Chris Lees is unable to write the gardening article this month, so I’ve been asked to do it. Alas, my great enthusiasm for gardening is only outweighed by my lack of ability.  My writing skills are not much better so bear with! 

A few months ago, Chris mentioned some friends that had decided to experiment with Hugelkultur methods of vegetable gardening.  That would be me and my husband, David.  It all seemed a good idea at the time.  Just to recap, Hugelkultur involves creating a forest floor so that as the wood used as the base decays, it releases nutrients and water, thus providing the perfect growing medium for many plants.   

David was encouraged to spend time in the somewhat wet garden in winter so he could build the raised beds, which measure 2m x 1m and 40cms high.  You may think that this is not very high, but when you try to fill them, believe me it is.  And we have 4.  Luckily David had chopped down 2 largish apricot trees, so we immediately had logs with which to start our forest floor, plus a few I filched from the winter wood store.  Next came leaves, manure and twigs/small branches.  After that more leaves and compost and finally some straw.  And voila! Ready to plant.  Incidentally, it’s not necessary to create raised beds and the same results can be obtained without.  

Delighted with the results I immediately planted pointy cabbages, chard, lettuces and beetroot.  Very quickly, however, I discovered I had created a sea of wheat plants, the seeds in the straw having germinated.  After much muttering and removing, I then found that I had a small forest of apricot trees, the green branches loving the moist conditions and having sprouted.  And if that wasn’t enough, we discovered that a rogue Roe Deer was yaffling our veg from the top down.  The pointy cabbages were no longer pointy.  Our French neighbour, Marc, who is a green fingered vegetable guru and general good egg (or bon oeuf), smugly looked on and suggested I do as he has done and put up a fence round the potager. ‘Not flippin’ likely’ said David. So that was that.

Whilst the results for the above veg have not been great, other varieties such as courgettes and butternuts are loving the new beds.  I don’t have to dig them (Charles Dowding of ‘No Dig’ fame would be proud of me), weeding is easy,  the height of the beds is easier on my back, I hardly ever have to water, and the decaying wood below feeds the plants, so no expensive feeds.  The result is that despite the setbacks, I may well try to persuade David to create another two this winter.  I like to keep him busy.

PLANT OF THE MONTH:  I always like to have something flowering all through the year.  Often by July, the flowering plants are exhausted from the dry, hot conditions.  This year is a bit better due to the wet spring and I’m spoilt for choice.  I planted a cutting of Rosa ‘Sally Holmes’ three years ago and this year it has been exceptional, producing huge panicles of flowers, the weight of which have bowed the branches.  Here’s a photo.  I’m sure that others will have had equally good results with roses.

VEG OF THE MONTH:  So much to choose from.  I’ve previously had abysmal success with Runner Beans, but this year I tried the French climbing bean.  What a revelation.  They are really easy to grow, I don’t seem to need to water them, the beans have no strings and they are absolutely delicious.  Even Marc is contemplating growing them next year. One point to me.

JOBS TO DO:  We finally have some hot weather so put on a hat, slap on the suntan lotion and have a BBQ.  Who wants to work in high temperatures?  For those that rise extremely early on hot days (such as Marc), a little light dead heading might be in order.  The only other job I would recommend is taking cuttings of slightly tender perennials, such as Salvia Amistad, that will not survive the winter.  They root quickly at this time of year.

ANNOYANCE OF THE MONTH:  Well, it just has to be the bindweed.  I’m sure that many of you are blighted by this monster.  When we moved into our house, the previous owner had helpfully rotavated the entire veg garden, thus chopping up all the bindweed and creating hundreds more plants.  We’ve tried many methods of containment and removal, but with little success.  Charles Dowding, mentioned above, suggests just pulling it out to weaken it.  We’ve taken his advice and it’s just part of our veg garden.  If only I could train the Roe Deer to eat it.  Hey ho!  Happy Gardening!