How nice it's been the last week, the grounds started to dry out & the sun has put in a long awaited appearance getting us thinking about planting things again. Spring seems to have been a long time coming this year but we’re starting to see buds swell & bulbs & earlier flowering shrubs beginning to bloom. A lot of us gardeners have been cautious this spring & who wouldn’t be after the atrocious weather of last year but we’re just itching to get out there & at last get the garden ready for a new year. Lets make it a great gardening one – we deserve it!

Last week myself & some of our Plant managers took a trip to see one of our favourite Italian stockists – Unfortunately we didn’t make it to Italy itself but we did manage to get a day in North London at their English nursery to see the best of the stock currently on offer & place some orders to bring a taste of sunny southern Europe into our Plant areas. Look out for larger size ‘specimen’ shrubs, exotic palms & stylish topiary appearing over the next few weeks.

Last week I wrote about our vegetable seedlings range so this week I thought I’d better mention our summer bedding starter plants range we have in now for those of you who love bright and beautiful flowers.

This range is perfect for you if you find that growing from seed is a faff or some varieties a bit tricky but still want an economic way to start preparing for the summer garden. Like the vegetables they come ready started in little plugs or slightly larger netted pots. You’ll need a light and warm area - a conservatory or green-house is perfect - and some compost and pots or large cell trays suitable for pricking out small plants into ready to grow on.

There’s something really satisfying about growing plants and bedding all the more so as by summer you can have a garden filled with colour for just a few pounds and a bit of care. Bedding plants are really versatile. They grow well in tubs and baskets and are also perfect for filling gaps in your borders. The range of colour allows you to create some really eye catching displays with which to ‘paint’ your garden differently each year if you wish.

With spring just around the corner and the first few days of proper sunny weather I’m thinking about which vegetables I can start sowing. Because we have a flat and no greenhouse I don’t really have room to start plants off inside so I’ll need to start with some I can direct sow and buy little ready started seedlings in a few weeks time when they come into the centres. This weekend I’ll be turning over the bed that I left plant free over the winter ready for some tough little spinach seeds that can be direct sown now. I’ll then clear out the last leeks and chard from the other bed and manure it ready for some beans and salad vegetables later on in the year once the weathers warmed up.

If you’re lucky enough to have a greenhouse seed sowing should now be well under way for hardier vegetables such as broad beans, broccoli, cabbages, leeks and peas. Tomatoes and peppers can also be started off now as they need a longer time to grow before they produce anything. If you have any disasters with your home-grown seedlings don’t worry. We’ll have a wide range of ready grown veg seedlings in stock from the end of this month for most of the planting season.

Despite the chill in the air things are definitely starting to happen out there. I had a quick scout around my garden on Saturday before the rain started up again and all that manure I mulched it with has almost disappeared into the soil already.

Over the next few weeks I’ll aim to get another load down. Our soil is so sandy and poor its going to need a lot over the next few years to get it conditioned. The constant rain this year will have washed many nutrients out too so in early April I’m going to put down some growmore to give the plants that extra boost.

You can really improve the vigour and health of your plants by using a good feeding regime. I use a general feed early in the year such as growmore, chicken pellets or fish, blood and bone in all of my borders. These are easy to apply by scattering at the rates on the packet then gently raking in. I like to give my flowering and fruiting plants a boost with a high potash feed which encourages flower and fruit formation. My vegetable beds get an organic but high nitrogen feed every month in the growing season to promote leafy growth and my pots get a liquid feed every couple of weeks.

So as soon as the weather allows I’ll be out there giving my plants a good start.

Last week I took the week off and as well as seeing friends and family I spent some time visiting a few gardens to get some inspiration and enjoy the relatively clear weather. Its snowdrop time and in many of the large gardens open to the public there are carpets of these pretty little bulbs flowering their socks off. They look gorgeous planted under deciduous trees and shrubs to add some much needed interest at the very end of winter when there’s not much else happening which I think makes them rather special.

I like to plant them with Hellebores which are an evergreen perennial that also flower at this time of year. They have beautiful peony shaped flowers in white and many shades of pink and yellow. My favourites are the dark plum, almost slate coloured, frilly doubles that contrast well with the snowdrops. Of course we have both of these plants in stock at present so if your borders are a little boring at the moment pop in and see us!

 

It amazes me how much all this white stuff makes everything look so different. The layer of snow and ice on the land really highlights to me how much plants give shape and structure to the landscape around us. I wonder how many of us really appreciate how much the look and feel of our outdoor spaces are influenced by the trees and shrubs we choose to use.

