Newsletter 2005 - Garden
As many of you will know, one of the key things about my garden is that the dogs are not restricted in their access to it. Whilst sharing my garden with my dogs, I have learnt many ways round problems and had to think of answers to problems that other gardeners do not necessarily have and I am keen to share these solutions with other people. Eventually, my aim is to write a book, but these things have to happen in their own time. As a precursor to this, I have become a garden writer in my spare time.
Tomatoes grown in pots on the patio
In May, I started to write a regular column in Dog World, the largest circulation canine weekly paper in the UK. They had decided to do a re-vamp of the paper and introduce a "life style" section and my contributions can now be found there. This was a wonderful opportunity. It was such a buzz to see my words in print. I also have to provide photos for the pieces and it is fun to decide which photos I need to best illustrate what I am saying and then to get those photos. Some of the pictures are ones that I had already taken, but others are taken specifically for the piece. I have had to get help from friends so that the photos sometimes feature breeds other than Welsh Springers. So far, my articles have covered a wide range of topics, including:
- Natural predators
- To grass or not to grass
- Every garden should have some water
- Protecting the garden from the dog
- Protecting the dog from the garden
- Barking dogs
- Fencing
Last year, we grew tomatoes for the first time. This year, we decided that we loved them so much that we would have four plants. We do not have a greenhouse, so they live on our very sunny patio. They are grown in pots since this gives them height and removes them from the dogs. Luckily the dogs can't work out how to eat tomatoes, so they haven't taken to picking them from the plants.
In terms of the garden itself, I was very happy that the papyrus made it through the winter and continues to thrive. The rest of the garden is starting to mature nicely. I have now reached the stage that I am starting to wonder if my two compost bins are enough, but I have no idea where I could put any more. The problem is particularly apparent in the autumn when I need to cut down the herbaceous plants. The problem is that I just can't bear the idea of putting my surplus out with the rubbish. I do have the grey plant recycling bags that my local council sells for this purpose, but I am loathed to let any one else have the compost that I feel is rightfully mine.
There are just a couple of places that I am not totally happy with. As with every winter, now is the time to think about what I can do to perfect these areas. I do love leafing through plant catalogues, dreaming of how the garden might look. However, this is an unusual winter. Despite the promised very cold winter, so far there is no sign. The autumn was very warm and the majority of my leaves did not start to fall until December. Never before has my wisteria had most of its leaves still on at the beginning of December. My favourite job of the winter is to go out on 1st January to prune the wisteria, I just hope that the sap will have disappeared sufficiently to be able to do this job without damaging the plant.