Don’t you just love it when something unexpected and pleasant happens?
I’ve mentioned in various posts one of my favourite places for a day out: RHS Harlow Carr in Harrogate, North Yorkshire. It has so much to offer, since it has beautiful gardens with a large variety of different themes and habitats, as well as several playgrounds and a fabulous garden centre. On top of that, there is a lending library and they frequently have special events.
Today’s was an iris exhibition. Not that I went there in the first instance for that. I did in fact have books to take back to the library and it made sense to let my daughter enjoy the adventure playgrounds with their splendid treehouses and maze.
I also had a voucher entitling me to £5 off if I spent £40 or more in the garden centre. Of course I wouldn’t just spend the money to save five pounds, but I had an agenda. Namely, to buy a blueberry bush, now that I have prepared the ground at home for it (using coffee grounds and pine needles to make the soil more acidic). By the way, it didn’t cost me forty pounds but I came away with a large bush which was already coming into leaf.
What I didn’t realise – I didn’t read the label properly – is that it would give better yields if I had more than one of them. Never mind, let’s see how it goes. At least a chunk of the garden has been filled with something new and interesting 🙂
Talking of interesting, whilst wandering around the RHS garden, we discovered a whole section which we had previously been completely unaware of. It has a bird watching station and a wood, which might be managed for logging and have manmade paths, but which is barely cultivated.
This will be wonderful to spend more time in. Today we needed to see the iris exhibition though. They were in fact on the verge of shutting shop when we got there and there wasn’t a great deal to see. However, a gentleman came up to us and said if we could wait just a couple of minutes when the exhibition was officially closed we could take a bunch of irises home with us. So, here they are below.
© Helen Butt, March 2014
Growing out of chaos 
thank you for sharing
I thought of you Linda when I found the bird watching station. It’s a shame you can’t see the birds in the photo.
I’ve now got four of five blueberries. But we did get a set of three at the end of the summer. They were reduced in price so maybe that’s worth trying. I like the coffee grounds idea. We give them tonnes of leaf mold every year.
I’ll keep my eye out for more blueberry bushes… Am tempted to see how this one fares but I certainly have the space for another at the moment 🙂
If you get the soil right you can always add more later!
That’s my thinking too!
A friend of mine has just planted a number of bushes on her allotment and she thinks the prefer relatively infertile soil, so is reluctant to add coffee grinds but the info I got with mine today suggests otherwise.
We’ve also given them rhododendron soil. Theyve got a woodland type consistency now in contrast to the deep sandy stuff all over the garden. Ours are also in a sort of raised bed to keep the soils seperate.
That’s all useful to know. Never heard of rhododendron soil before but I’ll look out for it.
It’s handy when you have soil like this.
Is this more acidic then or is it because of the nutrients?
Is it terrible to say in not sure. I read that it was right for blueberries so assume it’s the acidity. As we’ve used it three times in five years and the harvest keeps improving I was happy to accept it was suitable. The first two years we didn’t really know and they fine initially but then the crop declined. Now we regularly have fruits as big as my thumb!
Well, that sounds like money well spent, whatever the reason.
They are good.
Had a fab blueberry bush ( a smallish one which grew really well in a pot)had some really good fruit from it, sadly the branches were really brittle and during a windy period the whole thing from the stump broke off 😦 happened to my mums as well, dunno if this is cos they were dwarf or whether blueberry are prone to this. If I get another will be kept in a place that is hidden from wind!
What a shame, Jane. Mine has been planted in a rather vulnerable spot for wind but it might be stronger if it is planted in the ground.
ps what happened to the broad beans ?xx
Oh, put them out too early, didn’t I. Some of the plants have grown and will do fine but I’ve resown in places and am waiting for them to show. Thanks for asking, anyway!