Before you start, this is a Bumper Edition. There are lots of photos which might not all show up in your email, so please do head here to read it in full.
If you’re anything like me, you might have got to the end of this first week of August and wonder what’s going on - is it summer? Is it autumn? What should I be doing? Am I on holiday? Can I get through the book pile? Can I finish a manuscript for a book project that I’ve been working on since 2022?
Basically - it’s summer. It’s that mid-summer holiday feeling when you lose all track of time, but as an adult, you do actually have to do some work too. Yet that feeling of needing to take time away is niggling. So, it’s absolutely the right time for the second part of our Summer Specials - the idea of a whole pick and mix of things definitely makes me feel like I’m on holiday - you can find Part 1 here.
Here in The Gardening mind we’ve spent the last few weeks looking at what’s doing well in the garden; today, all of a sudden, either the temperature has cooled down or else I’m getting used to it, and I’m feeling like we could probably get out there and do some stuff. There’s a plant which is doing extraordinarily well both here and in lots of other gardens, and I think it should go on your plant lists for next year. I’m also going to take a look at a new way to use a familiar plant, and there’s a new Before and After Garden Design Case Study - hurrah!
First of all, can I say:
If you’re landing here for the first time, a great big WELCOME - it’s great that you’ve found us, at EXACTLY the right time of the gardening year. There’s lots going on here - garden design ideas, easy gardening how-tos, plant recommendations, general garden chat, border planting design tips and tricks and lots more. If you’d like to join in, I’d love it:
PS - if you’re reading this on the App, DO NOT subscribe here - it’s 30% more expensive. Go instead to the website here, click on this same article, and subscribe from there. You can lock in at the same price for life, and save a lot of money in the process.
Whether you’re an experienced gardener or still dreaming of your first window box, there’s definitely a home for you here. As the no.2 Home & Garden Substack GLOBALLY, hopefully The Gardening Mind is doing what it says on the tin!
I think together we’ve created something rather special here at The Gardening Mind. Five years ago, I planted a tiny seed called The Gardening Mind, and what began as a simple gardening newsletter has grown into a bustling community. I’m incredibly grateful to you.
I genuinely believe that what makes The Gardening Mind special is this community we’ve built together. Every single week, I’m intrigued by the stories you share and am borderline-obsessed with the brilliant way in which members all support each other.
We continue to share so much. There’s a lot here, so you might just want to skip to Summer Special Part 2, here.
Generally, when trying to find any article, The Index is your friend:
In it, you’ll find:
How to design gardens large and small - the Small garden design series is available to start at any time to suit you, and we had the Real Time Garden Design Studio which will be running again this autumn.
The essential monthly ‘What to do in your garden’ and ‘What NOT to do in your garden’ advice columns - as well as suggestions for your garden, there’s advice and an ongoing Gardener’s Question Time in the Chat.
How to Garden - practical garden knowhow, including Storecupboard Basics, where we go through the ingredients that all mix together to become GARDENING
Each month, there’s a gathering-up of rabbit holes in Cultivated: look out for next week’s edition, where, amongst other things which have nothing to do with gardening and everything to do with daftness, there’s a man who folds fitted sheets in a theatrical manner. Yes really.
The ‘How to design a border’ course
How to Garden techniques: everything from composting to how to make leaf mulch to growing amaryllis
Lessons learned from garden setbacks, including plants I’ll never grow again.
News - I announced the publication of The New Romantic Garden right here, and paid members are going to be hearing more about my new book in the next few weeks
The utter joy of harvesting homegrown vegetables, including the infamous ‘Chittalong’
Peeking behind the scenes and Zooms about how on earth I was, for example, going to design a garden in China, sharing the ups and downs along the way
The invaluable wisdom exchanged in our comments section, where experienced gardeners share knowledge with newcomers
Proper money-can’t-buy explorations, as I visit secret places not open to the public
Book reviews and giveaways of books, bulbs and tickets to events
Deep dives into garden colour
And of course, there’s the regular Sunday Show Us Your Plots.
QUICK NOTE: Show Us Your Plots - how does it work?
On Sunday morning you’ll see my post on the Chat which starts ‘It’s Sunday 9th August and it’s time to Show Us Your Plots!’ I post a few photos from my own garden or wherever I’ve been in the preceding days, and then you post yours. I promise you, your photo doesn’t need to be wonderful or edited - honestly, you should see some of mine - it’s basically yellow grass at the moment. It’s just an honest record of what’s going on in our own gardens, or a green spot near wherever we happen to be. Will you come and give it a go this Sunday?
The Chat also acts as a Gardener’s Question Time through the week and it has taken on a life of its own. So if you have ANY garden-related or plant-related query, come and join us!
I’ll stop here for a moment: if you’re new here, please do have a browse around the Index where you’ll find EVERYTHING.
I’ve decided it’s about time we looked at another garden design dilemma - we haven’t looked at these for a while, and if you have a tricky garden space or conundrum, the answer might well already be here:
Do you have a space which doesn’t really feel like a garden at all?
An area which wraps around your whole house but that has no sense of whether it’s a front garden or back garden, or anything? No privacy, no personality, just.. well, just a space?
This is exactly what we’re going to be looking at today: how I turned this space into a proper functioning garden:
I’ll be sharing my sketches and plans, and how I dealt with the various constraints, and of course, sharing with you the ‘after’ images too.
I’ll also be looking at that fabulous drought-resistant, heat-resistant garden superstar I mentioned above. AND, there’s a new way of doing things that I want to tell you about.
When is a weed not a weed? A controversial use of one very common weed.
I have discovered the most amazing wasp repeller.
And a garden oddity which is basically this:
The Shrub of the Month is back
And also, I have even more of the very best roses - they are going on and on and on, loving the heat and the drought.
And finally, I have the first new bulb collection, with a discount.
Here’s what the garden looked like on my first visit:
It’s not really that terrible a space. Lots of us have a patch of grass and some shrubs around the edge, and we leave it like that. But the owners here felt that the whole of this garden was one big amorphous blob: the garden goes all around the house and from wherever they looked, they just saw grass and trees, and not much else. The house itself is a charming and quirky Arts and Crafts house designed and built in the 1920s, and in comparison, the garden felt all sort of nothing-y. It was there, but it wasn’t really doing anything, and it certainly didn’t complement the house.
To underline that there’s nothing really awful here, but what you can’t see is that a couple of brand new houses are about to be built right up by this garden’s boundary - these would create a bit of privacy issue, and were what prompted the owners to get in touch about a garden design.
So where do I start? The brief was to create a garden which would feel ‘right’ in the space, to create privacy, and to create a garden for a busy family to enjoy.
I’m going to show you how I went about it, along with sketches, plans and illustrations, along with the Before and After images:
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