Happy New Year! Here in Sussex like most of England we are in Tier 4 which means we can only meet one other person outside of the house and only essential shops are open. The temperature is hovering just above freezing and yesterday I didn’t leave the house at all.
I don’t know about you but I am relying on gardening to get me through the next few months. At the moment I’m just diving out to do a quick bit of tidying up, but there’s reading and planning going on behind the scenes. Our back garden is not looking its best at the moment so this week’s six is a collection of plant-related things from the house, front garden and the countryside around us. As ever I’m joining in with our lord and master The Propagator .
1. Tidying the front garden allotment
It’s not really an allotment but that’s what I like to call the four raised beds in our front garden. It’s a nice job to dig them over and add horse manure ready for planting new crops.
2. Orchid
This is the year I’m going to learn to look after my houseplants properly. This Phalaenopsis was a Christmas present from my mum. I gave it a good drink yesterday and it’s sitting on my desk out of direct sunlight. Any orchid growing tips gratefully received.
3. Houseplant bath-time
Watering is where I always fall down with houseplants. Now I plan to treat them like a large family of children and line them up for a good soak.
4. Christmas present haul
These gifts all came from my lovely mum – gardening gloves for weeding, seeding and pruning, heavy duty secateurs, two wooden tampers for seed sowing, a new kneeling pad, a Monstera and a soil sieve to remove weeds from my compost. Lucky old me!
5. Running flowers
Before Christmas I was doing a lot of running and these wildflowers are all along my regular route. Then I did my back in so I’ve had a few days off and have been going for walks instead. I think they are Old Man’s Beard or wild clematis, teasels, stinking iris berries, mallow or Malva sylvestris and winter heliotrope. Contemplating going for a run today but if I do will be taking it easy.
6. Sunny spot
We have to take our pleasures where we can get them at the moment. The other day there was a rare moment of winter sunshine so I popped out to pull out some weeds, tie up and prune my Lady Hillingdon rose and plant the last of the bulbs.
Carrots and Calendula 
Great photos in this Six, at the start of the year. What do you plan to put in the half terracotta pot in # 6? Is it for plants or to feed the birds maybe? (and gorgeous orchid… !)
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I have put Ballerina tulip bulbs in it – they were meant to go in a border but I couldn’t find room!
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Ooh, it will be beautiful !
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Great pressies and always so useful. The only thing I have learned about looking after orchids is use rainwater if you can rather than tap water (but I often use tap water if I can’t be bothered to go outside) and feed them all spring and summer and they will flower all winter. I use seaweed as the feed rather than buying the small and expensive bottles of orchid feed. On this regime, mine has lasted nine years so good luck with it.
Happy New Year to you
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Thank you for the good advice!
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Rather a lot of coincidences I found in your post. I have been going out for odd half hours to do some weeding. My raised bed is about to get some more compost/manure. I am trying to get back to doing regular running 🏃♂️ but not more than 4 or 5k twice a week these days. I have been tidying my house plants and resolving to care for them better. What a lovely selection of gardening presents, but my kneeler, which I have had for years, has handles on it to help me to get up and down but you don’t need that for many a year! Lovely, interesting Six-on-Saturday. Happy New Year and enjoy your running but mind you don’t slip.
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Your Christmas presents look great. That kneeler is very pretty and the orchid is lovely. Like you I’ve just been taking the chance to get out for short spells to have a tidy up as the weather has been a bit cold. I’m sure every little bit helps.
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Happy New Year Ciar. Your mum gave you some great gifts. I saw those tampers in one of my catalogues this week and was tempted. Let us know how you get on with them.
My only tip with phaleonopsis orchids came from a friend – give them no more than one egg cup full of water once a week. I’ve kept 2 going for 5 years that way and they usually re-flower every year.
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Your allotment epitomises one of the essences of gardening – it is in the garden that we may plan and dream and be happy.
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Everything looking good for your New Year!
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I think it’s a great idea to grow veg in the front garden like you do, a good use of the space. My orchid is dying on me, so I will refrain from giving advice! That spot of wintery sunshine looks very tempting, I would like some of that please!
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Gee, I do not know how to grow phalaenopsis. I just watered mine. It knew what to do. The bloom lasted for a very long time, and before it ended, another floral stem developed to start the process over again. It continued like that for years before it suddenly and unexpectedly died. It was great while it lasted, and would probably be continuing now if I had taken care of it.
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I enjoyed catching sight of your collection of garden books behind the lovely orchid gifted by your mom. Such thoughtful gardening gifts! Few things more useful than sharp, high quality clippers.
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