Dahlia Season - The Raised Beds contain
both Seed Grown and Over
Wintered Dahlias
Probably the most frequently asked question I get asked about my garden is the planting in my raised beds. What is it? How did I choose it? and How do I keep it looking so good for so long? Actually, these are questions I often avoid answering as the truth is probably quite unexpected. There are also the self doubts of 'it's not finished' or 'it doesn't quite look good enough - next year will be so much better'. I could go on. Here then is the blog you might think you wanted but perhaps with some rather unexpected answers.
The Cutting Garden in Winter
Let's start with the basics. The raised beds now form what I grandly call the cutting garden. My overall inspiration for this area of the garden is from Perch Hill, Sarah Raven's garden in Sussex. I love the way she uses colour and dense planting to great effect. However, Sarah's garden is often created based on trials of plants for her collections to sell on to us all via mail order. Only small areas close to the house are planted for what I would describe as enjoyment. By that I mean, planted as a flower bed rather than in rows. That's not to say that flower beds are not working hard, they should be for cut flowers and for show. And the converse is true - cut flower beds should and can be totally beautiful and full of flower without the feel of a regimented vegetable patch. However, I'm revealing too much too soon.
There's very little order and regiment in the July Cutting Garden
Despite a background in science, I'm not interested in trialling so my garden is very much the outcome of other people's exploration of what works. I like to read about about a plant and know how it likes to be used in a garden rather than discover this entirely for myself. I like a bit of a guarantee that if I broadly follow the information on the label about a plant's preferred conditions, it is usually going to flourish. That being said of course, gardening is always a bit of trail and error. No two gardens have the same conditions and no two seasons are the same, at least not in the UK, not yet (global warming may yet change that). I also shy away from rows of anything. There's something quite pressurised about a row in the garden. It needs to be successful, there's nothing more disappointing than when a row fails part way or is incomplete. Then there's the space between rows and indeed within a row. I find it wasteful to some extent and not especially easy on the eye. It's not a thing of beauty for me and my flowers need to be beautiful. Now, I can hear that this may well be controversial. A cut flower garden is just that, to provide a crop of flowers to cut. I agree but no one says they need to be cut from a row. Rows are certainly practical. They enable weeds to be spotted early. They can prevent overcrowding plants and this is an important issue, one that my method does not really address well. There is also the gardener who likes to have control. These are often the gardeners who say to me that they like early Spring best; not particularly because they like the fresh greens and new feel, although I am sure this is a factor, but more because they like to see the gaps between the plants. They like to see the soil. Each plant tidy in it's own little plot of earth. This is not how I garden and whilst I enjoy spring and I welcome the chance to see the soil and ensure it is as weed free as I can get it, I prefer the jumble of colour that is to come.
To basics then. In my cutting garden there are just three raised beds made from railway sleeper sized pieces of wood, stacked two on top of each other. This makes them ideal seating height, which I sometimes do but also the perfect height for pots, which is more often what you'll find on top of them. Two of the raised beds are approximately 3m by 2m and one is longer, about 7m by 1.5m. They are laid out with paths between so that I can tend the beds from all angles. This can almost happen, although reaching into the centre of the 3m by 2m beds does require me to get up onto the bed itself and the back of the long raised bed is not accessible as it is up against our boundary. An additional hazard is that the back of the long raised bed is often grazed casually by the sheep in the field behind our house. Just a little snack you understand; it's not the spot for the prized dahlias.
Tulip Season - When the Cutting Garden really Gets Going!
The position of the cutting garden is not ideal either. Cutting gardens generally require full sun, a south facing aspect. My cutting garden is on the north side of the house and is exposed; the boundary with the sheep is the north boundary and there is no hedge there. The garden is cold in winter, often windy and doesn't get much sun for that part of the year. That being said, the shade is from the garage which is single story so as the sun warms and rises in the sky, usually around late March, these beds warm up nicely for the summer. It does mean that I have to be careful what I over winter and what I plant out early. No half hardy annuals before May here for example. It also affects those late flowering plants such as dahlias or cosmos. They need as much sunshine as they can and so as the sun starts to sink lower in the sky in early autumn, the best place for them is the long bed but away from those sheep!
'Get to the planting!' I hear you cry. To do that, I need to back track a bit. Our garden is about fifteen years old, the same as our house. It's built on a farmyard and so the ground is very compact, with little top soil. To create our garden we needed to give ourselves a fighting chance and cover the compact clay, so we bought in top soil. The same was true with the raised beds which were filled with imported top soil. This means that the raised beds have created conditions that we don't really have elsewhere, a free draining soil. At first, I would dig the beds over each year, a particularly unpleasant and back breaking task teetering on top of the raised beds in wellies in full view of the neighbours, sheep and anyone else that wanted a view (There is no one else of course - satellite view?). In recent years though, I have employed the 'no dig' method where at all possible. There really is no need for me to disturb the deeper, more compact soil at the bottom of the beds. The plant roots are not generally reaching that far any way due to the nature of the planting and if they do, then they're on their own by that stage anyway. Now a light weed over at the beginning and end to the season is all the beds get.
