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IN THE GARDEN
Practical ideas, tips and gardens to visit – with Val Tame
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| Colourful Pot Pourri |
During the winter months I have time to spare, not only to forgive my garden for its punishing workload of seasonal routines, but also to start to plan for the new season. I rummage through box loads of old and recent photographs taken in gardens near and far and get really excited and inspired by all kinds of exotic possibilities: monster strawberries, shrubs with metallic blue berries and climbers with a scent to die for.
But you know, this year, what won my vote was the picture of my neighbours’ newly established raised bed garden – flourishing and beautiful. But above all, the message it was sending me was ‘Maximum output for minimal labour.’ Sounds good, what!
It was last spring when my neighbours decided to have a vegetable garden but, with no ground near the house with a suitable depth of soil, opted to install raised beds instead. I watched with fascination as they transformed a rather arid wasteland into a thriving, beautiful and productive area. Firstly they constructed four rectangular beds each 5m long, 60cm high and 1.5m.wide, just the right width to be able to reach to the centre of the bed without straining. The weeds were removed and the beds supplied with a good quality top-soil loam purchased from our local supplier (I would recommend checking for quality before delivery). After a great deal of hard work (and a little wine for sustenance) by summer the beds were full of every kind of vegetable interlaced with a multitude of flowers and looking fantastic.
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