Never have I been so glad to see the back of a year but I guess I’m not alone in that sentiment. This year has been different for all the wrong reasons. Yet, in many ways my garden in 2020 has been one of the best.
It started, as did much of the strangeness we’ve lived through, with lockdown. I’ve worked from home for many years and have always spent a lot of time in the garden. However, the cancellation of all the flower shows and press trips resulted in even more time, and for me that meant annuals.
Sweet peas and cosmos are garden regulars and the cutting garden I started a few years ago has seen my list of annuals grow. This year, though, I expanded that and sowed many of the packets that had long languished in my seed tins.
Part of the impetus was having new borders to fill after work to transform a difficult to manage and weed-infested slope.
Luckily, the hard landscaping was finished just weeks before lockdown and the new deck became a regular spot for family coffee. Indeed, we all spent more time out in the garden in 2020.
I had planned a plant-buying trip to the RHS Malvern Spring Festival to fill the new space but with that cancelled, I was forced to rethink the plan.
Instead, the borders were used for spare cutting bed plants, dahlias that I couldn’t squeeze into the dahlia bed and any left over annuals. There was absolutely no colour theme! It looked a bit sparse to begin with but soon filled out and kept going well into November and the first frosts.
Next year’s project is to introduce some more permanent planting although I’m tempted to leave space for some annuals as they proved such good value plants.
One section was sown with a ‘Perfect for Pollinators’ seed mix that I’d been given by Thompson & Morgan to try – it proved very successful.
Every single pot was put to use this year as the number of annuals I grew increased. I was particularly pleased with this morning glory, part of last year’s gardening trials.
It was a surprise to have successfully overwintered this gerbera, as I essentially put it in the potting shed and pretty much forgot about it. It was given to me as part of a promotion for the 2019 BBC Gardeners’ World Live show. Its cheerful colour was much needed this year.
Spending more time at home meant I was able to give the vegetables the time they really need and it paid off. I grew my first cauli – nothing prize-winning but still an achievement.
The beetroot was also good and we’re still eating chard with everything.
Last year, my squash suffered slug attack and rot due to rain so this season saw old trellis and any other pieces of wood we could find repurposed as supports. The ‘Uchiki Kuri’ certainly appreciated it.
And is it strange to be ridiculously proud of cabbage? These are the first Savoy that I’ve successfully grown from seed and managed to protect properly from slugs and cabbage white butterflies.
It wasn’t just us who were a bit mixed up in 2020. Some plants nearly missed the garden party completely. This dahlia was very late in flowering.
I grew these cup-and-saucer vines from seed and, although I knew they flower late, it was debatable what was going to come first – a flower or frost.
They did finally flower but the plants are unlikely to survive the winter. Perhaps I need to sow them earlier next year.
The first frost was several weeks later than usual and the mild autumn meant many summer plants were still trying to flower right up until Christmas. I have several deciduous shrubs that have still not shed all their leaves and primroses convinced it’s already spring, although this week’s sleet may have changed their minds.
Of course, spring is something we’re all looking ahead to and I have a feeling it will be even more welcome next year after a challenging winter.
But looking ahead and planning is what gardeners do. I’ve already started going through the seed catalogues and deciding what to grow. Annuals are definitely going to be on the list.
Enjoyed this? Why not follow my blog and get an email about new posts into your inbox.