Mr Frosty put in an appearance big style, with an overnight temperature of -5. The greenhouse heater struggled a bit so we’ve now moved the Tomato Stupice and Ferline, Cucumber Long White, Cucino F1 and Tiffany F1, along with Peppers Summer Salad and Tropical Heat into the breakfast room. Onion Marko (he used to work with Pete(!)), Leek Musselburgh and the resown Broad Bean The Sutton have been left in the greenhouse but should be okay.
I sowed some Mignon Mixed Dahlias last weekend and have some nice little seedlings now. Brussels Sprout Maximus are now in the propagator.
The previous owner of our house had a bit of a nursery going and we’ve been left with quite a few trees in a nursery bed. Moved 24 Acers yesterday to provide some screening for our caravan. Not really hedging but we’re going to try it - not sure what else we could have done with them. Moved some beech trees to create a screen for the big compost area and bonfire heap. We’ve now got 45 oak trees about 5′ high; don’t know what we’re going to do with them - probably advertise them as freebies somewhere.
I cut back lots of grass plants yesterday - don’t know what they are yet but they were about 8′ tall. Used the tops to put in vases in the living room which has finished the new decorating off nicely. It was a very dark room but now has white walls and oak flooring which goes great with the exposed wood and huge fireplace. The house is feeling like ours now. Will need to stop decorating soon as there will be plenty to keep us busy outside. The electrics need redoing, dog and owl pens removed, outhouses painted and new sheds bought and erected. That’s without the veg plot, the squash bed and the creation of a asparagus bed and finishing off the pond. I love this place!
The mice haven’t given up yet - they’ve eaten the chives which have started to resprout and also ate the garlic chives but I don’t think they liked them as much as only ate half the shoots. I’ve seen the little fat thing in the shed, laughing at me. Won’t be laughing when we get fed up enough to trap it.
Speak to you soon.
Davina Jane www.digthatgarden.co.uk
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The mice must be hungry as all the Percy Thrower Sweet Peas and Broad Beans The Sutton sown in the greenhouse have disappeared. We can’t decide whether to set the cat on them or get some mousetraps. I don’t like the thought of killing them but what is the point in trying to grow your own if all you are doing is feeding the mice. We’ve got less than a third of the broad beans left that we sowed last Autumn and the greenhouse sowings were supposed to fill the gaps. We will, of course, try again.
Better news in the propagator is that all but the Anthirrhinums are up and now on a light windowsill. So far we have managed not to get ‘leggy’ tomatoes. We sowed some peppers last week and the first of these is starting to show.
I spent several backbreaking hours clearing chickweed off the allotment area. Gave up once I started sinking in the mud. I’ve spent so much time handweeding that I am hopeful the veg grows rather than weeds, that is if the mice butt out.
The seeds arrived and I’ve typed up a sowing chart. With all the flower seeds I’ve saved from last year it’s going to get a bit busy in the propagator. I can’t wait for the weather to change to get into mega production of veg and flowers.
Davina Jane
www.digthatgarden.co.uk
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Happy New Year to you all. My New Year’s resolution is to keep writing! We’ve been very busy in our new garden, clearing overgrown beds and expanding others. We have half an acre that was left as an overgrown lawn which took some clearing but we have now started to expand into it and it now feels part of the garden. We have created a new bed and filled it with cherry, raspberries, blackcurrants, almonds, cobnuts, blueberries and plums. We have also planted a Walnut and eagerly await some nuts in about 4 years time! Christmas and New Year has been very grey and murky with plenty of wet weather and a day of snow. This weekend has been lovely and sunny and it was great to get back into the garden and work off some of the Christmas excesses. We cut our hawthorn hedge which is about 80m long - it was extremely prickly and the man of the house has a very sore hand from a stabbing it gave him. The greenhouses were weeded and sprayed and got ready for all the seeds that will soon be sown, not to mention the new grape vine. I’m afraid the sweet peas were doing rather too well and I had to resort to potting them on. Sowed some more sweet peas in a tray in the greenhouse; they are Percy Thrower, a lovely lavender on white. The first tomatoes have been sown in the propagator, along with Petunia, Antihhrinum, Verbascum and Lobelia. Time will tell. Anyway, as I said, hopefully this year I will continue to keep you up-to-date. There will be so much more to talk about with such a large garden. The seeds are ordered and eagerly awaited and the veg plot has been planned out. If you haven’t yet ordered your seeds, Thompson and Morgan couldn’t make it easier and you get the most expensive packet free and there are other tempting offers. They had run out of a couple of varieties so you really need to get on with it. Have fun!
Davina Jane www.digthatgarden.co.uk
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It seems that Spring is finally here. Bulbs are popping their heads up everywhere, snowdrops and daffodils in flower. Tulips are appearing but several weeks away from flowering. Antirrhinum and Geums sown two weeks ago have germinated - they’ll need pricking out next weekend. The tomatoes are also up and are now in the greenhouse to avoid them getting leggy. The sweet peas planted out have shown no signs of slug damage - maybe they haven’t realised it’s Spring. Anyway, I shall keep an eye on them. Don’t forget Mothers Days on Sunday 18th March. For pressie ideas, visit our website and view Gifts for Women, Cut Flowers, Houseplants and Garden Gifts.
