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THE SOUTH OF ENGLAND SHOW

A show celebrating countryside, rural life and farming, is held annually at the South of England Showground at Ardingly.



One favourite display of mine was From Plot to Plate, 'grow your own' harvested straight from the allotment, set amongst vintage kitchen and garden 'alia.



For the first time since the Second World War, food seeds are outselling flower seeds. No longer just a hobby to keep occupied in retirement, an allotment plot is popular with all ages. With organic produce and thrift on the menu, once vacant sites are now full, with long waiting lists.



Gromit measuring his marrow, with prize winning potential!



When it comes to Pot Leeks, among the men of Geordieland, size is important! Competitions date to the late 19th century, when miners began organising shows in clubs and pubs, paying a little each week to fund prizes.

Things have now become so serious that some exhibitors spend the night out with their vegetables to guard against intruders. It has been known for men to sleep with their leeks more often than they do with their wives!

A recipe for a traditional North East Leek Pudding, a recipe dating back to the 18th century.

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RAMSTERS AND THE CALL OF A CUCKOO

Today I re-visited Ramsters, a beautiful mature woodland garden, south of Chiddingfold in Surrey.

Today I heard, what was for me, the first Cuckoo call of the year, which famously heralds the arrival of Summer here in the UK.



Cuckoo, cuckoo, what do you do?
In April I open my bill
In May I sing night and day
In June I change my tune
In July away I fly
In August go I must - Anonymous

I must say I felt honoured to hear the unmistakable two note call of the male Cuckoo, a sound rapidly disappearing from our countryside.

Have you heard a Cuckoo this year? Please leave a vote in my June poll on the sidebar. (Yes - 4, No - 10)

Do I like the Cuckoo? I'm in two minds.

Click here to watch a short clip of how this secretive bird behaves - and that of the Cuckoo Duck! - narrated by David Attenborough. I'd love to hear from you with your thoughts?

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Take a woodland walk through Ramsters, a peaceful and tranquil setting covering twenty acres, originally laid out in the early years of the century by Gauntlett Nurseries of Chiddingfold.

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Not only is this a garden of rhododendrons, azaleas, camellias and magnolias, it features many rare trees and shrubs, wildflower areas, ponds and a bog garden.

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BERBERIS

Berberis thunbergii atropurpurea loses its leaves in winter but looks amazing at this time of year with its coat of attractive purple/green leaves and delicate yellow umbels.

A year or so back we gave this shrub a severe prune, but has returned to reign supreme!



This prickly shrub provides berries for birds through autumn to winter and makes great ground cover and a safe nesting site too. Bees will be attracted to the flowers.

A good value for money shrub which will provide interest in the garden all year round. Does need a prune once in a while to keep at a desired height and a good shape.

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- eryngium seedheads

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LEMONS AND LIMES

A lemon shade potentilla at the front of a border. A hardy perennial which is long flowering and will self seed around the garden.



A lime shade euphorbia, in the middle of a border. A compact, suckering variety which can be useful as ground cover. Will tolerate dry shade and looks great in a woodland setting.

Always be cautious when handling euphorbia, the sap is poisonous and irritates the skin.

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YELLOW DEADNETTLE AND BUMBLEBEE

Not as it may seem, the deadnettle is not related to the nettle family, but is a member of the mint family, hence it invasiveness in the borders. Even so I have found it fairly easy to pull out in areas where it is not wanted.

With its yellow-flowered angular stems and hairy non-stinging leaves, it looks lovely blending in with the fresh greens to be found in the garden at this time of year.



Many bees, bumblebees and moths are attracted to the flowers which contain nectar and pollen. I did spot a red-tailed bumble bee with its head in a flower too.

If you want to help the survival of the bee species, add it to your garden and you will discover why this plant is sometimes called Bee Nettle, a fitting name.

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IN THE GARDEN

I captured this beautiful comma basking in the sunshine today.

I had a day off work and spent most of the day in the garden, which was a real tonic.

By having this time to myself, has inspired me to start a new blog - a west sussex garden diary - where I shall record, in words, my sightings of flora and fauna in the garden.

