Author: chigleygreen

Rhododendron Tinkerbird

We recently visited the world renowned gardens at Glendoick, near Perth which houses a large collection of rhododendrons and azaleas. At the end of April the display was in full spate and very spectacular. One plant that particularly caught our eye, or noses, was Tinkerbird which even on a relatively small plant produced a heady scent, not something that you would normally expect from a rhody. We liked it so much we bought our own; a small pot specimen, and it has lived up to its promise and is producing a gorgeous fragrance which can be smelt every time we walk by.

https://www.glendoick.com/Visit-Glendoick-039-s-Gardens

Cowslips

We planted a garden meadow about four years ago and have been nurturing it ever since. Cowslips seem to be particularly prevalent in the garden and we encourage them into the meadow. However, they’ve taken on a life of their own and seeded themselves into the surrounding lawn and driveway as well. We haven’t had the heart to remove them so it would seem that the meadow is doing exactly what it is supposed to do!

Plant of the Month for April: Clematis Alpina

We have a lot of clematis in our garden. They produces lots of coverage and beautiful flowers throughout the spring and summer. In April they’re just starting to put on growth and the first to flower is Clematis Alpina. One of our favourites is ‘Frances Rivis’ which we have growing in a pot underplanted with hyacinths and daffodils. The bees seem to like the flowers but, working hard as the weather warms up, they don’t stop long enough for a photograph!

The Deil’s Caldron

The weather can be a little unpredictable in Scotland at this time of year, so it’s always a good idea to take advantage when conditions are good. Last week we found a walk in Comrie called the “Deil’s Caldron” (Deil means Devil). It took us through a rocky gorge with two little waterfalls and some glorious views of the Perthshire hills and the Melville Monument. As with many of the walks in Scotland that we have found, the path is well made up and accessible for most casual walkers.

A glorious view, and some snow still to be seen

Much to our excitement, we were treated to a view of a dipper… not a bird we often see.

Seed Sowing

Snapdragons

I recently sowed two new varieties of scented Japanese bred snapdragons – Komodo Orange and Chantilly Bronze.  They germinated easily and quickly in the propagator.  I am looking forward to seeing how they perform in the garden.

Tomatoes

The first of the tomato seeds have germinated.  I’ve started with two beefsteak varieties: Black Krim and Costoluto Fiorentino.  The Krim is a particularly tasty variety, large and juicy with interestingly dark flesh and skin. It ate well, sliced and served with a vinegar, olive oil and garlic dressing. I haven’t grown the second variety before, so we shall see.  I have also sown our old, reliable Sungold which is small and sweet and can be eaten as a snack or in salads. Red Alert and Heinz 1370 (a heritage variety) are fairly new to us.

Tomato seedlings and in the background a chilli plant

Garlic


I planted my garlic at the end of October; pointed end up, in ridges in a raised bed.  Garlic needs some cold weather to begin with, to ensure that you get a good crop and, fortunately, we’ve had frost and snow this January.  I can already see some green shoots poking through the soil.  We buy our bulbs on line from The Really Garlicky Company and have found that we get large bulbs and a good harvest. The following link will take you to the online shop https://www.reallygarlicky.co.uk/shop.php

Our Garlic Bed

Dinner Time

One of our regular visitors is a female sparrowhawk who terrorises our population of small garden birds. However occasionally she gets lucky and bags something a little larger; in this case it’s a collared dove. It’s a little bit gory but I suppose she has mouths to feed and it’s nice to see something a little bit different come through the garden.

Jealously guarding her kill
NSFW!

Shopping Expedition Haul

I popped into my local Aldi this morning and discovered that their special buys theme for today includes a lot of gardening items, all for sale at surprisingly reasonable prices. I found you could buy a mini greenhouse, blood, fish and bone, summer flowering bulbs and seeds.

99p for 8 packets of seeds. Bargain!

I only went in for a pint of milk but came away with some small bedding plants, cloches for the veg beds and a modular seed tray propagator as well as blood, fish and bone and compost activator.

My haul (the milk is in the fridge)!

I am looking forward to potting on the plug plants and will be interested to see how they turn out. It is too early in the year to plant them out but they will be fine in the greenhouse for the time being.

It is always worth keeping an eye out at Aldi and Lidl because these deals pop up fairly frequently.