Allotment in September

A quick visit to my allotment provided me with some lovely late ripening fruit and a chance to check that everything was ok up there.

Above I let a sucker from a floppy stuffy rose grow out in preference to the man made variety and over the course of 1 season has provided me with much more interest than the cultivar could. Look at all the lovely rose hips! Im hoping for even more next year! I did wonder about what I could use them for- but havent found a recipe that has interested me enough yet to try so left these for the wildlife.

The Globe artichokes flower heads had just gone over but are still looking beautiful and hopefully will provide some birds with some food.

I got my first and only pear from my small tree! Im hoping for more next year! :)

The sunflower seed heads were placed on the compost heaps and its easy to see were a hit with someone! Either a bird or mouse has come and pulled them up and eaten them there and then! Great to see!

And lastly a surprise for some very late strawberries! They were delicious!

FARM:shop

An Urban Farm in Dalston?? Yep thats right- in a disused shop in the east of London is FARM:shop which combines the ideas of sustainable food, the local community, ecology as well as hopefully a viable business!

The shops aims to grow much of its own vegetables on the premises, and uses hydroponics to be as sustainable as possible.

Tilapia are grown in vats - from which the water is used to fertilise the plants in a closed system.

There are even 3 very happy chickens kept on the roof of the shop! They provide eggs for the shop below to sell.

Hydroponics are used to grow greens for the cafe.

The fish in the tanks under the window and the water is circulated through the plants. At the end of the summer the fish are to be eaten.

Its a great idea and the staff were really friendly- highly recommended to pop in for a cuppa!!

2 mins from Dalston Junction station.

http://farmlondon.weebly.com/farmshop.html

Australian Landscape @ The British Museum

Every year the British Museum turns one of its front lawns into a recreation of a landscape from a different country- this year it was Australia- and ties in with an exhibition within the museum and is made in collaboration with Kew Gardens. In the past few years they have done China, South Africa and India.

I first visited the garden back in early May- where we had had some blustery cold weather so the garden really wasnt looking its best- but upon a return visit in late August really showed the plants surviving remarkably well the temps of a pretty awful British summer!

The grass trees always hold a soft spot for me as I have one myself that lives in a friends garden while I am currently garden-less! and these 2 below looked beautiful. I have to say a couple looked very worse for wear- but Xanthorrhoea are notorious for coming into this country with no roots at all- and then slowly dying. Indeed my X.glauca arrived with only 2 roots! But slowly regrew over time- but i know of many others that simply dont survive. These 2 below are probably over a hundred years old- which i believe makes looking after them something of a responsibility. They are all imported with a liscence to show they have been taken legally from teh wild from where the land had to be cleared- and would have otherwise been destroyed. And also luckily for me have proven to be hardy - especially with the winters we have been having recently.

My lovely Blue Grass Tree (X. glauca)

Me at the South African Garden @ The British Museum last year

Decklan Buckleys amazing garden

Decklan's garden in Stoke Newington, North London is really amazing! I was lucky enough to be able to visit earlier in the summer. He is a well known garden designer and architect and I worked with him on a garden at the Chelsea Flower Show earlier in this year.

His plant choices are mainly evergreen sub tropical species- including palms, fatsias, some beautiful specimen trees and schlefferas over the years the under story has become dominated by shade loving plants as his main specimens have grown above to form a beautiful canopy.

I loved this tank full of goldfish swimming in black water tank- so simple yet so effective!

My favourite thing was the outside shower next to the jasmine! What a way to wake up in the morning!!

I loved the jungle feel to the place!

http://www.buckleydesignassociates.com/

My Garden make over!

Ok so you would have thought with only 1 window sill to look after- combined with my passion for gardening- that my window sill garden would be looking pretty damn amazing! Sadly not- i have yet to discover plants that seem to like living on a shady windy window sill- things dry out too quickly and the shade doesnt suit alot of plants. The photo above show the sill back in january.

By April it can be seen below the Stipa already is sadly looking like it has dried out one too many times- the mini christmas tree is looking surprsingly good though- ive had it 2 christmas's already. The seedlings at the front are broccoli, cabbages and sunflowers for the allotment.

I decided by June that enough was enough! Things had to go! The stipa has already croaked it and been replaced in its pot by the Phormium that had been in a 3" pot for months! It bought a rosemary with the idea of having drought tolerant herbs in there.

So decided to clean everything up, chuck, give away or put in the front garden the plants that didnt need to be on the window sill. And I bought 2 Lavenders, and 2 Purple Sages to go in the trough along with the Rosemary. And here it was in early August.

And finally now in September I added a little trough of Violas to give me some colour through the winter.

Summer in Soho

I recently heard about an agricultural show being held in Soho and went along to have a look.

It was being held in the Phoenix Garden which is a community garden found right in the heart of London theatre district behind the Phoenix theatre- and certainly not a place you would expect to find a garden! http://www.phoenixgarden.org/

It had stalls selling jams and vegetables, a tombola, a brass band, a punch and judy stand and lots of animals! Who would have thought you would find a Cow in the middle of Soho?!!

It was a very gentle day out- just like a typical British Fair should be like! But bizarre with it being so central to the capital!

I will blog more about the Phoenix Garden as its one of my favourite places to visit in London.