows visiting the garden daily and they are usually seen busy on the feeders. The flock has numbered up to 20 individuals, the most I've seen at once here. The only nesting site locally is, I think, at Odhams Walk, Longacre, and this does make them vulnerable to disturbance - I have written in support of the Odhams residents attempts to encourage these lovely birds and to try and protect the dense ivy growth where they nest (ivy does make building managers nervous). I do hope some decide to cross Shaftesbury Avenue permanently and use the nestboxes at the Phoenix this spring. It seems only fair payment after all the seed they've gone through.

holiness - of a sort

2009-11-15T13:28:00.013Z

In the 'greenhouse' are a few pots of various succulents and cactus that have languished unwatered on the top shelf in far too much shade and they all look rather unhappy. They are waiting patiently for the new building and prime positions on the brightest windowsills but this will be awhile yet. I am sure they will survive stunted as they are until moved to better growing conditions but in the meantime one of the stockplants, mother to numerous plant sale cuttings, is is definitely making its presence felt in my kitchen.

Stapelia grandiflora is one of the South African carrion flowers and the family is adapted to grow in arid scrubland with seasonal rainfall. I collected the seed for this twenty years ago in Zimbabwe at the top of Victoria Falls, they have extremely rapid germination and were up in 24 hours, and have kept a piece of this same plant growing since then. It grows as low spreading clumps of angular stems and in very well drained compost is easy to grow. It is happy dry from October until late April but when in active growth does like regular watering. Like all succulents it must never sit in water or the roots will rapidly rot. After growing all summer the new stems will slowly develop enormous swollen flower buds. They swell to bursting point and pop open into great hairy starfish flowers over six inches across. These have an aroma of decaying meat, not overpowering but very pervasive, and an antelope-corpse-bumholey-ness that flies cannot resist. The mimicry is so convincing that flies will lay their eggs on the petals. These are doomed to shrivel unhatched as each flower only lasts a couple of days or so before withering.

Strange and stinky but I do rather like them.

clucking leaves

2009-11-13T20:31:00.012Z

In the churchyard next door there are a lot of leaves - an awful lot of leaves. These are being swept up, bagged up and thrown on the dustcart as they are every year. What a waste! Every year I try to get as many as possible brought into the garden to stack till they break down to leafmould. The only problem with this is that they are all plane tree leaves, tough, leathery, slow to rot down and even the best method needs eighteen months for any success. This takes up a lot of space that we don't have to spare.

I have had fourteen dumpy ton bags stuffed with leaves stacked under the walnut tree while i thought creatively about dead leaves and hibernaculums and with my love of poultry and lacewings the answer was always going to be clucking obvious really.

Now five fat leaf chickens are home to hibernating insects.

So that just leaves ten bags remaining. . .

alex's big banana bouquet

2009-11-12T02:58:00.013Z

After the debates earlier in the year, about the aesthetics of the banana and its suitability as a garden plant, I have watched and waited. Waited for the moment the ugly flowering stems could be cut down. I'm told the flower itself has it's own phallic charms but the supporting stems go rapidly downhill, progressively shedding fibrous sheets that hang like dirty brown bandages. Two flowering stems had gone from aged to desperately decrepit and really had to go. One soft three metre stem was cut through easily at the base with a blunt weeding knife. Too easily - the sudden deadweight was very surprising and is as near to caber tossing as i've come. Vengefully I simply bent the other over till it snapped off with a succulent 'crack' like snapping giant celery. Not the ideal technique I know but very satisfying. The young stems remaining look much better with a bit of space between them and I think thinning the oldest may be the only way to make this monster any way acceptable to me.

Just acceptable.

Alex sits firmly in the banana "Yay!" camp and is deserving of a butttonhole.

Such synchronicity.

wheesps and squeels

2009-11-10T02:20:00.003Z

I had a conversation today. The sort i like.

lady: "i don't like wheesps!"

me: "sorry?"

lady : "the wheesps! i dont like them!"

me: "i'm sorry, i don't understand what you are saying".

lady: (with waving hands and loud buzzing) "wheesps! wheesps!"

me: "oh! wasps! yes, they can be a nuisance".

lady: "and squeels. i don't like them either!"

me (getting the picture): "yes, there's one been eating the walnuts".

A Squeel (eating conkers).

pavior saviour 3

2009-11-09T15:30:00.007Z

Laying the bricks is simple. They are just placed in position, knocked tight to their neighbours and gently tamped firm with a rubber mallet. For the circles they have been laid in a herringbone pattern. This looks lovely but is a nuisance to edge neatly. Small angled pieces need to be cut from bricks to fill in but using these reclaimed bricks does make this rather difficult. They are brittle and shatter to smithereens as often as not. The edges eventually were cobbled as best as could be and then a dry cement mix packed in around to set slowly as soil moisture creeps in. Each circle is raised in the middle and this has given each a gently domed finish. This looks very satisfying and will hopefully stand up to the levels of foot traffic without slumping. We shall see.

