Under the Ivy

Warning! Someone is trying to clone me using my picture and renaming me Cate. If you receive a ‘friend request’ please ignore it.

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas spent with family and friends!

Keeping your garden looking beautiful during Winter can be difficult.

Here are my five favourite trees with Winter interest to keep your garden looking stunning.

1. Acer griseum
2. Prunus serrula
3. Betula utilis supbsp-allbosinensis
4. Acer x conspicuum ‘Phoenix’
5. Salix x sepulcralis ‘Erythroflexuosa’

I love how the gardening community can come together to make Christmas special for someone who needs a boost. ❤️

FREE

Just had our annual drop off from Michael Bogle @ Bad Boy Fireworks in Cheadle.

Who do you know that, for one reason or another will be going without a real tree this year?

Please message us and let us help make their Christmas a little brighter 🎄

Did you know that gardening is known to release the happy hormone, Endorphin?

One reason I have a passion for gardening is because it brings me so much happiness. It is the best teacher for learning about sustainability, nature, and community.

Here are five reasons why I love what I do:
1. It reduces stress.
2. It’s rewarding and teaches patience.
3. It allows me to be creative.
4. Everyday I wake up excited to see what nature has blessed you with.
5. Gardening connects me with the most important parts of my life.

Would you like to know how to avoid typical garden centre shopping mistakes?

During a guided shopping session, I’ll help you to identify the best specimens from the plant choices available.

To find out more or to book, please visit; undertheivy.uk/contact

When I’m selecting plants to create winter atmosphere as well as summer vibrancy, I consider texture as well as colour.

A good way to do this is to take a black and white photo. This highlights the textural details to make sure the winter story is just as beautiful.

Imagine these shapes crisp with frost on a winter morning.

When designing a garden, I work sensitively with nature and the surrounding environment, drawing out and identifying the unique opportunities that each landscape presents, marrying these with clients’ needs, style and budget to deliver bespoke designs that are a delight to the eye and a joy to spend time in.

These borders will look fantastic next year.

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/undertheivy?utm_source=whatsapp&utm_medium=socpledgemobile&utm_content=undertheivy&utm_campaign=post-pledge-mobile&utm_term=KRYDpyEaK

Fifty things to grow and eat. Help Kate Bush raise money to support Space4Autism

Rosemary and Rosemary. What a fitting end to a great challenge. I’d love this to make a huge difference to the children, adults and carers of Space4Autism so I’d be delighted if you could spare a couple of pounds for this amazing charity. ❤️

Every garden design is an opportunity to create something rare and special.

I love the autumn colour in these new borders.

My top tips for selecting your essential gardening tools.

You need a garden fork and a garden spade. Buy small.

I often see people trying to garden with huge tools and they’ve thought ‘well if I buy a big spade that will get the job done faster’, but actually all that happens is that you have to wield that much more energy to be able to pick up the tool before you even get started!

A really narrow (as small as you can buy it), border fork and a narrow border spade are much lighter.

Think about how the handle feels because you don’t want to get blisters.

Think about the height of it as well. If it’s too short for your frame, you’re going to end up bending over and that will give you back ache. If it’s too big for you then it becomes really awkward and you won’t get the job done.

It doesn’t have to be the most expensive.

Buy the most comfortable and think about the weight of it, because after 3 hours of digging you’ll certainly feel it in your back.

That’s pretty much what you need to get started, other tools will come along in your collection as you go.

Did you know I can help you select the right plant for the right place?

When you book my guided shopping service, I will accompany you to my favourite growers and sellers – nurseries whose plants meet my exacting high standards.

If this is something you’d like to experience for yourself or to book for someone else; please get in touch - undertheivy.uk/contact

48 & 49 - Jerusalem Artichoke and Winter Savoury. ‘Fartichoke Gratin!’ This recipe isn’t for the faint-hearted. It has an indecent amount of cheese and cream- which is a good thing, obviously! Jerusalem Artichokes are incredibly easy to grow and you get a fabulous yield from a small space but beware- eat too many and you could regret it!

46 & 47 - Tayberry and Currants (red and black) in Frozen Berry Nice-Cream. As you might remember from my gooseberry post, I didn’t net our fruit in time so the pigeon got very fat on our crops. I did manage to pick some fruit though so put them in the freezer until I could bolster the numbers with blackberries and elderberries- also picked from our garden as well as scrumped from the local hedgerows. Blitzing the frozen fruit in the blender with chunks of frozen banana makes a smooth, sweet ice cream like desert that has absolutely no added sugar or dairy.

It’s great visiting inspiring gardens. In September, it was the turn of RHS Garden Bridgewater.

44 & 45 - ‘Bright Lights’ Chard and Red Cabbage. Picked just this afternoon, these colourful, crunchy and delicious vegetables become this evening’s stir fry with noodles, tuna coated in a miso, soy and rice wine sauce. Yummy! Only two more weeks and 4 more crops to go 😋

What a glorious Autumn morning spent Guided Gardening with the fantastic Ashby family as they re-plant this border with a beautiful collection of trees and shrubs. Go team Ashby! 💪

The Fledglings Fairy Trail installation at Trentham Estate looked stunning in the Autumn afternoon light and was enhanced by the ethereal quality of the grasses moving in the breeze.

🌻Reminiscing our gorgeous sunflowers on this dreary day. I grew lots this year- thinking about the Ukrainian National flower.🌻

The bees absolutely loved them and now the seed heads are drying for the birds to enjoy through the winter.🐝

43. Curly Kale Curry. Delicious curly kale adds a satisfying crunch to this creamy vegetable curry. Easy to grow, versatile and attractive with it’s plume-like purple leaves rising from strong, upright stems, this is a vegetable that looks great in a flower bed surrounded by companion-planted Tagetes (the Mexican Marigold).

One of my clients shared this photo with me on Sunday- all picked from her garden.💐

Who else has an abundance of autumn colour in their garden? Share your photos below…

This little pigeon’s egg has turned up unaccountably in a pot full of scented pelargoniums.🥚🌱

I think a squirrel may have snaffled it from the nest and stashed it for a future feast!