The winter can be quite harsh on plants and their
containers. This isn’t a new revelation I have had by any means; it’s just a
thought after looking at some photos of a canvas bag I planted up with annuals
last year. The aforementioned bag is sitting in the old pea bed looking very
sorry for itself. The handle frayed and everything else went mouldy as the
geraniums rotted. I’ve grown to love
this distressed look though because if I didn’t I would be driven mad trying to
maintain everything to its original state. My wicker wall baskets are dropping
to bits and the metal containers are all rusting. But you know what? I’m just
going to plant them up again this year and I’ll bet they will look great (well,
to me anyway). I sort of feel that
anyone can buy new looking garden containers but to have something that has
been aged and matured in the Irish winter has a special charm and is full of
character. You just can’t buy that (well you could if you wanted to buy my
rotting canvas bag)
Disagreement
I caused a bit of a furore on my facebook page the other day
when I posted a picture of some succulents growing in books. Holes had been cut
into the covers and pages removed to form a circle large enough for some soil
and a plant or two. The covers were painted with wood glue and were very
decorative and worthy of being put on the dining room table as a centrepiece.
Others disagreed and thought the idea of using books and not having them on
shelves so you could read them was a disgrace. It’s divided the gardening community.
More Ideas
I think you could put a plant almost anywhere. I
particularly like the idea of putting flowering specimens in old paint cans
that have dripping paint going down the sides. The flowers could be chosen to
match or compliment the colour of the tin. How about old chandeliers, used and
broken kitchen sieves, speakers, old ties, trousers fastened at the legs, empty
chocolate boxes, empty snail shells…. I could go on as the list is endless. All
I know is that come the growing season all of those unruly looking containers
will be a fabulous addition to the garden.
Slow Start
I still haven’t ordered any seeds from Klaus this year. I
haven’t even thought what I am going to be growing. It’s not apathy or neglect;
I’m trying to be patient. Over the years I have watched my seedlings and found
that the ones I plant later in the season seem to do better and have less pest
and disease. I’m pleased I am not in the position of growing for the public and
having to grow things in heated propagators, it’s very time consuming. My main
priority is to get the beds ready for when things have warmed up enough for me
to plant directly outside. This year I am taking the very “Lazy Gardening”
approach and looking forward to just sitting and relaxing. I have yet to sit
for more than 2 minutes in the garden before I find jobs to do, but this year I
am going to stretch that out by at least another 8 minutes so that I can have
10 minutes of relaxation. Oh the pleasure.
Growbed
There is a new product coming onto the market this year.
It’s got going by means of Indiegogo,
which is the same as a Kickstarter project. It’s a small raised bed made from
canvas with a solid plastic frame. The raised bed, called NooCity Growbed has a
drainage area at the bottom and their unique selling point is that it has a
worm bin in the middle of the bed. The kitchen compost is put into this and
watered. The worms digest the food and
the resulting liquid feed is taken up by the plant roots. So far they have
raised €40,000 so manufacturing will begin shortly. The 125cm beds will retail
at around €130. The makers say that the beds are ideal for the urban landscape
as they can be put up on balconies and rooftops. I might invest in one for the craic and see
if it works. . It all sounds great and I
am sure they will be using canvas much more suited to the job than my rotting
bag in the pea bed
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