Now that summer is over and autumn nears, it is time to plan the garden for 2012

Plant of the month

Anemone Wild Swan: 2011 Chelsea New plant of the year – a stunning new hardy perennial – Reaching about 16-18in/40-45cm high, and blooming from May to November, each pure white flower is shaded and banded with blue on the backs. The result is that, in morning and evening when the flowers nod and half close, the blue backs are revealed, then for the rest of the day the 2-3in/5-7.5cm pure white flowers open wide.

Anemone Wild Swan will be available through Living Colour Gardens in the New Year…

Living Colour’s Three Top Tips of the Month

1. New Planting Schemes for the Garden - Let Living Colour help devise a new plan for your garden. With September and October being the best months for planting out perennials and container-grown trees and shrubs, Living Colour’s expert team can help coordinate a plan to give your garden the attention it deserves – so come spring/ summer next year – your garden will be flourishing with vigour, perfume and colour.

2. Bulbs – do not delay – with the summer warmth still firmly held in the ground, now is the time for planting bulbs. Living Colour can help with a scheme that will transform your garden come spring next year. Living Colour are currently offering complimentary bulbs with all bookings during September and October. Call us to find out more.

3. Lawns – is it time for a new lawn? Are you fed up with those muddy patches? Living Colour is here to help – we offer a full free consultation on your lawn and can cost for either restoring your old one, or installing a new one. Autumn is the best time to do both.

Home…..where your environment works for you, not the other way round. But we humans need more than walls and central heating. What we need is a bit of me time with a warm, aromatic bath of fresh cut lavender, orange and rose petals.

All you need is a handful or two of lavender and orange peel. Place in a large pot of lukewarm water and leave for a day. Heat the mixture slightly and stir. Run a steamy bath with scattered candles and rose petals, then strain the dark, fragrant blend into the bath. Upon entering this perfumed heaven, you may experience a wave of euphoria as you slowly unwind from the day, and if you happen to have a glass of wine handy, so much the better!

Pleasuring away our stresses is what plants do best in modern living, and is very important for those staring out a family. Just ask Dr Jacky Boivin from Cardiff University.

“ For couples trying to have a baby, it was important to identify any avoidable stresses and also consider what impact they are having in terms of lifestyle, which can have a more critical effect on the body.”

It would of course be absurd to start ignoring the necessities, but then again we need to pamper ourselves occasionally.

One particular choice of pampering is with lavender biscuits. Aromatic, infinitely variable, and highly moreish. Simply cream the sugar and butter together light. Add flour and younger lavender leaves. Knead until it forms dough. Gently roll out on to lightly floured board. Scatter the flowers over the rolled dough, and press in lightly with rolling pin. Cut into small round shapes. Place on greased baking sheet, bake for 10-12 minutes at 450F 230C gas mark 7. Remove promptly and cool on a wire tray.

Lavender Biscuits

100g/4oz butter

50g/2oz caster sugar

175g/6oz self-raising flour

2 table spoons fresh chopped lavender leaves

1 teaspoon lavender flowers removed from spike

Ben Hawley

My garden, like many others I imagine, is a constant work in progress…. After four years of playing around with ideas whilst my family grew from 1 to 3 rug rats running around causing chaos… I think I have finally come up with the perfect solution ….

The idea was to create a garden of practical splendour … a beautiful garden to look at, but also one which could entertain and somehow feed my increasingly growing family…….

I wanted to screen the fence line and create a mini utopia using wherever possible plants that could be harvested and eaten. Order amidst chaos was a desire. Privacy was a must, and some sort of shade from the afternoon sun over the deck a concern. A sustainable approach to all construction was also a necessity.

The garden is divided into three distinct areas: the decked area by the house for family eating, entertaining and play; the middle section for the lawn surrounded by an explosion of colour amidst artichokes and obelisks for climbing runner beans; and the end section for the garden office.