One Year I Bought Several Bags of Discount Bulbs and just Dug a Trench
I've come to realise quite late on that this area provides the best drainage in the garden and as such opens up opportunities for planting that can't really survive elsewhere. There have been hints. Within the first few years, I suddenly discovered two self seeded buddleia bushes growing at the end of one of the beds. They are the master of finding well drained spots to flourish after all. I decided to keep them. Two reasons, one they provide a screen in summer from me and our neighbour who, should they stand at the front of their house, might just see me walking down the path and secondly, buddleia, especially the deep purple varieties (which these are) provide good cut flowers. (They also flower for ages too if you keep them deadheaded so perhaps there is a third reason). I keep the bushes under control by cutting them as low to the ground as possible in early spring. Here then is the first revelation, the planting for my raised beds, my cutting garden, is not entirely planned. Some, often a good proportion, is left to chance.
Leeks in Flower - Summer Bubbles
Originally, the raised beds were built as I had a notion that I would grow vegetables. I tried this a little in the first few years. But in general, it's not for me. I don't mind the growing, with the seeds, pricking out (not a fan of thinning out - perhaps that was a given) but harvesting? Picking or digging things up, washing and remembering to use the vegetables at the right time. I cannot tie the kitchen garden to what happens in the kitchen sufficiently. It's not in my nature, I don't care enough. I'm not a 'completer-finisher'. Over the years then various vegetables have been tried. I still grow a few each year in amongst the flowers of course. But only a few. There are some interesting on going remnants from my vegetable growing though. One of the beds must have contained leeks at one point as come the summer they flower. They are fabulous white spheres. Tall too, often over a meter. They are later to flower than alliums grown from bulbs, flowering in July and they last much longer. A great attraction for bees and insects, I highly recommend them. The flowers remind me whimsically of bubbles floating over the raised bed. I leave a few heads to seed each year to keep the continuity and occasionally top up the supply with a few leek plants planted in late summer, so much cheaper than buying white ornamental alliums and a better flowering time for my cut flower beds. Did I mention they make a striking addition to a cut flower bouquet?
Herb Wreath
At one time, again quite early on. I thought the raised beds would be an ideal spot for a herb patch. I set aside the end of the long raised bed for this as it is nearest the kitchen door - easy to cut I thought. I do occasionally use herbs from the garden in cooking but it generally has to be something I am reminded to do, again it the garden to kitchen thing. I remember planting rosemary, sage and marjoram. I sensibly kept the mint in a pot, having learnt from my parents' mistakes and potted up thyme which was just too small to compete in the space. Everything lasted a few years but with a cold and probably over-damp winter, the sage and rosemary died but the marjoram survives to this day. It's a large fragrant clump that rather attractively hangs over the edge of the bed. It is prone to seeding itself and it does need a good hack back each year but otherwise it is a very welcome addition. The bees and insects love it of course. It dries well and can look great in a herb wreath for the kitchen. The flowers themselves make a good filler in a fragrant bunch too.
A Meadow Mix in July
As thoughts of the successful vegetable and herb garden faded, my next idea was to make a cut flower garden. But by this point in life I had very little time to grow and tend seeds. As a short-cut, I decided to sow a single pack of meadow flower mix. Now this was not your traditional meadow, it didn't contain grasses and there were few actual wild flowers - poppies of different types perhaps. Instead, this kind of meadow mix was more a jumble of annual flowers and I think perhaps a few easy to grow perennials that I sowed and grew in one season directly into the soil. It was spectacular at flowering time. I chose a blue, white and pink colour pallet, sowed in April and was lucky with the weather (without really being aware that I was). The meadow mix was hugely successful. I totally recommend this if you have a garden space to temporarily fill for the summer season. I have learnt since that I had been quite lucky. I did not stake the plants or provide any support - I would now use a jute netting held in place with canes. I didn't sow to a particular pattern to assist weeding - I would now cover the seed trail with sand so it stands out against the soil so you can weed out unwanted additions early. I would also sow late, when risk of cold, wet nights is much reduced so that the seeds have the best possible opportunity to germinate. I might even make up my own mix of seeds - choosing various varieties that I like and mix them together. The trouble is I think I would overthink it. Going for a long flowering season rather than moment of impact - always looking for that extra value.