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AURICULA

A year or so back I acquired some very sorry looking Auriculas from my step-dad, in need of tender loving care. I decided what was best for them was to pot up in small plastic pots and to allow them whatever time necessary to rejuvinate.

Having always planted Auriculas into terracotta pots, I decided that once healthy I would plant these ones straight out into the garden. So that's what I did and they have been a great success.



Often there is a covering of white powder on the leaves of an Auricula, and in Auricula circles this is called 'meal'. The flower can have a circle of 'meal' on their faces too.



Have you any terracotta pot casualties after last winter's heavy rainfall and frosts? How about placing a broken pot at the foot of a plant giving the illusion of the flower sprawling out?

I have more than enough crocks and by using much loved, if not broken, old terracotta pots in this way, I can continue getting use out of them for a good few years to come, hopefully!

photo - rspb website

SOWING SEED & A SWALLOW

I may have to sacrifice growing my own plants from seed this year. I had so many plans, but just haven't had nearly enough time to commit to the garden. I have yet to sow a single seed!

I had word from my Dad the other day. He has seen the first swallow of the summer, so this is the time he starts getting his seeds on the go.

Do you follow a set pattern for seed sowing?

Have you seen your first swallow of the summer?

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SPARE A THOUGHT FOR WILDLIFE

Back in January, Anna from Half An Acre invited me to write a short article to appear in the current edition of UK Handmade, a downloadable quarterly magazine. The content to be appropriate for the Spring season, tied in with the decline of insects and birdlife in UK gardens and how we might help.

'Spare a thought for wildlife and make space for nature in your garden. A large area isn’t essential, as in just a metre square a small wildlife sanctuary can be created.

Just by providing a feeding station and birdbath, or planting a tree or shrub will supply garden birds with food and water, nesting area and a safe haven free from predators, such as the neighbour’s cat!

A woodpile in a quiet area will attract beetles and many other insects, who will explore the nooks and crannies that appear once the wood starts to decompose. Frogs, toads and hedgehogs will discover the warm, dry space underneath, to hibernate until warmer weather arrives.

Encourage a small patch of stinging nettles, maybe a weed to us, but a great food source for ladybirds and butterflies. The latter will lay eggs on the leaves, which in turn provides food for any lodging hedgehog.

An old branch left amongst ivy makes a great perch for wrens, who love to bustle through the leaves looking for insects, and robins will use it too. Ivy produces berries, which one-by-one will be picked off by a hungry blackbird or thrush.

It’s easy, and by going wild, you too can help conserve the wonderful wildlife we have around us.'

An edited version of the above appears in the magazine on Page 30.

I have often wondered how I'd feel to have my own column. Thanks to Anna, now I kind of know!

See also Diana at Pebbledash for a delicious nettle soup recipe. A great way to encourage humans into your home!

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MAHONIA

The flowers, tiny, fragrant and narcissi-like, on a stem. The foliage is like holly.

Otherwise known as the Oregon Grape and a member of the Barberry family, this evergreen shrub appears to do well in any situation, in full sun with dry soil or in shade with moist soil.

In the photo above, Mahonia is planted in a woodland situation in semi-shade. After a hard pruning, lovely new growth has sprung back. If no attention is paid to this shrub it will grow to be a monster!

Plant Mahonia near an open window or front door, its intoxicating scent will waft through the air as you sit or walk by, and winter bumble bees will pay interest in it too.

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FROST DAMAGE

There has been a noticeable amount of frost damage this winter. Not only has this favourite pot of mine pictured above, with its piecrust rim, succumbed to the changeable weather conditions, but also many other terracotta pots around the garden.

Not being one for covering up with fleece or bubble wrap, mesembryanthemum and lavender plants, usually fairly hardy in this part of the UK, have not made it through the winter. In hindsight, I should have placed out of harm's way along a sheltered wall. A plant cannot possibly survive with constant freezing and thawing, and having to sit in cold, wet compost!

Tell me which plants have you lost this winter, in your part of the world?

