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the blackberry garden

A blog about my garden, my inspiration to garden and things about gardening that make me happy.

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Irritating Plant of the Month - a tale of two tree peonies

IPotM Irritating Plant of the Month Tree Peony

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There has been plant buying

Coleus 'Great Falls' epimedium rubrum lathyrus Beth Chatto onorpordum acanthium pelgagoniums

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Book Review - Garden Wildlife and Indoor Wildlife by Gerard E Cheshire

Garden Wildlife Gerard E Cheshire Indoor Wildlife Pen and Sword Publishing

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The B Word update

Cabbage Duncan Courgette GYO Kale Vegan gardening vegetable gardening

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The launch of the 'Stihl Hillier Garden' exhibit for RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2019

Cordyine 'Pink Star' Eryngium 'Blue Wave' Hilliers Nurseries Isoplexis 'Bella' isabelliana Lily Gomm RHS Chelsea Flower Show Weigela picobella 'Rosa'

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Tree Following April 2019

quest for a quince quince blight Quince Major Quince Minor tree following

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The Hardy Plant Society AGM at Bishop Burton College

Bishop Burton College Coronilla citrina Glaucidium palmatum Hardy Plant Society heuchera Lady Salisbury HPS HPS AGM mitella tiarella

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Alison Levey

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©Alison Levey and Blackberry Garden, 2011 to 31 December 2019 Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Alison Levey and Blackberry Garden with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

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Popular Posts

Product Review: Stihl RMA 339c Lawn Mower

Regular readers will know that I have reviewed a few products for Stihl from their domestic battery range. It was therefore a delight to be asked if I would review their new RMA 339c rechargeable lawnmower. I have not paid for this product but as ever my words and opinions are my own.
This is a handsome lawnmower. Stihl have until fairly recently made and sold lawnmowers under the trade name 'Viking', now they started branding them in the Stihl orange and white that we know and love.

This mower has a cutting width of 37cm. This is a good width for my lawns, not too small to mean it takes me a long time, but nippy enough that I can mow around things where I need to. It is quiet compared to non-rechargeable mowers and weighs in at 16 kg, which is quite light.

The first thing that made me like this mower was when I went to collect it.
It fitted in the boot. Admittedly the grass collection box has to sit on the passenger seat, but I had been worrying about how I would get it…

So goodbye lavender edge......

Let me rewind to 2007 when the front garden looked like this:
I declared this front garden boring and decided a knot garden was what it needed. I sometimes wonder if I should have left well alone. Yes it was dull, but the front garden seems to have been a constant battle I have never really won. I could just have mown it once a fortnight, yet that was just not what I wanted to do.
The garden was laid out as tiny box cuttings in the spring of 2008; by 2013 it looked like this. Yes even then the lavender hedge was a bit sprawly but it had a lot to redeem itself with. In the summer it was always alive with bees and butterflies and it was a joy to brush past as the scent would be released. I did love the lavender edge.
But then the lavender edge got old and sprawly. I kept it pruned but it was long past its best. So the other day I was weeding under the (out of shot) Magnolia tree and I started to weed along under the lavender edging. This was going quite well, there has been no …

Product Review - Gro-Sure Smart Ground Cover

I was asked a few weeks ago if I wanted to trial some Gro-Smart Ground Cover, which is made by Westland. I hesitated a little before agreeing as I am not someone who generally mulches areas of the garden. One look at my weed population will confirm this but I do like to have self-seeders and mulches will keep them controlled as well as the weeds. After some thought I realised that it could be really useful in my vegetable borders where I do want to restrict self-seeders from colonising. A short time later a bag duly arrived.
The first thing I noticed is that it is incredibly light. I braced myself to lift the bag and it was really easy to lift.

Then I set to spreading it out where I am growing beans this year. I am not growing a lot of veg this year but nothing beats the taste of freshly picked french beans.
I spread it so it was a few centimetres thick as the instructions stated. I made sure the bed was well weeded and I also picked a day after we had had quite a lot of rain.…

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Grabco Soil Guide for Gardeners
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