The meadow mix left a couple of legacies of its own. I allowed the meadow to self seed and casually waited to see what the next season would bring (if you know me you'll realise there was nothing casual about it - always seeking the value added). It obviously was not as good, the mix was not well balanced and some things didn't reappear at all but a few of the perennials rather enjoyed their position and took off, potentilla particularly - I was eventually able to supply the family with several new additions for their gardens from these.
Nigella - 'Love in a Mist'
Several hardy annuals particularly enjoyed the raised beds which originate from the meadow mix. In particular, nigella or love-in-a -mist. To this day these self seed each year and provide a sea of blue in June. Their seed heads are left, rather ornamentally I think, into late summer both to allow the seed to dry and spread for the next year, but also because the seed heads themselves are ornamental additions to bunches for the house and dry well too (shake the seeds out first otherwise you'll have a sea of tiny black nigella seeds everywhere). Their light brown, almost copper colouring quite a foil for late summer flowers too.
Other stalwarts from the meadow mix were the pot marigolds. These are hardy enough to self seed and return each year. Some years they suffer terribly from mildew, others they seem to pull themselves through it. It's impossible to keep on top of their deadheading so reseeding is inevitable. But towards the end of the summer I deliberately become lapse with my favourite tones of plants. In spring, I might add to them with a new colour or some heathier stock grown from seed. It is always welcome flower for wildlife and makes a handy secondary flower in any bunch but especially an early season flat flower posie.
Hyacinths in Early Spring
Other flowers I've had great success with in the raised beds include antirrhinums or snap dragons. Last year, I bought a new array of plants which flowered literally all summer and well into the autumn. I was delighted when some made it through the winter but sadly they then caught a bad case of rust which looked awful. I removed the plants but will try again as I've had success with them reseeding themselves previously. I find them a fiddly plant to germinate myself - I lack patience and space for their prolonged germination and slow early growth but small plug plants can be very cheap and reliably develop well in my experience. This year I've replaced my rusty snap dragons with cosmos. I've always grown cosmos and usually plant it in the flower beds. I have found that as the flower beds become established the cosmos don't like to compete, especially in that early stage. Deadheading is also a nightmare, clambering through the flower bed, hoping not to get bitten. Into the raised beds they went this year then. It has enabled me to really hone the varieties I will use for future years. Not an official trial perhaps but there is learning to be had. I need to be growing the robust varieties that grow tall and self support to put up with the often breezy conditions (no hedge remember). Also, the deep colours really pop and work well with the existing planting. I will hold off planting them out too soon - they are great sulkers when moved in any case and allowing the roots to be pot bound before they make it into the soil can encourage a reluctant plant into flower I find.
There is another bonus which I hadn't planned. As the years have gone on, more and more spring bulbs have been added to the raised beds. I'm sure you can imagine the moments when a pot of early narcissi or indoor hyacinths have finished flowering, there is that moment of choice. Throw way the bulbs and try not to think of the cost involved - you have had several weeks of enjoyment from them, or try for the added value and put the bulbs into the ground to just see if they come back next year. I often fall into the latter train of thought. I'm left casting around then in february or march for somewhere to dig a hole and drop the spent bulbs into. It's often very muddy and the soil is cold and very heavy. Not an attractive option for digging. The bulbs end up in the most shady parts of the raised beds where the soil is lighter and easier to dig compared with the flower beds, plus, for the bulbs the drainage situation is more suited to them. The bulbs usually survive and can even flourish, increasing their numbers. The result is that the life span or season of the cutting garden has been extended The first flowers in early February this year being some iris reticulata, the first time ever I've been able to get this type of bulb last more than one season. It's all in the drainage. The raised beds have their fair share of camassias, hyacinths, narcissi, alliums and tulips.
August 2022
The most recent chapter of the evolution of the raised beds has to be the dahlias. I have always been of the view that it is too wet and cold in our garden to overwinter the dahlias in the ground. Indeed, I have given it a go with a couple and none have made it. Even if they did show signs of early life the slugs got them before they could establish. Slugs come hand in hand with clay soils really. However, the raised beds have much greater drainage and so last year I set about planting my dahlias stock, with a view that if they didn't make it I would replace only a few in pots and treat them more like bedding plants. I pleased to report that they all made it through. I chose the sunniest end of the long raised bed and so there is a bit of colour jumble - chosen very much for position than aesthetics. I am still a bit sceptical about the long term success of having dahlias in the raised beds. It is very exposed and cold. Last winter was a particularly mild one. I will need to bury them in a much deeper mulch. Plus they are great feeders, so I will need to keep on top of providing a soil improving mulch while I'm at it. It's a watch this space situation really.
In conclusion then, there is no planting list and no overall plan for these raised beds and my cutting garden. There are no real rows and little if any formality. It's a jumble. I do remove things that don't work colour wise or that become too big or unhealthy, other than that it is a truly evolving part of the garden. Who knows where my next whim will take it? I rather like the idea of ornamental vegetables...