Side Garden Project - Planning and Building Raised Garden Beds
Hello friends,
After we had taken down the old aviary/berry cage, it was time to get to work turning this space into garden beds.
The first task was to weed the area, tidy up the fence line, and move two concrete pavers. Once I pulled out all the weeds and then tidied the fence line by putting old pieces of wood up against it for protection, hubby and I maneuvered the pavers into the space next door, where I have my worm farm located.
With all that done I ordered macrocarpa sleepers from our local garden centre for creating the new garden beds. The sleepers are 1.8 m long, which was the exact size we needed for that space.
The next step was to first put up some old trellises for our raspberry bushes, so we could train them along the fence line. We then create 90 cm wide beds using the macrocarpa sleepers, with 50 cm pathways in between for easy access to the garden beds. It was a lot of hard work considering there was a lot of river pebbles in the area. We transferred those river pebbles into the pathways between the garden beds when we were finished.
Once all the beds were in place, hubby did the hard work of digging over the garden beds and adding compost. The first bed closest to the garden shed was set aside for the strawberry plants I had put into pots in the glasshouse before the aviary was removed.
The next garden bed was set aside for my natural dyeing plants including Madder, Woad, St John's Wort, Tomentil, and Lemon Sorrel, which I had squeezed in another garden bed down the side of the house. While transferring the plants I was able to harvest some of the madder roots for natural dyeing. I have enough space leftover now to put more natural dyeing plants in the other half of the garden bed this spring.
Garden beds 3 and 4 are currently empty, and they still need to have compost added, before being prepared to a fine tilth for spring.
My plan is to grow Linen and Japanese indigo plants in bed 3: I have my own homegrown flax linen seeds in storage from last year, and I bought Japanese indigo seeds from Growing Textiles last autumn with the intention to grow my own indigo plants for natural dyeing, and also for indigo seed production.
In bed 4 I want to start my own breeding experiments with dahlias. I've wanted to do my own plant breeding for ages, and I now have the space to start this. I have dahlia seeds set aside from last year's plants to do this. I'm very excited about this project and can't wait to get started in spring.
Have a wonderful day
Julie-Ann
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Cosmos Flowers for the 2024/2025 Summer Season
Hello friends,
Today I thought I'd share with you some of the cosmos varieties I grew in our flower garden over the summer.
First up we have the Xsenia variety, which I grew from seed I got from Emerden last winter. This cosmos variety is just stunning and really unique, and I love the dark band of pink on the edges of the petals. The shade of pink in the petals do change as the flowers get older, so by picking them at different times, you will get a range of colours from just one variety.
Next up we have the Apricotta cosmos variety, that I got from Kings Seeds. It has a similar apricot/pink colour to Xsenia, but the flower is much more open. It wasn't really my favorite, when compared to the Xsenia variety, so I won't be sowing any new seeds next spring.
Then we have the variety, Cosmos Cupcakes White, which I bought as seed from Susie Ripley Gardening. And wow, this cosmos variety really stands out in the garden. I love the cupped flowers, that really do look like the bottoms of cupcakes. These flowers blow daintily in the breeze, making a lot of movement in the garden on windy days. I'm definitely growing these again next year.
I also bought Cosmos Cupcakes Blush seeds from Susie Ripley. They're the same as Cosmos Cupcakes White, but they're a light pink in colour. They weren't as nice as the white variety, with the pink colouring not being even on the petals, so I don't think I'll buy them again.
And finally, we have my new favorite cosmos variety, Cosmos Fizzy White, which I also bought as seed from Susie Ripley Gardening. These white cosmos flowers come in all sorts of variations of fizzy white flowers, and they're just so beautiful in the garden. Of the ten or so plants around my garden, each flower type was slightly different, but each one was just stunning. I'm definitely going to grow a lot more of these in the garden next spring. And as a bonus they were complete bee and butterfly magnets all summer long.
I hope you've enjoyed taking a look at all the cosmos varieties I grew this last summer. I can't wait to begin growing them again next spring.
Have a wonderful day
Julie-Ann
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Floret Zinnias
Hello friends,
I just thought I'd share with you how my Floret zinnia plants have fared over the summer, and all the flowers that have been produced from the various varieties.