Davina Jane www.digthatgarden.co.uk
We have been mostly ‘virtual gardening’ the last couple of weeks, creating new websites www.lawnsdirect.co.uk and www.mowthatgarden.co.uk. Yes, you’ve guessed it, everything you need to look after that lawn - lawn seed, turf, loam and lawnmowers. Had time to do some real gardening as well. We’ve moved the garlic and onions planted last autumn in pots, outside. Half of the sweet peas sown in autumn have been planted into a trough and the other half moved to the cold frame. Tomato seeds have been sown, as have Antirrhinum, Geums and Aquilegia. We’ve even planted the early potatoes which we cover with some polycarbonate glazing if it looks as if it will be frosty or excessively wet. We saved some allium seed last year and have also sown them. It will take a long time for them to come to fruition, 2-3 years before flowering, but will be worth the wait. Off to play tennis on the Wii - you just have to buy one!
Davina Jane www.digthatgarden.co.uk
Well, we’ve had the cold spell. Bit of snow, bit of ice and now it’s mild again. Saturday was dry and fine so we decided to blitz the back garden. We tend to leave the perennials for as long as possible before tidying them up - the dead leaves and twigs seem to give them some protection but we were getting fed up of everything looking so tatty. We know you’re supposed to undertake tasks at certain times of the year but quite honestly find it makes little or no difference. Roses were pruned, clematis hacked and general clearance undertaken. Five bin bags later and we’d done a pretty good job. Unfortunately, we’re hoping to move house shortly and don’t feel we can leave lots of compost rotting so the cuttings had to be taken to the tip. What a waste, ha ha! I know, I am definitely she of the cheap corny gags! So what is wrong with brooms? I bought a red broom two years ago which fills the garden with scent and looks pretty good too. For the past two years I have also resisted Pete’s attempts to cut it back, to ground level. He doesn’t seem to have any real reason for wanting to cut it back and it’s not going to happen, unless of course he wants garden war! Mmm, maybe I’ll take some cuttings.
Davina Jane www.digthatgarden.co.uk
New Year’s Day dawned bright but not exactly beautiful, but at least it wasn’t raining. Gave the cars their yearly wash, then got stuck into tidying up the front garden and drive. Weeding drives is a complete pain, literally, but it was long overdue. As I was also going to weed the beds, I decided to wash the windows; we need to step on the beds to wash them, so made sense to combine the jobs. I am a woman after all and we’re very good at multi-tasking, don’t ya know! There was actually a bud on the climbing rose which opened nicely indoors and gave off a lovely scent. It is so mild and shows no sign of taking a turn for the worse but it is easy to get complacent, so beware! Thompson and Morgan have introduced a climbing fuchsia, so that’s one Mother’s Day present dealt with.
Davina Jane Dig That Garden
At last, you say, what took so long? I have to admit you tend to
get carried away looking after the garden, planting new seeds etc. that you tend to forget to take photographs of it, which is a great shame. Considering what I do for a living, the fact that our front garden looked so awful eventually proved too shameful and we had to do something 
about it. We replaced the lawn with Rolawn medallion turf, bedded onto a layer of Rolawn blended loam from Rolawn Direct. We also put a box hedge in to separate it from next door - they were very pleased with the result and it obviously makes it less awkward when mowing as the dividing line is now very apparent. The border looked good anyway, having been planted up a couple of years ago but we planted lots of snowdrops, tete a tete daffodils and miniature tulips, which should give a good showing in Spring. The cyclamen are spreading well but unfortunately no piccies of those. 
The lawn has taken extremely well and I think you will agree, looks great. The tree in the foreground is a gingko biloba, grown from seed by Pete approx. 8 years ago. He likes trees! If any of you out there would like us to publish your before and after stories, just email us and let us know.
Davina Jane Dig That Garden
Hi all you fans out there. Sorry we’ve been away for so long. Our beloved border collie of many years, Tyke, has passed way and adjusting to a new way of life has not been easy. Anyway, be assured that we are back on board and will continue to source quality products at reasonable prices and bring you information on what jobs need to be done in the garden. If you are looking for Christmas gift ideas why not take a look at the Hampers page where there are links through to Traditional, Food and Gift Hampers. If any of you don’t know what to get me, I fancy the Chocolate Brownies, Inverawe Salmon and Pouilly-Fume and why not a meerkat statue from the Gardening Gifts page. Lots of tidying up has been done in the garden and the front looks great with our Rolawn turf and box hedging (photos will be posted shortly).
Davina Jane Dig That Garden
There’s always plenty to do in the garden in autumn. Lifted our purple canna and put in greenhouse for protection. Sowed some annual sweet peas, Matucana, which should get them nicely ahead in Spring, if I can keep the slugs off them. All the tulips we lifted and separated earlier in the year were planted in the back garden and snowdrops and tete a tete daffodils in the front garden. Sending off for some more miniature daffodils to plant under the new hedge in the front (when we have one). Our regular sloe sites have all but disappeared with hedge cutting and other people getting there first. But never fear, it’s easy to spot sloes once the leaves fall and I had some new sites in sight (sorry!). We picked about 7lb and I stood and pricked the lot. Been turning the bottles all week and can probably put them away next week. Pumpkins’s are readily available now and I made some pumpkin soup - lovely!
Sloe Gin recipe. Take half a pound of sloes and nip with some nail scissors. Put in an empty bottle with 2.5oz of sugar. Top up with gin and leave in a prominent place so you remember to turn the bottles each day for a couple of weeks. Put away in a dark cupboard and look forward to Christmas.
Davina Jane Dig That Garden