I think of evergreen shrubs as the walls and paint of our gardens, a soft framework to give year round permanence and to establish the feel of the garden.

Deciduous shrubs enhance this structure but can change the look we achieve seasonally. They look different when the leaves grow, when they flower, when the leaves change colour and prepare to fall in autumn and when they finally fall in winter revealing the shapes and 

colour of the stems and bark.

Trees can extend our look upward. Many people choose a tree to gain privacy but they can also be used to frame views and change light levels through the shade they offer.

Hedges can guide us round paths and offer a frame to borders to set off the brighter flowers inside.

Next time you’re in your garden or out and about have a look round and take a moment to appreciate the plants we don’t always notice but really influence how our outdoor spaces look and feel.

 

Well to state the blooming obvious it’s gone a wee bit cold out there. Still, it’s lovely to see a bit of sun, much nicer than that wet stuff we’ve been putting up with for so long now. We’re seeing a lot of you out getting stocked up on bird food which they really need at this time of year but birds (and other creatures) also need access to fresh water so don’t forget to knock the ice off bird baths and ponds so they can get to it.

In the centres this week we’re taking delivery of summer flowering bulbs - Dahlias, Begonias, Gladiolus and all the other bright and blowsy bits that add some cheer to your garden in the summer. I’m going to pop a few Dahlias in my patio pots again this year but I want to go for a full-on bright clash of Yellow, Orange and Pink for maximum effect this year.

We’ve also got a fantastic new range of Marshalls vegetable seeds in at John Browns and Cadnam. These seeds are well known to allotment gardeners as a proper old fashioned seed company that pride themselves on quality and varieties that really perform well. I’m certainly going to try a few in my veg beds as soon as it warms up a bit and I’m really pleased to be able to offer such a respected and trusted brand to our customers.

Happy new year to you all!

I love the promise of a new year in the garden, bulbs are starting to nose through and the promise of what’s to come hangs in the air as the days get longer. This year especially as last year was such a bad one for us gardeners – I have put a request in for lots of sunshine and when it rains for it to do so at night so it doesn’t stop us getting out there... We’ll see!

Our manager at Cadnam was very excited to receive a visit from a Waxwing last week. These birds overwinter on the east coast of Britain migrating from Scandinavia and it’s apparently very unusual to see them this far across the country.

Waxwings love berries and many plants didn’t produce enough flowers in the awful spring we had last year so consequently there are less berries. Reports say this was worse in Scandinavia then here. The birds tend to move further inland as the winter goes on and food sources get scarcer so this may be why we were lucky enough to see one.

 

Well this will be my last blog of the year and what an interesting year it’s been in the gardening world... We started off 2012 with droughts and hosepipe bans which of course tempted fate and we finished up with one of the wettest summers on record and floods! It’s been a really difficult year for those of us that love being out growing things so I’m putting it down to experience and starting to look forward to the New Year.

We’re really looking forward to the spring and seeing all the preparation we put into stock ranges for the centres coming into fruition. This year I also have my new garden to complete planting up which is really exciting so I’ll keep you updated on how it goes and my successes (and disasters!) as the year moves on.

The whole team at Golden Acres would like to wish you a very merry Christmas and all the best for you and your gardens in 2013.

I appear to be worryingly organised this Christmas and have most of my gifts organised. There is always something last minute though or someone awkward to buy for. My mum was having trouble getting something for my husband so as he loves barbequing and the odd bit of gardening I suggested some National Garden gift vouchers. He can then get exactly what he wants and it takes the stress out of it for mum.

We also have some lovely and unusual giftware at West Parley for those of you that want to give something special but don’t know what. Carrie prides herself on going that extra mile in finding products with that point of difference. This week I noticed she has found some old spoons! Actually she has bought in some really rather nice antique looking cutlery which has been stamped with little phrases such as ‘me and you the perfect brew’ (a teaspoon) and ‘spread the love’ (a butter knife) each piece is hand stamped by a company in the Cotswolds and unique. The perfect gift for someone who doesn’t know what they want. If you’re having a last minute gift headache pop in and see what else we have to offer.

Last week we had our annual Golden Acres head office Christmas outing – they actually let us loose for an evening - We are all very lucky in that we have great fun together and I don’t think we scrub up too badly either!
Top: Judi and Carrie. Bottom: Me!