I imagine that many people who frequent this forum would be interested in learning about or perhaps becoming members of the (British) Cottage Gardening Society. You can find more information here. http://www.thecgs.org.uk/ Unfortunately, it is not possible to subscribe online; you have to do it the old fashioned way, via the post.
This photo was taken at the Philadelphia Flower Show a couple years ago.
This quote comes from the Cottage Gardening Society's homepage:
"Cottage gardens reflect your own personal mix of plants ‑ whether flowers, fruit or vegetables. You don't have to live in a cottage, or in the country: cottage gardens are very effective as the small plots of modern houses, or the narrow gardens of older terraces. The emphasis is on the year‑round pleasure of enjoying their form, flowers and scent ‑ not to mention picking your own salads, herbs, fruit and vegetables. Why bother with the drudge of maintaining lawns and regimented borders ‑ especially with problems of climate change?
Gardens now provide vital habitats for wildlife, as a result of changes in farming methods, increased use of chemicals, destruction of orchards, hedges and ponds. By growing simpler, traditional cottage garden flowers such as lavender, thyme and other herbs, foxgloves, pinks and so on rather than modern, double‑flowered varieties, we can help to maintain a variety of birds, butterflies, insects etc. Modern hybrid flowers are often sterile and produce no nectar for insects, who have an important role in pollinating our fruit and flowers. Bees in particular need gardeners help in providing nectar‑rich flowers ‑ bumble bees are especially affected by the loss of food plants, and their numbers have declined. Other beneficial insects, birds, frogs, toads, hedgehogs also contribute to our gardens in helping to keep down insect pests, slugs and snails. By encouraging biodiversity in our gardens, we can help maintain the precarious balance of nature.
Some of our 6,000 or so members seek help in swopping plants or seeds; our annual Seed Exchange is good opportunity to find 'treasures'. Others are hoping for answers to their gardening queries, through the pages of our quarterly magazine. Gardeners are generous souls and are invariably willing to help one another."
That is a lovely picture ... and a good description of what Cottage Garden is.
That's it, my lawn is hasta-la-bye-bye >smile< ....
As a matter of fact, I had thought that I've been doing a good job at replacing much of my lawn with pretty and functional beds, but after reading that description, I'm re-thinking my front beds and how to elegantly E X P A N D them... and I'm so glad that I made the switch to organics.
I kind of like seeing lots of these guys.
Yeah - good sign!
Love the "Gardeners are generous souls and are invariably willing to help one another"
I have found this so true! I always find that saying "if you give it usally comes back twice as much...
This is a great site!
It really is true. That statement really became clear to me *after* I joined DG. BDG (Before DG), I was a solo gardener... lol
I'll be interested in hearing about any oddities on their seed list when you get it.... December , eh? Good timing... just when all things garden are going "poof"...
Hoooraaay!!! I just received e-mail confirmation that my subscription was received and my first magazine is on its way. Heh heh, I posted a USD$20 bill to them to cover the costs.
So... about 14 bucks, lol.
You lost me, momma. Ten quid?
The dollar: euro ratio just hit the lowest point ever - it's over 1.40 Euro per dollar right now, luv...
Oh, I know pounds better than Euros, sorry!
Oh that's right - England never did switch over? Or did they?
Ugh - edited to say - sorry, the UK never did switch?
This message was edited Sep 22, 2007 8:42 PM
LOL ... Nope, no Euros in the UK, Britain, or England. :>)
We don't want Euros........................... EVER !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL
Funny, I'll take as many as I can get!
>smile<
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LOL.........................
I nearly joined the Cottage Garden Society once.............. but thought it was to expensive!!
My garden is a Cottage Garden anyway, so I didn't need any of their advice or ideas.
Now my garden is a mass of crocosmia........!! WooooooooHooooooooo love it.
Mark
LOL - Mark, you sound like my Brother in Law RE: the Euros. Can't say that I blame you.
Well, I have a hard time finding classic Cottage Gardens here, so any extra inspiration is attractive to me. Ten quid to join was more than worth it to me! :>)
Wrightie................ do you have a cottage garden now?????????????????????
Even if i got inspiration from somewhere i couldn't do it............... I have no room what so ever!!!! I have even had to borrow my aunts garden...........LOL
Oh, I only have the beginnings of one... and it's more of a modern CG at that: It consists of a small round patch of turf surrounded by a cottage border. It is barely two years old and has many many bare spots and is a long way from where I've been trying to go with it.
Thing is, it may be a moot point as we are pursuing the purchase of a better house right around the corner...
I may have asked you this before, but where is Caistor located?
Caistor is in Lincolnshire on the East coast.......... near the river Humber.
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh well, pointless doing anything much if you are getting another house.
I will have to post some pics of my cottage garden....
Mark
Yeah, please do!!!! I've only seen the one, and that was just a tease.
The sellers turned down our offer (basically we are willing to meet their asking price with the condition that we sell our house first). They are currently living in London at the moment and should be there for one more year. The house is currently vacant; Oh, and it's a buyer's market here, so I'd have thought that they wouldn't have been so quick to shoot us down. I'm hoping that it continues to sit vacant and that they have a change of heart, but I'm not holding my breath. Hmmph.
Well hopefully you can sell yours first, before the vacant one sells........ then make them an offer less than they want, simply because they annoyed you!!
Maybe they are very rich people that don't care how long it sits vacant for..........