So while the decked area of the garden caters for all sorts of ornamental edible pleasantries (Courgette, Sweetcorn, Rhubarb, Tomatoes, and a plethora of herbs), the Pergola gives vertical height to Grape Vines (Vitis vinifera Muscat de Hamburgh) and Runner Beans whilst allowing swings to be swung and hammocks hung, (as well as a support for drying clothes) and giving shade to the kids in the afternoon sun.

The grape vine is in its 3^rd year and is now with grapes aplenty. I am looking forward to creating my first bottle of wine combining my two favourite pastimes, gardening and drinking fine wine.

With space at a premium, a degree of aerial gardening has been employed: old apple crates are hung from the beams filled with peas, beetroot, French green beans amongst all sorts of lettuce.

Wired along the perimeter fence line are espaliered fruit trees including Crab Apple (Comtesse de Paris), Medlar (Mespilus germanica) and Apple (Cox’s Orange Pippin).

To complete the ornamental/ edible picture, four olive trees dot the four corners of the garden while a fig tree towers over.

Without a doubt, the pure magic in creating the edible side to the garden has been the luxury of getting the kids involved …. Rocket Gardens (of Cornwall) sent me 100 plug plants in a huge variety of edible goodies .. this meant that the kids could easily help as planting is simple and on a small scale.  They loved it and in 2 days we had planted the lot.

It has been a constant source of amazement every morning to see how quickly the fruit and veg have grown – literally 3 weeks to have an overflowing garden of lush life.  Not to mention the pure undiluted excitement for the kids when we could start eating things.  Every day in the last few weeks has involved a morning ritual prowling the garden in search of goodies, starting with wild strawberries, raspberries, runner beans eaten straight from the stem, cooking up a delicious rhubarb crumble.

The older two kids now get a complete kick when their friends come round taking them on a tour and talking through all the food we are growing whilst offering up tasty nibbles, apples etc  It is a constant source of amazement at how much they have picked up and how much they are loving it and treating the garden with a new found respect.

Finally we seem to have created a space where the kids can not only be kids and enjoy themselves in the reckless way that only kids do, but with a new found respect for their space where suddenly running through the flower bed is a no no in case their precious raspberries get squashed …. It is heaven.

Time to get out there to decide what will work for dinner tonight … the lemon cucumbers, nasturtiums, runner beans, apples, courgette flowers, raspberries and strawberries are all ripe for the picking …

James Walsh

The dream is to one day move myself and my family to the countryside where we can enjoy a larger piece of land and be able to grow more food and rear animals to feed me, my wife and my 3 children.

In the mean time I want to experiment with my rear garden in London, creating a lovely family space whilst getting my kids excited about growing and eating food straight from the garden.  Having grown up in the countryside myself I want my children to have some of the same experiences I did; forking up potatoes, picking lettuce and shelling broad beans around the kitchen table; to generally have an understanding of the joys of food fresh from the garden.  But at the same time I don’t want to lose the aesthetics of my garden, nor lose the lawn for the kids.We will have to grow edibles around the existing structures, removing some of the perennial flowers but retaining enough to still attract wildlife.

I, like many others in this fast moving city, don’t have the time to grow from seed so have chosen to order plugs to plant out immediately in my garden.  I don’t expect to get it entirely right this year, it will no doubt be a work in progress, evolving as I learn what works where and with what, season by season, year by year.

I’ll keep you posted on how things grow, and the recipes that I will be experimenting with along the way.

Images of the development in progress can be viewed here:

http://www.ehgrenovations.co.uk/developments.html

The garden design features columns representing crumbling antiquity to go with existing arches, and Roman statues add to this theme. A key element of the design is to incorporate lots of features and focal points all around the garden to entice the visitor to explore. The garden design has two distinct areas – the space nearest the house will link to the new look of the house, which is being renovated simultaneously, whilst the rear section of the garden will be more rambling. Adding functionality, a paved area closest to the kitchen will provide a place for entertaining and dining with a barbecue.