Greenhouses, Georgian rectories and wigwams

Sometimes, you have to stop day dreaming and realise there are things which simply aren't going to happen.  I will never be five foot seven, I am not going to live in a Georgian rectory and, unfortunately, I'm pretty sure I'm never going to get a greenhouse.

Rather pathetically, I've been unable to let go of this final dream.  When I planned the garden, I made sure there was a perfect spot for my beautiful hand-crafted greenhouse and have kept this space bare for nearly three years in anticipation of its arrival.  To be frank, it's becoming a little embarrassing - it looks like I've been stood up by a garden building.

So last week I decided, enough is enough.  I put away the brochures, scraped off the bark chippings covering the area and began to dig.

The plan is to create a mini-wildflower garden with a bean-covered wigwam at the centre.  This choice was partly decided by the fact this is relatively poor soil compared to the rest of the garden and so more suitable for the range of cornfield weeds and wild flowers we have selected. 

The main job was to create a nice fine tilth to the soil which involved some raking but mostly lots of breaking clods with with the back of a fork.  Then I let the children sow the seeds - two small packets - one a gift from Grandpa Roger, the other hastily purchased at the garden centre when I thought I had lost Grandpa Roger's offering. 

The child-based sowing could have been an error - only time will tell - but if the seed was, shall we say, sown a little erratically, it's a small enough area that I can redistribute the plants when, or if, they've grown a little.

The wigwam was made from six bamboo canes, seven foot long.  We marked out the area using some short bamboo canes, pushed in the larger uprights about a foot deep and then tied the top using gardener's twine.  The twine was then used by the children to weave around each of the poles at foot intervals to create 'sides' to the wigwam and give the beans a better climbing structure as they grow.

The kids added bark chippings to form the base and we found a couple of logs for seats which somehow escaped the wood burner this winter.

The beans are due to be sown inside this week.  We've chosen two different types - the Runner Bean Phaseolus coccineus 'Celebration' which is an early variety, has lovely pink flowers and is particularly recommended for wigwams plus climbing bean Phaseolus coccineus 'Firetongue' which has reddish streaks on the green pods and is a multi-purpose Italian speciality bean used for its pods, flageolets and haricots.

Fingers crossed, it should be a picture of loveliness in a couple of months.  Plus, at a total cost of £11.80, this garden is marginally cheaper than a greenhouse. Or a Georgian rectory for that matter.

Comments

[Mark D]

Magic!

[Helen at Toronto Gardens]

Much more delicious than a greenhouse, too. And those Georgian rectories do often taste somewhat past their best-by date. I think you've made a wise choice.

[Thursday]

I'm sorry to sound smug but I simply can't help it - we're getting greenhouse No. 2 shortly if we get our act together to organise dismantling and shifting it. It's a cast-off from one of my gardening clients. Not a wooden handmade thing but still.

[Helen]

I waited 10 years for my greenhouse its not the hand crafted one I still dream off but its a greenhouse and I love it. You will get one one day and at least you dont have to worry about balls breaking the glass! Liked seeing the long shot of your garden

[Esther Montgomery]

I'd like a Victorian hothouse please, with heated beds and a stoke house and a vine and . . .

But I don't have a rectory or a greenhouse or a gardener. One of them (gardeners) would be useful for pushing bamboo poles in the ground. It (having a gardener to hand) would save me from hiring a pile driver at the beginning of each runner bean season.

(This year, so far, the soil is softer but if it doesn't stop raining soon I'll have a different problem. My garden will be nothing but a big bowl of brown soup with worms floating in it.)

Esther

[jenny @ Let the children play]

I think it looks amazing - and I love the wigwam. I want to make one of those for the kids at preschool next term - a perfect little green cubby :)

[elizabethm]

You make me smile. I too will never be 5ft 7 or live in a Georgian rectory but nowadays and very much to my surprise and delight, I have two greenhouses, so some things remain possible, sometime. I am all for children sowing things. It will look great.

[Nell Jean]

I settled for a really inexpensive greenhouse rather than the one with the wow factor. It's a great place to play in the winter when a cold wind blows. Nothing is breakable.

