2008 highlights and lowlights

As the new garden year starts now is a good time to look back and record the successes and failures in the garden last year.

Start with the good bits:
Fruit and Veg
- The vegetable patch was more productive than in 2007 despite the downsides listed below.
- Currants moved successfully to new fruit bed.
- 'Italian' tomatoes in the greenhouse. They look ugly but taste glorious!
Ornamental Borders
- spring in the bed under the Silver Birch outside the front door. Hellebores, spurge and daffodils made a stunning display.
- Dorinichum flourished. It needed the right place - I have been through a couple of plants in the wrong place. At time of writing new growth is looking good!
- ... number of other areas of the beds that worked very well. Will highlight as we go through this year.
Pond
Deep water and bog plants (latter had a thorough overhaul early in 2008) with a particularly splendid display over months from the water lily. Lots of wild life enjoyed both the water and the bog garden.
General
- The construction of permanent location for the bbq so I don't have to put up with it being in way of the view - let alone me!
- Compost. Succesful composting of ALL lawn clippings without creating a general sludge. Have created enough compost (from lawn clippings, kitchen waste and chicken coop bedding) for the veg and fruit patch at least.

Bad bits
Fruit and Veg
- Slugs slugs and more slugs. Second and subsequent sowings of lettuce all munched. Beetroot, perpetual spinach and chard demolished whether sown directly or planted after growing to reasonable size in greenhouse. What I tried and what I plan to do will be in a later post.
- Cabbage white butterflies. So much for the brassicas. Constant rubbing off of eggs didn't work; neither did regular squashing of caterpillars. Scraggy plants is the most I can say I was left with.
- Fruit cage allowed in a blackbird just when the currants were close to cropping. One very fat blackbird released and very few currants picked. Strawberries another victim of slugs.
Ornamental Borders
- In the battle against couch grass I probably came out slightly ahead. Against creeping buttercup slightly behind. First year of having bindweed - we're equal I would say.
- Ostrich grass didn't 'plume'. Didn't manage to find out how to split or otherwise invigorate
Pond
- Heron loves it. Pity it takes as many fish as it can. We now have a semi permanant cover over the pond to stop it.
- Marginal plants not as good as last year