Karen Tizzard Garden Design

Allotment Rhubarb

designinggardens — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 11:07:40 +0000

Picking the first stems of rhubarb from our Hitchin allotment is always a thrill.

There is little to bring home from the plot and enjoy at this time of year, April is more about preparation and seed sowing for the season ahead. I think because of this the first rhubarb picked and eaten has a pleasure all it’s own.

Rhubarb is also fantastically easy to grow and totally undemanding. If you have a spare space in the garden then planting a rhubarb crown is a must. Plant them in either the spring or autumn with planty of manure or compost as they are hungry feeders. Water them in dry weather and the rest is magic. We have 3 crowns on our allotment which easily feeds our two families.

As well as traditional rhubarb crumble I love Nigella’s ‘Rhubarb Cornmeal Cake’ in her How to be a Domestic Goddess Book.

I even have rhubarb for breakfast, it makes a great compote and gets added to my muesli and yoghurt! The best recipe for this is from River Cottage and you can find it here.

Garden Design Bedfordshire – Wrest Park

designinggardens — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 13:59:24 +0000

Wrest Park Pavillion

If you’re looking to see garden design Bedfordshire then the gardens at Wrest Park are now well worth a visit. I live in Hitchin and am always looking for local places and gardens to visit for inspiration and garden design ideas.

Wrest Park now belongs to English Heritage who are busy transforming the site as part of a 20 year master plan. Restoration of the gardens to their former glory is a huge part of this project.

The Pavillion at Wrest Park

When I visited on Sunday the Rose Garden and Italian Garden had been completely replanted and work on the French Parterre was well underway. Walking through the woodland and exploring the garden buildings and statues was the highlight of the trip though for me. The beautifully restored Pavillion sits at the head of the ‘Long Water’ and makes a strong focal point from the house. Being able to climb the spiral stairs inside to visit the servants bedrooms was fun too.

Another building that I particularly liked was the Chinese Temple and the view to it from the Bridge. With everything so freshly painted and new I found it quite refreshing to find something covered in cobwebs and with peeling paint!

If you’d like to find out more about Wrest Park then click here.

Chinese Temple taken from the bridge.

Winter Greens – Cavolo Nero

designinggardens — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 10:32:06 +0000

Imagine a vegetable that tastes like kale but has the texture of savoy cabbage and you’ve got Cavolo Nero. We’ve been growing it successfully on our allotment in Hitchin for several years now and love it. It’s an Italian cabbage that comes from Tuscany with very dark green almost black leaves. In fact ‘cavolo nero’ translates as ‘black cabbage’.

The seed is sown around April/May time into a prepared seed bed that is then protected from the pigeons (as they seem to love it too!). Once they become large enough to handle we’ll select the healthiest plants for transplanting and re-plant them onto the allotment where we want to over-winter them. Brassicas benefit from having extra lime added to the soil, so I make sure to do that as well. The leaves will be ready to pick and eat from November and will keep going right through the winter.

I think Cavolo Nero is a really versatile vegetable and I like to add it to soups and casseroles or just lightly steam it on it’s own. For more information click here.

Designing Winter Gardens – Adding Evergreens

designinggardens — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 12:29:30 +0000

Evergreens play a vital role in the garden at any time of year – but it is in winter when they perform at their best. They become the ‘back bone’ in our borders and give them shape and structure when everything else around them has died back and lost it’s leaves.

Many people find them boring and insignificant and unable to get excited about. However, choose with care and you can create something modern and architectural that will sit easily in any contemporary setting. This group planting of Phormiums makes a dramatic statement in winter sun. As a garden designer in Hitchin, they are a versatile evergreen that I like to use in people’s gardens. With their increasing number of colourful varities you can have fun with your colour palette as well!

Another evergreen that I use (nearly) all the time is Sarcococca. It makes a dense shrub with glossy leaves but it is it’s winter flower that you must plant it for. Between December – March

it will be covered in tiny unassuming white flowers that have the most amazing vanilla scent. In fact many people consider Sarcococcas to have one of the strongest winter perfumes of all plants.

They prefer partial to full shade which is useful if you have a dark corner or doorway that you will walk past in the winter months and catch their smell. The National Trust garden at Anglesey Abbey has many Sarcococca planted in it’s Winter Garden. My favourites though are those planted in one long line almost as hedging in the carpark. You have to walk past them to get in to the entrance which to me is perfect planting.

There are a variety of Sarcococca to choose from varying in size and habit. My favourite is Sarcococca hookeriana var. digyna ‘Purple Stem’ for it’s new shoots that are flushed with an attractive purple hue.

Evergreen shrubs are essential in a garden but so are those that climb or provide ground cover. There are many honeysuckle, clematis and pyracantha that will give a vertical interest in the winter months to.

Alternatively put evergreen shrubs or grasses in pots and place them on the patio where you will see them. Many people like to place an evergreen in an attractive pot beside their front door and I think this trained ivy growing over a support works well, is easy to maintain and relatively cheap.

Designing Winter Gardens – Adding Colour

designinggardens — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 15:33:11 +0000

Ornamental Stems - Cornus

All gardens look drab in the winter but adding extra colour is easy. There are flowers, ornametal stems and berries that all look fantastic at this time of year and will give you and your garden a boost.

Top of my list to plant in any garden for their coloured ornamental stems are Cornus. They come in a variety of colours from bright yellow through to the deepest of purple so will fit in easily with any existing planting scheme. Be bold and plant them in groups and you will create a ‘wall of colour’. Add to that a backdrop of evergreen and a variegated ivy for groundcover and you have a striking combination.

As a garden designer in Hitchin I try to use at least one of the following Cornus when designing a garden for a client : Cornus alba ‘Elegantissima’, Cornus alba ‘Sibirica’ or Cornus alba ‘Kesselringii’.

