Fennel and Fern

Row 1: ‘Ashbrook’ from Dobies; ‘Nymans’ from Nicky’s Nursery; ‘Erika’ from Nicky’s Nursery; ‘Bijou’ from Mr Fothergill’s
Row 2: ‘Revolution’ from The Cook’s Garden; ‘Tom Thumb’ from Seeds of Change; ‘Dazzle’ from Unwins; ‘Lakeland’ from Thompson and Morgan
Row 3: ‘Frillice’ from Unwins; ‘Delicato’ from Mr Fothergill’s; ‘Multy’ from Thompson and Morgan; ‘Sioux’ from Mr Fothergill’s;
Row 4: ‘Red Salad Bowl’ from Mr Fothergill’s; ‘Hardy’ from Nicky’s Nursery; ‘Yugoslavian Red’ from Thompson and Morgan; ‘Red Romaine’ from Plants of Distinction.

Lettuces provide a rich palette for the potager. Planted in contrasting rows, they silence anyone who would claim the vegetable patch is a boring space hidden at the bottom of the garden. So before you make do with a packet of icebergs this year, take a look at our top ornamental lettuces.

I’ve always found slighty odd things exciting. And plant hormones are just one of those things. I genuinely do think auxins are quite cool. I’m not expecting anyone else to jump on this bandwagon, but you could at least pinch out your sweet peas once you’ve finished groaning at me. I sowed mine back at the start of February, and they are now about eight inches tall.

Continue reading →

Patricia Fox’s modern take on the potager, ‘Freshly Prepped’, went down a storm at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show last year. The designer decided to create a kitchen garden (which was also a kitchen in a garden), where every single plant was edible. But that wasn’t enough - this isn’t just a working veg plot - it’s a hot veg plot, tuned to perfection using contrasting textures, colours and patterns.

Continue reading →

My client wanted to combine her love of food and flowers in some arrangements for a wedding anniversary party. As the event was to be held on St. David’s Day, I chose to use a hand tie of Daffodils which were placed in a fishbowl vase.

Double-sided tape was used to attach several leaves taken from a savoy cabbage, disguising the container.

Image by Remy Erra.

Before I begin the wrap-up this week, I’ve had a request from top garden photographer Rachel Warne. She is looking for gardens that are a bit lost and in need of restoration to photograph. They might be grand, or they might be teeny-tiny little city gardens. If you know of any, email me - contact@fennelandfern.co.uk - and I’ll pass your emails on to Rachel.

{Weekly wrap-up}

Hot posts, stories and images from the web this week.

Another good debate on the Guardian Gardening Blog about this year’s series of Gardeners’ World. What did you think?

Fab, provocative piece on Garden Rant about why permaculture might not be the answer.

VP of Veg Plotting shares a visit to The Courts garden.

And while you’re here, don’t forget to enter the F&F Mother’s Day giveaway with Victoriana Nurseries.

If you’re reading F&F and have your own blog, please introduce yourself in the comments below. Or say hello by dropping us an email: contact@fennelandfern.co.uk

…these delightful recycled products from Hen & Hammock. Both this trug and planter are made from recycled tyres, and look fabulous to boot. I have to admit that normally I have a bit of phobia of trugs, and, at the risk of offending any readers, the women who carry them (Mrs Bennett in Pride & Prejudice being a prime example). But I really, really love this trug. It looks nicely stylish and urban, and not at all twee. Because we don’t really do twee at F&F. And neither do Hen & Hammock, which is why I’m such a big fan of their products, especially their lovely recycled range.

Image by Michiteru Kodama.

Chaenomeles x superba ‘Crimson and Gold’ likes to lie low in the garden. It creeps up to you in early spring and shouts ‘I’m flowering! Pay me attention!’ And you do. Soldier-red flowers with regal gold stamens make you sit up and look. And so do the enormous, fragrant and edible (if a little dull) fruits that follow in the winter, which look like a curious cross between a lemon and an apple.

