The Beauty of Nature

I have been able to harvest some comfry this weekend, though I have left the bits that are still flowering. It has gone in the composter to make up the space left after I nearly emptied last week.

I am putting the sweetcorn in this weekend as it has started off well under glass, but with the good weather I thought I would put it in now. Let’s hope it fares better than last year.

I went digging again at the weekend. The weather was nice for some of it, so I took the opportunity to put in the last of my spuds and put in and net the cabbage.

As you can see, the soil was dry on the surface, but quite moist underneath. It wasn’t hard to dig it, but it wasn’t easy either.

Now that the cabbage are fully netted I can relax a bit, except for the watering, which I will have to do most nights until they are well set.

I also took some time to check on the onions. They seem to be doing well and have come up strongly.

I decided to take some of my compost out this week. I have planting and re-potting to do.

As you can see it has come on nicely and is rich and going to give my seeds a good start. It is all peat free so that’s a bonus too.

It took a while to dig out as it was really compact in there. There were one or two big lumps, but nothing that wont continue to rot down, so I put it back in at the top and away we go again.

Here I am finishing off the planting and netting of my peas.

I put net round them as the pigeons round here are quite greedy when it comes to succulent greens.

Sometimes I wonder at TV and the way they make the rest of us feel like second class citizens. They should ask one of us to secretly film the reality of allotments.

Here I am composting again.

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You can see that the compost is really ready to be used.

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This is the vegetable waste from the house and plot. Just see how it has broken down into nice rich compost for this years seedlings.

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I went up the allotment today in between snow showers and picked some more leeks and sprouts. The leeks seem to be OK, though the sprouts are starting to burst, so they have to be eaten now or never.

My t?te-a-t?te are out now. they look really lovely.

My crocuses are out. Not yet at their best, but getting there.

Well, I have been out in the garden this weekend as the weather has been better – a little windy, but dry.

I have been checking on all my new growth and came across this hellebor in the back garden. The wind was keeping the head down, but you can still see that it will be beautiful when fully grown.

I do so love hellebors as they seem so delicate, but are actually quite hardy.

For those of you interested in hellebors, I have included the following from the home of hellebores website.

The Genus

The genus Helleborus covers a group of perennial plants from Europe and Asia.Virtually all are garden worthy, though the acaulescent (stemless) hybrids have become the most popular forms found in gardens.

Helleborus is a small genus in the family Ranunculaceae, a wonderful collectionof plants including many well-known garden plants. Hellebores are perhapsclosest in relation to Caltha and Trollius, and the lesser known Megaleranthis. Eranthis has long been considered a close relative based on morphological similarities, but cytological evidence suggests that they are not so close at the molecular level. It is believed (based on research in China) that Eranthis may be closer allied to members of the tribe containing Cimicifuga and Actaea et al.

Members of Ranunculaceae are mostly herbaceous with divided or lobed leaves. Leaves are generally basal or alternate on the stem. The color on the flowers mostly comes from the calyx, and most have five sepals. In Ranunculus, leaves may be undivided, and flowers have ‘true’ petals. In Clematis, sepals usually number four, and plants have opposite leaves and woody tissue.

Hellebores generally have five sepals that persist in fruit around bisexual flower parts. The follicles may be separate or joined at the base. Within each carpel is more than one ovule. Leaves are divided into (sometimes many) leaflets which can be further subdivided into very fine segments, even less than one quarter of an inch in the case of Helleborus hercegovinus. Hellebores often produce large, leaf-like bracts and ‘cauline’ leaves along the flower stalks. Most have developed rhizomes and very short stems. Some have longer aerial stems and less developed rhizomes.

In Cultivation

Hellebores have a long history in cultivation, particularly in Europe. For centuries they have been used for various medical purposes, and all contain alkaloids and other chemicals that could lead to poisoning if ingested in large quantities. Hellebores are even mentioned in ancient Greek and Roman literature, but we can not be certain if the references are to the same plants that now carry the epithet associated with this genus. They have also been cultivated in western Europe and can be found naturalized around ruins of old monasteries and other structures. It is thus sometimes challenging to determine the native range and those colonies that may be escapes from old gardens. Extracts from hellebores
have been used in homeopathy and traditional medicines in several countries. As a garden plant for active hybridizing, the older history is probably less certain, but much of the activity has occurred since around the middle of the twentieth century.

In North America, hellebore popularity has grown markedly during the past decade, and now it is possible to find a variety of species and hybrids in nurseries and garden centers throughout North America. In fact, Helleborus x hybridus has been named the 2005 ‘Perennial Plant of the Year’ by the Perennial Plant Association. Most hellebores are highly adaptable and will grow easily in many different environments.

Sometimes referred to as ‘Christmas Rose’ or ‘Lenten Rose’, hellebores are the stars of the late winter/early spring garden. Plants generally bloom between December and March in cultivation, though some begin earlier, and others continue into April and May, particularly in gardens with colder spring climates. Nearly every garden has a spot for hellebores, and the plants will thrive in many different environments. Still, they remain unknown to many gardeners despite their toughness, beauty, hardiness, and wonderful habit of blooming in winter when most other plants remain dormant.

The majority of hellebores are deep rooted, stout plants. Acaulescent hybrids (many, but not all, involving Helleborus orientalis) are well-known for their thick, shiny green foliage. The large leaves may persist through winter, but not all plants are wintergreen in all climates. Once established, most hellebores make drought-tolerant plants, particularly if given some dappled shade in areas of long, hot and/or dry summers. Yet, despite the fact hellebores are almost invariably sold as shade plants, in most garden conditions they will perform their best if given some sun. Many species grow wild in open meadows with only short grasses to shade the earth around them.

Caulescent/Acaulescent

Hellebores are separated into two main groups horticulturally. Simply put, the caulescent hellebores are those with (above-ground) stems and the acaulescent plants are those without visible above ground stems. Generally speaking, it is easiest to hybridize caulescent with caulescent and acaulescent with acaulescent, though there are exceptions.

The Christmas rose (Helleborus niger) belongs in a category all its own. H.
thibetanus and (particularly) H. vesicarius also exhibit unique qualities (see species page). There are even some ‘acaulescent’ plants that produce short above ground stems. A representative spectrum where plants are viewed in terms of ‘caulescence’ might include H. foetidus as the most caulescent and H. vesicarius as the least. H. niger would be somewhere in the middle.

The caulescent/acaulescent model remains helpful and convenient for
horticultural purposes. In addition to reproductive and morphological differences, one of the siginificant cultural differences between the two groups is that caulescent plants generally can not easily be subjected to division as a means of propagation. Acaulescent plants divide fairly easily, and this can be done in late spring or early autumn, or during summer in cooler climates.

Caulescent plants generally are short lived. Often after three or four seasons the plants begin to fade in some gardens. However, they also mature much quicker on average, often blooming in their second spring. Older plants are easily replaced by younger seedlings.

From: http://www.hellebores.org/