I hope your dreams come true.

[myla]

"...stood up by a guilding." that killed me (I can so relate). The wigwam looks fantastic (what a great idea to have the little chairs inside!) you and your garden continues to be an inspiration. xo

[myla]

oops, a Garden Building (have no idea what a guilding is). Sheesh.

[Jo]

The kids will love their little den once the beans have grown.

[Dawn/LittleGreenFingers]

Mark - magic may be required if I'm to get anything to grow. I'm already nervous about the 'after' shot I'm supposed to post.

Helen - admittedly they have a musty taste, but I think I could force myself to get used to it.

Thursday - as Oscar Wilde might say, to have one greenhouse may be regarded as smug, to have two looks downright impolite!

Helen, you are probably right, they don't exactly make perfect partners for footballing boys. Unfortunately, I'm not a Patient Gardener. I should learn to be.

Esther - 'a big bowl of brown soup with worms floating in it' happens to be my son's favourite idea of a garden. Can he visit?

Jenny - I would love to have built one with my pre-schoolers too, but sadly their garden is so tiny it would probably fit inside the wigwam.

Elizabethm - are you and Thursday just trying to taunt me? Two greenhouses? Two greenhouses! Still, perhaps it just goes back to Helen's point that all things come to gardeners who wait (or something like that).

Nell - I was willing to compromise on the greenhouse and had actually looked at some second-hand ones, but I kept being outbid on eBay and for some reason I took this as a sign that I should hold out for the ridiculously over-the-top and over-priced model I really wanted. Result - no greenhouse.

Myla - considering the price of some of these greenhouses, I can imagine they are indeed coated in gold, so perhaps a garden gilding would have been more accurate!

Jo - I'm just hoping the young plants have a chance to cover it before they're destroyed by garden pests - particularly Archie, the largest and most destructive pest of all.

[Karen - An Artist's Garden]

I am sure that Georgian rectories cost a bomb to heat - and they have a lot of spiders.

Greenhouses and small children don't mix (think cricket, football, frisbee etc)

However a wildflower meadow with a bean den sounds just perfect.

Oh - and as for being 5 foot 7 - very hard to find trousers to fit I imagine

[Sarah from Toronto Gardens]

I've been wishing for a greenhouse for years too. Bought a teeny little plastic one a couple of years ago that has somewhat slaked my lust - really just a shelf unit with a plastic covering that zips - not usable in winter though.

Love what you did with the space with the teepee. Look forward to seeing summer pix of it.

[JamesA-S]

A couple of observations...
Georgian Rectories do not all come with Mr Darcy and therefore are not all one has been led to expect. Often they come with wet rot which is not nearly as attractive as wet t-shirts.

You can easily be 5'7" by clever use of stilts. These can easily be concealed beneath a long skirt or trousers.

As to greenhouses, if you had been good last year Santa would have brought you one...

[Dirty Girl Gardening]

Adorable children and the garden is fabulous, too!

[Dawn/LittleGreenFingers]

Karen - you are of course 100% right. I shouldn't really consider a greenhouse until the sporty phase is over. As for the trouser issue - I could just wear skirts...

Sarah - I was wondering about one of those zip front things but I decided my son would have found a way to tip it over within a week...

James - Yes, OK, I'll admit I did have a teensy bit of an Austen-esque fantasy going on. But then, I always remember they brushed their teeth with chalk (or something similar) and it kills my ardour.

Have tried stilts. It didn't work.

[Dawn/LittleGreenFingers]

DGG - thanks, am quite fond of them too!

[Victoria]

Cath Kidston - as far as I am aware, doesn't have Georgian rectories in her shop or mail order catalogue so they are not as now as the wigwam - you are bang on trend. Love the garden and child led sewing is the way forward - it's pea shoot central for the next few years at Belgravia Towers... I am 5'9" but the Man from the Ministry is 6'5" so I feel like a shrimp - the Gods can be cruel.

[Avis W.]

Very creative! Can't wait to see the wildflower garden... And maybe one day you can revisit the greenhouse ;-)