Gardening Out of Lockdown

As we ease our way gently out of lockdown, we will ease our way out of our weekly updates on our own garden going forward. We’ll keep you posted through our blog and social media pages of progress in our garden and things we love and catch our eye. But hopefully as things ease we will be able to bring you more from other gardens as we slowly (very slowly remember!) edge back towards normality (if anyone can remember what that is!)

Despite the horrific times we have lived through recently, there will always be the good memories: of long lazy days in our gardens; of teaching our children how to grow plants from seeds; of seeing them learning to love trying new vegetables to eat and of spending quality family time together. In our latest blog, we share some of the jobs we tackled this week, and of our trusty mini helpers getting stuck in to help as we start “gardening out of lockdown”…

Planting out broccoli

At the start of lockdown, Lulu planted a selection of seeds, including broccoli. She has potted them on, nurtured them and made a stone marker for them. Michael knocked up a cage for them this week to protect them from the cabbage butterfly. And we finally got them planted in the ground. We can’t wait to harvest them in a month or two.

Keep your broccoli covered with netting to protect the leaves from being eaten by caterpillars

Planting out beans

As the storms had past and a week of sunshine was forecast, it was time for our beans to be planted into our raised beds. We had already made our cane teepee for them to climb up so it was just a case of popping them into the soil between the potatoes. They are already curling their way up the canes and we can’t wait to see the flowers and eat the beans!

Lulu planted the beans as companion plants to our potatoes

Harvesting veg

One of our favourite things about lockdown is seeing the girls’ new found love for eating salad. Tilda munches spinach leaves like Popeye, and Lulu is loving a mix of rocket, spinach and radish. Job done!

Pick your own lunch! Organic and impossible to get fresher. Perfect!

Potting on courgettes

We were kindly donated a courgette plant from a friend. We potted it into a nice big pot with plenty of space to grow. Our top tip, is to plant a plastic bottle (cut down) or a plant pot in the soil beside your courgettes. Use this to water your courgettes so that the roots get the water without the leaves getting wet, reducing the chance of getting mildew on the leaves.

Pop an empty bottle beside your courgette plant for watering

Potting on sunflowers

The annual “who can grow the largest sunflower” competition is well underway at Vialii Towers and this week we potted them into bigger pots to help encourage growth. We will wait until they are larger before we risk planting them in our soil where the slugs and snails love to munch on them! Will Lulu win for a third year running???

Pot on your sunflowers and stake them for the best results

Sweep up fallen cherries

We have a beautiful big cherry tree in our front garden which gives stunning blossom in Spring and adds height and maturity to the front garden. But at this time of year there are lots of fallen cherries which we constantly have to sweep up. It’s important to keep on top of these simple sweeping up jobs in order to keep your paths clear and stop drains from getting clogs.

Carry on deadheading

Tilda was out with her secateurs this week, keeping on top of deadheading. Irises, tulips, primulas all benefit from being deadheaded, to encourage growth and to tidy up your borders.

Deadhead any flowers which have gone over to maximise flowering and tidy your borders

Stopping Japanese anemones from spreading

We love Japanese anemones. Their stature and flowers add much needed structure and colour to the late summer garden. However, they can be brutes so be prepared to keep an eye on them spreading. They will disguise themselves amidst your other herbaceous and bulbs so keep a close eye and pull them out before they get too big and take over.

Watch out for Japanese anemone sneakily spreading…

Camping!

Amidst all the gardening, we managed a weekend of camping! The whole family (even the dog!) camped outside, listening to the squawks of the nearby baby owls! Enjoy your garden, whatever you decide to do in it!

Camping in the garden, great fun!

Vialii

Gardening During Lockdown – Week 9

Week 9 has been a week of extreme weathers, with scorching hot sunshine and paddling pools to battening down the hatches in the storms. We did manage to fit in some gardening, here is what we have been doing in Gardening During Lockdown – Week 9.