William Nicholson 1920 © Tate 2004

GARDEN FOOTWEAR

In 1920 William Nicholson was commissioned to paint a portrait of the gardener Gertrude Jekyll. She didn’t relish the prospect, and only agreed after a good show of resistance as 'I think ugly people had better not be painted’. While he waited for Jekyll, Nicholson occupied himself making this study of her gardening boots. He perhaps had in mind Van Gogh’s paintings of boots and other personal objects which stand in for a person. In many ways it sums up her character better than the final portrait. Jekyll’s boots are now in Godalming Museum, along with other Jekyll memorabilia.

What kind of footwear do you wear when gardening? I must confess I am an old trainers kind of person!

Please place your vote in this month's poll on the sidebar.

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WINTER

... white



... bright



... delight!

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HELLEBORE

The hellebore, flowering above, is doing very well. It is planted in a north facing position, in semi-shade. When planting I incorporated lots of homegrown compost, but once established the hellebore will tolerate most soils.

The dark purple 'lenten rose' is a welcome addition, the only herbacious perennial, alongside spring bulbs, flowering at this time of year in my garden. Plant preferably on a bank at more or less eye level, as hellebore flowers do have a tendency to bow their heads.

Three or five cut hellebore stems do look beautiful in a vase, if you can bring yourself to take them from the garden.

The beautiful illustration above is taken from Culpeper's Complete Herbal with The British Florist 1812.

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FOXGLOVE

After flowering last year, I allowed the foxgloves around the garden to set seed. The result is good, and many new plants have sprung up, in the right place and equally some in the wrong place.

After a spring tidy today, I have found many a new home. I haven't the heart to move the one in the photo above, it has decided to grow from a crevice in the wall and looks to have settled in rather nicely.



The photo above, taken in my garden last year, shows the beautiful speckled-pink spires of a foxglove, nestled amongst a pale pink peony.

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PRIMROSE

The Primrose gets its name from 'prima rosa' meaning first rose.

At the beginning of a new gardening year, the pretty 'primrose yellow' flowers are one of the first to come into bloom.

Last year, immediately after flowering, I divided clumps which had become congested to multiply along banks around the garden. Now my 'plants for free' are coming through, with great success.

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FOOD FOR BIRDS

Throughout the winter months there will be many resident blackbirds around the garden. Leave a few apples on the ground, they will soon be found, and enjoyed.

At this time of year with the breeding season ahead, each male blackbird will become highly territorial, and will be seen, and heard, vying for the attention of the female. The winner usually being the dominant one.

The apples, and the copious amounts of rain we have been having lately, will too attract slugs. Notice the tiny black one on the terracotta, a real menace to the gardener!

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STUMP

This old tree stump sits in a wild area of my garden.

Can you see what I can see?

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BLOOMS OF TENERIFE

Above, a beautiful Hibiscus flower.



The African Tulip Tree with its flame-red flowers.

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THE CALENDAR - PART THREE

I knew when Winter swirled
Not by the whitened world
Or silver skeins in the lanes
Or frost
That embossed
Its patterns on window-panes
But because there were transfer-sheets
By the bottles of spice and sweets
In the shops in two little streets.

by Barbara Euphan Todd

These days, for heavy snow to fall in the South, is a rare occurrence. This was the wintery scene waiting to greet us on Monday morning (02/02/09) after the night before. The snow has now thawed and it's raining.

I wonder whether we will have more snow?

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MONARCH BUTTERFLY

I took this photo of a Monarch whilst on a recent visit to Tenerife in the Canary Islands. This majestic butterfly, the largest on the island, gracefully soars and glides through the air, before settling down for a short while on colourful blossom.

After wasting vital seconds fumbling around in my rucksack for the camera, I haphazardly managed a few clicks before it took off again, way out of reach of the zoom!

Unlike the species found in the US and Canada, the Monarch found in this area are non-migratory so unfortunately will not be seen resting on flowers or blossoming shrubs in the UK. To see this butterfly has been a rare privilege for me.

See more photos from Tenerife on my home blog.

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DEAD WOOD

Wood piles around the garden are a perfect home for hibernating frogs, toads and newts, as well as insects like woodlice. I do wonder which insect may take up residence in the hollow stems of grass.



Areas of the garden are given up to ivy! Our garden is like a bowl, with banking all around. Although it could be said the ivy has somewhat taken over in parts, it does hold the bank together, and it encourages lots of wildlife too.



