WELCOME TO THE COTTAGE
The very words 'cottage garden' evoke a charming and old- fashioned picture of borders packed with blowsy colours and heavenly scents. This type of growing has always been moderately popular, but it has sometimes been cast somewhat into the shade by a variety of waxing and waning 'low-maintenance gardening' trends. In recent years, its popularity has clearly enjoyed a revival - as many of us are becoming more aware of wildlife-friendly gardening.
Additionally, this style of gardening provides a relaxed and informal setting to our outdoor living spaces - a retreat from the ever increasingly stressful, soul-less and artificial surroundings many of us endure both in and out of work. The relaxing ambience of a cottage garden may be relaxing and restful, but it does have significant importance in our personal lives as its values can help to us to apply patience and other qualities in daily life.
Cottage gardening is for everyone. The smallest patch of garden can house a jumble of small perennials, bulbs, perhaps a small fruit tree, herbs and a pot of growing salad vegetables.
Cottages of times gone by had only a small plot to cram in as many vegetables and fruit as possible. As fresh food became more readily available in shops, and people had more money to spend - so these gardens became dedicated to growing flowers.
The plants grown usually display an informal habit, the colours chosen are of soft and subtle shades and many of these plants can be allowed to self-seed in abundance - adding to the loose feel to the borders, and is an ideal way of increasing your stock. Cuttings of shrubs or roses can be pushed into the soil, wherever there are any gaps. Thus making these borders very cost-effective, whilst dense planting keeps down weeds making the garden relatively low-maintenance.
Match your garden to your home
A COTTAGE garden, much like any other one, is a very personal thing.
Most of the design aspects will need to work reasonably well with your surroundings, and the house itself.
For instance, an old thatched cottage looks superb with a front garden jammed with Lupins, Phlox, and Alchemilla, a heavily scented rambling rose climbing all over the top of the front door and an old stone sundial in the centre of the plot.
Paths would be very narrow, made from natural stone, or gravel - allowing self-seeders to grow through. In contrast, a new build or modern house would benefit from a more up-to-date, or contemporary approach.
This sort of property would look well with Passifloras or Jasmine climbing up the front walls, and wide, perhaps formally straight-lined paths of slate or stone chippings, edged with dwarf lavenders. Groups of Alliums and Imperial Frittilarias in spring, could give way to bold plantings of Dahlias, Lilies and Rudbeckias for the summer months.
Hard landscaping materials do not generally dominate a cottage garden. A solid wooden fence looks better clothed in a whole variety of climbing plants. In a rural situation, hedges will of course, provide the most sympathetic boundary - especially if you can use native species, such as beech, holly and hawthorn. A concrete patio area could give way to gravel or slate. Whilst natural stone slabs are tempting (and look very effective), they are extremely expensive, and from an environmental point of view, our quarries also suffer from risk of being depleted.
A wooden pergola makes an attractive addition to any cottage garden, providing height, dimension, interest and localised summer shade. It looks stunning covered by Honeysuckle and roses.
Make sure you keep your de-composure
THE BEST cottage gardens are self-sufficient and one aspect of this is home-made compost. It couldn't be simpler!
Practically anything which decomposes quickly can be used to make compost, examples include - raw (NOT cooked) fruit and vegetables (and their peelings), eggshells, pet rodent waste (eg guinea pigs, hamsters, gerbils) including newspaper sheets, straw and droppings.
If you do use newspaper sheets, ensure is shredded into small pieces. Likewise, paper shreddings, such as bank statements and non-glossy junk mail, will add much needed carbon to the mixture.
Grass cuttings can be added, but need to be mixed in well with a pitch fork to prevent them from turning into a useless sludge, as can autumn leaves - these will rot down quicker if they are shredded with a mower or vacuum first.
The more ingredients, the better and a good compost mixture started now could be ready to use in eight to ten weeks. In spring, however, compost is created much more quickly by nature and a well-organised thriving heap can take as little as five to six weeks between late March and early July.
You will know your compost is ready because it will become black and crumbly - it is then you can add it to your soil. Remember - a dry compost will be reluctant to rot down properly whereas one that is too wet will become rotten and bad-smelling. Try to aim for a moist mediocre.
SHRUB roses can be pruned back to around a third of their height or even lower if desired. Clear away, and dispose of any old leaves around the bases, as these carry fungal spores. Give the plants a generous mulch of bulky garden compost, or well-rotted horse manure.
Offer a little grit of help...
PROTECT any Delphinium crowns from slugs and snails. Surround them with a barrier of grit, bonfire ash and crushed eggshells. These nibbling creatures like to hide under leaves and debris, so keep all around these plants clear.
...Maybe go on a Wist drive...
WISTERIAS can be winter pruned by shortening all of last year’s growth to around two to four dormant buds. In spring, the plants’ energy will then go into those fewer shoots, producing a grand floral display in May.
...Or on the de-fence-ive
IN DRY spells, January is a good month to repair and replace fencing. Picket fences look superb painted white or light grey, ready for the summer blooms to filter through. Living willow can also be planted this month, to create boundaries.
Plant yourself a new cottage!
IF YOU ARE starting a cottage garden, here is what you can be planting now:
* Roses can be put in as ‘bare roots’ or as container grown plants.
* Similarly, soft roots (such as raspberries, blackberries, blackcurrants, redcurrants and gooseberries) can be planted in the same way as roses.
* If you want to create boundaries in a very natural way,use living Willow either on its own or alongside any combination of it with holly, beech, quickthorn, hornbeam and Western Red Cedar.
All that’s left to say is - Good luck with your new cottage garden!
Turn your hand to show three of a kind:
BEECH is a wonderful slow-growing native tree which, in its first two decades or so of life, retains its coppery brown dead leaves throughout the winter.
It is also grown as a hedge for that decorative reason.
It makes a superb subject to get a woodland garden started and it will add a gradual sense of maturity and value to the whole garden.
WINTERSWEET (Chimonanthus Praecox) has extremely fragrant flowers around Christmas and well into January.
Its pendant pale yellow blooms sit snuggly on the bare branches.
This deciduous shrub is another candidtate for woodland, or even for a winter patch in front of the house alongside sweetly scented Viburnums and
Mahonias.
WINTER ACONITES are a real January joy with their abundance of cheerful flowers.
Once again, this is yet another superb woodland plant forming carpets of pale gold under the trees and can also be planted under shrubs close to the front windows.
They thrive best in a moist humus-rich soil in partial shade and are best left undisturbed.
To freeze or not to freeze...that is the question
JANUARY is expected to be fairly dry and not too cold in the first half with only occasional rain and the odd frost. During the fourth week, it may well turn a great deal colder with the risk of snowfall and hard frosts.