Preparing for Beans

Our bean seedlings are a good size and have been nicely hardened off. We could have had them in the ground already but with a storm forecast we decided to hold off a few days. We did get our canes in place in readiness with some string to wind themselves around. We are planting them alongside our potatoes as they are great companion plants and allow us to fit more into our home allotment.

Create supports for your beans to scramble up

Chelsea Chop

Whilst the Chelsea Flower Show has been cancelled this year, we have been enjoying the old footage on BBC and seeing designers’ gardens. It’s the time of year to do the “Chelsea Chop” which means cutting back some of your herbaceous plants to avoid them growing too big and flopping as well as controlling the flowering period. We do it to our sedum and centaurea and it makes a big difference.

Sedums will really benefit from the Chelsea Chop

Trim Your Topiary

If you have box balls (buxus sempervirens) or topiary plants in your garden, give them a trim to keep them in shape, adding structure to your garden. We have numerous box balls and cloud topiary and they are a lovely partnership to softer herbaceous planting and bulbs.

Give your topiary a haircut – no need for it to suffer like you!!!

Protect Your Planters

With the high winds forecast we took some time to huddle our pots together to give them some more protection. It saved them from blowing over in the wind and hopefully some fruit will still appear on our various plants in coming months…

With high winds forecast its worth taking the time to huddle your pots together for protection

Start Harvesting

It’s getting to the exciting time that some veg can start to be harvested. First things to be picked include radishes, salad leaves, rocket and baby spinach. All organic and fresh from the garden. Perfect!

Some fast growing veg is starting to be able to be harvested already, yum!

Weeding

The veg patch always has weeds popping up especially rogue potatoes from previous years. Don’t be tempted to leave those in and see how they grow. They will be susceptible to diseases and will just take up valuable space where your lovely new veg should be growing. Wheech them out as you see them popping up. If you are rotating your crops it will be easy to spot as they will be growing amidst different seedlings.

Keep on top of the weeding so that it’s your veg and plants that are flourishing in your garden

Enjoy Your Garden

With the tulips now faded, the alliums are the stars of our garden at the moment. The graceful purple pom poms nod all around the garden, providing repetition and height. When their colour fades, keep the seed heads to provide interest in the garden. Take a moment (or ten) to enjoy the loveliness of your own garden.

Alliums are looking amazing in our garden at the moment

Other jobs to do:

• Keep feeding your strawberries and planters
• Keep on top of weeding and lawn maintenance
• Watch out for pests including slugs, snails and aphids
• Donate or swap excess seedlings with friends, neighbours or local food banks
• Dig over your compost heap to help it break down quicker

Stay safe

Vialii

Gardening During Lockdown – Week 6

Another week and lots more sunshine (and thankfully for the gardens a wee bit rain!) Everything is sprouting at quite a rate so there are plenty of jobs to keep us busy in the garden. Here’s what has been happening this week at Vialii Towers in Gardening During Lockdown – Week 6…

Keep on top of the veg beds

All this sunshine along with some rain showers will get both your seeds and weeds growing fast! So make sure you keep on top of your weeding and watch out for your seedlings popping up. You will need to start thinning out your seedlings soon to make space for your veg to grow properly.

Keep on top of weeding your veg beds and thinning seedlings

Protect your hostas

Hostas and other fleshy leaves are favourites for slugs and snails so make sure you give them some protection. There are lots of ways to do this from eggs shells and horse hair pellets to copper tape and nematodes. For more tips read our blog all about slugs and snails. 

Keep your prized plants protected from slugs and snails

Feed your plants

Tomato feed is not just for tomatoes. Lots of your favourite fruit, veg and plants will benefit from being fed some tomato feed. As soon as your strawberries start to flower, give them a weekly feed and you will get some lovely fruit as a thank you.

Your strawberries plants will be needing fed as soon as they flower

Beautiful bulbs

Now is the perfect time to take a moment and enjoy your Spring bulbs. Our tulips looks beautiful just now and our alliums are almost set to bloom. It is our most favourite time of year to spend in our garden – lucky huh?!