The straight path sections were laid in a simple grid pattern, also tamped into place but thankfully with little need to cut any to finish. Where the new paving meets the old the line of the bricks runs at a diagonal connecting both together very nicely. As this weathers in the join should not be noticeable at all.

To hold everything in place sand, copious amounts of sand, are brushed back and forth over the path. This works its way down into the gaps and locks it all together. Using normal sharp sand it takes a number of days for it to work right down and needs repeated sweeping back and forth. All advice says to get kiln dried sand for this which is meant to trickle down as easily as that in an hourglass. Unfortunately every building supplier I've contacted about this has no idea what I'm on about. I hate that.

Once the bricks were well firmed in I attacked any protrusions with an angle grinder to eliminate any trips and smooth off sharp edges. Very noisy and disturbing to a BBC interview being filmed in studios on Flitcroft Street. They had no qualms in demanding I stop for a couple of hours - I had no qualms in refusing (I pay my licence fee).

To finish off bed edging kerb stones were moved and reset at the path edge. They are enormously heavy and need nothing but their weight to sit firm.

The garden was closed to the public for six weeks during the repaving to a daily chorus of complaints. I think the results are worth the wait. If not I'm sure they will all be only too happy tell me.

pavior saviour 2

2009-11-09T14:43:00.008Z

With the excavation completed the retaining edges had to be constructed for the circles. We used broken paving slabs for these, cemented in place and laid on edge they'll be strong enough to hold it all together and will visually connect this to other areas in the garden where this material has been used extensively. I am an intuitive bricklayer so the levels developed rather organically but should be rather suitable in this informal space (and would be nothing that an angle grinder couldn't correct)

The materials were delivered staggered over a couple of days. I am a terrible quantity surveyor and have no formulae at hand. Instead I use a 'hands apart and visualise' technique to work out what's needed so when materials arrive I always find it rather shocking. Of course it all has to be moved by hand so shocking preceeds daunting.

I now know that 4,600 bricks take 3 people one day to carry in and stack (with teabreaks) and that the garden is now 20 tons heavier.

Into the retaining circles tons of hardcore and finely broken slabs (broken by hand - now that's a volunteering opportunity) were laid and compacted with a vibrating plate. This is a deafening process so many thanks to the Phoenix Theatre stage door staff for supplying earplugs.

Over the top of this we spread sharp sand. Tons of the stuff. Mounded up in the middle and whacked into place the bricks - reclaimed and London - could be simply laid in place.

The straight sections of path, connecting the circles and to the compost area, would be edged with ACO Borderguard. This is a recycled plastic edging strip that just requires a compacted bed of hardcore and sand before being nailed into the ground. It is very simple to use but hard to find a supplier (the manufacturers list of suppliers appears to be made up as no one contacted had heard of it) - Screwfix do.

white delights on the water

2009-11-09T11:55:00.031Z

I like autumn. Lovely things happen in autumn. The hectic days of summer have passed and the shortening day length triggers new prettiness both left and right. The colours of autumn might supposedly be limited to the reds and yellows of the changing leaves but there are white delights appearing in the ponds.

Water Hawthorn, Aponogeton distachyos, has opened the first of a long season of fragrant white waxy blooms. This South African shuts up shop for the summer dying back to a tuber, an adaption for drought in its homeland, it will happily lie dormant underwater until the cooler weather stimulates the new growth of floating paddle shaped leaves. The flowers emerge above the water as pointed, capped buds. The cap soon splits and the forked bloom extends. These are sweetly scented, supposedly like hawthorn, and each lasts for a couple of weeks. Pollinated by insects they readily set seed and this germinates freely in shallow water. They can grow in deep water, in our ponds the depth ranges from 6inches to a couple of feet and they are much more shade tolerant than water lilies, a useful attribute in shaded city gardens.

