HIGHER MORWELL GARDEN DIARY 2022
30th January
These pages are a rolling diary of the changes
and events in the garden for the year 2022 in
words and pictures.
September to December
The cornus kousa has spectacular white flowers in the summer, but come autumn it stages a show of red
raspberry-like fruits in place of the flowers. Haven’t eaten any yet… this was 4th September.
This year we’ve grown Turtle Claw chillies,
difficult to propagate but we have six plants.
Four are outside in the gin palace, one is in
the workshop attached to the house. This one
is in the polytunnel and has developed very
well, the abundant flowers turning rapidly to
chillies. The others have abundant flowers but
we await the chilli explosion! Onions are
everywhere in the poly drying ready for
storage and eating.
The butternut squash experiment looks
very hopeful! Seeds from a bought
squash last Winter dried until Spring,
germinated in pots and now growing
outside in a bit of space between the
beans and courgette. We need to invent
a better way of supporting them for the
next crop, upright canes are too
susceptible to being blown over.
Sometimes we have really
unexpected disasters. This
year the runner beans
have been so poor we’ve
binned them, tough and
really tasteless. The plants
look tired as well, there
are no flowers even in
early September. Drought
and heat may be the cause
but they were kept well
watered. Shame.
We’ve discovered that the general variety of
crocosmia is a thug, grows way too well and swamps
its neighbours. 15 September and we’ve started
removing most of it from the beds.
A pest of a different sort, the mole. A sudden
explosion of tunnels just below the surface at the
front of the garden, trapped three moles and rolled
the network flat as a further discouragement!
Both big beech and the old granite gate post have had a proper bed
created around them, tree left on 29 September and post right on 13
October. Both beds are planted with spring bulbs so we have to wait and
see come the time how they look!
Crocosmia being
drastically reduced
everywhere, the space
created around the pond
has been filled by
transplanted bergenia and
some new grasses.
Seen 6 October, the irises
planted on the south side
have been a success, not
for their flowers but the
leaves give protection and
the seed pods with red
berries are very attractive
at this time of year.
The grass bed behind the platform seat has
developed well lately, the stipa gigantea of course
is spectacular but the miscanthus has grown quite
tall and has interesting red fronds.
The polytunnel produce is still abundant although
the last of the tomatoes have been picked on 18
October, some going to make green tomato pickle.
The red and yellow peppers are ripening nicely.
18 October, the burning bush really is magnificent at this time of year, if
a little hidden behind the potting shed. Nondescript green the rest of the
year the leaves turn this brilliant red and manage to hang around wind
permitting for a few weeks.
A strange year for the garden, and
nothing stranger to us than this
rhododendron flowering again in
late October. Quite what it means
for next year’s flowering we will
have to wait and see!
1 December the front hedge has
been professionally trimmed, and
the Devon Bank not so
professionally cleared of
brambles and sycamore seedlings.
The new steps up
from the patio aren’t
quite finished but the
winter cold has put a
stop to cementing
jobs. 7 December and
two new pencil
cypress trees now
grace the garden end.
The patio citrus trees
have been covered
and put in shelter for
the winter, luckily
just before a
prolonged cold snap.