Enjoy your spring bulbs – our tulips look beautiful just now

Feed the birds

Keep your bird feeders topped up to maximise your feathered visitors to your garden. We added some niger seeds to our garden this week in the hope of attracting some finches to the garden. Be sure to add a variety of seeds and fatballs to get a lovely mix of visitors to your garden. They may even help you tackle those slugs and snails!

Add different types of seeds to get a wider variety of birds to the garden

Fill gaps in rockeries and borders

Now is a great time to fill gaps in your rockeries, walls and borders. You may be able to split existing plants to make them go further and fill gaps. Neighbours may be happy to donate or swap some plants. Or you may be lucky enough to get some new plants delivered. Happy planting!

Fill gaps to keep your garden looking lovely and lush

Treat greenfly

Keep an eye on your roses to make sure they are not being infested with greenfly. If they do appear, try not to reach for chemical treatments straight away. You can rub them off with your thumb or make up a soapy solution and spray your plants regularly to keep them at bay. Much better for the environment.

Make up a soapy solution to treat greenfly

Pot on seedlings

We spent a busy morning potting on our seedlings as they grow stronger and need more space and nutrients. Be careful not to damage the stem or roots when you are potting on and keep them well watered.

You need to take care when you are potting on your seedlings

Deadhead primulas

We love the pom pom flowers on primula denticulata (the drumstick primula) but as they go over remember to deadhead the flowers in order to keep them looking lovely and encourage more growth.

Deadhead your primulas to keep your garden looking lovely

Add a new parasol

The amazing weather has certainly made lockdown a lot more bearable. We have even needed some shade from the sun! We have added this lovely yellow parasol to our outdoor dining are to make it look even more colourful! It will add some sunshine even on grey days!

Add a parasol for a splash of colour to your garden

Add focal points & lighting

We are BIG fans of garden focal points and have lots in our garden, from rusty globes to golden chickens! We love this red lantern which we have added to a shepherds crook to add interest to our border. It looks beautiful glinting in the sun and we can add a tealight when it gets dark for a beautiful glow.

Add a lantern for interest in your border and lighting at night

Finish a project

We always have a LOT of ideas and often several projects on the go. Getting round to finishing them can sometimes be a challenge. So we are delighted to get our archway finished this week. It has been an idea for over 10 years and we are very happy with the finished article!

The archway is finally complete and we LOVE it!

Put up some shelving

Our sheds (like everyone’s) are crammed full of all sorts. So additional shelving is always welcome! Michael fitted this shelf in less than half an hour this week and it makes life a lot easier getting bikes in and out! Stop procrastinating, go fit yours!

Get round to putting up those shelves in the shed

So that’s what we have been up to this week! What about you?

Vialii

Gardening During Lockdown – Week 4

Can you believe that’s been 4 weeks of lockdown? A whole month? It’s a long time in gardening and with all the sunny weather things are growing at a pace and we are being tempted into our gardens all the more. What have you been tackling? Here’s what what has been happening at Vialii Towers in Gardening During Lockdown – Week 4…

Sowing veg

We had sown several seeds indoors during the first week of lockdown so our focus this week we turned our attention to the seeds which can be sown directly outdoors. Lulu and Tilda took over this task and armed with seeds and trowels set forth creating drills to fill with seeds. They have sown:

• Radish
• Salad leaves
• Spinach
• Rocket
• Carrots
• Parsnips
• Beetroot
• Leeks

The girls sowed all the veg in our garden

They also planted two types of onion sets and two varieties of seed potatoes and left space for our broccoli to be transplanted as it gets bigger and stronger. The finishing touches were the painted stones they created last week. Click here to find out how make your own plant labels.

Weeding and Tidying

Life is so much easier if you just weed and tidy as you go. Our rule is never walk past a weed you have spotted. Always stop and pick it out. Then you never have a jungle to tackle which takes hours and makes you dislike gardening. A quick weed, run the lawnmower over the grass or the odd prune here and there and you will easily keep on top of your gardening.

The Vialii rule – never walk past a weed. Stop and pick it out.