White Flowering Hellebore

As for winter flowers there is nothing more stunning in the garden than a hellebore. Their nodding saucer-shaped flowers have a prettiness and delicacy that is all their own. The flowers last for 3 months and rise above attractive leathery evergreen foliage. Plant them at the front of a border where you will see them or in groups under deciduous shrubs and trees.

Cotoneaster Berries

They are perfect plants for a woodland setting or garden with a shady border. If I’m looking for a white flower I use Helleborus x hybridus ‘Harvington’ double white whilst my favourite deep maroon is Helleborus x hybridus ‘Harvington Shades of the Night’.

For a larger statement plant a winter flowering shrub such as Viburnum x bodnantense ‘Dawn’ or a flowering cherry tree such as Prunus x subhirtella ‘Autumnalis’.

Bright red and orange berries are another way of adding a splash of colour to your garden in the depths of winter. Cotoneasters are my favoured choice, not only are they tough and easy to grow there is a wide variety of shape available. Choose from free standing shrubs, those that grow against a wall, low ground cover and those suitable for hedging. Cotoneasters also make attractive trees and if you want to read more about those click here.

Designing Winter Gardens – Adding Texture

designinggardens — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 14:06:19 +0000

Adding winter interest to a garden is not difficult you just need to adapt a different way of thinking. Don’t think flower – think texture and colour instead.

Winter Grasses

Grasses ooze texture and planted in bold groups either on their own or within a border the effect can be stunning. Add to that a covering of frost or some wind for movement and you have an even more exciting mix. Some of my favourites to use include Stipa calamagrostis, Deschampsia cespitosa and Luzula nivea.

As well as grasses, seedheads make a valuable addition to the garden in winter.

Faded Hydrangea Flowerhead

Don’t be tempted to cut back and ‘tidy’ your summer perennials after they’ve flowered. Leave them to add height and structure to the garden as they fade and turn brown with time. Not only will you appreciate them but so will the birds. I think the best ‘dead’ looking plants include echinaceas, eryngiums, rudbeckias and sanguisorbas. I also think hydrangeas can look fantastic as the temperatures drop. Their flowerheads deepen gradually in colour until they become a crisp brown ball.

But the ultimate textural experience in any garden must surely go to bark. The more it peels the greater the need to go over and touch it. Birches make beautiful ornamental trees especially in the winter. Betula albo-sinensis (Chinese Paper Birch Tree) is a must if you have the space with it’s deep copper bark that shines in the sun.

Betula albo-sinensis (Chinese Paper Birch Tree)

Easy Vegetables – Turnip

designinggardens — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 10:18:14 +0000

Winter and stew are two words that go together in our house. As the weather gets colder and the days become greyer the need for comfort food rises.
Root vegetables are at their best now and we are busy digging swede and turnip from our Hitchin allotment.

Turnip from the allotment

Turnip is an easy vegetable to grow and will reward you in the winter when there is little growing in the ground. You can sow the seeds from May – July directly into the soil and they will mature in 6 – 10 weeks. If you sow a small row every three or four weeks this will enable you to crop the turnip throughout the growing season. Thin the seedlings when they are big enough to handle and protect them from the pigeons. Water them well to avoid becoming woody and then dig and enjoy.

I use them in all sorts of recipes including stews, vegetable currys and Delia’s classic ‘Roasted Roots’ dish. In fact we had that last weekend with roasted lamb and it was delicious!

If you want to look at Delias recipe click here.

Trees for Small Gardens – Malus (crab apple)

designinggardens — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 12:53:03 +0000

If you have a small garden deciding which tree to plant can sometimes be difficult.

Any tree you do choose should look good throughout the seasons – rewarding you with spring blossom, fruit and great autumn colour.

Malus x zumi 'Golden Hornet' Blossom

Malus do all of these things and one of my favourites to use as a garden designer is Malus x zumi ‘Golden Hornet’.

It is a beautiful ornamental tree with a strong upright tapering shape that likes full sun.

In May and June it is covered with masses of pretty cup-shaped pink tinged flowers. These are then followed in the autumn with a profusion of golden yellow crab apples. If you’re lucky and it’s not too cold the apples can stay on the tree right up till Christmas otherwise the blackbirds will feast on them!

Awarded a RHS Award of Garden Merit.

Autumn Crab Apples

Best French Beans

designinggardens — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 08:51:09 +0000

If you’re a bean fan like me have a go at growing these ‘Cobra Beans’. They are a stringless climbing french bean that crops prolifically! We’ve been growing them on our Hitchin allotment sucessfully for a number of years. In fact we probably prefer them now to runner beans.

I sow the seed in April and harden off the plants in my greenhouse till they are ready for planting out and the risk of a frost is over. This year we planted some in our polytunnel which was great as it enabled us to enjoy them even earlier in the season. Like all beans you have to keep picking them regularly to keep the harvest coming but that’s not a problem as they freeze so well too. All of the large seed companies such as Suttons and Marhalls stock them so they are not difficult to find and well worth trying to grow.

Cobra beans

The Ultimate Gardening Glove

designinggardens — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 13:56:00 +0000

Many hours spent in the garden and on our Hitchin allotment mean my gardening gloves get a severe hammering.

Dry Touch Gardening Gloves

I was bought my first pair of ‘Gold Leaf Dry Touch’ gloves a few years ago as a present and I’ve been hooked ever since. They’re made with beautifully soft leather that in time moulds to the shape of your hands making them extremely comfortable. The gloves are also fully lined and the leather is treated to resist water which makes them perfect for winter jobs.

Endorsed by the RHS they are not cheap but sometimes you get what you pay for and for me they have been the ultimate in gardening gloves!

(The photo above is of my second pair of gloves pristine and straight from the packet)