Spotted by an eagle eyed chairman in the shade of the banana are the flowers of the pondweed, Egeria densa. This is the archetypal pondweed of goldfish bowls and has long stems of whorled leaves. Growing at a rate of knots it has become established around the world as a garden escape and is classed as an invasive water plant in many countries. In our garden it has grown successfully in the shadiest of the ponds and from a small bunch added in the spring has filled the pond with great green ropes. Here it is easily controlled by pulling out any excess. Small white flowers with three delicate crumpled petals are held an inch above the surface on fine green stalks. Hardly a show but they are absolutely delightful. Chairmans like them too.

pavior saviour 1

2009-11-09T11:55:00.023Z

The path at the rear of the garden has been in a state for years. Loosely laid twenty years ago it had become increasingly crazy paving as the cellar rubble beneath had settled and the trees have grown undermining roots. Some minor repairs had been carried out last year on the worst trip hazards but it has only been luck that teeth and hips have not been broken here. For wheelchair users it has been a bone-rattling roller coaster route so replacement has been long overdue and with the funding in the bank there was no more putting it off.

First the existing path was ripped up. Part of me likes this bit, the rest becomes increasingly anxious as the scale of destruction is revealed (i have in the past few years 'destroyed' the garden piece by piece - there is always the worry that it won't go back together - of course this doesn't stop me). All the old slabs will be reused for something interesting, in the meantime they are stacked outside the office. At this point it was suggested we could dig out the dead willow tree by hand - the trunk is three feet thick (as i must be) - after half a day it became glaringly apparent we could not. I am re-committed to not being led astray by the bright ideas of others.

Of course there is flexibility to any plan, what looks right on paper can actually be so wrong, so a general outline that can be adapted is needed. The initial design had the path ending at the wildlife pond at the back of the garden. When marked out on the ground this revealed a rather unnerving finish teetering on the pond edge so with a paint spray, a piece of string and a cane an alternate design was walked out. There is a lot to be said for working it out this way.

The new layout would connect two circular paved areas with straight sections of path. Easily marked out, less easily dug. To ensure that the new paving will last we put extra effort in to preparing suitable foundations. An incredible amount of material was dug out as the whole area was excavated down to a foot depth - or to the 'carpark' level (the car park the site once was remains just beneath). Thanks to Doug, Graham, Ollie, Garrad and Peter for just keeping at it till done.

in my bouquet (outdoors only)

2009-06-22T04:05:00.005+01:00

Have a look at these!

The Regal Lilies (Lilium regale) have survived the bashing of footballs and the gnawing of beetles and opened their magnificent fragrant trumpets. They were some of the first bulbs planted five years ago in a self indulgent moment and I didn't expect much success, the garden's dry and big exciting buds get snapped off all too often by bored selfish fingers. They are growing in clayey brick rubble and have received little additional care since being planted with a dollop of compost in each planting hole. They are plagued with lily beetle each year and we try and squash as many as we can - Alex is an effective beetle squasher with now seriously impaired karma - and this is obviously an adequate control. The dry soil probably helps with slugs and snails, both notorious lily eaters. Despite my low expectations they have flowered each year atop tall stems and fill the garden with dangerously rich perfume.

Sometimes they get stolen and I rage against the world for a while. I recover.

Up close these are majestic flowers but it is at a distance when I think the big trumpet heads hovering over smaller bedfellows look so good , and they need that bit of distance.

That scent!

Too much!

not in my bouquet - 2

2009-06-20T16:12:00.010+01:00

The banana has flowered.

I am unimpressed. This is widely known and a source of amusement. I haven't been able to find many redeeming features after growing this plant for 3years. The initial excitement of the rapid growth to fifteen feet from an eight-inch baby sucker and its enormous ribbed leaf blades soon waned and I now know better. The leaves get ripped to tatters with the gentlest breath of wind, the tatters hanging on till turning brown to compliment the tatty dead bits remaining from the winter. From October to May it has sat as tatty as a tatty thing can look and that is a long time to be tatty - fifteen foot of tattiness too. So now it has flowered - mustard and brown - yum!

To avoid the eight messy months of messiness this really is a plant best not grown by yourself. Just admire it (if you must) at the height of its warm season best in someone else's garden.

Like mine.

(thanks to malcolm for the photos - my camera couldn't cope with such ugliness)

not in my bouquet - 1

2009-06-20T15:28:00.004+01:00

The Tulip tree (Liriodenron tulipifera) towering at the south end is in full bloom. Usually this goes unnoticed even though the flowers are large and plentiful as they are a foliage matching shade of green - the orange flashes on the reverse make them no more noticeable. The strong winds this week have brought some of the flowers down to ground level. Interesting as they are I can't say they excite me. Its autumn butter-yellow display does.

