Excellent New Resource: A Midland Alpine Gardener's Diary

[Diane Clement]

Those shots of your well-filled access frame will be getting a lot of folks envious, Diane, and planning to get something similar.

I'm interested to read that you use it as an open shady place in summer.... I can think of quite a lot of plants that I would have in it to protect them from our summer wet, which seems every bit as lethal to some plants as winter wet.  

Yes, summer wet is an issue for some plants, but they are not the ones in the shade house!  I have other greenhouses that are dry in summer!  
I've got the option with the Access frame of taking the glass out of the roof, or sliding it one way or the other, so if it is torrential (or May hailstorms) I can close up.  Here it is in June last year, with the roof off, shade on, inside there is a jungle of Arisaemas!

Notice the use of leaded thread sold for curtains, holding the sides of the shade netting down  

[David Nicholson]

Diane, what is the structure your frame is sitting on please? I can't tell if it is paving slabs or some kind of concrete edging material. Also are your tanalised boards fixed on to blockwork or just to wooden supports, I guess them to be about a meter high? Last one, is it filled with sand from top to bottom or did you fill to depth with rubble and then top out with sand?  Sorry about the interrogation

[Luc Gilgemyn]

If you'd like a peep inside my Access frame, take a look at my new Diary entry. 

Midland Blog Number 22  Slow beginnings

Here's a couple of previews

Adonis amurensis
Galanthus Wendy's Gold

Good to see A. amurensis is still going strong since January 30th Diane, and more flowers on the way !

[Diane Clement]

Diane, what is the structure your frame is sitting on please? I can't tell if it is paving slabs or some kind of concrete edging material. Also are your tanalised boards fixed on to blockwork or just to wooden supports, I guess them to be about a meter high? Last one, is it filled with sand from top to bottom or did you fill to depth with rubble and then top out with sand?  Sorry about the interrogation  

The frame is sitting on concrete edging, some we had around, this was just to stop it sitting directly on the soil.  The tanalised boards are each 15cm and there are three, so the total depth is about half a metre.  The base also came from Access, purpose made for the job (expensive, but I thought worth it, as I haven't the time or ability to make them myself).  I did start the infill with some breeze blocks and odds and ends of bricks, etc, then filled with a cubic metre of sand - wasn't enough, so had to get another 6 or so bags.  (I remember an article by Bob and Rannveig Wallis where they described filing in with old TVs and bikes) 

This was the frame I had (you can see the optional extra base at the bottom which is available in different depths)

http://www.garden-products.co.uk/customer/product.php?productid=22247

OK, it was expensive but it is very good.

[David Nicholson]

Diane, many thanks for that. Food for thought!!

[Diane Clement]

We had a few days in Spain last week. This year, unfortunately, the global climatic quirks hit us and heavy rain did fall a couple of times, fortunately the worst of it at night.  However, there were some super plants to be seen

My latest blog can be seen here:

Midland Diary No 23  

Here's a few spoilers:

Narcissus cantabricus
Ophrys apifera
Sunrise over the Med

[Diane Clement]

Following the harsh winter, I have had some surprising survivors, and some losses.  But by late May the winter is almost forgotten, and the garden is looking good, with an unexpected blue bonus

My latest blog can be seen here:

Midland Diary No 28  

Here's a few spoilers:
Dianthus 'La Bourboule'
Geranium cinereum 'Ballerina'
Meconopsis 'Lingholm'

[Diane Clement]

Some plants I thought I had lost following the harsh winter, have started to show signs of life.
One of the June jobs on my list is repotting hepaticas.

Both can be seen in my latest blog by clicking here:

Midland Diary No 29  

Here's a few spoilers:

[annew]

Very interesting article on hepaticas Diane. The roots really do get a workout don't they? You don't trim them as well as some, including me, do I see.

[Diane Clement]

Very interesting article on hepaticas Diane. The roots really do get a workout don't they? You don't trim them as well as some, including me, do I see.

Thanks, Anne.  In the past I have trimmed the roots by about a third, Japanese style.  I'm not sure why, but this year I am experimenting with not trimming them.  We will see next spring what happens ...

[Lesley Cox]

I too have a bay tree in a tub, (rather than a pot) in the process of being trained as a standard and it has never been frosted (probably a milder winter here) but the darned thing sends up shoots from the bottom every year, making the standard arrangement impossible. I trim off each batch by cutting down though the compost right against the trunk but that seems to encourage even more. So I'm ending up with a shrubby plant in a tub.

[Maggi Young]

Diane's latest Midland Gardener's Diary for the AGS website is online  here:
http://www.alpinegardensociety.net/diaries/Midland/+July+/287/

Full of the usual good tips and clear photos to let us see precisely what she is describing.... don't miss it!

[Lesley Cox]

Diane's blog has many good lessons to learn, just as the Bulblog has. Not made easier for me today by the scroll on my computer not working smoothly. It goes up or down in waves, several small tsunami actions for each scroll. Not sure why. Well I haven't a clue actually, except that Roger removed an unwanted programme earlier today.

[Diane Clement]

Diane's latest Midland Gardener's Diary for the AGS website is online  here:
http://www.alpinegardensociety.net/diaries/Midland/+July+/287/
Full of the usual good tips and clear photos to let us see precisely what she is describing.... don't miss it!  

Thanks Maggi, that was quick!
And a couple of the usual spoilers

Rhododendron hirsutum
Sarracenia hyb
and one for the BD

[Maggi Young]

Diane, your Rhodendron hirsutum is lovely.... one I like very much but which I no longer have. I was fond of it but I got annoyed with the new foliage hiding the late flowers.  In a moment of rashness I  lifted  it with some garish hybrids to give to a friend with a new garden. I had some notion of gaining space.... which I did, but I should have kept the hirsutum!
I have 'Intermedium' the ferrugineum x hirsutum hybrid and a white form of 'Intermedium'....neither of which have done well these last couple of years.  

Erythronium seedpods not quite that ripe here... and wind and rain squalls not helping.

 The first Cyclamen purpurascens flower is out so it must be summer....