This is how the zinnias looked like when I planted them out in the garden in late October 2024. I sowed Floret Dawn Creek blush, Floret Precious Metals, and also Floret Unicorn Mix zinnias that I bought from Emerden Flower Farm back in August 2024. I had 100% sowing success from all the zinnia seeds.
First up we have the Dawn Creek Blush Zinnias:
There's a mix of creams, buttery yellows, and pinky blush tones, they are really beautiful and understated.
Next we have Floret Precious Metals:
The Floret Precious metals, are more pink and purple toned, and when the flowers get older, there is a cool metal sheen on them.
And lastly we have the Floret Unicorn Mix:
The colours for the Unicorn mix are much more bright pinks and yellows and lime greens, and they really stand out in the garden.
All in all, I'm really loving all the varieties that Floret and Dawn Creek have developed. The seeds were super expensive, but the uniqueness of the flowers are worth it in my opinion. I still have some seeds left over for next year, and I plan to seed save from the zinnia varieties when autumn starts in March (on Saturday). If more Floret zinnia seeds become available from Emerden in spring, I plan to pick up a couple more seed packets to increase my seed stash of these beautiful flowers.
Have a wonderful day
Julie-Ann
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Dahlia Profile - Keith Hammett Beeline II Flowers
Hello friends,
Today's dahlia profile is for the dahlias grown from Keith Hammett's Beeline II dahila seed mix.
From his website: "This series is different as it is based on 'Dark Destiny', a cultivar resulting from a cross between a dwarf hybrid garden dahlia and Dahlia sherffii, a species not previously used in Dahlia breeding...The colours are more restrained and much of their beauty lies in light being transmitted through the ray florets (petals) to give a stained glass window effect. Compact self supporting plants with finely divided foliage."
I sowed 6 seeds, and all of them grew big enough to plant out in the garden, and they all flowered.
Dahlia 1:
Dahlia 2:
Dahlia 3:
Dahlia 4:
Dahlia 5:
Dahlia 6:
As you may have noticed, Dahlia 6 really is the star out of all dahlias grown from Keith Hammett's Beeline II seed mix. The inner part of the ray florets are a deep tangerine which changes ombré style into dark pinks/purples. There is also streaks of dark pink coming out from the inside of the floret all the way to the outside. It definitely has a stained glass effect, and it really stands out in the garden.
Out of all the Beeline II dahlias I grew, only dahlia 6 stands out well enough for me to want to keep the tuber in the coming years. Dahlias 2, 3, 4, and 5 are all pretty plain looking, and don't interest me. Dahlia 1 is kind of tempting, but we'll see how it performs over the rest of the summer and autumn to gauge if it will be worth keeping it.
Have a wonderful day
Julie-Ann
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Dahlia Profile - Floret Bee's Choice Flowers
Hello friends,
Today's dahlia profile is for my Floret Bee's Choice flowers. I bought dahlia and zinnia Floret flower seeds from Emerden in New Zealand last spring, and sowed them in October.
From Floret's Website: "Floret Bee's Choice was collected from all of our different dahlia breeding patches on the farm and includes a wide range of shapes, sizes, and colors—no two plants will be the same! Most of the flowers will have open centers, which will attract lots of pollinators to your garden. If you discover a variety you love, tubers can be saved and planted out the following year." Planted in full sun, plants will reach 48 to 72 in tall.
Floret 1:
Floret 2:
Floret 3:
Floret 4:
Floret 7:
Floret 8:
Floret 10:
As you can see from the Floret Bee's Choice dahlias that have flowered so far, dahlias 1, 2, 3, 4, and 8 all have yellow/orange colouring, with a range of petal numbers, with dahlias 3 and 8 having extra frills. Dahlias 7 and 10 are shades of pink, with dahlia 7 has curled inward petals, and dahlia 10 being pretty plain.
In terms of choosing which dahlias to keep at the end of the season, the only one I definitely want to keep is dahlia 3, with it's yellow/apricot colouring and pretty frills. I'm also kind of tempted by dahlia 8, but I'll see how it looks as the season goes on.
I have really enjoyed the process of dahlia growing from seed, watching the process from germination, to flowering, and I'll definitely collect seed from them in autumn.
Have a wonderful day
Julie-Ann
Want to discuss my post? Feel free to chat with me on Instagram or Mastodon or Bluesky.
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