Encourage wildlife into your garden

Wildlife are enjoying this lockdown period more than ever. From tiny ladybirds and hedgehogs to long-tailed tits and partridges, wildlife are venturing into our gardens more and more. Encourage this by considering your planting, leaving some wild areas in your garden, creating hedgehog houses, putting out bird food, building bug hotels – it all makes such a difference. And all those animals and insects do amazing things for our gardens and eco-systems so we’re all winners.

This little ladybug is in our front garden

Relax and enjoy the spring sunshine

We have been having the MOST amazing spell of weather recently which is helping keeping us sane. So, in between all the garden jobs, sit back and enjoy your garden, your outdoor space, the lovely view, the beautiful planting, whatever is around you. There is a lot we can be grateful for so take some time to relax and enjoy it.

Relax and enjoy your garden and being outdoors

Other jobs to tackle this week:

• Keep on top of your painting jobs
• Continue working on your lawn, remembering to scarify and feed your lawn
• Keep getting your seedlings used to being outdoors
• Tie in climbing/rambling roses
• Increase the watering of house plants

I wonder what Week 5 will have in store for us – we still have lots to tackle on our to-do list. How about you?

Vialii

Gardening During Lockdown – Week 2

As we skip, hop and jump our way to the end of week 2 of the Covid-19 lockdown, our gardens continue to flourish and provide a safe haven for us to work and relax. There has been a bit more working than relaxing in the garden at Vialii Towers over the last week as we take the opportunity to tackle our to-do list that has been sitting around for a while. Here’s our gardening during lockdown week 2 update…

Stiiiiiiill Painting!!!

We have a LOT of painting to tackle in our garden. This week we painted:

• Veg beds
• Sheds
• A gate
• More fences

Painting will help preserve your woodwork as well as making it look smart and dandy.

There has been a LOT of painting at Vialii Towers this week!

Make Repairs

Now is a great opportunity to fix some broken bits around the garden. Some of the steps to the girl’ playhouse were starting to rot so new steps were made. The little used slide was removed and a new set of ladders added to create two entrances to the Vialii HQ. Just need to paint them now!!!

Tackle those repairs you simply never find the time to get round to…

Add Bark to Borders

In Week 1, we added manure and compost to our borders to give our clay soil the best start to the new season. This week we added a fine bark mulch which will help suppress weeds as well as adding lots of extra lovely nutrients to the soil. Your local hardware store or garden centre should be able to deliver some.

Mulch your borders with some bark

Add Plants To Gaps

If you have some gaps in your border now is a great time to add some plants. Whether you sprinkle some seeds or order some plants online (or even see if neighbours are splitting their herbaceous plants and have some spare) adding some extra plants will add colour and interest to your outdoor space. If you make them wildlife friendly plants then even better!

Add some plants to gaps in your order for a luscious garden

Check On Your Seedlings

It’s important to keep checking in on your seedlings, keep them well watered and keep turning them so they don’t just keep growing in one direction. Our broccoli and nasturtium seeds are currently having a race!

Keep your seedlings watered as well as turning them regularly

Sort Your Fire-Pit

As the weather improves, we will be wanting to spend more and more time in the garden in the evening. It does still get chilly though so it’s time to clean out your fire-pit/chiminea and get it ready for use. Our old one had died the death but thankfully we had already salvaged the drum from an old washing machine so by simply adding some simple legs we now have a fab new fire-pit to take us through lockdown and beyond! Marshmallow anyone?

We have a shiny new fire-pit made from an old washing machine drum

Do Some Cleaning

The power washer was brought out to tackle the girls’ mud kitchen which had gotten a bit, er, muddy! A quick spray, some new writing and a clean of all the equipment (the girls’ were given that job!) and it was as good as new (for now!)

We cleaned the mud kitchen – ironic we know!

Other jobs you can be doing during lockdown:

• Cut and edge your grass
• Weed your borders
• Top up your planters with compost and slow release fertiliser
• Power wash your patio and decking

Hope you are all staying safe and sane. Enjoy your gardens.

Vialii