Ideas for next season

I appreciate that this is probably way too early to be thinking about next year. However, in the changing of my plot from fruit and veg allotment to garden, I will have a chance to use the new sections to grow different plants. The pond area, bog garden and stumpery have given me an idea to create a series of mini gardens, each with its own theme and style.

The stumpery is nearly finished now. We are just waiting on the arrival of two more ferns – a beautiful yellow one called Jurassic Gold and a stunning tree fern. The rockery is beginning to take shape with us picking up another lot of rocks tomorrow. I have decided to make it a small one – partly because it means less lugging around of enormously heavy rocks, but also I have two small sections by the veranda which are perfect for it.

This leaves me with lots of room to design different mini gardens in each section. I have spent quite a bit of time researching and I have a small but growing list of ideas. If any of you have any you would like to share, please comment on this post. I love the idea of a cottage garden section – using wildflowers and maybe a wooden gate or something similar to have as a focus point.

The greenhouse is going to change into a more tropical or exotic theme. I want to put in a raised bed on the left side of the greenhouse to grow tea bushes in. On the right, a full length potting bench which may also be used for a miniature cactus garden.

The pallets that screen the fruit section, I want to turn into a vertical garden of succulents. As it turns out, Rachael is a succulent expert and has kindly given us a tray of small ones to get us started. Today, I managed to get my hands on two other varieties to add to the rapidly growing collection. One of Rachael’s ideas was to grow the succulents through a wire. This keeps them in place and stabilises the soil when moved into an upright position. I have some wire which I think would work perfectly. All I need to get is some compost and weed fabric to complete it.

So there you go! My plan to be able to enjoy my allotment without watching my veg crops die year after year due to flooding. I hope one day I will be able to get a half plot that doesn’t flood so I can go back to growing vegetables. In an ideal world, it would be a half plot near to my current plot and near the Community Garden so I can enjoy watching the olive tree grow and the bees busy at their work. But somehow I doubt this will happen any time soon.