This tree has grown enormous in the 25years since planting but it is not particularly happy here. The leaves show clear signs of nutrient deficiency with dark veins and pale areas. Hopefully the soil improvements taking place beneath will help with the problem

This odd bloom is on one of the Pitcher plants (Sarracenia hybrids) growing in one of the ponds - another interesting but not inspiring flower. These are carnivorous plants and have adapted leaves like upright trumpets that trap insects. Insects are attracted into the leaves interior only to be unable to escape up the slippery waxy walls. Downwards pointing hairs guide them further into the leaf where they drown and are digested in a small pool of enzyme rich liquid. Like all carnivorous plants they are adapted to grow in nutrient poor soils and gain additional nutrient from their catch. They are hardy enough to grow out of doors but have struggled to make any headway in the hard water of the pond and, ironically, from constant attacks by insects. It seems the Aphids will have their revenge.

St Josephs mini-meadow

2009-06-19T17:47:00.003+01:00

Back at St Joe's for the first time in ages. The radish and peas have grown well, the radish flowering and setting a good crop of edible pods (too late for the crunchy roots? eat the pods instead), the peas have just started and a good number of fat pods are hanging ready.

The children planted some tomato and chilli plants in the veg cage to grow on - they may not get any fruit before the summer holidays but they will be waiting them when they return. The uncaged half of the planter was planted with a mixture of wildflower plants and the area scattered with seed. We planted ox-eye daisy, red campion, black medic, wild strawberry, dog violet, bloody dock and pendulous sedge. I hope these are tough enough to grow here, the planter is smack bang in the middle of the playground and is in the thick of it come playtime.

Fingers crossed!

appearance of the king

2009-06-19T17:23:00.006+01:00

This is the first King Stropharia toadstool to appear since the wood chip mulch on the new South End beds was innoculated with fungus-impregnated dowels last year. I couldn't be sure if this had been successful until now as all the action takes place below ground. The fungal mycelium first grow to spread through the substrate during establishment. It breaks down the dead woody material using the stored energy to grow. When established and conditions are right it sends up a fruiting body - the toadstool - to spread its spores. As the wood chip is broken down the nutrients locked up in it are released into the soil becoming available for plants to use and a host of invertebrates feed on fungi so I am pleased this has been successful. I will top up the bed with woody material and hopefully the colony will go on from year to year.

The toadstools are edible but I didn't take the bite from this one - glistening trails said the boneless had been ravenously feasting throughout the night. Good luck to them!

orf wiv 'is 'ed!

2009-06-17T20:44:00.007+01:00

The movement caught my eye. A small buzzzy ball spinning this way and that outside the office across the ground. A wasp, hunting, had pounced on a fly. The fly did it's best to escape - it took a long minute for the wasp to get a good hold but finally firmly clasped the fly was carried to a horehound leaf where the end was brutal but quick.

A few deft chews and the fly was neatly decapitated.

Wasps raise their young on a meaty diet and are efficient predators of other insects. They feed on a wide range of crop pests, particularly caterpillars, and are an integral part of a natural balance in the garden and I do not kill them.

Small insects are carried back to the nest whole but large insects are butchered in situ and flown back in pieces (so are prawns at a cockle stall). In early and mid-summer they are busy hunting to keep up with the demands of their brood and are too busy to be chasing after sweet things. It is later in the summer when the larvae have grown that, unnoccupied, they become a nuisance. Then they seek out sugary things like coke, jam and over-ripe plums - sweet, exciting, slightly fermented and intoxicating. Then bored and drunk and bad tempered they will be out and about with stinging to be done.

Only if they come after me then shall I kill them.

Maybe I will chew their heads off.

shiny green fat thighs

2009-06-17T12:06:00.009+01:00

Shiny green is on trend in the garden this summer. Fat-legged Beetles are iridescent green on the ox-eyes, feeding on pollen and nectar and looking for mates. The males have bulging muscle-mary thighs - they don't hop or jump or do fancy mating dances so why these are so enlarged is a mystery - and these make them easy to identify. They can also be bronze, copper or violet but the ones here are green.

The females have dainty legs and fatter abdomens. This one is feeding from a Geranium flower (already occupied by a White Faced Bee). The larvae feed inside the stems of Spanish Broom (Spartium) and Thistles (Cirsium). There are plenty of thistles for them - I like thistles, I like beetles, so it's a good combination.

More glossy green nibbling away in the garden, and seen for the first time this year, is the Mint Beetle. They are ravenous devourers of mint and related plant species. I love their chubbiness and beautiful metallic green - they sparkle like scattered gems - and their shy shuffling retreat beneath the leaves when they see you coming is charming (the larvae are less charming - like the similar Lily and Rosemary beetles the grubs cloth themselves with camouflage coats smeared of their own shit). I will probably curse them once they breed like rabbits and completely devour some ' related plant species' that I like but for now the mint's dusty drabness does get a pleasing bit of glitter.