Anna Taylor, from Anna’s Flower Farm in Audley End, shares what’s going on in the garden
Why would we want a holiday from the garden, now at its best and most abundant? Wouldn’t we rather be here than anywhere else anyway?
The best way around this dilemma is to book holidays from December to February. But sometimes we have to go away, and I’ve noticed we are adopting a more European attitude by shutting down in August.
But I still have seedlings in trays maturing, tomatoes to water and flowers to pick. In high summer, attention little and often is the key to maintaining harvesting through to the autumn. Going away now might seem more stressful than restful! It is a universal truth that to go on holiday for rest, you must work three times as hard in the week running up to it. I have become well-versed in executing Operation Exit.
Firstly, cut the grass – not too short (in case of a heat wave). Pull all the big weeds, especially those about to flower, and leave the rest. They are doing no harm but will hold the soils together and shade the roots.
Seedlings and pots are my concern. Preferably, we’d have a kind neighbour to water them in the exact way you would! But if this flower fairy is not about, I give all my trays of seedlings and pots a generous comfrey or seaweed feed, then pull into the shade. If it looks like heavy rain, I might do that undercover to prevent water logging and slug feasting.
If dry, beneath trees. Precious ones will sit in trays with capillary matting hanging into a reservoir of water. You can do this with houseplants too; sit them on the draining board on a tea towel dropped into the sink of water.
Ideally, said flower fairy would also keep flowers picked or dead headed and vegetables harvested so plants continue to produce rather than run to seed. Usually, one of those heavy summer storms stops play in August. If a dahlia or sunflower hasn’t been staked, it will be flattened. Anything top-heavy can be chopped back before you go and fed to ensure returning to new shoots.
When I am home from blissful retreat, I want that feeling to continue, relaxing outside with long, luxurious meals and a sense of ease. Scented plants are the quickest way to transport you to holiday mode, lingering in the summer evening air and romancing the pollinators. This is why I like plants such as nicotiana (tobacco flower), sweet peas and jasmine. Nothing like those plants to make me want to sit and rest near them.
After a holiday, I expect I’ll have one of those extra-vigorous days full of joie de vivre following a rest and change of scene. Spent crops and annuals are cleared, winter salads sown, as well as perennials (echinacea, eryngium and canterbury bells) and hardy annuals (cornflower, orlaya and daucus) for next year.
While waiting for those plants to be big enough to plant out in the autumn, I’ll be sowing quick-growing green manures such as phacelia, mustard and buckwheat, which all invigorate the soils, drawing up water and replenishing with nutrients and minerals – improving structure while flowering so the gardens are buzzing with insects. Don’t let weeds occupy a vacuum; use these brilliant plants to do some good instead.
Just like that, summer drifts on a hazy warm breeze, much like I do on a lounger for an afternoon siesta. Happy summer!