Continue reading →

Image copyright Nobu.

I’m quite a fan of mixing purely ornamental flowers and veg, but sometimes I wonder whether this is rather silly, given the number of stunning flowers  which go on to produce fabulous edible crops. So before you plant up your patch with plants you can’t eat, here are some crops with very striking flowers indeed.

Continue reading →

Unless you have many rambling acres of gardens in which to grow your veg, chances are that like most F&F readers, you’ll be trying to combine flowers, pumpkins and somewhere to enjoy the fruits of your labours all in one plot. And growing veg doesn’t mean that you automatically sacrifice the chance of having a hot plot. In fact, as our new series for March will show, vegetables can be really, really ridiculously good looking.

The Hot Plot series will take you through all the features you need to make a gorgeous potager (that’s pretty kitchen garden to you and me), and showcase the work of some designers who are using vegetables to make stunning gardens.

And if you’ve created a hot plot yourself, why not email five photos, or a link to your blog to us? We’d love to hear from you on contact@fennelandfern.co.uk

Every so often, I like to snuggle up under a big warm duvet and watch a very silly girly film. When I did that last weekend, I had an extra-special treat as I had some strawberry popcorn kernels from Victoriana Nurseries. so I made myself some sweet popcorn, and settled down for film night.

Continue reading →

This month we’ve got an extra-special extra giveaway. That’s because Mother’s Day is coming up, and Victoriana Nurseries have offered to give three readers one gorgeous Mother’s Day present each. Victoriana is run by a big happy family, so they’re very geared up towards mothers who also love gardening, and have plenty of gift ideas here.

Victoriana are giving away three prizes to F&F readers. You can either win a Mother’s Day Flower Seed Collection, a Mother’s Day Floral Collection, or a Mother’s Day Anemone Surprise. As you can see, each one of these presents is beautifully put together and packed, and they are all lovely, quirky, thoughtful presents for Mother’s Day.

So, to enter, Continue reading →

This is the beautiful ‘Silver Anniversary’ standard rose I received for my 21st birthday a couple of years ago. I was finally able to plant it last year when we moved to this garden, and you could see it wriggling its toes with delight at being out of a pot and in the soil.

But now that rose bush needs a bit of care. Its buds are pink and swelling, ready for the summer. Before they burst out into leaf, I need to give the stems a good strong chop.

I know the word ‘pruning’ strikes fear into the heart of most gardeners, so I’m going to keep this simple. Your rose bush will be fine, and the blooms will be bigger and healthier if you get those secateurs out right away.

Continue reading →

Parsnips have a reputation for being rather tricky beasts. It’s a shame, because once you’ve got them growing, there’s really nothing you have to do except wait nine months or so for their delicious roots to swell into something worth harvesting. Save a little bit of watering in hot weather, that really is it.

But starting the seeds in the first place is what puts so many first-time veg growers off this marvellous crop. The problem is that parsnips need to be sown pretty early in the season so they have long enough to grow big and fat and scrummy. And sowing so early can mean the blighters don’t germinate at all.

Last season, I grew an enormous crop of parsnips. This wasn’t because I’m particularly great at growing veg, but just because I did a few vaguely sensible things at sowing time.

Continue reading →

I’m so relieved that March is here. Just seeing the calendar flick over makes me happier, even if the soil in my garden is still stuck firmly together with rain and cold. From now on though, it’s all a-go-go in the veg patch and flower garden, and here are the jobs you’ll need to do this month.

Although we’ve been held back by the weather, there are some jobs which just had to be completed this month.

We applied a second spraying of winter wash, which will hopefully keep some of the fruit tree pests at bay. Winter washes are based on plant oils and are suitable for organic gardening. Before we started to use winter washes, plum aphids were a serious problem, but these are now kept in check. You must make sure you use the wash before the buds burst.

Continue reading →