I leave an old branch or two amidst the foliage, they make a really good perch for robins, wrens and blackbirds.



This is a tree stump, and where it is slowly rotting down, great crevices have appeared, a perfect place for the stag beetle to lay its eggs, and where their larvae will spend up to seven years inside. Adult stag beetles are short-lived and more often die after mating.

The stag beetle is Britain's largest native ground-dwelling beetle and generally seen in Southern England. I have been lucky enough to spot them in my garden, and last year I saw a large one in flight.

These insects are in decline, click here to see how you can encourage them into your garden.

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CYCLAMEN

A plant ideally suited to cooler temperatures and weaker sunlight, the cyclamen looks beautiful amongst fallen leaves.

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EDIBLE FUNGI?

Friend or foe, does anyone know? I spotted a large clump of these whilst cycling through beautiful woodland in Surrey.

It reminded me of when I was a child. My dad would every so often come across field mushrooms whilst out and about on his tractor, he'd pick them and bring them home for my mum to fry up. They would enjoy mushrooms on toast, but not me, I wouldn't touch them. These days I really quite like eating them, the edible variety that is!

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PEACOCK BUTTERFLY

A peacock butterfly basking in late Autumn sunshine. This butterfly usually goes into hibernation in September and spends the winter in a location where they can find shelter and darkness.

You really do need to click on the photo to enlarge, to discover how perfectly beautiful this butterfly really is.

A butterfly lights beside us, like a sunbeam, and for a brief moment its glory and beauty belong to our world, but then it flies on again, and although we wish it could have stayed, we are so thankful to have seen it at all - author unknown.

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FEEDING THE BIRDS

Over this weekend the RSPB are holding events all over the country to celebrate the wonderful birds around us, and all nature as a whole - Feed The Birds Day. Unfortunately I won't have the time to attend an event, but tomorrow I shall make sure to fill up the bird feeders around my garden and to replenish them regularly over the cold and wet winter months ahead.

Not all birds will feed from a feeder, so don't forget to leave some food on the ground too. Blackbirds love to come down for sultanas etc and robins love to feed on cake crumbs or if they are very lucky, enjoy a mealworm or two! Just watch out for the starlings, they have a habit of appearing from nowhere and eating everything in sight, and then leaving their deposits everywhere!

I would love to hear what you feed your birds, and which birds visit you in your garden or on your allotment?

A month or so back, Michelle at Veg Plotting opened up her virtual garden for charity to raise money for Water Aid. I left a donation and was lucky enough to be picked out at random to win the lovely birdbook, which I have photographed above. Thanks Michelle. There is still time to visit, the garden's opening times have been extended, quite unusual considering the clocks are going back this weekend! The fundraising target of £1,000 has been reached, but has been reset to £1,300, which could pay for a hand-dug well and handpump to serve 150-200 people in Ghana. If you haven't already done so, you may like to spend some time in VP's Open Garden.

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GEUM

Princess Juliana, a dark-green, furry leaved, clump forming perennial. The flower, in its second flush, sits on a wiry stem, is hot orange, which adds much needed colour to the front of the border in late summer.

A little gem!

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ANTIRRHINUM AND BUMBLEBEE

The plants are pollinated by bumblebees, and the flowers close over the insects when they enter and deposit pollen on their bodies. The bee in my photo had a very orange hairy back, anyone good at bee identification?

I was encouraged by the lady tending the plants in B&Q to buy this large pot of white Antirrhinum for half price! I am so glad I did, after initially deadheading, there have been lots more flowers and more to come, and hopefully be able to treat as a perennial and use next year? Remember calling these plants bunny rabbits, when you were small?

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THE CALENDAR - PART TWO

I knew when Autumn came
Not by the crimson flame
Of leaves that lapped the eaves
Or mist
In amethyst
And opal-tinted weaves
But because there were alley-taws
Punctual as hips and haws
On the counter of Mrs Shaw's.

by Barbara Euphan Todd

Stone or clay formed the earliest marbles, but the alabaster 'alley-taws' made better shooters than the cheaper clay - these words are taken from the National Toy Hall of Fame website.