Autumn

October arrived and London and our garden took on autumnal colours.
One quiet Sunday we spotted two foxes sleeping on the neighbour’s garden-house roof all afternoon. The location covered in leaves which they choose for their nap matched their fur. The sight of these animals in the midst of a metropolis felt very peaceful and fairytale-like.

 By now the vine leaves turned red and orange:

 and a storm blew the sunflowers over

 I started to clear up the garden for winter

Over the summer I had made a friend, who comes to visit me from the flat downstairs
most times when I spend time in the garden, Stanley the cat:

 So the clear-up activity has begun:

A Hackney garden in summer – part 5

In August the runner beans were ready for harvesting:

and had developed what I didn’t expect: pink beans 

 

 By September the sunflowers were more than 2 metres high:

 

A Hackney garden in summer – part 4

A closer look at the garden in July and August.
First year Hollyhock plants grown from seeds, on a fresh summer morning. These plants only flower starting in their second year. 

Pink and White Dwarf Godetia:

A wild star-shaped flower:

Floor covering Five Spot Nemophila:

Plants in our staircase garden:

Delicate, silky Ipomoea flowers growing through our Star Jasmine terrace railing:

Double African Marigold:

A Hackney garden in summer – part 3

Mornings in our garden in June and July are wonderful.
At the back you can see that the runner beans grew a meter tall and started to flower.

 Runner bean blossoms:

 A few wild flowers blossomed in the ‘meadow’ section of our flower bed: 

 A detail from our staircase garden:

Another wild flower, Borage:

 

Hosta flower:

 

 Star Jasmine:

 And our friendly visitor, the neighbours’ cat Stanley, who comes round every morning

A Hackney garden in summer – part 2

My second update on gardening progress this summer.
I finally found the best suited space for an ivy plant I had for the last four years – it is now on the terrace, facing North-East and finally doing very well:

 I love spring and summer in London

In June it was time to come up with some new decoration outside the front door:

And see the runner beans grow taller

A Hackney garden in summer – part 1

It has been a long time since I last updated you on my garden here in Hackney in London. The last you probably know, is that in April I decided to take part in the National Gardening Week. I cleared out the entire shared garden and started to plant seeds.
I can now tell you that the whole project was a success! Over the course of the summer the garden has gone through several stages , which I have recorded whenever I had a moment to take a picture. Observing the different plants develop was very fulfilling. Here is the first of a few updates : )

Step one, seedlings growing in a propagator:

 

My home-grown runner bean seedlings ready to be planted outside:

 

 

 

Three rows of freshly planted sunflower seedlings:

At the back, runner beans and marigold; at the front, dwarf godetia and five spot nemophila;
at the centre, nectar rich wild flowers to attract butterflies:

  A few weeks later: 

Lavender:

 Lavender, herbs and the flowerbed in the background:

 

National Gardening Week update – Seedlings in pots

As part of my £50 gardening project, started during National Gardening Week, I prepared the soil and unfortunately had to resort to snail killer (I chose an organic one which is safe for pets as our neighbour has a cat).
Over the last ten days I have been propagating flower seeds indoors. The seedlings are coming along nicely. There are Sunflowers, Marigold, Hollyhock and runner beans.
In year three of my urban gardening efforts, I am no longer nervously waiting for the seeds to sprout. I know, it is a matter of letting them be and watering them regularly  – they won’t grow faster just because I look !

I have to say, time has passed quickly and I am rather pleased with the progress:

Sunflowers: 

 Marigold:

Hollyhock:

 Runner beans:

 

 

Indian Cress:

 Updates coming soon

 

National Gardening Week – First Update after 4 hours of work….

I managed to get the garden into a better shape. It’s miles away from finished, but take a first look.

Before: 

I cannot say this enough, to whoever planted the bamboo in the neighbours’ garden, which grows its roots into ours, it was a really bad idea.
It took ages to remove the roots and it’s still not completely done.

There was also another surprise. I found a large amount of sneils. Eeeeh, I always forget about them and whenever I start to dig around the garden, the first few hours of seeing them are rather unpleasant. They started to climb up the pot walls….but I’ll spare you that

So I kept on digging

and weeding

As I was unearthing all sorts of bugs, a tiny bird showed up to take advantage of that

I also cut off the hydrangea:

and fixed the runner bean support net against the fence attaching it with cable ties to bamboo sticks that I had cut off while weeding.
You can almost not see the net.

So in 4 hours I managed to get the garden from this:

to this: 

I hope you like the progress

#NationalGardeningWeek #ngw

http://www.nationalgardeningweek.org.uk/

National Gardening Week – I’m ready, how about you?

Hello!
To take part in the National Gardening Week launched by the Royal Horticultural Society, I pledged to turn an abandoned garden into a little oasis – spending less than £50.
The money was quickly spent: £18 for seeds, £20 for soil, £2.50 for bean netting and  £9.50 for a garden fork. I did a bit of haggling with the owner of my local hardware shop. Mr Bradbury was happy to help me out, so I could stay within the budget – he knows I am a good customer :  )
So, here are the seeds with their package description. All, besides the Hollyhock should hopefully flower this year:

•  Red-flowering Butler Runner Beans (Early and heavy cropping. Sow: Apr-Jul. Harvest Jul-Oct)
• Mixed Sunburst and Evening Sun Sunflowers (Ideal backdrop to summer borders. Sow: Mar-May. Flowers: Jun-Sep. 1.8 mt tall)
• Chaters Double Mixed Hollyhock (Elegant stems at the back of borders. Beautiful, but only flower the year after sowing. Sow: Mar-Jul. Flowers: Jun-Aug. 240cm tall)
• Mixed annuals, nectar rich plants that attract butterflies (Sow: Mar-Jun. Flowers: Jun-Oct. 90cm tall)
• Tall Double African Marigold (Sow: Apr-Jun. Flowering: Jul-Oct. 70cm tall)
• Mixed Dwarf Godetia (Easy for beds, borders and pots. Sow: Mar-May, Sep-Oct. Flowers: Jun-Sep. 30cm tall)
• Five Spot Nemophila (Easily grown unusual dwarf plants. Sow: Mar-May. Flowers: Jun-Oct. 15cm tall)
• Milkmaid Nasturtium (Easy to grow softly coloured flowers that climb or trail. Sow: Apr-Jun. Flowers: Jun-Oct. 1.8 mt tall). 

Here I am ready to go. It’s pretty cold today, but I want to get started.
This is the challenge ahead –  the garden how it is right now: 

As you see, there is a lot of clearing up to do! My attention will mainly be focused on the back left-hand corner. I am planning to cut down the bamboo, ceating a new planting bed with sunflowers to the left along the wooden wall, red flowering runner beans to the back against the brick wall. In front of these tall plants, I’m planning to sow the butterfly attracting wild flowers, marigold and the colourful dwarf plants.
In my head I have a wonderful image of how it will be, but I know there is a lot of work, and a lot of patience required.

For now, the soil has arrived, the garden fork is ready, it is just a matter of unpacking the bean support net….

I hope you will be back to see how it all develops! 

#NationalGardeningWeek #ngw

http://www.nationalgardeningweek.org.uk/

 

 

 

This week is National Gardening Week launched by the Royal Horticultural Society

I pledged to start turning an abandoned garden into a little oasis – spending less than £50. 

What will you be doing to get involved?

http://www.nationalgardeningweek.org.uk/